Font

1) The name of the font is Ribbons, because I think it looks very wisty, like ribbons formed to make words.

2) The style of my font is more of a script type, so all twisty and curly, not like a serif or one of those plainer fonts.

3) My inspiration was my handwriting, the font is actually a cruder form of a font that I've developed for my own signature and when I need to write "fancier" since my plain old printing is pretty messy.

4) It reflects my personality in that it's very fun and creative, and more than a little messy, like me. It's also kind of fancy, and I like the scriptyness of those types of fonts.

5) My biggest struggle was making the letters exactly the way I pictured them. If you asked me to draw them all out, I could do it no problem, but the computer made it much more difficult, because I couldn't get the thinness of the lines right, or the way the curves really curve or lines intersect. It was a nightmare, actually, trying to make them just they way they're supposed to be. I don't think I succeeded.

6) My biggest success was my letter K. That was the only letter that really came out the way it was supposed to.

7) A second font would be more spiky with straighter lines, so I don't have to deal with curves. I would call it Slasher, since it's kind of inspired by horror films. I wish I would've done that font instead.

Mechanic Man

Helvetica recap/Assignment

1) The way it's styled is so that it reflects a particular mood. Like scripty fonts can be romantic and stenciled fonts can be strong or military-ish. Serif or sans-serif fonts are considered more neutral. For instance, whenever I see Comic Sans used, I almost always cringe, because it's used incorrectly. I see it as more a little-kid font meant for birthday invitations. But there are many people who think it's acceptable to use on billboards about how drugs are bad. It just doesn't fit the mood.

2) I mostly use Times New Roman, because that's what teachers require for papers. This is because its a serif font and the little feet help the eye to travel along the words. My second most used font would be Orator Std. It's a sans-serif font and I'm very fond of the capitals, which make it ideal for quotes on graphics.

3) It reflects what's popular usually. Like right now I'm seeing a lot of graphics featuring One Direction, The Avengers, and British TV shows (Merlin, Sherlock, Game of Thrones). Politics can effect design because there might be some things that are allowed/not allowed. There will also always be graphics that challenge the government or support certain politics.

4) Well, if Coldwater Creek (my favorite clothes store...) changed it's logo to a more grungy or "fun" font, it would be completely unsuited to what they sell there. Their clothes are more calm and professional. I bet a lot of women wouldn't shop there anymore, because they wouldn't feel as welcomed. It would be trying to look "younger" and that's really not the generation it's intended for.

5) I think I might try using Helvetica sometime. No, just kidding, it's way overdone. I'm going to stick to my lovely Times New Roman and Orator Std. Those are classics and neutral and you don't see them on every street sign.

6) It hasn't really made any changes to how I think about graphics. I already knew a lot of what they talked about in terms of design. I did find the history fascinating, though, and it really did make me notice Helvetica in everyday life.

Ninjas!

Ninjas On A Hill

Currency

10 Pecunium Front

5 Pecunium Front

5 Pecunium Back

1. I included the images of myself and my brother because we had to include pics of people we know, and the textures I used were mainly just textures I had recently downloaded from 99mockingbirds.com and wanted to use. I tried to include a bird in every picture as a freedom symbol or something that would tie it all together, and they all have flowers. There are clocks on the two that are meant to be front and back, so those tie that together. The seal is on all three images. Circles are a common shape that I used and also help tie it all together.
2. I used Shape, in that I focused on having the circles as a common aspect. I also used Color, they fit into my color scheme of blue and gold, with one front being primarily blue, and the other front and the back meant to go with it are primarily gold. 
3. I think I was most successful in my composition and coloring. I tried to arrange my images so there was a clear focal point and the other images and text all supported it. I tried to make my colors vibrant, a personal style preference, and all fit within an overarching color scheme.

Currency Country

Describe the culture/people of your country.

The people in my country are very friendly and inclusive. They are welcoming. But they can also be very intense and full of expression. The culture is very diverse, with many types of foods that are similar to the nearby countries. The clothing style is like that of Renaissance times, but without the powdered wigs and more jeans. There are a lot of parties and festivals and reasons to celebrate life.

What is everyday life like in your country?

You get up very early, like 8 in the morning, and go to work/school. Then, in the middle of the day, around lunch time, when the sun is hottest, you take a siesta like in Spanish speaking countries. When you wake up, around two or three in the afternoon, you have a big lunch, and then continue to work until about 6 at night. Then you have a small dinner. Lunch is the main meal of the day. After that you're free to do whatever you want.

