Digital Images

These are my sketches after I played around with them in Illustrator-basically I just scanned the pastel drawings, did a 6-color live trace on each of them, cleaned the edges and played with the color. The live trace gave them more a graphic quality. Unfortunately when they uploaded to blogger the colors totally changed (ex/ In illustrator, the coliseum is blue-ish) so ignore the colors here. Now, since they are vector images I can move them all around, change the sizes and put together my book!

Pre-Illustrator Images

So my images finally uploaded...but they are all upside-down and sideways. Sorry, you'll just have to turn your heads to see them...

Here are 3 of 15 of my sketches, before they were digitally altered in adobe illustrator

Inspiration

I love pop-up books, and I love Alice in wonderland...I like the idea of taking an actual world and visually transforming it into nonsense. My pop-up will not nearly be this complex though... I'm thinking like a one-page-pops-off-another type thing (i swear, this makes sense in my head) rather than the individual pieces popping up (for both time and sanity reasons)

This is really cool too, though much more complex and not exactly what I am planning to do. But really cool none the less. Check out other works from this artist- Google: Brian Dettmer book autopsies.

Images (?)

I've been trying to upload the scans of my pre-digitally altered sketches, but for some reason it will not work. More to come...hopefully.

Landscape

For my landscape I want to play around with the idea of cultural diffusion- each separate country has specific landmarks that define them. For example, the Statue of Liberty is AMERICAN, while the Eiffel Tower is definitely FRENCH. However, how many French people actually frequent the Eiffel Tower? It seems as if these landmarks are put in place to define a country to the rest of the world, however they have little to no modern cultural significance other than that they play well into the tourist industry. (Seriously, the last time I was at the Empire State Building, it was me and 200 Asian tourists).

Not that cultural diffusion is a bad thing, I just think that it is funny how these national landmarks are most frequented by people from other countries.

I want to make a fun, upbeat pop-up book to visualize this idea.

I plan on drawing a bunch of world landmarks in a fun, sketchy way, scanning them, altering them in illustrator, then creating a book with 'touristy' facts. Also, none of the landmarks are going to correspond with the correct countries, for example, the Parthenon may be in Japan, while a pagoda might be in New York. Its going to basically be a mixed up atlas, with the intent in spreading the meaning that these cultural landmarks really belong to mankind, and while they may have a historical cultural identity, they stand independent from their country of origin.

Sketchup...kinda like Ketchup!!

My name:

Unique Spring Break

Over spring break my friends and I went down to Chincoteague Island, VA to spend the week. The island isn't your typical spring break destination, as the 6th of us made up about 1/3 of the population (the other 2/3 were over the age of 60). We spent our days on the beach (wrapped up in layers of sweatshirts and pants), bike riding and exploring the wildlife trails (where we saw real wild ponies!!) and our nights at the Chincoteague Inn mixing with locals (Jim-bob and self proclaimed "Crazy-Drunk-Guy"). It may not sound like it, but it was the most fun I have had in a long time.

In addtion to Chincoteague Inn karoke night (where we were an overwhelming success with our rendition of Journey's Don't Stop Believing) I went on a sort of "unique object scavenger hunt", searching for visually appealing places where I would be able to stick my bumper stickers. The project itself was a lot of fun, and my friends became more and more involved as the week went on, pointing out places and objects as we continued to explore the island. It was really nice to have input from them, and in turn my Unique sitckers became a major disscussion point and source of entertainment.

I took a lot of photos of "unique places" and choose 11 to print. I've posted a few of my favorite here.


This guy, a Chincoteaque local was one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Not only was he interested in my project, but he immedietly jumped up onto his machine and posed with the sticker without question. He then continued to tell me all about his grandchildren, his oldest grandaughter (I think her name is Danielle, she is 4) loves to color and he thinks that she will grow up to be an artist. It was really cute.


Mr. Whippy's! The best icecream on the island- 97% fat free AND 97% unique!


I had to sneak on to private property for this one. I liked the look of the rust, and had to capture it. It was in the middle of a junkyard with all kinds of crap laying around. Right next to a truck was a big fishing boat that I almost stuck my sticker too...until I realized there were two people in the cabin who were watching me the entire time. Weird.



I didn't take this one to be a part of the project, but a group shot with the sticker was definitely necessary. My friends, they're pretty unique.

UNIQUE

My first attempt at Adobe Illustrator was a success (I think). I created a very simple image, the word "Unique" with synonyms written on the inside of each letter. The font is stencil-like to reinforce the possibility for infinite reproductions and the colors are simple black and white, to make the image seem as 'un-unique' as possible. Again, although the sticker claims to be "unique" it really is not, it has the ability to be mass produced.

