Below in this post you will find 7 out of 8 projects that I worked on over the course of the semester in my digital media class and explanations as to how I did them and my thoughts on the overall quality of the work. I truly enjoyed the assignments in this class and all that we had learned in the different programs we used. So let's begin!
With the canvas exercise I used specific codes in order to make triangles three distinct different sizes and shapes. I also used different colors and outlines with different widths/ends to separate them even further. I applied the same methods in order to do the second canvas exercise, only with three rectangles.
2. Canvas Landscape
The canvas landscape exercise incorporated all the methods we had learned in class to create different lines and/or shapes and apply different colors and borders around them. I did the basics by creating the sun, barn, dandelion, ladybug and cloud in the sky therefore fulfilling all of the requirement for the assignment. I used multiple different coding methods to create certain shapes in order to get the desired look I wanted for my landscape.
3. Logos
With this assignment, I vectored out an image of Naruto that was pixelated in order to enhance the quality of the overall digital illustration. I first started with the base colors of each section of the image (i.e. outfit, fist, hair, dagger, etc.) After all of the base colors were placed with the pen tool I went in and added the shadows, highlights and other minuscule details in order to make the image look more and more like the original from the show. I also went in with some line-work to create wrinkles in the clothing and other outlines to enhance the overall quality even more.
4. Calligram
My calligram, though unfinished, was going in a fairly good direction. By making certain words light/darker or larger/smaller in certain areas of the face it gave the illusion of light, shadow and depth. i was able to distinguish the eyebrows, eyes, forehead, nose, and mouth. Had I continued to finish the face and make adjustments in certain areas the face would be strikingly like the original photo I was basing it off of. With the work below, I was grasping the concept of the work very well and I believe it's ashamed I didn't make it a finished product.
5. Self portrait
I used the same technique for my self portrait as I did for my logo project above of Naruto. I used base colors to start from an original photo of myself and added in lighter/darker colors for shadows and highlights. Although, I'm not sure if this worked in my favor. Parts of this piece I am fond of are the eyes, shirt and the top left of the hair. Towards the end of the hair it started to get very difficult to create the strands as I was originally envisioning them and it looks more like a jumbled mess. I believe the shadows on the face were too harsh and that the nose does not look natural. Overall, I believe this illustration definitely can't be mistaken as anyone other than myself so I am happy with the outcome.
6. Cut & Paste
N/a
7. Colorization
Colorization in adobe photoshop was indeed a tedious task. I found that the most trouble I ran into was creating a skin tone that looked natural but overall I think the added color to this original black and white photo is pretty spot on. I used the lasso tool in order to create a selection around a certain object in the photograph. Following that I used the paint bucket and filled it in with a color of my choice that seemed fitting. Most of the time I would either set the color as an overlay or multiply and then I would mess around with other filters and settings until I got the desired look for the object. i was pretty pleased with how easy this process was even though it took so much time and I liked the outcome.
8. Living Landscape
I originally based this Living Landscape off of a photo I found online of the northern lights. The mitochondria's and baby bow legs act as purple and green northern lights in the midnight blue skin sky. The large beating heart, the moon, and red blood cells, the night stars.The overlapping ears create far off mountains with bright colors and dark shadows from the overhead lights. Fingerprints act as the dirt ground that extends beyond and ocean of stem cells. On the ground, a profile of a woman's face and a pregnant woman's belly act as closer mountains in the shadows. In the water, sperm act as creatures in the sea. I used all of the same techniques as I did in the colorization project above and was pretty happy with this outcome as well.
