Friday, November 22, 2013

Pier Propaganda

This week, I started another propaganda piece. This one is based on the ongoing debate over the fate of the St. Pete pier. I personally love the pier, so this piece is promoting the landmark status of it. I'm using the pen tool to recreate the pier in all its iconic upside down pyramid glory in Photoshop. The piece is coming together well, but it's still very difficult. I've put in many hours so far outside of class, but it's not quite done yet.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Pen tool portfolio

This week, I began a new portfolio piece. I'm using the pen tool to redo a piece I did in beginning graphics. The original was my motorcycle which I had used the mixer brush to paint over a picture of. This time I'm recreating the motorcycle using the pen tool, as that has been the style which seems to be my forté. Here is what I have done so far.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Chinese Artist Piece

This week, I created a piece in the style of Chinese digital artist Nod Young, who I found through an article at http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tutorials-effects/100-artworks-from-the-top-digital-artists-in-asia/ . I really liked his vector based style of art, which is, in many ways, similar to my own style. I really like the way he uses abstract shapes and a flat, smooth texture combined with welcoming, calming, typically pastel colors to create very cool works of art. In my piece, I tried to use the same ideas to create something that shows appreciation of his work, but is still very much my own. I ended up making this piece quite the learning experience in a tool which I'd thought I'd long since mastered, the shape tool. After being unable to find how to make a semicircle, I decided to make my own, and then from there, I really ended up really only using the pen tool and shape tool for the rest of the piece. I really like the way this piece just seemed to create itself, and as a result of that, is very abstract, leaving the viewer to draw their own conclusions as to what is going on in the many elements of the piece.

Friday, November 1, 2013

PROPAGANDA 2

This week, we were assigned to reinterpret old Chinese propaganda posters. I took the original poster that I chose to reinterpret, and I remade it as a vector image. When I did this, I took most elements of the original down to the most basic form that I could without making them unrecognizable. My idea behind this is that when it comes down to it, propaganda posters are nothing more than a collection of lines and curves arranged in such a manner that it becomes something larger than the some of its parts, something that can provoke thought and action from the viewer. It's not what it's made of, but the way its parts are arranged that can elicit a response. This piece is supposed to make the viewer reconsider how they look at propaganda, art, and really anything, to see both the big picture, as well as the small pieces that make it.