Printing

We first began by making two sketches of unique, textured animals set in a background that would be realistic for them in real life. At first, I had difficulty making this a more geometric sketch focused on lines representing the texture. My first elephant was more focused on the tints and shades to make it appear more 3D. After drawing a few more elephants I finally figured out how to represent the wrinkles of the elephant's skin with minimal lines. Also, the grass proved difficult at first because it was hard to show such thin blades of grass. I think cutting out the inside of the grass on the linoleum really makes it look thinner like the real grass. So after my sketch was finished, I began tracing it onto the tracing paper and then onto the linoleum. The linoleum was hard to trace on and a lot of it I had to fill in free hand, such as the tree branches. Then came the printing part. The hardest challenge for me was to not roll on too much paint. A lot of my cuts in the linoleum such as the texture on the tree bark and the wrinkles on the elephant were not very deep since they were so narrow. Thus, my first few prints did not come out as detailed because the paint had filled in some of the grooves on the linoleum.

Guess What Happens Next?

I layered Superman on top of this picture of a women falling off a builiding so he can fly in and save the day. I had to use the magic wand to get rid of Superman's background. I moved him onto the picture and made him smaller to fit into the top left corner of the image. Then I gave him some shadow to make him more realistic in the pciture. 

Photoshop Video 2

This picture was a little harder when it came to keeping the layers in order. When I had to use the clone stamp to get the frog to match the tongue the first time I cloned over the frog in both layers. This meant when I went to use the eraser to make the frog opaque it didn't show because the frog in the other layer showed through. I made sure the second time to only clone the frog layer and was thus able to use the eraser appropriately. The best part about the picture is the shadow, which is something I would not have thought of but is really necessary to make the picture appear real.

Photoshop Video 1

This was a new experience for me going more in-depth into the features of photoshop. The most interesting part for me was adjusting the shape of the pancakes to fit the mouth. I was previously unaware that it was possible to adjust the picture like that. Also, knowing the additional attributes of the eraser was very helpful. I didn't realize the eraser was more than just a white-out tool and its ability to blend the jaws into the pancakes was a new tool I learned. That new feature of the eraser will no doubt prove useful in any future photoshop work I do.

Stencil Photo

The hardest part was choosing the photo. It was difficult to pick a photo that would work well in a process I had never done before. If I could do the project over I would enhance the detail a bit more when editing the picture. I didn't realize how accurate and precise I could be with the stencils and the spray paint. That was probably what was most successful about the whole project. The best parts on the painting were the parts that were more intricate and elaborate. Also, I loved the pale yellow background. It worked especially well with the teal and purple.

Contour Shoe Drawing

Contour line drawing requires you to think before you draw each part because when you are not able to lift your pencil you have to plan a route that will encompass every detail in the drawing. This in turn makes you analyze every detail in the drawing and make them more intricate. Also, it eliminates stored symbols in your head when you are focused more on the route your pencil has to take in the drawing than the object as a whole. Before contour drawing, I would have called on my idea of a tennis shoe and drawn something generic. This tennis shoe is more unique with the Adidas brand, stripes on the side, and the untied shoelace dangling down.  

Value Study

One similarity between the oil pastels and the iPad was the ability to blend the colors together. The methods to blend them together to get the desired gridation varied between the two mediums. The iPad dragged the color you were touching over the color in place. This made it a little streakier than the oil pastels. However, I did like how the white in the sphere was able to streak out across it like rays of sun. This look was harder to accomplish with the oil pastels. Both the oil pastels and the iPad had layers of color to them. The iPad had layers that you could lift and delete as you wished. This was helpful when you had accomplished the desired blending of the grass and did not want it to be mixed in with the purple cone. This also makes the shapes sit more on top of the grass as opposed to the oil pastels where you had to shade around the shape. While the iPad had its advantages when it came to layering of colors, a major drawback was the tool used to draw on the iPad. Both my finger and the stylus were rather cumbersome and chunky. These were not helpful when you wanted to go into more close detail at the tip of the cone. The cone looks somewhat rounded on the top because of this challenge.

The highest praise I can give for this picture is its resemblance to something sketched on paper. Going into the assignment, I had my doubts as to whether or not I could create something so detailed and intricate on the iPad. My favorite piece of this is easily the sphere. It looks the most realistic when it comes to the light hitting it.

Technology is useful in art because it adds another medium for artists. Many artists might struggle with layering the oil pastels and simply build the wax up until it cannot be manipulated anymore. The iPad eliminates this problem with the layering system on the app.