A Compelling Video

The Police - Every Breath You Take

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOGaugKpzs

          I find this video to be very compelling in many ways. First, in the lighting. The lighting for this video is just simple black and white which is less common in the 80's. The 80's was a time for brighter neon colours, or patterns and so it having more of a somber look makes it stand apart from other videos. When I say somber, I don't necessarily mean depressing but it doesn't make you feel good inside. The black and white look is also giving off a dramatic feel. Especially when the lighting switches from one side of the face to the other (0:45-46). Once it switches, the video seems darker and you realize there is a purpose for this switch.

          I find that when you first listen to this song or hear about it, you think it's coming from a romantic side. This video starts out in a way that could be, until he looks directly into the camera as saying, "I'll be watching you". This gives you the creeped out feeling and makes you realize that this video isn't really romantic, but looking at the darker side of things; the things that make you feel on edge.

          The editing is kind of choppy in this video. There isn't always a smooth transition. Sometimes it's just like the scene cuts, and in other times it slowly fades into another part. For example, at one point the bow from a violin becomes the end of the guitar and that works beautifully. But there is also another point where the footage just pauses and the screen splits in half as something from the background moves forward. However, for some reason, the choppiness seems to fit and work for this music. 

          The seriousness of the video and facial expressions give off the emotion of the song. The dramatic filming of the instruments also helps with that. 

Overall, I think this video is pretty well done.

Thanks!

Music Videos - Reflection

          1.) Going over the many different decades of music videos, I have noticed how things change throughout the years. Clothing changes, environment changes, people change, music styles change, quality of video changes. I like this because it encourages change now, and allows some room and options of how to film videos.

          2.) Moving backward from 2016, I love the Arcade Fire video idea to 'We Used to Wait'. Music videos are always better when the viewer can relate to whomever is the ''character'' in the video, and this one is perfect because you can literally see your own neighborhood in the background. It makes you feel as if you were there the whole time. This is such a unique way to make a video, but I can't imagine the work it took to put it together. That makes me believe it's art; not being able to wrap my head around the time and way the captivating and relatable video was put together. I also believe a-Ha's music video for 'Take On Me' is amazing. The amount of detail is insane, and truly stands out from other videos because of it's unique style and literal art put into it. One other of the many videos that I believe is art is OK Go's 'Here It Goes Again'. This idea is just so outside of the box and truly involved planning even though it is just a simple camera on the stand. They use themselves and dance on something you don't usually dance on so it gets the attention on the audience. I personally think it's kind of genius. Lastly, the final video I will mention is Blur's 'Coffee & TV'. This video is so cute. Mixing the cartoon feel with real life is so clever and I'm sure wasn't too common at the time. This once again is outside the box and inspires more of it's kind.

          3.) Things that I notice have changed throughout the years is clothing styles, environment, people, and music styles (like I mentioned earlier). Clothing doesn't necessarily have a dedicated time anymore because styles come in and out all of the time, but people go from wearing checkerboard patterns to floral, to outrageous costume-like outfits in music videos. Nowadays, there is also a lot of nudity, so... no style. Environments have changed going from just a white screen behind to running outside, or being in homes. Also other footage has been brought into videos featuring historical sights or planes and amusement parks. Artists have changed and the music trends changed too, so many times and in so many ways it's hard to describe and you must see for yourself.

          4.) Arcade Fire's 'We Used to Wait' is set apart from any video in the past because of it's interactions with the viewers. Not only can you maybe relate to the "main character" and how he feels, but you can see your own neighborhood all around and that is fantastic to see.

          5.) Music videos in the future can either get better or worse. I feel like they are going to get worse for a little while, but pick up. Right now, shock factor is what makes videos go viral and huge and nudity really gets attention from this society. I think this will continue until viewers get sick of it and then there will maybe be a new clothing style that brings in a whole new shock.

