Weekly IP Blog#18

What I did

Sun.  2/12/12: About 4.5 hours redesigning my volcano. About 1 hour taking photos outside of rocks and earth textures to create new Photoshop brushes with.

 

Mon. 2/13/12: 2 hours researching rock and mountain textures, recreated more my volcano texture. 

   

Tues. 2/14/12: Spoke with Janie Paul about reviewing my whole project again. Got more pointers from my tutor from the College of creative studies, reworked more of my effects on fire lighting for about 3 hours and 45min.

Weds. 2/15/12: 2.5 hours digitally painting and recreating a draft of my volcano that got corrupted.

Thurs. 2/16/12: about 2 hours sketching new vantage points for my volcano and reflected on my work this week by writing my blog. 

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand how I can capture more rocky textures in my digital paintings. I think the danger in recreating my volcano is how cheesy the rocks and fire can look together. This is why I think Peter Lik and Edward Burtynsky’s work I keep referencing are so helpful in how they both reface the power of proper natural lighting when they photograph. They also use magentas, violets, and warm browns in some of their photos of earth’s surface. So I’ve been trying to use that color palette instead of organs and yellows with bright reds I was originally working with. 

Dryland Farming #24, Monegros County, Aragon, Spain, 2010, 

Edward Burtynsky

Peter Lik

I also found Mexican painter Patricio Betteo’s work this week and his style with post-apocalyptic landscapes very inspiring. The simplicity yet layered effects create depth and awe in his compositions. The layers also have the push and pull effect that makes the viewer sort off step into the scene. I spent sometime outside Sunday with the better weather, and took some pictures of rock and earth textures I found interesting at Hines Park near my house in Livonia. Zooming in and out at some rocks and earthy floor allowed me to get the feel of the shades of browns, grays, and blacks I could incorporate into my work. Below are some of my photos.

 I also have been in staying in touch with Janie Paul this week to get more feed back on my project together as a whole. She has been busy lately, so touching base after the break is what we have planed on. This pushed me also get in contact with my tutor from the College of Creative studies, giving me some pointers on how to recreate some new brushes in Photoshop based on the photos I took this weekend. They also gave more feedback on the how the fire effects I’ve been creating look to computerized and that they don’t need to be as harsh. When I started to use one of the new brushes I made, I corrupted the file I was working on and lost most of the work I had for that rough draft. So I wasted some time recreating that sketch again and was disappointed in not getting it exactly the same. I need to reedit the effects I had originally made to make my fire and smoke. I think not being so literal with fire and lava will help my volcano be more in the style of the sublime, sort off like my tornado. I feel that my project as a whole is taking all three natural disasters in a dreamlike realm, which is really interesting to me now seeing the three interacting.

Again the struggle I am having is creating a successful vantage point of my volcano and making it immersive. My best results for getting somewhere good in composition is drafting and recreating vantage points of my natural disasters. So Im hoping that doing this again for my volcano can be quicker based the last two natural disasters I’ve already made. I think getting away from the usual explosions seen from a distance and concentrating more the interesting shapes and tails lava can make would be a good way to go next. Looking back on this week, I realized that I spent too much worrying about textures and not enough on my compositions. I need to concentrate on that a lot more for my volcano because my sketches right now are not good enough, you cant really tell what they are.        

What I think I should do next

I need to finalize how I am going to get my project printed. I’ve tried to get in contact with my contact at Artisan Color Inc. but she seems to be on vacation. I’ve needed to go to Paragon printing here in Ann Arbor in person to see the kind of finishings and printing methods they offer, but need a car. I’ve therefore planned to go there soon with another student from another IP group to see if we can get a discount together in getting our projects printed. Next week I will be working on another draft of my thesis. I also plan to continue working on my volcano compositions and get inspired to keep working over the break. 

Weekly IP Blog#17

What I did

Sun.  2/12/12: About 6 hours editing my hurricane’s composition and digital quality based on my small group critique. Researched for new inspirations to jump-start my volcano. 

Mon. 2/13/12: 3 hours editing the lighting and eye of my hurricane. Sketched and painted a new composition of my volcano.    

Tues. 2/14/12: Meet with Hannah to review my postcard ideas, compositions, and my hurricane edits. Reworked and came up with text options for my postcard for about 2 hours.      

