It's Been a While

It seems like a lot has been going on since I last posted in this blog! We're on to building websites now, and if I thought photography was challenging- boy, I was so wrong!

We're learning the fundamentals of Html and CSS in order to build a website as our last assignment. I'm still trying to figure out the difference between both types of codes, so I'm posting some research here for the sake of my sanity.

HTML and CSS

According to research and class notes, Html or hyper text markup language was originally created to format or to display the content of a page, for e.g., by using basic tags such as

to show a paragraph or to make text bold. It wasn't necessarily created to code complex design elements. Though these elements (like tables, for eg) can be created with html, it presents a challenge for the web designer who must then code each page separately in html, especially for very large websites. CSS, or cascading style sheets was the solution. With one page of CSS code multiple pages of html can be formatted and displayed according to a similar 'theme' of the website. Html therefore seems to deal with organizing content while CSS deals with the visual and stylistic elements.

My Website- Inspiration

I'm in the process of building my website. Here's a list of websites/graphics that are sources of inspiration:

• Nubby Twiglet- like the typography and sharpness of layout. Also colour scheme.
• American Apparel- Yes, everyone's got something to say about the controversial sex-driven clothing company, but they've got good models with great poses, as well as cool clothes. I'm incorporating some computer drawn and hand-coloured models on the front page of my site that will be inspired by the American Apparel aesthetic. Of course, with a twist that makes it uniquely mine. It's gonna be awesome!
• Jasper Wong's portfolio- Like the colors, navigation, and style of artwork. Also simplicity of layout.

I really love Illustration

Since Danah's class on Illustration, I've been thinking a lot about what my style as an illustrator is, and I've been doing some practising and looking on the web for inspiration.

I love fashion illustration, and I love anything that utilizes watercolour, pencil, or pen and ink. Even though I love clean lines and minimalism when it comes to graphic design, I'm also cultivating a love for the messy and the imperfect.

I've been in love with Danny Roberts for a while now- he's a LA-based fashion illustrator who's been gaining a great deal of recognition in the Internet world (see above)

I'm not so sure if this is intentional, but do you see the way the pen is used to make the torso appear really crisp, but the coat draped over the model's shoulders is blurred? Perhaps it's the effect of the scanner, but it almost looks as though it's a play on depth of field.

Been digging Kareem Iliya as well. I love his style- simple, striking, stopping himself before it gets too complicated.

Martine Johanna does awesome stuff as well.... check out this blog for more illustration love.

The joys of Typography

Typography Poster

I've always been a huge fan of Typography- the creative ways that words are arranged on a page to produce patterns or just to create visual interest. Sometimes these words create pictures, like in the examples seen below.

I went looking for examples of typography online, and I realized that I really loved the effect of slanted text. I created a grid inspired by an example I found online: and then I shifted it using transform (CTRL+T) and shift. I followed the basic outline of the grid, but had to depart from it in order to create more spaces between lines so that the words wouldn't be too congested. (For eg, the spaces between Broadcast Animation, Web Design, Sound Editing, etc.)

I purposely did not include colour and only stuck to two types of font because I wanted the typography to be the showcase. I wanted to prove that I could create an eye-catching poster with text alone, and I'm pleased with the results! Below is the poster I handed in.. the only thing that could've been changed is the address at the bottom, which should have been bigger.

Kerning

My professor also pointed out that there were some irregular spaces in the type- there's an inexplicable space, for eg., between the 'L' and the 'T' in Multimedia. The kerning, or the space between the letters, needed to be adjusted (yay! learnt a new concept.) In order to increase or decrease the space between letters, click ALT + left or right arrow keys.

Below is the new version of the poster!

I definitely have to add that due to this course, I've been paying more attention to how type is used on everything from party invites to drink labels. Multimedia is the best.

I definitely wouldn't be getting my Typography project finished if it weren't for...

This.

Photoshop Madness

So, here's another challenge that's presented itself to me- Adobe Photoshop.

I used to use Photoshop a lot to make posters, etc, and as a substitute for Illustrator when I didn't have it on my machine, but now we've got to learn how to use it properly as part of my Multimedia course. As I'm beginning to realize, using Photoshop isn't as easy as it seems.

This is what I learnt in my first Photoshop class:

• Photoshop is for raster images (images that use pixels, and where you can't manipulate the points), Illustrator is for vector images (images where the points can be manipulated on a plane). I always thought of Illustrator as the drawing programme, and Photoshop as the editing programme. Looks like I wasn't half wrong!
• TAB gets rid of excess windows, F lays your picture against different coloured backgrounds so that it's easier to work with!
• How to resize images to a ratio. Select the crop tool and change height and width (we used 3:4)- no matter how large you make the box, it'll still be within your chosen ratio!
• That in the toolbox, tools are grouped according to their function. Handy guide above.
• How to make an image into the face of a CD. It's actually a longer and trickier process than can be imagined, but I'll post how it's done later!

