Pictures of Final Book

idea for final

My idea for this project remains the same as it was for the other poem I was going to use.  I still want to do a children's book.  I want to illustrate the pictures in Illustrator and color them.  I want the whole design of the book to be simple and fun for a child.

The poem I chose to use for the book project was “Daddy’s Making Dinner” by Jeff Mondak.  In this book I wanted to emphasize childhood.  I visualized this poem being displayed in a childlike way to appeal to kids and make them want to read.  For this reason, I chose to make a bigger book that was not a regular rectangle.  I chose this book structure because I felt it was more playful for a child.  This relates to my interpretation of the poem because I wanted to emphasize childhood and fun from the beginning.  

The process I went through to make this book started in Adobe Illustrator.  Since I had worked with Adobe Photoshop before and had used it for my last project, I wanted to try something new and decided to use Illustrator.  I had started with the cover.  I wanted to make a big oval shape and decided to use a plate as my idea and repeat the shape through the whole book.  I did the entire cover first to get a feel for what I wanted and then moved on.  As I started the book I did the text pages first.  I split the poem up into what I thought would work best for the book.  I added text in the middle of the plate and squished the words together so that it was not too crowded in the center.  I did this for all the text pages and kept the same text throughout.  After I did the text pages, I drew each picture page out in illustrator.  I wanted to keep the illustrations simple and fun.  When needed, I got an image from google, brought it into Photoshop, made it and outline, and saved it as a png to be brought into Illustrator.  I did this for all the picture pages as well.  Originally, I was going to color the pictures and then scan everything back into the computer and print it out, but then decided to keep it after I colored it.  I wanted to color the book myself because I felt it would add a fun childlike quality to the book and be more relatable to a child when they read it.  After I was finished, I printed the pages and cut each one out.  

To construct the book, I glued the pages to posterboard since I wanted there to be text on the back of the picture pages.  After I cut each page out and mounted it on the posterboard, I colored the pages.  After my first attempt at coloring I was not happy with the result.  So I reprinted and re-colored.  I did not like the second result and again reprinted and re-colored the pages.  After the third time I was happy with the way the pages came out.  I wanted to use softer colors since children normally read books before bed, but add in some bright colors where I thought appropriate.  I then colored the inside of the plate where the text was different colors for a fun effect.  After, I was not too happy about the cover, so I decided to make a flap.  I cut a slit in the page, glued two pieces of paper together, and made the flap for the cover of the book.  On the flap it says, “Lift flap and draw a yucky food!”  I thought this was a good idea because it would allow the child to interact with the book and get them excited about reading it.

After all the pages were done, I hole punched each page in two spots and binded the book together with rings.  I did this because I wanted to continue to keep the book simple, and because the rings matched the overall structural shape of the book.

New Poem for Final

Daddy's Making Dinner by Jeff Mondak

daddy's making dinner

i've seen it all before

french fries black and burning

and meat loaf on the floor

daddy's making dinner

the sugar bowl just broke

fido ate the gravy

the house has filled with smoke

daddy's making dinner

but i'm not one to moan

soon he will surrender

and go pick up the phone

daddy made the dinner

today's my lucky day

dinner's in the trashcan

and pizza's on the way!

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=646&CategoryID=30

Dia Beacon Reactions

I enjoyed going to the Dia Beacon.  The three things that interested me the most there was Sol Lewitt's pieces with the lines.  One of the rooms was squares made from a bunch of lines, and another of his pieces that I liked was the colored one with the many swirly lines.  The other piece I liked was one by Andy Warhol.  There were a bunch of canvases around the room, each one a different color with black painted in it.  If I'm not mistaking, the piece was titled "Shadows," and he had painted a shadow on each of the colored canvases.  The last piece that I really liked was on the lower floor.  I forget who it was by, but it was of 4 large sculptures that you could go inside.  One you just walked in the side, but the last one was created so the viewer had to keep walking around to get in.  I thought all three pieces were really successful and interesting to look at; especially the last one I mentioned because I like how it was interactive.

self visualization project photos

triptych concept rewrite

What I wound up doing for the triptych project was making a 6 component piece.  3 pictures are done in black and white and are of me getting changed with a bunch of clothes on the bed, me putting on lotion, and me putting on lip gloss.  These 3 pictures represent what people see on the outside.  The next 3 pictures represent 3 different sides of my personality to demonstrate what people should look for on the inside.  For this reason, the pictures are still in color.  The sides of my personality I picked to use were athletic, sweet, and goofy.  These 6 pictures will be framed individually and the colored ones will be placed underneath the black and whites.  This is because when we look at a group we read top to bottom, left to right.  The viewer should notice the top pictures first, which are the pictures that demonstrate what people see on the outside, what they notice first.

Word Associations

Poem Book Idea

The poem I decided to use was a poem by Shel Silverstein titled "Whatif."