Weds. 2/15/12: 4.5 hours digitally painting and sketching out two new compositions of my volcano.   

Thurs. 2/16/12: about 2 hours and 45min sketching out new aspects for my volcano and writing my weekly blog. Talked with Juliet and James for input on my postcard. 

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered

For this week, finalizing my hurricane more a success. I feel the lighting and undefined eye works a lot better than it has in any of my other versions. The textures of the water were possible with new skills and styles that I improved over the last couple of weeks by reworking my drafts over and over again. I learned a lot in reworking and creating so many rough drafts. I still need to edit the colors of the water a bit; they might hint to rocks because of the earth tones so some blues will be added. I also need to fix the background lighting behind the big wave coming in from the right as well as fix the top part it.  Overall, I’ve gotten the best feedback on this version and composition being much more immersive in setting the viewer on the water instead of an aerial view.

Taking a break from doing some final touch ups and editing on my hurricane is well needed. So retackling my volcanic eruption early this week was a good change. I’ve two compositions in mind to rework digitally. The first one, seen below, focus on the volcano opening up or exploding from the side to release all the pressure and majestic heat that it holds. My sketch is still rough, but that was an attempt in having a better vantage point that sees the volcano from afar.

The second composition sets the viewer looking into or falling in on the top most peak of the volcano. I think cropping and showing less of the top peak will help this a lot, but I’m still working on creating a proper foreground and background right now because its very flat. Creating the sort of rough roundness and mass of a volcano and the rocks is what has been tricky in creating this natural disaster. The rock textures are not that big of a problem for be me to paint, but making them look 3D and some closer to viewer than others is. I’m still working on getting the realistic effects of the rocks in place over the messy computer look it can have.

A big reference for the colors and new lava style for my volcanic eruption that I am currently using and inspired by come from last week’s research on Edward Burtynsky’s photographs. The two photos below are my favorite in color and textures, new aspects that are not fiery or ablaze. I want to incorporate the rustiness and sort of stillness his photographs have in my volcano. I think using less fire effects and more textures such as these will give my volcano more awe and make it less cheesy. Creating this new sort of style is an exciting but difficult task I will be working on for the next couple of weeks. The overwhelming composition is also something I need to explore more.

Edward Burtynsky

Lake Project, Edward Burtynsky

I also worked a lot on my postcard this week. I cropped a lot of different aspects of my tornado that I will be using to represent my work for the Senior Show. I met with Hannah and she helped me choose and make a better close up of my tornado. We also talked about the text I could incorporate and how using one of my quotes from my research could really be successful. Right now I’m still torn between these two quotes I can use:

“awe-inspiring, as a means with which to give narrative resonance to the power of natural forces and thereby placing in perspective the human place in the great scheme of things” (Pérez 150)

or

-“It developed like a thousand whirlwinds…at first like an exploratory filtration, followed by inundation, and finally a destructive force… headlong like a roaring animal…Its furious rage bellowed, hurling all the solid underwater mass, now in the form of an eruption, in an uncontrollable apocalyptical gallop…A gigantic avalanche, hurling…fumed with rage, it flared as if it were electrified as if its mysterious convulsive floor were a huge cauldron” (Pérez 150)

Doing this got me really excited for the show and motivated me more to make the last efforts to get my hurricane and volcanic eruption to an amazing level. I’m also thinking of naming my project Forces of Delightful Horror, Nature in the paradox of being beautiful yet terrifying, or Nature as an autonomous force, sublime tornado, hurricane, and volcanic eruption.

What I think I should do next

I will be continuing to on my volcano and digital style next week. The composition is the first thing I need to figure out, then the new textures and rust like lava Im inspired to create based on Edward Burtynsky’s work is next. I will also do more research on concept art and fantasy digital painting styles to help me create the foreground and background contrast Im currently having trouble depicting. I hope to research more printing options for my project as well. The cost and realality of printing my work is really sinking in and Im very aware of my time.   

Weekly IP Blog#16

What I did

Sat.  2/4/12: 4.5 hours painting and sketching more immersive compositions. Researched more reference paintings.  

Sun. 2/5/12: About 1 hour and 20min. studying, Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky and David Maisel: The Lake Project.