Thanks :)

Themed Portraits

          For this project, we were to come up with a theme that we would like to somehow incorporate in our series of photos. Originally, I wanted to do a group of photos where people were just laughing. It captures moments where happiness is present, and I loved the idea of that. But then, when I first started shooting I got a couple images where the subject was just singing and snapping. That's when I decided I just wanted my them to be 'Real Moments'. That could be laughing, smiling, or anything that captures a true moment that isn't usually captured. The photos below, in my opinion, show 'Real Moments'.

Relaxed and Just Doing Her Thing Before She Knew I Was Shooting...

When She Found Out Something Shocking That My Classmate Told Her...

One of My Classmates Had Complimented Her and This Was Her Response...

 She Heard Her Favourite Christmas Song Come on and She Started Jamming...

The Feeling of Being Photographed Made Her Feel Awkward...

          As you can see, lighting changed between the black background and completely white. For the black background, I had the black backdrop down and one light. This light was the bigger light and it was off the the side of the subject outside of the 'safe zone' (refer to diagram in post before). I had my assistant act as a boomer and hold the light almost above my model. This gave me a bit more of a harsher light and dramatic look, but I liked it with the black background and it seemed to go well with the girl I was taking shots of.

          For the photos with the completely white background, there was a little more set-up needed. To keep the background white and not grey, I changed the backdrop and then put two lights of the same height and power 4 feet from the wall. These lights were just along the edges of the backdrop and aimed just to the right and left of the centre giving even light all along. Then there was the big light being held by my assistant just above from the side once again. The power of that light was not as high as the portraits with the black background making it a little softer on the subject. There wasn't really a reason for why I changed the background, it was just a different day and other people needed the room meaning I couldn't turn off all of the lights for the intense dark background.

          I held the camera vertically because I wanted portraits so it follows the direction of the body. All of their expressions are in the moment. They were not posed or planned, I simply just sat there with the camera until the right time to snap came. Some expressions show what calm looks like, some show confusion, awkwardness or just happiness. I love real expressions and I'm happy I could capture just a few of them!

Thanks for reading this post!

       

Portrait Lighting Workshop w/ Steve Carty

*Please note that these photos were taken by me*

Open Shadow

          This photo was taken at the very beginning of our workshop outside in open shadow. It was a fairly cloudy day so most of the area was slightly shaded meaning still a lot of natural light around, but not as much as direct sunlight. I placed my subject on a plain blue door originally which was good because it wasn't distracting. However, I moved slightly to the right and took this shot. I personally like it because of the colours. The blue with the colour of the brick wall is great. The diagonal line separating the door and the wall actually leads you toward the face since it's in the same area. Because I was up close to the model, though, I got a shot where most of the frame is taken up by his face, leaving the background as not too much of a distraction. His expression gives a mood to the photo. He is serious, which are photos that I tend to take, and calm. His expression intrigues the viewer. This image is the first of three, each photographed vertically. Usually, when you take a portrait photo, you take it vertically because that's the direction the body goes. For this entire shoot, all photos stayed in the same direction.

Studio Lighting #1

          This photo was done inside the studio. The background, as you can see, is completely white. This is done by having two lights four feet from the wall, evenly distanced from the middle. It is important that the two lights are the same height as well. The light that is on the left has to be aimed just to the right of the centre of the backdrop, and the light on the right must be aimed just to the left of the centre. All of this gives you an even background as a crisp white which looks very professional. I was using another light for this shot that was directly behind me and above the both of us. This light was giving a more dramatic look which is good on male models. I also took the white side of a reflector and had it placed on the subject's lap. This lightened up the chin just a slight bit from the light reflecting off the white surface, making a noticeable difference. My model's expression is more one of worry. He gives off an innocent look, much different from the photo below. The positioning in the frame is vertical, once again, for the same reason as before.