Last nigh, while I lay thinking here, 

Some what-ifs crawled inside my ear

and pranced and partied all night long

and sang their same old whatif song:

Whatif I'm dumb in school?

Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?

Whatif I get beat up?

Whatif there's poison in my cup?

Whatif I start to cry?

Whatif I get sick and die?

Whatif I flunk that test?

Whatif green hair grows on my chest?

Whatif nobody likes me?

Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?

Whatif I don't grow taller?

Whatif my head starts getting smaller?

Whatif the fish won't bite?

Whatif the wind tears up my kite?

Whatif they start a war?

Whatif my parents get divorced?

Whatif the bus is late?

Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?

Whatif I tear my pants?

Whatif I never learn to dance?

Everything seems well, and then

the nighttime whatifs strike again!

My idea for this poem is to make it into a children's book, possibly using different objects, for example fabric, incorporated in.  The font will remain consistent throughout the book except it will change for one word in each whatif.  For example, the word divorced may be in a font that's broken apart.  I am not going to assemble this book normally, I might put it on a blanket, or use one of the examples from Professor Ruane's e-mail.

Concept for project #2

For this second project, I came up with a couple of ideas.  My first idea was to use the category “important physical attributes.”  My idea using this category was to take three pictures of me and parts of my body I like; for example, hair, eyes, and legs.  Each of these pictures would be black and white and have lighting and cropping like that of a model in a magazine.  This piece would be about me, because they are parts of my body that I personally like, but the piece would also be about how we judge people based on looks.

My second idea was to use the category “events in my life.”  Using this category I would think of three events that have shaped my personality or really had an impact on my life.  I would think about how these events made me feel and decide if they impacted me in a positive or negative way.  Based on how it made me feel and the way it impacted me would be how I changed the piece.  For example, if it had a negative impact the lighting could be really dark and I could be angry in my picture.

The third idea I had for this piece, and the one I am 50/50 with right now, is using the category “aspects of my personality.”  I would take 3 characteristics I feel represent my personality the most and play them up.  The design of each picture, color, lighting, etc, would be based on the trait I chose to use.  There will be three pictures designed differently, but they will all be cohesive.  The final piece would be about me because each picture displays traits I feel stand out the most amongst the others.

The last idea I had, the other 50/50, is combining three of these categories.  I would combine an event, with how it made me feel, and what I strive for after.  Each part of the triptych would be separated in that order.  Also, the way I portray each picture would be how I make it one cohesive piece.

I have many ideas for this project so it is hard for me to come up with one complete concept.  I feel there are many different ways I can do this piece and think that I just need to start with pictures and these beginning ideas/concepts and see where it leads me.

Pictures for artist comparison

Cui Xiuwen

Cindy Sherman

Frida Kahlo

Artist Comparison

Cui Xiuwen, Cindy Sherman, and Frida Khalo are all female portrait artsits.  Each one has their own style; however, there is a similarity in the context/concept of their pieces and what they wanted to convey.  

Cui Xiuwen does portraits of an Asian girl that is pregnant.  She puts her model in different poses that we might see a pregnant lady in; scared poses, mood swing poses, etc..  To me, this series, Angel, is of a subject that Xiuwen probably feels strongly about.  Teen pregnancy is probably a growing issue in China and we can only question how that makes them feel.  Xiuwen tries to show us how these girls may feel in her pieces.  They are scared, indecisive, and feel alone.  I find this concept really intriguing about her work.  Even in the pieces that contain the model many times, she is still portrayed as lonely.  Lastly, I found it interesting how in every piece the the model is wearing white, the color of purity.

Unlike Cui Xiuwen, Cindy Sherman does portraits that are morbid and have dark lighting.  Also, where Xiuwen used a model for her portraits, Sherman used either herself or mannequin and prosthetic parts.  Cindy Sherman started her career by putting herself in feminist "cliche" poses.  Once she ran out of cliches to use, she moved over to using more grotesque imagery.  She likes to explore what we may view as disgusting and find beauty in it.

Lastly, Frida Khalo used her portraiture to challenge boundaries.  She used shocking images to reflect her unstable life.  Her pieces are said to question nations, the role of women, and religion.  Her early paintings are done in oil and are are naive in the sense that she used bright colors to paint flat forms.

 Each artist had a different style and portrayed diverse images.  However, regardless of the diversity in each artist, I found one common theme within all of them.  This theme is finding the beauty in the ugly, or an ugly situation.  Teen pregnancy is a difficult situation to be in and Xiuwen shows this in her pieces by making the model look sad and alone.  However, looking at the piece the viewer feels sorry for the person in the picture and realizes that she needs to be loved to get through this rough time.  Even though the situation is a bad one, the subject is still beautiful and needs the love that we all do.  Cindy Sherman wanted her viewer to find the beauty in her morbid imagery.  She picks disturbing images and uses a dark scene to make the viewer really look into the piece and find what is so special about it.  To me, she does everything she can to make the image look really harsh and gross at first glance; to make the viewer almost want to look away real fast.  However, I believe that if the viewer looks long enough, they will begin to see tiny aspects of the image that make it stand out in a beautiful way.  It may be the bone structure in the face of a dead body, or a dress a strange figure is wearing, but I believe it is there if we choose to find it.  Frida Khalo used images to shock her viewer as well; however, these images are meant to portray the beauty in overcoming hard struggles throughout her life. 

