Check Out My Website!

Here's a link to my website:

http://foxweb.marist.edu/users/kfg8w

In the future, the plan is to link my website to my blog!

Week 16...Another Semester Has Come and Gone

This past week we learned how to make our website live. We were also given lab time on Thursday and had the opportunity to ask any last minute questions. I am so excited to have my Flash project complete as well as my website up and running. Hopefully my countless hours spent in the Steel Plant have been worth it. I am happy with my final products, especially considering how new I am to all of the Adobe programs that we have worked with this semester. Creating my website gave me a bit of a headache, but in the end I was able to make everything simple, consistent, and orderly, which was my main objective. I am happy with my white, brown, and pink color scheme, and I enjoy the simplicity of the design that I created. It's awesome that I could call up my mom today, on Mother's Day ironically, to share with her all of the artwork that I've created these past two semesters that she's been begging to see for months now. Creating my very own portfolio website will allow me to showcase my artwork for years to come; I just hope that I can keep up with my website in the future.

Week 15...Creating a Website

Last week we looked at various samples of websites created by students in the past. I didn't like all of the websites that we were shown, particularly due to color choices, but some of them were very inspirational. I liked the idea of making a HOME link appear in place of the link to the current page that one is viewing. For my own website, I am incorporating that design decision.

During class time, we also learned how to place tables on our web pages and how to insert images. We learned how to save files for the web, how important it is to be conscious of the size of an image that one includes on their web page, and how to open images in Photoshop that were created in other Adobe programs.

I am excited to launch my website, and I hope that I am able to display my artwork in a coherent and professional manner.

Week 14...Dreamweaver

Last week during class we were introduced to Dreamweaver, an Adobe program used for webdesign. We will be using Dreamweaver to create websites displaying the works of art that we created in class this semester. I think that I am also going to include images of my artwork from high school as well as some of the pieces that I did in my art class last semester. I am excited to learn how to use Dreamweaver because the program will allow me to share my portfolio in an organized and coherent manner. It's great to think that I can create a website that my family can easily access to see my artwork. I'll no longer have to lug my portfolio back home every time they want to see my work.

The last time that I created my own website was probably when I was in third grade. My older brother got a webdesign program for my family's Windows '95. He let me play around with it, and helped me launch a cute website with pictures of Beanie Babies if I recall correctly. As an eight year old, I thought it was the best thing in the world.

Now, I am eager to create a website that is sophisticatedly simple. I have always loved designing layouts on the computer, especially in Microsoft Publisher. I know that Dreamweaver is a more difficult program to use because of the need to create page links and the limits of HTML language, but I am willing to learn.

Week 13...Getting to Work!

Last week during class we learned how to incorporate movie clips into our Flash animations. We created an animated butterfly, and then we attached our animated butterfly to a path. After connecting our butterfly to a guided path we were given time to incorporate additional scenery into our newly created animation. I choose to add a sky background and clouds.

Last week we also learned how to make a frame by frame animation. Frame by frame animations are extremely tedious. They require a lot of drawings as well as the use of onion skins. The frame by frame example that we looked at in class a week or two ago had a very different style then those animations created using only shape and classic tweens. The example we looked at showed a lot of movement and fluidity. I could tell that it required an extreme amount of time and lots of thought. Frame by frame animation is definitely the way to go if you want to create a walking sequence or show how parts of an object move.

I spent a lot of time in the Steel Plant this past weekend working on my animation. I created a monkey character and scenery in Illustrator. I am pleased with how my animation is coming along so far; however, I want to take it further by incorporating movie clips and possibly frame by frame animation. I think that my animation will prove more successful if I am able to figure out how to make my monkey character appear as if he is jumping by making his legs move. I also want to add more to the storyline that I created and possibly add a few more monkey characters.

Week 12...Flash Continued

This past week we spent our time in class creating two bouncing ball animations. On Monday we were introduced to the basics of Flash. I knew that Flash would be a challenging program to work with; however, I did not realize how tedious it can be. It is very important to get everything done in an orderly manner when working with Flash. I had a very hard time remembering all of the steps, for example when adding key frames or adjusting how fast objects move. This resulted in lots of mistakes and frustration, but in the end I was happy with my final bouncing ball animation.

On Monday, when we created our first animation, I was not pleased with the path that my ball was following. It appeared unrealistic in my opinion minus the addition of the squash and stretch motion. On Thursday we learned that we can draw actual paths that an object will follow. Using that technique was much easier and created a much more realistic motion.