Only when I take the photographs of the sticker in context with actual individuals will it move past the infinite and into the unique. I think it's a fun juxtaposition. I think I may want to send out the image to a company to make bumper stickers, and buy them in bulk for two reasons

1. The act of the mechanical production of the stickers works with my theme

2. I'm not sure how to go about making my own, as I am having trouble finding vinyl sticker paper to print on. Besides, its not the actual sticker that is my final project, it is the photographs. Mechanical production will just be a part of the means to the end.

The COEXIST Bumper sticker:


It sends a nice message, but everyone has it. If you walk down mainstreet you probably will find one of these on about 1/3 of the parked cars. I want to make my bumper sticker in the same style, so that when one sees it they might think of the Coexist sticker, adding to the implied generic-ness of my design. The sticker, as I said yesterday, is supposed to be recognizable not for its unique design, but for the redundency (which will hopefully show through in each of the photographs I take).

I have been thinking a lot about the infinite print project lately (half because I am a bit stumped, and half because the first part is due in a matter of hours). I keep asking myself, what is a mass produced object, easy for everyone to get their hands on, but can be altered in a personal, unique way?

The first thing that came to mind was greeting cards. There are hundreds upon thousands of cards that are mass produced, bought and sold each and every day. Each one (of a certain type) is exactly the same until the purchaser puts his or her own handwriting into them. A simple "Dear Grandma, Happy Birthday, I Love You" can bring tears to an old woman's eyes and a 10 page long, script, heartfelt love letter written on loose leaf paper and stapled into a Hallmark may turn into an engagement. It is the personal touches added to the mass produced card that really make it an individually unique object.

So my idea was to make a bunch of greeting cards, nothing to do with any specific holiday, and e-mail some (the digital version of this project) and mail some. I would also include a blank and ask the receiver to mail me back the blank card with their own words, transforming my unoriginal blank card into something truly special.

However, today I was scrolling through the class blogs and saw that someone else had an idea along the same 'greeting card' line as me. I don't want our projects to be too similar, so I'm going to have to drop the greeting card idea and think of something else. I am excited to see what her outcome is and what direction she is going to take with it...so good luck!

So now, back at square one, I need to think of another mass produced, yet personal and unique item. I've been thinking about it for a while and I've come up with something kinda similar to greeting cards (actually not really similar at all) - Bumper stickers. These stickers are mass produced by the millions and people spend their money on them to stick to their cars and then call themselves "original". But are they really being original? They are sticking a generic image to a mass produced car. Seems kinda lame really.

BUT It is that personal choice that that individual had to pick out that bumper sticker and place it on that specific car. The choice in itself shows some spark of originality.

I think that I want to make my own bumper sticker. I'm not quite sure of the image yet (or how to go about the process of making them) but I will e-mail some (with printer friendly directions of course) and make some. After that, I want to go around and take pictures of each unique person with their own unique car with my generic-turned-individual sticker on it.

The image itself is going to be plain, boring, something that seems that it could be found anywhere. Maybe just words. Black text on white background that says something along the lines "This Bumper Sticker Is Unique" (or maybe something a bit more witty). Something generic that will link all the photographs of the individuals together.

It is not the sticker that is the unique object, but the free will of those choosing my sticker to enhance their car that is truly original. The unique object presented in class Monday after spring break will not be the photographs, but the people that they capture. The people will be single-handedly turning my un-unique item into something much more exciting.

It really could be a fun project. I like the idea of compiling photographs. Maybe I can even stick my bumper stickers to things that aren't cars- walls, bulletin boards, desks, skateboards...a world of possibilities.

So after a long and arduous process, my screen-printed James Joyce inspired image never came out. I tried emulsifying and exposing my screen on two different occasions: the first time my imaged washed right off the screen, and the second time the extra emulsion would not wash off at all...until I hit it with the power washer. Big mistake, I basically blew off a ton of words and detail.

For the crit I just printed out a digital version of my image, which I wasn't so happy about since I didn't get the chance to play around with the screen print/colors/difference surfaces. I was really excited about screen printing since I had never done it before. Oh well. Trial and error. It was a good learning situation though, and hopefully the next time I attempt something like it I will know what mistakes not to make again.

Just in case anyone was wondering, this is the original photograph used for my screen print image:

So I found a photograph of a street scene I took in Italy (it may not be Joyce's Dublin, but it has that Euro feel). I was able to convert the photo into text, with three tones (highlights, mid tones and shadows)- don't ask how i did this, because honestly I was playing around in photo shop for hours and I'm not sure if I could do it again ha ha. (It's on the post below, my computer was acting funny and wouldn't allow me to type and write in the same post).