Studio Lighting #2

          This photo was taken in the studio as well, and was the last photo that I snapped. As you can see, the lighting technique is different from the other two images. This time, I turned off the backlights so the backdrop would look more grey in the photo. Then, instead of having a light above the two of us, it was placed beside the subject. This gave off, again, a more dramatic look and also gave the rembrandt lighting where there is a triangle of light under the opposite eye. No reflector was used for this one. Expression has changed from one of worry, to confidence and mischief. It's like there is no shame when looking into the camera, which is intriguing. The colour of the background goes well with the colour of the sweater, tying the whole look in. Lastly, the image is vertical again because that's the direction of the body, and it works with the pose the model is in. 

This is a diagram of what the studio set up was like, including the lights that I used.

Thank you so much for sticking with me!

Portrait Assignment - Open Shadow / Window Light / Direct Sunlight

The photos below are photos that HAVE been taken by me, and I am going to share why I chose these photos to represent open shadow, window light, and direct sunlight.

Open Shadow

          This photo represents open shadow. I got my model to sit beside a wall and look to the side directly into the camera. I love the emotion in her face. She isn't smiling, but she doesn't necessarily look unhappy. I am proud of the composition since the brick wall clearly brings in the rule of thirds. I like the fact that her glasses are in focus. Usually photographers aim for the eyes to be in focus, but with this image, the glasses seem to direct your eyes to the model's. Lastly, I love how everything ties in. The brick wall goes great alongside the model's glasses, and the ground ties in with her eyes. The mix of everything, I believe, really makes this photo work. 

Window Light

          This photo represents window light. The model is tilting her head down with her eyes closed, which gives off this calming feel to it. She isn't in the centre of the photo, but instead she is just off of it, which I like. The background is so light because of how much light is coming in, but the bottom left shows just a bit of what is going on outside. Not enough to clearly define action, but enough to allow more colour in. I think the colours are nice in this photo, and there is some nice contrast between her hair, the shirt and, of course, the window.

Direct Sunlight

          The photo above represents direct sunlight. I love the colours in this photo, along with the contrast between the hair, the skin, the shirt and the background. The model is just off centre which is again, a feature I like to include, and there is even a leading line given by the fence toward her face. The glasses lead your eyes to hers, and her emotion is calm. She has happy eyes, and a semi-smile on. It seems as if the model really interacted with the camera.


Thanks for checking this post out!

Online Art Theft & Plagiarism

         Have you ever copied and pasted a photo of someone's artwork and uploaded it somewhere? Have you ever reposted something on Tumblr or Pinterest and not given the artist credit?

          Plagiarism and Online Art Theft is a problem in today's time. Internet is so useful and definitely has plus sides to it, I'm not being someone who says that isn't true. However, the internet can also have a downside for up and coming artists. When people post photos of their artwork online, whether that's Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr or anything else, it's is so easy for someone to take it and label it as theirs.  Yes, it gets exposure for the artist, but when there is no label, is it really exposure for them?

          Ideas are a huge part of what's important to today's artists and society. There seems to be a difference between now and back then. Back then, it was as if the technical process of creating the artwork was a bigger deal than just the idea of it. When someone stole the look AND copied exactly how they portrayed it within the brush strokes, etc. that's when it became a problem. Now, if an artist, new or old, comes up with an idea and somehow creates it but someone comes along and recreates something so similar it's barely changed to become new and unique, problems start rising. There are so many pages that could go on and on about huge companies such as Zara, or Urban Outfitters that consistently copy artist's work. So as said earlier, it doesn't matter whether it was off Etsy, or a pinterest post, when the idea of someone's has been taken nowadays and been mass produced without giving any credit, the world goes crazy.

          What's sad is huge companies, such as Zara or Urban Outfitters, have so much money that when a single artist wants to sue them for the stealing they are taking part in, they may as well give up. Big companies get great lawyers, meaning anyone who wants to fight back needs to have a good one as well. Good lawyers cost money, though, and when people aren't getting credited or paid for the artwork people or companies are stealing, they then don't have the money to pay for that lawyer meaning they get no where in the legal battle.

