Tuesday Critique

In presenting my three tornado prints to my peers, I got great feed back and reactions to the digital painting I created. I printed a light version of a tornado on printing paper, a darker stormy version on photo paper, and the same dark version on thick tracing paper. The print on the tracing paper really helped people understand why I want to print on glass and are encouraging me to have light showing through my prints.

It was really exciting to hear what version, the lighter tornado or the darker one, was more successful. People liked both, but it was based on the different aspects each displayed.  The lighter tornado was more abstract, softer, alluring, and unique and that was exciting to hear because that was what I want my series to display. The darker tornado was more successful in the digital effects I created, line quality, and projected more movement. It was good to hear that I got the important aspects of a tornado to come through in different ways on both versions. I was worried about my work needing an environment to help identify the tornado, but I got assurance that it was not necessary. It was interesting to see how people were torn in favoring just one of the prints. I think a version displaying the good qualities of each of the version I created would be most successful.

It was hard to get people to like just one print, but it went to show that one version had what the other did not. It got me thinking about what aspects I should keep and why, such as the digital effects in the lightening I painted being impacting but a bit distracting. It will hard to come up with new composition for the rest of my series that needs to be improved, they cant be to direct in what they are or too abstract.   

What I plan to do next is to digital paint a volcanic eruption or whirl pool. During the critique we talked about different kinds of storm forms, such as a whirl pool, so sketching one or two out would be fun. I also will be thinking about new and more interesting compositions I could digitally paint for my natural disasters. Also exploring color and the time of day they can convey is a new aspect I need to consider more in developing my paintings.  

      

Weekly IP Blog#4

What I did

Sat. 10/1/11: 1 hour and 1/2

I went to the College of Creative Studies in Detroit to getting some tutoring and tips on how to improve my digital painting skills. I spoke to other art students about my natural disasters IP project and got some interesting feed back and reactions to the topic.

Sun. 10/2/11: 7 hours and 20min

I sketched out my natural disaster compositions and ideas on tracing paper. I worked with Copic Markers, pens, pencil, color pencil, and sharpies.

Mon. 10/3/11: 1 hour and 45min

Finished some of sketches from Sunday, reflected on my work and what compositions I like best and why.

Tues. 10/4/11: 2 hours in group critique and shared my sketches. Worked on my IP proposal for about 1 hour and 1/2, and scanned my sketches.

Thurs. 10/5/11: For about 1 hour and 45min, discussed with my partners Lauren and Rebecca about our projects and what we will like to present on Tuesday. 40min of ideation, deciding which natural disaster I should digitally paint. Talked to Stephanie about my proposal and the metaphors that can be found in natural disasters. Worked on my digital painting of a tornado and my blog for about 2 hours.  

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered

This week’s huge accomplishment was finally going to the College of Creative Studies to get some tips on how to improve my digital painting skills. I meet with a friend of a friend who used to tutor other students during the summer, but they have been busy with classes. I learned a lot! I mostly watched my tutor start a digital painting, they were illustrating a children’s book page. They suggested that I sketch my compositions out so that I would be able to do color studies and renderings on the computer as many times as I want.  I got confirmation on the knowledge and skills I already knew, such as the brushes I created in Photoshop being well made and how I start painting from dark to light being correct. I practiced using opacity drops in the brushes I created and how to go about creating proper shadows in environmental settings. The meeting could have been a bit longer, but I will be in touch with my tutor and schedule more sessions. It felt great getting proper feedback on my skills, I came out feeling more confident about my abilities and my IP project. I was afraid to hear that maybe my skills were too poor to carry out my project, but got the reassurance that I needed to keep at it!  I even got some insight and feed back on my natural disasters topic from other art students who were hanging around CCS or knew the person helping me. Religious aspects and the psyche phenomena as to why natural disasters occur was a huge topic that formed a small group around us for a good while. It was fun just talking about my topic, it made me think more creatively and feel more comfortable with my project-explaining it and why I want to make it. 

Sketching out and drafting compositions of my natural disasters was good, even though it took a bit longer than I thought. The note cards and key words I came up with last week really pushed me to get my ideas for each disaster down on paper. Creating the delicate and chaotic look for the disasters with tracing paper, pens, color pencil, Copic markers, and pencils, emphasized the paradox of how beautiful and terrifying my disasters can be. When sharing my sketches with my small group on Tuesday, people really enjoyed the materials and especially the tracing paper I used to map out my project. The feedback I got helped me realize that I should keep the delicate and hand drawn aspects in my work. The limited color used in my sketches was also an interesting aspect of my exploration because it really let the forms and actions of the natural disasters stand out. Below are my sketches.