And a lot more, but that's all for today!

And guess who's actually using things from class in the real world?

Me!

My friend Ian asked me to help him redesign a football shirt for his Med Sci football team at UWI. This is what I worked on so far... it's not just finished yet. Drawn from scratch by me! Working on the TVJ project Danah gave us helped a lot with this, as we had to design and draw a t-shirt for the television company as part of this assignment to rebrand them.

In other news, Damien Baddy's class seems to be helping me to become more versed in the language of photography. Through couchsurfing, I met a girl, Irina, who actually did photography as a major at FIT in NYC. We talked a lot about how to take good photos (her advice when I can't find how to make a subject appear interesting is to "go closer", as cryptic as that possibly sounds). I lamented that I was worried that my camera wasn't the best quality (I use my roommate's point and shoot because my camera's in Trinidad), and she told me that it's all about the magician, not the wand. This is either the most reassuring or the most disheartening advice on photography I've ever heard.

Portraits are Awesome

So, for our last photography assignment, we were supposed to take pictures that best represented ourselves using the techniques we learnt in class, like the rule of thirds that I mentioned in the last post. I tried experimenting with various concepts and ideas, but I decided in the end that I really wanted a simple self-portrait that expressed me. I played around with light and shadow and in the end I got some really cool effects that looked like they weren't even done with a simple point-and-shoot. All I did was point a lamp downwards and take pictures in the shadows created by the light.

Photography- Harder than it looks?

It seems like everyone today is a professional photographer- that once you've got enough money to afford a fancy SLR camera, you're automatically entitled to posting up the photos you've taken within the first half hour of purchase on your facebook page especially made to market yourself to all your contacts as an experienced professional ready for hire.

I guess this is why I've always been so skeptical about photography. It seems too much like an everyman's sport, like it doesn't involve as much skill, time and effort as laboriously sketching and painting a picture, or sculpting an image out of clay. Photography to me always seemed a necessary evil- something you had to do in order to capture an image of something that you needed to look at afterwards. I'm slowly (and reluctantly!), however, beginning to change my mind, thanks to the photography module of my multimedia course.

I'm learning, first off, that even though it looks effortless, photography is really time-consuming. Perhaps capturing a shot doesn't take as much time as painting the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, for example, but the attention to detail involved is the same. In order to capture your subject perfectly, you've got to ensure that you've got the correct lens, that the aperture is set to to the correct opening (larger apertures mean that the film or sensor is more exposed to light), that the appropriate lighting is available (especially if you plan on using natural light), and that the shutter speed is as you want it in order to achieve the desired effect (slow shutter speeds, for example, can capture the blurred effects of cars and lights moving at night). You've also got practical issues to consider- if you're using models, for example, whether they'll arrive in enough time for you to capture the last rays of sunlight before it starts to rain, and whether you've got permission for taking photographs in a specific location.

Good photography also employs the same visual principles as any good piece of art, such as employing the use of perspective (which adds depth to photos) and the rule of thirds, which is this idea that states that images are more dynamic and appealing if the subject and lines fall within the lines of a box (as is shown below).

I also picked up some handy tips from class- it's useful, for eg, to save a photo in TIFF form as opposed to JPEG, because jpegs tend to lose some of the information with regards to the pixels in the photo when you convert images from RAW files off your camera. TIFF files preserves quality better than JPEGs do.

So, though photography may not be my medium of choice, I'm learning to respect it a bit more.

Also, I found this pretty cool tutorial on making point and shoot images look as though they were taken with an SLR camera. I want to try it on the first image in the post, which is one I took for my individual assignment.

This one's got actual content.

It’s 1.23 Am, and I finally finished the Poster #2 Assignment for Monday. Forgot to blog about it, though, so here’s my entry before I go to bed.

I have a good grasp of Adobe Illustrator, but I learnt a great deal more things about the programme as well as about the creative process through completing this project.

The hardest part was figuring out how to incorporate the design I had made from the drawer handle into a poster that reflected my interests (namely, those of travel and exploration that I had chosen to portray in my first poster). Usually, I like to plan my designs completely in advance, sketching them in a notepad. Sometimes using this method frustrates me, because I’m always dissatisfied with the initial sketches I create for a piece of artwork.