Mon. 2/6/12: 5.5 hours digitally painting and editing my hurricane. 

Tues. 2/7/12: 2.5 hours reworking some of my digital effects and painting more drafts of my hurricane. Got more feed back on my composition from other artists.  

   

Weds. 2/8/12: Meet with James for an hour to go over my progress, get more feed back on all my drafts of my hurricane. 3 hours reediting my hurricane, studying more effects of color and depth of light in paintings.  

Thurs. 2/9/12: had small group critique on 4 variations of my hurricane. Went over my work based on the feedback I got and worked on my blog for about 2 hours. 

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered

I was very productive this week. I redid and studied a lot of compositions of water and storms so that I could make my hurricane more immersive. I finally came up with a composition I think is working and can rework my textures and water effects on. It drags the viewer into the waves and eye of the hurricane through the trail of foam that I thought was important to have based on my research on the Mayan storm god Hurakan. I also think this composition reflects my key words, “turbulence” and “foamy” the best out of everything I’ve crated.  I think the reason why I’ve been struggling with recreating my hurricane was that painting or sketching out water is so difficult because it’s a liquid, not a define object, and often mixes a lot with clouds and the foam effects I have been creating.  I really needed to study fine art paintings more, and rework my original digital painting and thinking skills. I still think I need to improve, but that I am in a better place than before. I’ve come up with over 12 drafts this week, reworking my digital effects, styles, and compositions to see what works and does not. It’s been tiring, time consuming, and strain to rework my hurricane at times because I lose myself in my work so often. But I do think its all paying off because I am learning and making new things I was not before. I confirmed that using more earth tone colors like I was last semester for my hurricane is a lot more appropriate than the deep aqua blues I started to exploring last week, it creates a more threatening storm.

Using J.M.W. Turner and Caspar Friedrich’s work as references still has been a huge help! I keep finding new things in their work and relate them to my own. Edward Burtynsky’s book that I’ve been studying even references Friedrich’s “Polar Sea / The Destroyed Hope” that I’ve been looking at for weeks. It was nice to see how other artists’ works do overlap reference each other, especially in subject of nature and the sublime. Knowing that Burtynsky as an artist did some of the research I am doing now assures me that I am researching and understand the style of the sublime appropriately.  An example of this is how I am trying to create motions in my water waves by playing with reflective lighting by defining my sky and water totally. I’ve learned to make my horizon line subtle, something that’s still a bit tricky to work out but that I’ve learned is important to do. I’ve also noticed how some of my different strokes can help create better distant perspectives. A lot of the drafts I keep reworking and reworking play with different light sources, wave textures, and how things stand out in the foreground and background. I just like getting feed back on things that do work or don’t. Such as having the white foam really defined I’ve learned helps, while the eye being fuzzier is more appealing. Also having a more distant skyline is something that would help viewers be less confused about what they are seeing, but I still need to figure out how to balance those qualities.

    

Meeting with James on Wednesday after recreating and reworking so many rough drafts was extremely helpful and encouraging! I had asked some of my art mentors from my office to look at my work and they did give me some advice on what aspects of the waves and horizon line was confusing. But sitting down with James to look at all my work that was a lot and therefore confusing me, helped me realize how I’ve improved and what things were working or not. We talked a lot about Turner’s painting style that is subtle and yet full of effects the color tricks that help create movements. We also went over how I could clean more edges of my water waves and how to push my foreground and background with a better light source. Defining more earth tones in the water than in the sky is something we also went over, comparing my successful and unsuccessful attempts. This really helped me see what techniques I’ve developed and keep in comparison to what I was doing in the past. 

Thursday’s small group critique was great because I really got to step back and look at my hurricane. The print and projection view of it showed me how I could play more with the perspective and the composition, cropping it and showing less of the eye. I got feedback on my color use being better and how the foam and turbulent quality of my strokes are better. I understood that creating more an open feeling and calming quality to the eye is still needed. The different light source is also helping my hurricane be more sublime.          

What I think I should do next

This weekend I will rework my hurricane more, working with cropping the composition and tweaking the eye. Feeling of clam and better illusive quality is what I plan to explore to really push my hurricane to the next level.  I am also hoping to  draft out my volcano, switching subjects could help distract me so Im not sure yet. I still will continue researching methods of painting and storks however. Printing options with Paragon printing is also something I will be looking more into. 