I found these artists really interesting in their own way, but I enjoyed finding the a common thread that linked each one together as well.

Pictures of Project #1

the original

the photshop image
I took out to trashbag by cloning over it, played with filters, saturation, and lighting effects. I also added snow and more bottles to the piece.

the illustrator image
I used live trace, added extra layers and text, and tried different effects and filters to see what they did. I came up with this.

Illustrator Practice

After doing all of the tracing practices I decided to post these two..

Picture Practice

My class work picture practice

original photograph for project #1

This is my original photograph for the first project. I searched social issues and picked poverty to use. I want this image to ultimately convey loneliness. I plan on rendering the lighting the most to create this feeling. I'll also play around with colors and maybe some black and white and textural effects.

Comments on Crewdson, Hocks, Wall, & Sherman

Gregory Crewdson's digital prints have a very creepy,  lonely feel.  In most of his pieces there is a figure by themselves surrounded by a background of dark/cooler, rich colors.  Adding to this feeling of eery loneliness is his choice of lighting.  He uses dark, cool colors and has a one, or a few, strong light sources.  I really enjoyed looking at Crewdson's work.  I feel that the bold, rich colors and contrasting light draw the viewer in while the figure makes you wonder why they are there and think about the piece.

 Teun Hocks' work is fun to look at.  I like how he puts himself in his own body of work.  Like most of Crewsdon's images, the figure in each piece is by themselves.  However, Hock makes the image not come off making the viewer feel a sense of being alone.  Hock adds a little humor to his pieces which makes the viewer not feel that sense of angst.  Hock is very precise and uses certain predicaments that we may face each day as a subject to his work.  I also like how he not only uses digital imaging, but paints as well.

 Jeff Wall's images, to me, are more natural when it comes to things such as poses and subject matter.  Unlike Crewdson and Hocks' work, Wall allows people in his pieces to interact with one another which discards the feeling of abandonment.  I feel there is some similarities compared to Hocks' work.  For example, the piece on the left, "Milk," and "A Sudden Gust of Wind" show human predicaments.  The style is different.  It is not as humorous, precise, or staged.  The way Wall approached it was by being natural and realistic, and I like that.

Like Hock, Cindy Sherman puts herself into her own images, and, like both Hock and Crewdson, she is the only figure in the piece.  Again, like Crewdson's work you get a feeling of loneliness.  However, unlike Gregory's pieces, I feel their is a sense of confidence in this loneliness.  In the pictures the figure seems to be alone, but not in a bothersome "eery" sense.  She seems to be independent and confident, and seeing that side or attitude to being alone is nice.  I like how she uses black and white for her pieces as well.  I think it says that the figure can not only be lonely, but confident; but the piece itself can be confident in succeeding without the use of color.  I also think the poses she puts herself in, at the window, in the bedroom, in the hallway at a door, are good places for what she wants to portray.  All those places are places where it is not uncommon to be alone, so it doesn't have that sense of abandonment, but a feeling of independence.

Gregory Crewdson's statement is loneliness/abandonment.  He gets there digitally by using rich, cool colors and harsh lighting.  

Teun Hocks' statement is about human predicaments.  He gets his statements across by digitally putting himself in a painted background having to deal with certain problems.

Jeff Wall's statement is human life.  He gets there digitally by being very natural in his renderings and uses images that have people interacting or in an everyday moment.

Cindy Sherman's statement is independence.  She gets there digitally by having her subject be alone, but putting them in a setting where it's not uncommon to have nobody else around.  To me, by doing this, she gives the character not a sense of abandonment, but of confidence.

About Me

Hi, my name is Amber O'Kane.  I'm from Marlton, NJ.  I'm a freshman and am a graphic design major.  I always knew I loved art, but I never knew that it would become such a part of me that I would want to create for the rest of my life.  When I was about a sophmore I knew I wanted a career with art and design, however I didn't know what.  Junior year I took a graphic design class where I learned programs like photoshop and indesign, and I loved it.

Some other hobbies that I find fun are sports, like tennis, cooking, seeing new places, and just being around friends and family.

Inspirations

My family has always inspired me.  I thank God everyday for blessing me with such wonderful people in my life.  They are always there when I need them, encourage me to do the best I can, and taught me to do nothing half heartedly.

I love the beach, I think it's so beautiful and so amazing.  I also just saw the grand canyon for the first time 2 summers ago.  Whenever I see something in nature that is so beautiful, I get a feeling of overpowerment and it inspires me to do more.

I just think this is a fun design. It's something I would hope to be able to do some day.