          Personally, I feel that if using someone's artwork is going toward something valuable like an education/marks, work and being paid, then credit should definitely be given. Or if you see that the piece of artwork is going around social media very quickly, find out who the artist is and continue to send on the name. It's fair that way, and if you were the artist, I'm sure you would want the public to do the same for you. If you choose to just put a picture that inspires you on your bedroom wall at home, then it's fine in my eyes.  That's personal and you aren't taking credit. It's just once it becomes public that the world needs to know who the true artist behind it was.


Thanks for reading!

Photography - Window Light / Natural Sunlight / Open Shadow

*Please note that I did not take these photos*

Window Light 

I love the look of this photo because it is closer to the subject. The light isn't just a regular light on her face but it shows a uniqueness from the blinds. I want to capture a photo similar to this because the woman isn't quite smiling, but she's not quite serious. You want to know what she is thinking, leaving that bit of mystery which is great.

Natural Sunlight

  I love this photo of this woman in natural sunlight and I would love to create one close to it. I love the look of freedom she gives off. She isn't quite smiling, she just seems relaxed. The wind is blowing  through her hair which really gives off a candid feel to it, and I think it's great. Plus, she is just off centre so the composition works well too.

Open Shadows

  This photo with the tree shadow is super nice. She is mostly covered by shadow but there is a touch of natural light showing through. The woman shows emotion without smiling, which I really want because I don't like to capture the typical, posed smile. It seems like she wants to hide and just take time to think - outside, in the fresh air and away from the world.

These photos inspire me to take ones like it!

DSLR Photograph Examples

FAST Shutter Speed

   This is an example of a photo taken with a faster shutter speed. I have figured this out because you can see the action as if it has frozen in time. In order to capture a quick action like a bubble being popped, the shutter must close extremely fast.

SLOW Shutter Speed

   This is an example of a slow shutter speed image. I can tell there is a slow shutter speed because it is as if the action is drawn out. The shutter is slower when it comes to shutting which means it takes in the movement and captures all of it. It seems to all be blurred. 

SHALLOW Depth of Field

   The photo above shows Depth of Field. Because of the positioning and where the focus is, you see the back and the front but everything in between seems to be taken away. Therefore, it seems that there isn't a lot of distance. 

 

WIDE Depth of Field

This is wide depth of field because you can see the foreground, background and everything in between, You can really feel the distance involved. 

That's it for my first post of Year 3!

Kinetic Typography Culminating

This is my kinetic typography assignment :)

Thanks for watching!

Self Portraits for Painting

 Self Portrait that painting is based off of:

Still Life Drawing - Bunny and Skull

Our Still Life Assignment

Principles of Animation

I'M GONNA MAKE IT BETTER - Kinetic Typography

     I think that this I'm Gonna Make It Better is a unique and creative, yet simple video. I love it, and I can't take my eyes off of it. This video displays multiple principles of animation. Three that are presented are Squash And Stretch, Anticipation and Appeal. Squash and stretch is shown at 0:25, when the big blob becomes a more mustache shape and bounces. It also is shown during 0:30 - 35 when all of the letters from "GONNA" change constantly. Lastly, you see it during the 0:50 - 55 section. Anticipation is brought in the video in a few spots as well. First, at 0:23 when you don't know what will happen with the big blob. Then, at 0:46 because the group of words are shaking and you can't tell if the two groups will collide, or what. Also, at 0:54 seconds there is anticipation because of the drop from the top. Appeal is shown throughout the entire video. All the font changes attract different people in the audience at the beginning, and at the end with the colourful font.

 That's what I noticed!