What does your country look like? What colors do you see?

The country is full of very old buildings and narrow streets in the cities. Hardly anyone drives there. The cities are separated into neighborhoods, where everything is within walking distance. if you need to go somewhere else, you would use public transportation, like a train or trolley. Mostly there are a lot of pedestrians. There is a lot of countryside as well, and these people who live out there do get around in cars, since things are more spread out. Its very hilly in most parts, which is used for farmland, and there are some small forests here and there. Colors seen are a lot of vibrant greens, yellows, reds, and blues. 

What does your country sound like?

There are very few industrial noises, since it is a more agriculture centered country. The noises heard are mostly that of people talking, since they all like to talk a mile a minute, or music playing. Many parties are thrown and the people there love to dance.

What does your country smell like?

It smells like food. Like that whiff you get when you walk into a really good restaurant and your mouth starts to water because it smells so good. It smells mostly of fresh baked breads and warm cookies.

What colors are in the flag?

The flag is a golden sun on a cornflower blue sky. Light blue and gold colors are seen in a lot of places because of this.

What is your country's slogan? (for example: In God We Trust, etc)

animus, tripudium et solvo effercio (Life, Joy, Free Stuff)

What does your country's seal/freedom symbol look like?

The seal looks like this (because i was having trouble describing it) The freedom symbol, even though the government is a monarchy, is a heart, which also shows the people's great capacity for love. 

 Name of person in charge of the country and their title.

There is a Queen in charge of the country, the government is a monarchy.  The Queen actually runs the country, the king is just support. This country is very feminist and sees women as being better than men. The current Queen is Queen Alanna (me!).

Denomination Name (you may not use one that is already in existence...)

The denomination name is the Pecunia. Pecunia is what is used for a single dollar, i.e. One pecunia. If used for a higher value, then the noun used would be pecunium, i.e. Five pecunium.

Animation Wrap-Up

1) Well i saw this animation that someone did last year involving game pieces and it worked really well so I wanted to do something with that too. I also had my Bananagrams pieces sitting out and I kept thinking they would be fun to use.

2) My biggest success was probably figuring out how to get the Dominos to fall down.

3) My biggest struggle was trying to find the time to work on it; I'm a bust person and it eats up a lot of time that I didn't have, so I felt very rushed there at the end.

4) I would probably modify my idea so I had more scenes and so I could make the whole thing longer.

5) A sequel would be much like this one, but involving different games.

Nursery Rhyme

So, the image file for my picture was too large, since I animated it, but it is saved to my folder, so that's where you should look to find it.

Title: The Itsy Bitsy Spider

The rhyme is about this spider climbing up a drainpipe (which I couldn't find a good picture for) and then it rains, and the spider is washed away. The sun comes out again and the spider starts climbing again.

The part that stood out for me was the spider, the rain, and the sun. I started out with the spider sitting on its web, and then I animated rain into the photo and then once the rain stops, the animated sun comes out and the spider reappears.

Vexel Portraits 2

Yes, i do feel like my vexel portrait was successful, because even though it was difficult at first to pick out just where the curves should trace around what shapes, eventually I got the hang of it and my eyes "adjusted" so it was easier for me to see the shadows and highlights that made the whole thing look more realistic. The hardest part was definitely the mechanics of tracing the shapes and following the curves. I couldn't follow each and every thing, so it was hard to determine what parts I could leave out or cut short. The second hardest part was just keeping the layers straight! Ha! If i could vexel-ize anything else, it would probably be one of my own graphics that I've created, because I have a tendency to go overboard on the details, and doing this would make it interesting without making it look cluttered.

Self Portrait

2012 starts again

TARDIS in the Mountains (blend)

Matt Smith as David Tennant

Burnt Tessalation

Tesselations

Transformation Project

I picked Alice in Wonderland for my Transformation Project. All were altered in Photoshop, not just two.

Alice and the Cheshire Cat

Alice and the Too-Small Door

Alice and the Drink Me Bottle

Alice and the Rabbit Hole

Alice and the Tea Party

So I transformed myself into Alice from Alice in Wonderland because I thought it would be fun, and it was. The most challenging thing about this project would first of all putting together the outfit, because my parents kept refusing to take me to Unique, but the second most challenging parts were getting the colors to match with the backgrounds I'd chosen, in which case I switched into making myself look more animated. The simplest part was making the backgrounds, because for the most part I just took some scenes from the movies, either the animated one or the real life one. If I could add one more picture to the set, it would probably be something to do with painting the roses red.