Anyway, from afar you can make out the street scene, and when you get close up you can read Joyce's words (I chose a bunch of Bloom's lines from the Circe episode). The image is a bit confusing to the eye, but Ulysses is an extremely confusing text, intentionally written that way.

I definitely want the image to be printed big, but I haven't decided what color yet. The scene takes place at night "Night Town", Dublin's red light district. Maybe I should keep it in black, grey and white? There are only three different tones in the digital image. Should I add a color? a deep red for the shadow?

New Idea!!

So I have a new idea for our manipulation project. Last semester I took a class on James Joyce and we had to read Ulysses. The book is very visual, with different type sets, fonts, etc... The way the word is written really influences/ manipulates the reader's mind.

I want to create a scene based on the Circe chapter of Ulysses. In this part of the book the main characters are in the red light district of Dublin. I want to build an entire city completely out of the words from the chapter. There will be snippets of text, all out of place which will mimic the

What to do?

For class on this afternoon we are supposed to have prepared a basic statement of what we plan to do for the first project, however I seem to be suffering from a bit of artist's block. I have never taken a screen printing class before and therefore have no idea what to expect from the process. What can I put in? I know that I want to incorporate some multi-media aspects, but I am confused as to how far a screen print with digital stencils will allow me to go. In the past I have been successful with pure painting, drawing and sculpture. This new inclusion of the digital aspect and the screen printing technique is a bit intimidating.

I think that I would like to play with something commercial, a universally recognized image and then use the tools I have to manipulate it in some way that will completely change the way a viewer interprets it. I want it to be a very recognizable image that way everyone will have some sort of prior connection to it. Possibly taking an object from an advertisement (Absolute bottle? Skyy? I like the idea of using alcohol because it in itself is a tool used to 'manipulate' reality) and then incorporate that image into a larger, partly hand drawn, partly photographic scape. Maybe a cityscape with bottles as buildings? Will that create a narration that is able to be interpreted? What does that say, that alcohol can blur the lines between reality (the photographs) and fantasy (the drawings/paintings?) I want it to be enchanting though, not just a stark narration of the effects of the substance. I am afraid that this manipulation is a bit to basic for this project though. 

Also, as an English major I see a lot of text every day of my life. I was thinking of somehow 'manipulating' text and using it as a form of mixed media, if you will. Maybe taking the information aspect out of the text and using words and letters purely as a design element. Maybe have text/letter/word cutouts on top of an image (so you could only see the image through the text (I would be manipulating what part of the image is seen, and how it is seen-you see the words first, and the words allow you to see the image). Just an idea. 

I need to consider a lot of things and to learn more about the process that I will be using before I can answer these questions and settle on a concrete idea. Any ideas or help would be much appreciated.

Poor Fat Jess

For class, ART344 Digital Printmaking we had to create a quickie manipulation using Photoshop and a current events photograph. Since Jessica Simpson has been getting a lot of heat for her weight lately I figured I would give her the spotlight.

Poor Jess has made the mistake of wearing a very unflattering pair of mom-jeans which the paparazzi went crazy over. The supposedly made her size 4 ass jump to a 16 (obviously impossible and untrue). One tabloid went so far to suggest that the pop-turned-country star should take Kristy Alley's place as the Jenny Craig spokes women. Ridiculous.

I decided to play around with the liquefy tool on photoshop and add a few pounds to the skinny star and try to see what the tabloids claimed to see.

Manipulation

Define Manipulation: According to dictionary.com

Ma*nip`u*la"tion\, n. [Cf. F. manipulation.]

1. The act or process of manipulating, or the state of being manipulated; the act of handling work by hand; use of the hands, in an artistic or skillful manner, in science or art.

2. The use of the hands in mesmeric operations.

3. Artful management; as, the manipulation of political bodies; sometimes, a management or treatment for purposes of deception or fraud.

My favorite part of that definition is "artful management"- Intentionally changing something to fit our needs and desires, whether it be a physical object or image or someone's action's or emotions.

After Dictionary.com I typed the word manipulation into Google, and along with the usual wiki hits, two "related searches" popped up: "emotional manipulation" and "mind manipulation".

When I first considered the technical definition of the word my mind immediately jumped to an idea of physical manipulation, manually (or digitally) changing the appearance of an object. However, once that change is made whoever happens to gaze upon my freshly manipulated design their mind is forced to work in the same way my mind works. They see what I want them to see, and if I have done my job correctly then their emotions are effected as well. Not only have I manipulated the physical appearance of the image but I have intentionally manipulated the way others think and feel.

Manipulation is a powerful tool.