Volcanic Eruption

Tornado

Earthquake

Hurricane

Avalanche

Tsunami

Out of all of my sketches, I liked the tornado composition the best because it displayed at the same time a fierce power and a beautiful form. I didn’t like my hurricane sketch because it’s hard to tell it's the eye of a hurricane. It seems that the eye/center is a less common aspect by which to identify a hurricane by. My earthquake sketch came out as earthy as I wanted it to be, but could use some more cracks and action. The volcanic eruption and tsunami sketches were ok, while the avalanche had a very unexpected composition in not having much snow fall. I enjoyed making the avalanche more obscure and cold then the rest. In contrast, the volcano came out really dark and liquidly. The tsunami seems to have more graceful aspects than the rest and that can be pushed more. Waves were harder to draw out than I anticipated because I wanted them to be recognizable but not too illustrative like Japanese paintings. My sketches will serve as references for when I start to digitally paint my natural disasters and keep me in practice of drawing out the forms for when I use my digital tablet. Drawing more and continuing to sketch compositions would also be good for me. 

In speaking with Stephanie, she recommended me to look at Anselm Kiefer's work because of how impacting, powerful, and yet beautiful his work can be. I have seen some of Anselm Kiefer’s work in person and love it, but I never made the connection that my work can be impacting and visually demanding the way his is. In finding Anselm Kiefer’s Heaven and Earth piece, I saw the earthy elements of surprise, power, and complex beauty I want my earthquake to have! It was great to revisit some of his work and make connections to my direction and project. Stephanie also suggested investigating other ways people have responded or expressed nature or natural disasters. We spoke about poems, stories, and fairy tales such as the Wizard of Oz that feature natural disasters in a metaphorical sense. Fairy tales and poems about natural disasters will defiantly be worth exploring.  

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/anselmkiefer-at-sfmomahtml.html

What I think I should do next

I will be digitally painting my tornado natural disaster based of my sketch, applying the tips and skills I learned from my tutor. This is what I want to present on Tuesday and get feedback on my skills and composition. I also plan on exploring more metaphors and different meaning of nature and natural disasters in fairy tales, novels, and maybe the physic or religious aspects. Drawing/sketching more is something I should keep doing to further develop my skills and creativity. Lindsay suggested I try drawing on Denril paper, so I will be trying that on a sheet she gave me and compare it the tracing paper I’ve been using. I’m also curious to see how I can print on it and how it looks in contrast to the drawings I’ve made of my natural disasters.

Weekly IP Blog #3

What I did

Sun. 9/25/11: 3 hours, 25mins

I did more ideation on my natural disasters topic. How it can refer to social impacts, how people or the media explain why they occur, and how natural disasters are relevant today because they are occurring more often.  Some doubts then started to arise from my ideations, such as my project being too much like the weather channel or too scientific. I want to make my natural disasters look powerfully modern and, not boring. I started taking notes on key words that would describe each natural disaster. 

Mon. 9/26/11: 3 hours

keeping in mind that my project did not need to be so geographic, I looked at a lot of natural disaster illustrations and images. I took notes on the emotions and words that would pop into my head when going through the images. Based on that, I then created note cards full of key words and feelings I wanted my own natural disasters to convey and personify. I posted these note cards of key words and feelings for each disaster on my studio wall.

Tues. 9/27/11: 1 hour working on my rough draft for my proposal and the class exercise. 2 hours and half meeting with class partners and taking notes on each other’s projects. We discussed each of our new habits, how they worked, and aspects of our projects we were unsure of.  I also sketched for about 45min, getting new paper, markers, and pens in order to better draft my ideas.

Weds. 9/28/11: 2 hours sketching

I sketched out some storm compositions I had in mind. I worked with Copic markers, pencil, and pens. I plan to scan my best sketches next week to use as references for my digital paintings. 

Thurs. 9/29/11: 2 hours and a half of class discussion about our proposal drafts, edited my partner’s proposals, and gave each other a lot of feedback. Worked for about an hour on setting new goals for the week. Continued my sketch from Wednesday night for about another hour.

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered

By making note cards with key words and feelings for each natural disaster, I really got to step back and look at my information from a different point of view. The note cards were also my new habit of the week; I tend to make tiny notes in my sketchbook in a list format just for me. By posting the note cards on my studio wall, others were able to better understand and see what I wanted my project to be. It really presented my ideas more clearly, especially when I later shared them with my partners and peers from class. The note cards also helped me distinguish each natural disaster, their characteristics, and helped me decide what aspects they should convey. I also discovered what aspects I didn’t want my disasters to represent, such as the negative aftermaths, or details such as the hurricane not depicting cold whirlwinds the way the avalanche should.  I also encountered the overlapping characteristics and connections between some of the natural disasters, such as the similarities tsunamis and hurricanes have in being powerful through water.  The fallowing is an image of the note cards on my studio wall. 