The photo I'll be sharing tomorrow is Alice and the Drink Me Bottle, because it's the one I think turned out the best. It is Alice about to drink out of a bottle labeled "Drink Me" - one of the most iconic moments of the story. I fiddled with the coloring a lot and the end result made me look animated, so it looked like I blended in with the background more.

Transformation Brainstorm

1) I would transform myself into Alice in Wonderland
2) Because I think I could pull it off, being blonde and everything, and it just seems like a lot of fun.
3) I would take a lot of pictures of myself outside (if the snow melts) in the park across the street from my house, inside the house, and maybe photoshop a rabbit hole to be in.
4) I have a dress that might work, but I might need a bottle that says drink me or something that says eat me, I might also need a tea set/cup and saucer.
5) I will have to look through pictures to find iconic scenes to recreate, and try to get her expression down well.

6) This picture inspires me a lot, and would be one that I would try to recreate. I like her curious expression and the way she holds the bottle, like she's deciding whether to drink it or not.

American Photography (part 3)

1) I think the photos that were the most eye-opening were the ones of war, namely WWII and Vietnam. The images from there were just so graphic and gave me a disturbing sense of what war is all about.

2) They document important events, and so show us truth, but more recently, in the digital age, the truth is able to be altered, and so we find ourselves being slightly more skeptical of the truth than we had been. Also the choice of which pictures appear in the media effect our perceptions on people and/or events, so we are more likely to lean towards the bias of the reporter.

3) Digital photographs have made sharing pictures easier and more efficient. They have also effected our perceptions on what is true and what has been altered, as we can no longer really believe in the truth of photographs.

4) Events covered would probably be of things such as the wars in the Middle East, which are huge and effect many people. Technologies shown would probably be how the cameras have changed, getting smaller and smaller, and with features such as video recording enabled on them.

Digital Collage

Grace of the Galaxies

The images included in this collage are a wide variety. For the background I started off with this slightly textured red picture, then added a picture of these black vines to add even more texture. After I added a few more things, I realized I wanted more detail back there, so I put in stars and a picture of some dark clouds to help blend into the other clouds. In the sort of middle ground I have two sets of mountains with a domed city in the valley between them. Dark clouds are over the city, like a storm brewing. I also have a sun tucked behind one of the mountains, and a clock face faded on top of it. In the foreground there is another domed city and a bridge leading up to it, with a horse drawn carriage heading to it. In the stars I have a few "constellations" including myself, an old fashioned train, a swan, and a police box. The rest of the scenery includes some plains with city lights faded on top of them and a purple river running through it. I also included various song lyrics blended into the images throughout the picture.

As far as changed go, I mostly used photo filters to change the images colors. Other than that, I applied a soft light to some images and text to make them blend in more to the background, as seen in the constellations and the clock on the sun. Most all of the images have been resized so they would go together well, and some images, like the mountains and the train were flipped so they faced the other direction.

At first I thought I would go for more of a view from outer space, but as I looked through pictures I decided to do a view from someone standing on the bridge, because I could include more detail as I went. I also added in the stars when I realized the background I had seemed too plain. the constellations were a completely random idea, because i had no idea how to add myself into the picture, nor did I especially want to, and it was the easiest way for me to kind of get around it.

Usually, whenever I add text to a picture I try to make it stand out, but this time I tried hard to make it blend in so it wouldn't be as noticeable. I also found that I was much less picky with my images as I usually am. I just saw something that I could make work and didn't waste too much time making sure it was the best possible picture.

What I am most proud of would have to be anywhere from my mountains on up. I think that the constellations, sun, clouds, and city in particular look the best and I think they're the most well done part of the whole collage. It turned out even better than I had hoped.

If I could change anything, it would probably be the carriage and horse. I'm not really satisfied with how it looks and it didn't come close to my initial vision, but I'll have to deal with it because I highly doubt any pictures that fit my vision exist. I would also make some of my lines cleaner where I cut images out.

This has to be one of my better collages, and I'm altogether very proud of it. I'm also very happy with the fonts I was able to get for my text.

Ideal World

1) My ideal world would be full of technology, mostly cities, but it would also be mixed with a little bit of fantasy, castles and such. A blending of the two. The buildings would all look old and hobbled together, but in everyday life there would be extremely advanced technologies to help with the little tasks. Nothing would be simpler because of technology, it would just be a simple "this is the way it is".

