Spring will come!

I HATE HATE HATE the winter. Its cold and miserable. I'm definitely a spring/summer boy. This Tree reminded me that spring will be here soon enough. If it can make it through the winter and still have such a beautiful, warming color hiding underneath of its white outer skin, then I can surely make it a couple more months too. I can't wait for warm sunny weather and the lush colors of spring!

I hate the cold, but the snow isn't so bad...

What do you mean no color!?

A friend of mine suggested I make this a black and white image. I am always afraid of going in that direction because I love color and I suppose I think black and white photography is more difficult. I feel as though it requires more talent.

I agree that this puddle looks great in black and white; it lost the golden quality that I really liked but still remains its luminosity which is really strong in these shots.

I want to venture more into the realm of Black and White photography, but I really need to go out and shoot some more. Maybe I will once it gets a little warmer; I really hate winter!

Photography

Here are a few shots that I took this past semester that never made it up onto the blog.

Grass near the dining hall. I took this for the aperture project.

Swirly lights. Taken for the illustrator project. I liked the graffiti-like quality that this has.

A water fountain, penny and shadow of my hand. I love the colors in this picture. It was a part of my self portrait project.

The rose window at St. Johns church on Main street. This was shot for my lyrics project but I ended up not using it.

Originally a "y" for the alphabet project until i was told that tree branches are too common. I still like the colors and silhouette though.

Magazine Cover

I was bored today so I decided to create a magazine cover using pictures I already had on my computer. The only piece of it that I got from the internet is the Seventeen logo. I created it on photoshop.

Old

"Yellow Brick Road"

I was reviewing all of the pictures I took this semester and I stumbled across this one. I took this October 2nd at 12:44 AM. I like how the lighting created a golden quality on the bricks and I also like the clarity of the reflection in the puddle, yet you can still see through it to the bricks underneath. Most of my shots from this early in the semester aren't very good, but it is fun to come across one that I like.

Impressive Instant

I don't think this one's finished. But I'm struggling with what to do. I'm thinking about using different fonts instead of it all being the same, but I don't know if that will break it up too much. The lyrics are "You're the one that I've been waiting for... I don't even know your name."

I also wanted to add some yellow green in somewhere, maybe like swirly lines, but I'm not really sure the best way to do that.

Illustrator Project 1

17" x 11"

Alyssa and I have made it our goal to create a bunch of illustrator projects over winter break and winter session in order to become proficient at it because neither of us had ever used the program before this semester. Here is the first one I did besides my earlier lyrics project. Click on it for a larger view.

15 Designs

These are the 15 designs I created from cut paper using the motif of a sponge. Each design abstractly conveys a different theme related to children. ex: leisure time, child advocate, changing families... ect.

Each of the 15 designs is 6" x 9".

Drawings

Here is my semester's work in Drawing Class. 5 projects.

Project 1: Line Drawing of Fruit Still Life

30" x 22"

Graphite

Construct a still life out of at least 4 fruits/vegetables. Draw it using only line.

Project 2: Perspective and Gesture Drawing

30" x 22"

Graphite

Draw an exterior space using both 1 pt. and 2 pt. perspective. (Line only, no value) Then add gesture drawings of the people who pass through the space. (If the person occupies a space for a few seconds, thats how long it takes to draw the person. If they are slow/standing and are there for longer, it will take longer to draw the person and they will be more detailed.)

Project 3: Tool Deconstruction

30" x 22"

Graphite

First part: Draw a tool (mine was a pocket knife) this time using value only. NO lines.

Then deconstruct the shapes in the first drawing. From this point, only refer to the first drawing, not allowed to look at the actual tool anymore. After 5 drawings, each of which was deconstruction of the previous, I arrived to this final drawing.

Oh yeah, no blending the graphite on the paper, you have to add it to get it to what ever consistency/smoothness you want.

Project 4: Paper Bag World

44" x 26"

Compressed Charcoal and Vine Charcoal

1st part: Construct a "world" out of brown paper bags and light it appropriately

2nd part: Draw it in charcoal (blending is allowed, but not with fingers, you must use a paper stump) No lines, only value.

Project 5: Historical Still Life

26" x 19"

Black and White Conte and Charcoal Pencils on Gray Paper

Part 1: Research a historical event, time period, person, etc. I chose the Roaring 20s.

Part 2: construct a diorama which will convey this theme. Light it appropriately.

My Diorama:

With the Lighting:

Part 3: Draw it in value only, no line. No shading either. You must fill in ALL of your darkest darks with the black conte and charcoal pencils before you add the whites. In other words, don't use the white and black mediums at the same time. For medium tones, just leave the gray paper blank.