Week 11...Intro to Adobe Flash

We spent our class time Monday working with Adobe Flash. I have never used Flash in the past, and I am a bit reluctant to learn about it sheerly due to how complicated it seems. We looked at a few of the tools that the program has to offer, and we spent a good amount of time going over formatting our Flash files. I learned that it is very important to get your file size and format correct before you do anything else, because if you wait to make your canvas larger it will result in a big blank space rather than an animation that has expanded to the confines of your canvas.

On Thursday we looked at various examples of Flash animations. I was really surprised how well many of them turned out. I particular enjoyed the one that showed a creature almost like a dragon turning red and the way that the leaves of the trees in the animation turned pink. This example played with movement and it had a impressive hand drawn quality. The artist took an approach that set his work apart. Another work that was really impressive reminded me of a pinball machine. I was amazed by the amount of planning that the project required. Every aspect of the animation fit together seamlessly, and it kept the audience interested. I really loved how it felt like the viewer was panning the scene with a camera.

In addition, I also enjoyed the fact that many people included text in there animations. I recognized, however, that sometimes the exclusion of words made for a more interesting animation. The example that we looked at in class have got me thinking about my own design. I didn't realize that creating a story line was the way to go with this assignment until I saw the projects we looked at in class. I think that I am going to exclude words and leave it up to the audience to interpret my narrative as they wish.

Week 10...Project 3 Critiques

We spent our time in class this past week doing critiques of Project 3. From the start I noticed that most people chose to incorporate specific words in their designs that held special meaning. Many people chose not to hide the fact that they were using text in their design, contrary to the approach that I took. Richard, for example, choose two words and revolved his designs around these two words. After hearing Richard talk about the idea behind his project, I found that I was more attracted to it. I liked his choice of the word "fight," and I also enjoyed the blood red color of the texture he used and the image of the skull with wings that he scanned in. I think that his choice of color and imagery created a solemn and dark mood. I was especially attracted to Nicole's designs. Right when she placed her images on the sill of the white board my eyes lit up. I really enjoyed the fact that she used photo paper to print her two images on. The colors she chose were so vibrant and appealing. I really liked her use of blues, purples, and hot pinks. Her decision to keep her text simple was a good move on her part as well.

During my own critique, I found it very interesting that it was pointed out that my decision to work with a grid pattern perhaps says something about the way that I am apt to work as an artist. I know that I am someone with an eye for detail, but I never really considered how much I like to see order and consistency in my work. Looking back on the projects that I created in my art class last semester, I recognize that I worked in a very orderly way with not a lot of randomness in my designs.

I am really looking forward to working in Flash next week, and I am very curious to learn about digital animation because I have never tried anything like it.

Week 9...Spring Break!

Thankfully I was able to finish both parts of the third assign prior to Spring Break. I brought my two images home to be matted, and despite much frustration with the assignment's guidelines, I am pleased with my final result. I am a little concerned because I definitely think that I took a different approach to the assignment than many of my classmates; however, I feel that I created images that are aesthetically pleasing despite their lack of figurative qualities or need for interpretation.

Week 8...Lab Time

This past week in class we were given the opportunity to work on our projects and have any of our questions answered regarding our third assignment. We also learned about exporting saved files to Adobe and Photoshop for printing purposes. I found this information to be very helpful, even though I was satisfied with the appearance of my projects when printed from InDesign. In addition, we learned about placing images inside of text outlines and closed paths in InDesign. I utilized this technique for the first part of Project 3. I really liked the idea of adding texture inside of the designs that I created with text.

I really struggled with coming up with my creative concept for our latest assignment. I spent four or five nights in the Steel Plant last week working on my project, and I found myself throwing out things that I worked on for hours and starting from scratch again and again. Eventually I decided on a springtime theme. I used text, including the shapes created by the text's negative space, to create pictures of butterflies, ladybugs, and flowers. I incorporated texture in the background of both of my images. I created a checkerboard pattern with scanned textures for part one of Project 3. The design that I created reminds me of a quilt. Tools that I found particularly helpful were Illustrator's LiveTrace tool and the opacity tool. In the end, I feel that my two pieces are similar in style and work well together despite their different color schemes and orientations.

Week 7...InDesign

This past week in class we began working with type in Illustrator and InDesign. We learned various ways to format type and how to place type on paths and within shapes. Our third assignment consists of two parts once again. The first piece of work is bound by certain guidelines, including how many scanned images or textures we must incorporate, the color of typeface that we can use and the number of sizes and fonts of a specific typeface that we must use. The second project also involves using one typeface; however we are not limited in the number of scanned textural images that we can use, and there are no restrictions on colors or number of different sizes of type that we need to use.