This time, however, I just decided to have faith in a general idea I had (using the pattern to recreate the world) and to develop the concept for the design as I went along. In the end, I was quite pleased with the design, and I have learned that when creating a piece, sometimes I don’t need to have all the problems figured out, or know exactly how it will look even before I begin. All it takes is a little faith in meself, and I can gain valuable insight and ideas that will help to shape and structure the project along the way.

Additionally, I learnt some features I had never before used in Adobe Illustrator. I didn’t realize, for example, how easy it is to wrap text around an object (in the poster, for example, text surrounds the spherical shape of the globe). It simply requires clicking the corner of the ‘Type’ icon in the Tools window, and selecting ‘Type on a path’. This allows you to type on any path or line, no matter the shape.

I’m pleased with the fact that I was able to incorporate some of the principles we have been learning in class in my pattern. Last week, Mr. Bain (my multimedia teacher) showed us the ‘Gestalt’ principles, these visual rules and techniques which were developed years ago by some German psychologists (according to this site). These aesthetic principles are usually incorporated in logos and designs as they render them visually striking and memorable, and indeed I’ve recognized some of them in logos I've seen before (such as the Fed-Ex logo), though I never knew they had a name! I tried to incorporate one into my design. I used the idea of Closure, a principle that states that even when some pictures is actually incomplete, the mind's eye sees them as whole by filling in the missing information. In my poster, the image of the world is incomplete, as the countries are actually spaces. However, the mind perceives the image as the shape of the globe, as it seems to 'fill in' these spaces. I think it adds some texture and aesthetic appeal to my poster because it plays on the concept of space.

The image is inspired by my love of travel and adventure. It's a play on a quote from in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, "Not all who wander are lost." I added in the wonder part, because I think it works both ways- not all people who are lost in thought, curiosity, and fantasy, people who wonder, are 'lost'- are crazy, mad, or in any way less intelligent. I think it is high time that people begin to embrace and appreciate their imaginations, and realize that within them holds a key we can use to shape and enjoy our realities. I have a huge dream of becoming a children's writer, and I guess it shows!

This is only a small selection of what I’ve learnt, but I have to go get started on my project for Ms. Cameron which is due on Wednesday.

Final image can be seen above.

I think I might look forward to Mondays now...

Mondays means that I have Basic Multimedia Production 1. It also means that I have to make the long trek to the faculty of Pure and Applied sciences in order to have class in the computer lab yonder, where for four (yes, four!) hours, we'll be taught the elements of design, illustration, photography, and graphics. In writing four hours looks like a really, really, long time, but in actuality, when the guy who sits next to you fills the silence with a thoughtful mix of Michael Jackson and Backstreet Boys tunes, and you realize that you're in a class doing something you actually enjoy, it's actually not such a heinous experience.

More about the things I've learnt in class in another post.

Pesky Meddling Kids

Parsons graduates showing Fall/Winter 2010 and some summer 2009 stuff as well.
Loved it. Wool made me sneeze. Pics to come.

Weekend

Friday

Sonia's Party! and the Everyone's Invited Band, Rockwood Music Hall, Lower East Side

Soul/funk/rock.. I like Sonia's precociousness, nerve, and voice:

http://www.myspace.com/soniasparty

Happy Endings, Lower East Side

Name's no coincidence- it used to be a brothel. Look at that. No wonder it was hell to get in (-21)

Only pic I've got- French brothas at the bar:

Saturday

Guggenheim, lots of Frank Lloyd Wright and some awesome expressionist stuff, will have to do more research on all that I saw:

The reservoir near Central Park, has an impromptu photo shoot with les garcons, those pics later.

Sunday

 

Volunteered at the Willie Mae Rock Camp Carnival in Dumbo, got to help kids make buttons, posters, and zines... will be volunteering at the actual week-long girls rock camp soon..

Stopped by Brooklyn Flea during the break, found a bad ass leather jacket for $40 that I'm too poor to afford, as well as some awesome jewelry by a company called Bad Ass, based in Brooklyn? will have to check it out again.

Stopped by the Choice Greene booth to get some pastry- got a quiche and a chocolate brownie cookie, and an iced tea. Expensive but yum. The owner's gf is originally from Tobago! Very nice. Didn't get discount on the stuff, though :(

Home afterwards for fun times and good conversation. 2 of em are professional graffit artists in Germany! Got to see the tags they did on the wall of a graffitti store in NY. Reuven's also a professional chef in Germany. Love my house and all the couchsurfing misfits. Hate watching them go! 

Tired! Work tomorrow.

Most pics by Connie, need to buy my own damn camera.

(Mark just came back from Woodstock! Glad he's in one piece.)

Check

One, two.