Weekly IP Blog#15

What I did

Sun. 1/29/12: 5 hours sketching out new digital thumbnails and compositions for my hurricane.

Mon. 1/30/12: About an hour or so talking with Hannah and James about my project, what Im struggling with and what I need to strive for in my hurricane and volcano.  4.5 hours editing and recreating new effects for my hurricane, researching new paint brushing techniques. 

Tues. 1/31/12: Abou1 hour and 45min. painting with gouache compositions of water turbulence and hurricane effects.   

Weds. 2/1/12: 2 hours researching water turbulence, other forms of water, and damaged landscapes. Got new photography books, Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky and David Maisel: The Lake Project.

Thurs. 3/1/12: studied coffee foam, reflected on how to relax more and approach my project more relaxed. Spent about two hours reflecting on my work this week and worked on my blog post.

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered

During the course of this week, creating better compositions and sublime effects for my hurricane was tricky. I keep reworking and reworking my ideas, and feel I’m losing concentration on the good qualities I had originally for my hurricane. Im overworking my hurricane, I need to step back and relax more. I spent a lot of the weekend trying to come up with new compositions with interesting vantage points, but they resembled the vortex and shape of a tornado. I tired to get inspired by studying more landscape paintings and even Disney's Fantasia “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” where Mickey is submersed in water. Its frustrating how much time I keep spending on my laptop with little success in creating an impressive version of my hurricane.

I went over my crazy work and discussed printing options with Hannah and James on Tuesday. They made me feel better in making see what aspects of my hurricane research and creations were good, such as the textures and earth tone color pallets I had in my original versions. They could see I was getting a bit lost and worried, so Hannah told me to just step back and try painting out some compositions and even study coffee foam or other things I based my key words and feelings for the hurricane. James also suggested that I look at Edward Burtynsky and David Maisel photography books and work.  The book Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky has great references for my volcano in the eroded and destroyed aspects his work exhibits of our earth’s reshaped surface. David Maisel: The Lake Project  I just got and am currently studying the book, so far the aerial photographs are inspiring in there color tones and unknown locations. We also talked about how important it is for me to distinguish the tornado, hurricane, and volcano in aspects other than color and to keep in mind some of the “family” traits they all three share. They all have a center, some forms of clouds or smoky effects, and the hurricane and volcano also share liquid properties the water waves and lava. These things I have been aware about, but I have to push my textures and unique storm elements in my digitally painting technique in order to really make my natural disasters stand out. We talked about how I should not concentrate so much on the eye of a hurricane and instead try to capture turbulence, foam, and violent waters. 

I took Hannah’s advice and did on some quick compositions and stroke explorations with gouache paint. I did this quickly, tried not to over think it, and it turned out to be fun. I liked a lot of the motions and wispy strokes I came up with. I plan on transferring these effects and experience to my digital working processes. I need to change up my approach to the eye of the hurricane and weak soft look in the water, an aspect I am misinterpreting from J.M.W. Turner’s work that I’d been looking at. I took index cards to paint on, both vertical and horizontal, then did some paintings on 11x17 sheets. I felt my smaller explorations with paint on the index cards were more successful because I felt less pressure in covering more space in a medium that is not my best. I took high quality scans of my paintings to use as reference for my digital work.

Thursday was great to reflect on my work thus far. I’ve been thinking about what changes or new inspirations I can use to push my hurricane in a less stressful and accurate direction. Right now I am still unsure about what composition will be the most immersive. I feel more comfortable about making my hurricane seen as a mass coming out at the viewer instead of putting them inside the swirls or funnel of waves. The books and explorations are being helpful. 

What I think I should do next

I plan to attempt to create better digital compositions again this weekend. I want to connect my actual painting experience to my digital working process by not concentrating so much on computer enhancement or textures. I also plan to distress a bit about my project, slow down and really think about what artistic decisions and I am making and why. The specific traits I have written down for my hurricane and volcano will serve as reminders as to what textures and feelings they should have distinguished. James also told me about mounting and surfacing options I could inquire about at Paragon, so I plan to visit them soon.  I think getting new perspectives on my work would be helpful as well, so I will try to make another visit to the College of Creative Studies again for advice.