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!