TO THIS DAY - A Kinetic Typography Video

TO THIS DAY - KINETIC TYPOGRAPHY

      This video is not only powerful through the words, but also is powerful through the way the kinetic typography is laid out. Red letters show off how important the chosen words are, and it begins to make you think of hurt and anger built up. The blue font brings in the sadness one feels. The black font when the voice says "empty", makes you feel empty because black is a colour that seems to make us feel trapped in a situation we don't want to be in. Yet all of the colours together somehow show unity. The font choice is very clean-cut and bold, giving off the serious feeling. It gets right to the point, with nothing else distracting you from the impactful text. The waiting and fading once the sentence is done, allows you to take in what you are hearing and focus on it. That gives the message more emotion. The words hitting the animated person really shows how throwing out insults is like a hit in the face to people. The movement of the words is fast paced, but still slow enough to give you the ability to read it and understand what's going on. They move in a choppy way, but a powerful, firm and bold way. Some words forming shapes and pictures is clever and allows you to have a new perspective and visual on the situation described. It also brings in unity once again. When you put visuals (both regular AND ones made by text), movement, and an effective font choice together with different colours of text being brought in, a beautiful kinetic typography video can be made. To This Day is definitely an exceptional project.

That's all!

Helvetica (The Movie) Quotations Blog

"Don't confuse legibility with communication. Just because something is legible doesn't mean it communicates and, more importantly, doesn't mean it communicates the right thing."

- David Carson-

"Most people who use Helvetica, use it because it's ubiquitous. It's like going to McDonalds instead of thinking about food. Because it's there, its on every street corner, so let's eat crap because it's on the corner."

-Erik Spiekermann-

     I, and many others, believe that fonts have a time and a place. You wouldn't see Comic Sans on a resume for a job, and you wouldn't see Times New Roman on a Coca Cola bottle. Fonts don't just write down what you want to say, but they also give off an image and have meaning. They describe what someone is selling and advertise it in it's own little way so that when you think of that object, you know the font too. The font that a designer chooses makes an impact on all of it's viewers.

    There is a font named Helvetica, and this font is clean and clear. It's a font that gets to the point and many people love that about it. But sometimes the clean and clear is boring. It doesn't give off character, and begins to seem like whoever is using it, is using it just because they can or just because it's available. Erik Spiekermann says this, in a way, about Mcdonalds. I personally feel that Helvetica shouldn't be used for many things other then essays or advertising/discussing serious things. Fonts should be changed up with the object you are tagging it along with, and that would help it be more unique and effective than having one describe all. Clean and clear isn't always the answer.

That's all for today! Thanks :)

Mainstage's Tattered Seams - Tshirt and Poster

T-shirts

      In order to come up with this design for the shirt, there was a lot of brainstorming needed. I looked on Pinterest to find out what other circus staff shirts look like, and I looked to find out what is commonly found in circuses. Things that came up were mirrors like ones found in dressing rooms, dancers, and rings with fire. There were some others, but the ones that I stated were the ones that stuck in my mind. Because I also knew that there were actors who act as tigers in the play, I kept the idea of the ring of fire and incorporated the other small ideas to soon become the logo on the shirt. My Mom helped me envision the design a little bit more, honestly. To finish the thought process off, I also wanted to add playful letters spelling out "Amardo Family Circus", because that's the kind of lettering you find when you visit a 'fun' place like a circus.

      So because I did more of a staff shirt instead of a shirt just advertising the play, I didn't try to show too much of the fact that the circus the Amardo family is running isn't actually as good as it seems. When people advertise their own business, they don't purposely try to present what's wrong inside, so I didn't in my shirt. I used black, white and red as the main colours because that was one of the suggested themes from our client. However, I tried to have something of white separating the two red sections from each other so there wasn't big red chunks. I did playful lettering like a circus, and it's in a curve so that there is movement.

     To create this shirt, I jumped into Illustrator. That gave me the ability to scan in a photo of the drawing that was made during brainstorming, and make it with the pen tool and paint bucket. I used the text tool, and downloaded free fonts to try out. It took a few tries of different fonts to get the right one, but eventually I found one that I thought fit together well. Many layers were involved, and a photo of a ring of fire was used to help re-create it. The layers allowed me to work on different sections of the logo at different times. There weren't too many other challenges that I faced. The process went quite smoothly.