Prior to class on Thursday, I spent some time working in Illustrator trying to start my first project. Honestly, I had a creative block. I think that I was a bit frustrated with the guidelines for the first project. I feel like incorporating five different sizes of one typeface as well as bold and italic fonts will be a challlenge.

I hope that for our next assignment we will learn more about InDesign because I am really interested in understanding how to set up a webpage or create something like a magazine or newsletter.

Week 6...Project 2 Critiques

This past week in class we spent our time critiquing our second projects. Our assignment was to create two self-portraits using Adobe Illustrator. Our first image was bound by certain restrictions. Our constraints consisted of a limited color scheme and a limit on the type of shape and the size of the shape we were allowed to use. I found that the guidelines for the first image helped me to stay focused and work efficiently.

I did not stray from the guidelines for my first image. I limited my color scheme to the gray scale, and I worked with five different sizes of a circle. In addition, my circles did not overlap. I was happy with the outcome of my first image despite how frustrating its creation was at times. I was very interested in what my classmates and professor had to say about my first project. I was happy to hear that they appreciated the amount of time that I put into my project. I found it interesting that my peers noticed the way that I pretty much stuck with three tones and the way that I created a triangle pattern with either side of my hair and my forehead. After listening to the critique of my design, I think I would have changed my mouth and eyes a bit.

As for my second image, I did not get much feedback from my classmates. For my second image I stuck with one technique. I created a grid of circles with an empty fill and a black stroke. I placed the grid over a photograph, and I used the eyedropper tool to color each circle a solid color selected from the background image. Once this step was completed, I deleted the background photo and left a white background. I wish that I would have experimented with the pen tool and maybe the gradient tool, but ultimately, I was happy with my end result.

As for my classmates' designs, I was impressed with the creativity of many of them. Three projects that stick out in my mind are Kayla's, Nicolette's and Kristin's. I loved the effect of Kayla's second image despite the fact that she was unable to print it in her intended color scheme. I absolutely loved how she was able to create a sense of form and depth. She used the pen tool so successfully, and I couldn't believe that a lot of the image was made up of circles. I also loved the composition of her image. The diagonal that was created drew my eyes to her eyes, which I feel are very important to a revealing something about the artist in a self-portrait.

I was very impressed by Nicolette's second image as well. I loved the painterly quality of the image, and I really appreciated her attention to detail. The way that she chose to only include some of her strands of hair was very successful. I loved how she paid so much attention to the veins of her eyes and her eyelashes.

As for Kristin, I loved her idea to take an abstract approach for her first image. The framing technique that she used resulted in two images that complement each other very nicely. I think that her use of color was very successful as well. I really liked the various shades of oranges that she used. Now that I think about it, I wish that I would have created two images that worked well together and that could be displayed side by side coherently.

Project 2 Images

Part 2

Part 1

Week 5

This past week in class we learned a little bit about Adobe Illustrator. I used Illustrator in my Media Literacy class last semester for one project. Last semester I became familiar with the vector-based graphics that are used in Illustrator. I think that it's very interesting how a mathematical formula can be used to create shapes of any size without becoming grainy or "pixely" in appearance. I hope that we learn more about Illustrator in Intro to Digital Media this semester. I feel as though there is probably much more to the program than I can imagine.

Our assignment this week was to construct two self-portraits. I used photos for reference for both of my projects. I could not believe how time consuming constructing my images were. About halfway through developing my first image I decided to lookup key board commands on the Internet for the eyedropper tool and selection tool. Using the keyboard commands cut my work time considerably. Illustrator can be a very tedious program, but I am happy with my results and i am interested in hearing what my classmates have to say about my work.

Project 1 Images

Part 3

Part 2

Part 1

Week 4...Project 1 Critiques

We spent the duration of class last week critiquing our first projects. I didn't really have a lot to say about my fellow classmates' landscape designs. I was really impressed by maybe two or three, but I could definitely tell that some people didn't take their projects as far as they could have. I really liked the ideas behind a few of the projects, but I think they could have used some work in a technical sense. My favorite design incorporated photos, a drawing, and a quote. I really enjoyed the sense of movement and serenity of the final image. The image looked like it could have been an ad in a magazine, or maybe even a CD cover. I loved how well the photos and drawing worked together. The work was coherent, and it had a narrative quality.

I spent a lot of time on my design and I was happy with the outcome, especially considering my lack of experience with Photoshop. After hearing what my classmates and professor had to say about my third image, I would definitely consider making a few adjustments. Originally, I liked the repetition of the flower design on my third image, but I agree that it could look more organic or natural if I created more variation. Also, I agree that the butterflies that I incorporated in my final design could stand out more if I adjust their coloring.

