Special Edition Blog

In the fall of 2008, I visited a town called Pilsen in Chicago and visited various galleries.  These galleries had numerous different artists with drastically different styles, but I found a piece of art this inspired me in a few different galleries.

CMYKBW:

This work of art intrigued me because it incorporates vivid color, as well as a black and

white photo.  I love black and white photography as well as paintings with vivid color, so

the combination of the two in this work of art is very inspirational.

From the Sources:

I have loved black and white photographs since I got my first digital camera.  This

artwork took me by surprise because when I was far away from it, it wasnʼt apparent

that the woman in it is naked.  However, once you get closer and look at the intensity in

her eyes and body language, it draws you into the photograph.  I love the fact that it has

not only one photograph, but four.  Each of which have a different emotional state.  I

love this piece of art in general.

Solitary Susan:

Just like Every Daylily, this piece also intrigued me when I went into the gallery.  (This

piece was located in the same gallery as Every Daylily)  I love the fact that the focal

point is one flower in particular, and then the rest of the flowers are blurred in the

background.  I think that it was photographed beautifully.  I love the vibrant color and the

perfection of this one, solitary, susan.

Lipstick:

At first when I looked at this piece of art, I was completely confused as to what the artist

was thinking.  Then I started to form my own judgements and I came to the conclusion

that my interpretation of this piece of art is that beauty resides in the mind.  I think that

beauty is something that is obtained through intelligence and how you “hold” yourself.  I

also took the idea that the artist might have wanted this to be a representation that

intelligence comes before beauty.  With the idea that the brain is on top of the lipstick

(giving it dominance) and the idea that beauty is something that can come and go, but

knowledge is something that stays with you forever.

Every Daylily:

I love photography and the second that I walked into this gallery, this particular piece

grabbed me.  I love the contrast between the vibrant yellow-ish orange and pink flower

against the black background.  For lack of a better word, the flower “pops.”  I think that it

is an amazing piece of artwork and definitely something that I would like to recreate,

and something that will hang in my house one day.

Week 14

My magazine is now uploaded to LuLu.com.

Purchase my Magazine: C.O.C.O

Click Here to Order!

Week 13

These are the front and back covers for my magazine "C.O.C.O."  I chose the title "C.O.C.O" because it is a family nickname.  I then took the letters c and o to make the title an acronym for something.  It is titles "C.O.C.O. Creativity Oasis of Original Creations"  I then chose the back cover to be an ad for China Town attractions because the bulk of my illustrations are from China Town.  The background of my back cover is an original photo that I took in China Town and the attractions are places to eat and shop.

Week 12

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Week 11

This week we put the finishing touches on the magazine layout.  It was crucial to not only have an interesting magazine layout, but also a consistent layout so that the viewer is not distracted by the layout.

This first layout of my magazine is the main inspiration for the magazine layout in general.  I used a color from the predominant illustration to choose the background color and used black text.  Their is a large object on the left page of the first half of the magazine, which includes all illustrations and then there are smaller images as well as text on the right hand page, as seen below.

In order to design this layout, I used the "Box Tool" to make the solid background as well as the text boxes.  I also used this tool to "Place" my illustrations and photos into the layout.  I copy and pasted the text into the articles from both my Blog as well as a "Word" document.

The second half of my magazine deals with digital photography that I had done in a previous art class at SXU.  These layouts solely incorporate the photographs with little to no writing.  Because I wanted the photographs to be the main focus, the background of all these pages of the layout are white.

These layouts were created the same way the the first half were, by using the "Box Tool," "Place," and inserting text.

Special Edition Blog

The following photographs are of artworks found in the Art Institute.

 The three photos below are pieces of artwork that inspire me for different reasons.

Artist: Piero di Cosimo

Title: Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, Saint Cecilia, and Angels

Media: Oil on poplar panel

I like this particular artwork because it is a religious oil painting that incorporates a virgin and child with the Young Saint John the Baptist.  I like the dark color scheme and that the focus of the painting, the woman and child, are in color while the background is muted tones.  This allows the viewer to focus on the woman and the child and then move to observe the background.  I also like the detail of the oil painting and the composition of the artwork.

Artist: Gustave Caillebotte

Title: Paris Street; Rainy Day

Media: Oil on canvas

This oil painting is intriguing because although the entire painting uses muted colors, the first thing the viewer focuses in on is the couple in the front.  I like that the color scheme is dark and gloomy, it gives the painting a "gloomy, rainy" feeling.  I think that the artist portrayed a rainy day perfectly without putting actual rain drops in the painting.

Artist: Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida

Title: Two Sisters

Media: Oil on canvas

I like that this painting has a great deal of detail and portrays a sunny day on the beach.  I find that this artist used to perfect coloring in order to give the water a nice texture and give the girls happy character.  The artist was able to use color and texture in order to make the girls look happy and give the beach a fun feel.

Artist: Francis Picabia

Title: Untitled

Media: Oil on canvas with wooden matchsticks,

 hairpins, coins, leather hear rollers, and string

The reason this this artwork inspires me is because this artist used everyday, household items to create a masterpiece.  This piece of art is unlike any other piece of art made because of the fact that random objects were used.  It just proves that art can be made out of anything and that there are no limitations.

Week 10

By using the pen tool, paint brush, and photoshop effect in Adobe Illustrator, I was able to illustrate a photo of my boyfriend in front of a piece of art in Millennium Park.  The concept that I choose to illustrate was an actual happening, that I wanted to portray in an illustration.  I feel that it not only is a person illustration that includes the silhouette of my boyfriend, but gives the viewer a realistic illustration of the building and artwork within a portion of Millennium Park.

My primary purpose was to portray this photo as realistically as possible, which is why I used the photoshop effects that I did.  For example, the blueish purple piece of art in the center of the illustration is an artwork that uses water and light to give it a glowing effect; therefore, I found that by using the three different effects that I chose, I was able to give a water fall effect to the piece of art.  In addition, I choose to give the buildings a "brick-like" effect in each of my three illustrations, as to make them as legitimate as possible.   I used the same concept of realism while creating the trees and their texture, so that the trees look at "leafy" as possible.  I felt that the use of the photoshop effects that I used added a crucial component to my illustration.

The color scheme within the three variations of my illustration are constant with each other as well as with the original photograph because of the purpose of realism.  I choose to be consistent with the composition within my three variations, as well as consistent with the actual composition of my boyfriend in millennium park because I wanted people to be able to locate this piece of artwork in Millennium Park.

Within my three variations of this illustration I choose to change the composition in each so that one can have multiple angles on this illustration.  In addition, I found that by taking my boyfriend out of the third variation of this set of illustrations I feel that it allows the viewer of the illustration to see the bare city and art, without the distraction of a human in front of the art.

Another portion of composition that I choose to alter within the variations was the stretch of the illustration, for example the primary illustration, which includes the entire skyline behind the piece of artwork, as well as my boyfriend in the foreground, has realistic portions in regards to the building, artwork, and my boyfriend.  However, the two other variations either stretch, or "squish" the portions of the entire illustration.  The third illustration, without my boyfriend in the foreground, minimizes the size of the buildings, while stretching the size of the artwork, so that the artwork is the main focus of the illustration.