Natural disasters note cards  

In meeting with my class partners Jimmy and Kyle in each of our studios on Tuesday, we got to give each other a lot of feed back on our new habits and projects. I got to share with them my note cards and they liked them a lot. They understood that my project was more about personifying natural disasters, referencing nature’s incredible power. By also working on my proposal this week, I understood more what I wanted my project to be about and why. I want to personify natural disasters to show people how nature is powerful and take them away from the media's negative light. That’s why I want to capture both the beauty and terror in natural disasters, nature is incredible and society tends to forget that. With this being clearer to me, I am able to sketch and draw out compositions for my project with more ease.  I realized drawing more would help me get more practice in painting out my ideas with my tablet. Below is the sketch of a composition I had in mind after making all the note cards and going over my proposal.

 The class edits on Thursday for our proposal was also great! I learned that the strongest part of my proposal was at the bottom of the second paragraph. That’s where I mention that the media tends to put natural disasters in a negative light, and that I want to show nature’s power within the beauty and terror that natural disasters have. I also learned that parts of my explanation about a new digital style was vague. I sat down with Juliet to discuss what parts to keep and what parts to take out from my proposal. I now feel a lot more comfortable about writing my IP proposal.

As for an inspiring artist this week, I’ve been struck by Oliver Vernon’s paintings. His abstract and very active paintings are in the style I’ve been imagining to capture in my natural disaster series.  His free, flowing strokes really hint to the power and beauty found in nature, yet it embodies a kind of chaos.  I really enjoy looking at the mix of different movements and strokes of color in his work. 

His website: http://www.oliververnon.com/  

Oliver Vernon, Last Stop, acrylic on panel

What I think I should do next

My goal for next week is to go meet a tutor at the College of Creative Studies to get some pointers on my digital painting. The new guy I have been in contact with was very busy last weekend, so we have planed to meet up this weekend instead. He is a student at CCS and has been recommend from some friends I have in Detroit. Another part of my goal is to finish 6 drawing sketches of the natural disasters I want to paint digitally. This way I can use my sketches as references for next week when I start digitally painting some compositions. I hope to further my passion and vision for the natural disasters I want to create.

 

Weekly IP Blog #2

What I did

Sun. 9/18/11: 3 hours, 45min.

Researched more graphic design topics, themes, and different projects I could possibly do. Found new very inspiring artists and work! I developed my I.P. ideas on variations of scale, printing methods, transparencies, and lighting for my work. Sketched possible display ideas for my project and things I found interesting during my research. 

Tues. 9/20/11: 3 hours 1/2.

Looked for books, images, and researched in the Fine Arts Library. Spoke with librarians about image databases the university provides. I reflected back on the small group meetings we had and why I liked my natural disasters idea more.  

  

Weds. 9/21/11: 2 hours and 1/2.

Looked up more in depth the topics and artists suggested to me from the group meeting Tuesday. Went through tutorials about clouds and sky effects. I also explored more websites on digital painting. 

Thurs. 9/22/11: about 2 hours. Plus 45min or so looking back on the work I did this past week.

Took photos of the sky, sun, and leafs, for reference.  Also did a bit of research on photography and photographers’ styles in capturing nature. Considered the differences between Illustrations of nature vs. photos of nature.

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered

A big accomplishment I made this week was gaining more confidence in my natural disasters idea.  I learned more about photography and all the great possibilities I could have in displaying and printing off this idea. I learned about websites and companies that print on fabric, glass, and aluminum. I also discovered new artists and photographers. 

The painter Mark Garro was very inspiring to me because his paintings incorporated nature and landscapes of storms in an almost realistic yet fantasy fashion that I had envisioned doing. I especially loved his painting with water and snow. The image below is “Nigh School” from one of his recent shows. 

http://markgarro.com/shows/psychopomp-and-circumstance/

The photographer Lori Nix was also recommended to me because of her use of depth perception, capturing the mock ups of nature or landscapes she created. Her snow and peaceful images are very inspiring for the avalanche digital painting I want to create.

http://www.lorinix.net/kansas/index.html

I encountered that the hard thing about my project is how much realism do I want or need in order for each natural disaster to be recognized.  I could use images with digital painting or just paint and use my own effects with out realistic images. The idea of experiencing a natural disaster through big digital prints or prints on windows keeps creeping in. Do I want to convey the experience or portray just the irony of beauty and terror in natural disasters?     

What I think I should do next

For next week I plan to further push my natural disasters idea because it became much more concrete this week.  Last week I was still looking at other graphic work and projects, and now I want to try to merge the digital fine art aspects I love with my fascination of the irony natural disasters have in being both beautiful and terrifying. I need to develop my digital skills, so I will work on that this weekend with a student from CCS.  I also will take on a “new habit” by posting note cards on my studio wall for each natural disaster I am interested in depicting. I will also come up with key words to go with each disaster and set the styles/moods I want them to portray (either individually or together). I’ll be looking more in the books for inspiration and ideation.       

Clouds?

Here is one of my digital painting experiments in painting clouds and treea. I discovered a new way of paining clouds, different from my original process because this used more color and gradient curve layering. I liked the greenish tornado clouds I created within a dark mysterious setting.