     I am pretty satisfied with my final product. I think it is pretty unique with the mixing of the mirror and lights, the ring of fire, and the ring master in the middle of everything. It's not something you typically see on shirts, so that goal was achieved. I think after looking at it so much, I lose the feelings I get from it and can't tell whether I am really happy with it or not. But I know that I am satisfied, and I didn't do too bad. There are always things I can fix, and if there was a clever idea that came to mind to spruce it up a little, I probably would have used it. That is how I feel about my shirt design altogether.

Poster

For this poster, I wanted a mysterious look. When I found out that there are tigers in the play, I realized I could add in part of a tiger's head. The eyes I coloured red so that the darkness and boldness shows through. The eyes add the mystery I wanted. I wanted to add in a ring, and have a unique font for the name of the play. Of course, the name of the woman who wrote it would be presented, and the prices of tickets along with the dates of the performance. Our client also wanted a quote from the script incorporated, so I made a mental note to add that in as well.

     In the poster, you can see the tiger and it's red eyes, a curved line, and red and white font on top of a dark background. Just like I stated before, the red in the tiger's eyes add mystery. The circus in the play is not as happy as it seems on the outside. Inside, the family running it is falling apart like tattered seams. It's dark inside just like the uninviting eyes. The red title connects to that too and I think it helps form unity with the eyes. The font is curvy and playful in a way, but also stiff and creepy. The curved line adds movement and brings to mind a ring like a ring of fire that the tiger jumps through. The white lettering brings in contrast to get the viewers of the poster to look.

    To put this together, I used both Photoshop and Illustrator. First, on Photoshop I got the background. Then I found a photo of a tiger head outline and traced it, editing the colour of the black and changing the eyes. On Illustrator, I used the Elipse tool to create a hoop which I then dragged onto my Photoshop file to separate the information for viewers from the tiger image. Just using the Text tool, I added all the other information like who is presenting the play, the writer of the play, the prices for tickets, and the dates of the play. I made the quote a different font from the others because I wanted it to stand out. It's at the bottom to leave everyone thinking. I can say that while creating this poster, I didn't run into any real problems. It went pretty smoothly.

I personally feel proud of my work. I think that it met most of the needs, and is attractive. However, I also understand that someone who looks at this won't know automatically that the play is about a circus. I know that it is pretty important for the people of the school to know basic information about the play and my poster doesn't give too much of that. I learned that I could add in a few more small details relating to Tattered Seams, which could also make my poster a little bit less plain.

That's all, and thanks for reading this long post!

Photo Realism Presentation

Advanced Photoshop Technique

Tutorial For A Smoke Effect on Photoshop CS6

    In this tutorial you learn how to add a smoke effect onto your project in Photoshop CS6. It creates a look that seems hard to achieve, but really is not. All you need to do is place a photo into Photoshop, and place a mask on it. This time you don't want the usual white mask, you want a black mask and white paintbrush. Then, you go into all of the brush options on the top left corner of the program, and scroll until you find the kind that looks like smoke. Click it, and make sure that your brush is coloured white so that you can bring forward parts of the real image underneath the black mask. Then just start! You can choose what angle the smoke is on and where you place it. Once you have done it all, you're done! 

    The video is pretty good at explaining the basics, but for me I find it hard for anyone to explain. I had to actually make one on my Photoshop at home to fully understand. 

    This effect would be cool to use on a more serious poster, or just to make movie advertisement. You could also do it just for fun at home to create cool projects.

That's all :)

Until next time!

Quick Photoshop Masking Assignment

     In this quick assignment, our goal was to get used to using masks again on Photoshop CS6. After refreshing myself with a tutorial online, I threw this together. 