Week 3

During class on Monday and Thursday, we continued to learn about various Photoshop tools. On Monday we were introduced to the pen tool. I had a lot of trouble using the pen tool. I had difficulty figuring out where the best places were to put anchor points. I also struggled with creating the desired curve around the part of the picture that I wanted to isolate. I have used the marquee tool in the past as well as the quick selection tool, but I tend to avoid the pen tool. I think that I just need some more practice with the pen tool. I know that it is necessary to master the pen tool if I want to create a more professional looking piece of work.

On Wednesday, I spent a lot of time working on my project outside of class. I scanned one of my pieces of artwork from an art class that I took in high school, and I attempted implementing it into my project. The work was an image of a tree done in marker and watercolor. I was not happy with how the work was working with the photos that I decided to use for the project, so I decided to discard it from my project's final design.

On Thursday we looked at how we can manipulate photos by changing their saturation, brightness, contrast, and color channels. I used what we learned in class in my project. I found it very helpful to be able to isolate a specific area of a photo and adjust just that area's brightness and saturation. During the second half of class on Thursday we were given lab time to work on our projects.

I am happy with the final outcome of my landscape project. I think that I took a unique approach, and I am interested in hearing what my classmates have to say about my finished work.

Week 2...A Very Snowy Thursday

Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, my Digital Media class was not able to meet on Thursday. I was expecting to begin my project in class on Thursday, but I guess it will have to wait for this coming week. I have been thinking about my first assignment for the past week or so, and I think that I know the direction that I am headed. I saved some of my digital photos to a flash drive and went through some of my artwork over the weekend. I hope to incorporate photos and possibly some of my drawings and paintings into the landscape assignment.

In class on Monday, we looked at examples of landscape designs from previous semesters. After going over the examples, I rethought some of my initial ideas for the assignment. The examples inspired me to focus on things in nature. I decided to look through my photos of Fire Island and The Great South Bay after class on Monday.

In addition to looking at examples, we spent part of class going over more Photoshop tools. I was familiar with most of the tools that we went over, for example the paintbrush and lasso tools; however, I did learn some tricks that will help me to keep my layers organized. I also learned about selecting and deselecting layers.

Week One: How Do I Perceive Digital Media? What are My Expectations?

When I think of digital media, my mind automatically goes to computers. I tend to focus on the Internet especially. It is absolutely astonishing to consider the exponential growth of the Internet over the past fifteen or so years. In no time at all, people will not remember an age without the convenience of the Google search engine, e-mail, video chats, and popular social-networking and video-sharing websites. Just as the words Facebook, iTunes, and YouTube have been added to our everyday vocabulary, I believe that the term digital media is on the verge of becoming a commonplace phrase. As the Internet continues to grow, digital media will become all the more important. Companies are utilizing the Internet to promote their products, and digital media artists are exactly what these companies need. Digital art, digital photos, and digital videos are used to advertise everything from clothing to airlines on the Internet, in print, and on T.V. Digital media artists specialize in web design, magazine layouts, logos, and billboards. They even specialize in digital animation and digital sound. Various computer programs are available to develop digital works. Adobe, for example, sells programs for movie editing, photo manipulation, and digital animation. I believe that digital media is a revolutionary force. It is transforming film, the music industry, the Internet, and advertising methods.

For months people having been asking me, "So, what's your major?" Honestly, I am reluctant to answer this question. When I respond, "Digital Media," I always feel compelled to follow my reply with some sort of explanation. I find that I can't respond without adding something in about advertising, graphic design, and computers. I understand that for many, myself included, the term digital media is unfamiliar. It is my hope that throughout this semester, I will come to a better understanding of what digital media is and the career opportunities that it presents. I expect to walk out of this class knowing whether or not Digital Media is the major for me. Last semester I took a class called Media Literacy. In that class, I was introduced to Photoshop and Illustrator. It is my hope that I become much more familiar with these programs during this semester. I expect that with a bit more practice and much more knowledge about the various tools available in these programs, I will produce digital artwork that I am proud of. I am also excited to work with InDesign, because I would really like to learn about designing layouts for magazines and web pages. Most of all, I expect to use this class as a creative outlet.

Welcome!

Welcome to my Intro to Digital Media blog for the Spring 2010 semester! This blog will consist of posts related to my progression as a digital media artist. It will contain ideas about my work and the work of my classmates. I also hope to include information about the processes and applications that I am introduced to this semester.