     For this piece, I found an image of one of my favourite artists, Kari Jobe, and also found a photo of a nice grass-y surrounding. I placed the grass image in my Photoshop tab and then placed the Kari Jobe image on after. Then, I placed a white mask on the image of my artist. This allows me to paint with the black brush. The black brush allows me to see whats underneath the photo. So after placing the image of Kari Jobe down in the place I wanted, I took the brush tool with the black colour, and painted just around her body. This showed the grass that was underneath the photo, therefore blending the two together slightly. To blend some more and get a little bit of a better effect, I used Curves in the adjustments bar. This allowed me to play with the colour a little bit more, and so I made sure that the light on her face was a little bit brighter because realistically, the sun would be on her face if she were to be looking in that direction.

     Masks are good because you can make things look like they are there, when they actually weren't there in the first place. It is also nice to use masks because it is a separate layer in which the actual image won't be damaged. There are many ways you can use masks, and this is just one. If I had more time, I would move Kari Jobe to the right a bit because of where the original image was cut. That would make the fact that she wasn't actually there, less obvious.

That's all!

Bye for now :)

Pixel Portrait

GIF

PNG

   For this assignment, each student had to choose an image of themselves and remake it as a small icon. However, it wasn't just a simple outline and colour in job. It was a pixel by pixel task.

   Above, two versions of the same assignment is shown. One is saved as a 'gif' and the other is as a 'png'. At first it seems like there is no difference between the two, but when you take a closer look you can see that the 'png' is just in the slightest bit lighter than the 'gif' (this may just be my screen, but hopefully you see it too). In terms of quality, they are both okay. If I had to choose which one was actually better I think I would choose the 'png' one. Because it is slightly lighter, the colours seem to blend more. When it is darker, each pixel is more defined, and obvious. So having the whole image a little bit lighter, takes away some of the edge but not the whole pixel effect that was supposed to be achieved. But if you want better and bolder colours, then the 'gif' would also be good quality. 

  While trying to complete this assignment, I tried to get the shadows from the hair on the left in the original picture, onto the face. That would be why half of my face is not the same colour as the other. But as I tried to accomplish this, I realized it didn't look that good. That is where my weak point was in this. When choosing colours, I tried to choose ones that were close to my skin tone. But if you think about it, all of your skin is not ONE colour. It is multiple mixed together, and so as you can see, I put many together in order to achieve that effect.

   So the actual process of making this icon was kind of long. It wasn't long in the number of days, because that was only two days. However, because this assignment is basically pixel by pixel, each part of the picture was time consuming. First, I chose the photo I wanted to remake. Then, I placed it in Photoshop to work with it. My white background is 100 x 150 pixels, with 72 pixels/inch. I made sure that the picture was on a separate layer, first, and then created another layer for each part I began to remake (eyes, hair, skin, etc). Then, I grabbed the pencil tool, chose a colour, and started remaking it with the picture underneath. I kept changing colours, and by using the eyedropper tool I was able to get the colours closest to my skin tone and the actual colours of my hair, etc. Honestly, that is it! I just kept colouring each section little by little, until it was complete. Then I saved it, and am posting it.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this art piece, and thanks for reading :)

Bye for now! 

Chinese Watercolour Painting

       Chinese Watercolour painting was a very popular type of art that was done in China thousands of years ago. There are multiple categories of paintings that were done. One category is Flower and Bird painting. This used many bright colours and different kinds of lines. Paintings of orchids, blossoms with birds and bamboo fall under this category. Below is an example of a piece of art done in Flower and Bird style.

        This painting was probably done on a thicker piece of paper, due to the need of absorbing the water and colour from the strokes. Usually the paper was made of bark and pulp or rice. The strokes used and the colours that are used are supposed to enhance the characteristics of the object being drawn. This painting has a simple and clear background, making the art look not too crowded. Having negative space was/is just as important as the positive space. It also allows the viewer to follow the lines of the branch leading to the bird, the main subject. When Chinese watercolour paintings are done, the brush is held with three fingers. It is as if you are making the peace sign and adding our thumb. Lastly, the seal going down the side adds a touch of beauty. The artist puts a lot of thought into where they are going to sign their name and seal it with a fiery red colour. 

That is it for my first post in Year 2!