2) This ideal world would not be on earth, it would have to be on another planet, maybe even in another time.

3) The colors would be very rich, dark reds and purples in the natural environment. In a "man-made" environment the colors would all be little glowing spots of blue or green surrounded in black.

4) Sonic screwdrivers (Doctor Who reference there, ha) would be a must, because opening doors is just so much more fun that way. Any electronics would be tools designed to better help their users. Hovercraft ships (that look like curvy blue boxes) drawn by a horse-like species (who are animal, not intelligent) would be transportation. Weapons would be swords that transmit electricity, so they shock to kill more than cut, providing a quicker death. Hologram screens. In the more natural world there would be things like animals and trees and all that stuff, but also a surprising amount of precious gems, which are useful because they give off light, hence their light sources instead of lightbulbs. They are not as valuable because there are so many of them. Books also exist in wide variety, but they are written with special ink on special paper so they will never fade or fall apart.

5) Robots. No artificial intelligence exists here. Time machines also do not exist. No statues or monuments are in this world (because there was this one crazy scientist this one time who brought them to life as a personal army and tried to take over the world. He failed and they were all destroyed)

6) The types of people living there would be from all walks of life. There is a Lower City, which is pretty much the slums, except instead of selling drugs they sell mood patches (almost the same thing). Then there would be the Middle City, where all the normal, middle class people live. These people are the laborers, the workers needed to keep the city functional and running. Most specialize in a certain area, like plumbing or technology repairs. Then comes the Upper City, where all the elites live. This includes the great scientists and technicians who come up with inventions. Intelligence is the highest value, and when people there are young they are given tests to determine their intelligence levels in various areas. Those with exceptionally high scores are allowed to move up in rankings and are given more privileges and responsibilities. The government is constructed of a Council, each member of which gets an equal vote. The members are elected from each social class by the social class they will represent. Men and women both have equal standing in society.

7) Communication would be, for the most part, face to face, actually talking. They are really focused on knowing people personally, and conceder it rude to not show your face while talking to someone. If a secure, faithful relationship has been established between two people, then they might use phones to communicate while apart, however, these are mostly only used if a quick discussion is necessary and they are not able to meet in person.

8) There are two suns, that rise and set in the north and south, constantly, so there is never night, only day, except for when one is setting and one is rising. The grass is red and the mountains stretch taller than anywhere else in the universe. But the cities are the most magnificent. Each is like its own little skyscraper island, connected to others through a network of bridges that stretch like a spiderweb across the earth. From space, each city glows with blue and green lights, but the buildings are spaced so they spell out the name of the city from above, so travelers from other planets know where each city is.

Documentary Photography Project

Mini Me

Mask Failures

Baby Dino

Smiling Witch

Darth goes to STA

Vampire on a Diet

I chose to photograph Halloween for my project, but more specifically the Halloween party at the community center. I chose this because it's that time of year and it was easy to be able to get a lot of pictures. The pictures I took have a sort of fun feel to them, with a little bit of irony as well. I learned that Halloween doesn't have to be all scary, that there are plenty of fun costumes out there and it's more about the fun than scaring people. My favorite image would have to be the first one, of my brother (the little Darth Vader) and another older one who we saw the instant we walked into the room. It was so funny that they had the same costume that I had to take a picture of it, and I think the obvious height difference makes the image memorable.

Documentary Photography Proposal

• I am planning to document Halloween, my family, friends, and anyone else I find to really represent it well.
• I chose this idea because Halloween is coming up and is a major holiday.
• I will take pictures at my house, at school, and possibly on the street Halloween night.
• I will try to capture creativity in people's costumes, focusing on the ones that are well done. I'll try to show what makes Halloween fun and scary at the same time.
• I will take pictures this weekend and Monday of next week.

American Photography (Part 2)

One event shown in the movie was World War II. Photographers were specially commissioned to go along to the war and take pictures for newspapers and such back in the states, to let people know how the war was going and to glorify American troops. I think that the pictures from here are really dramatic and give you a small sense of how horrible war could be.
Another event that they talked about was when the Hindenburg exploded. One person happened to get a few chance shots of it, and that picture made the event real, otherwise no one would've believed it and it wouldn't be "news". I think that the pictures taken of this event are cool because there's only three of them and they're very good quality, considering how fast the photographer had to load and reload the camera in the short amount of time.

If I could document one event in history through pictures, it would probably be the Revolutionary War, because it's my favorite period in history and it had a lot of action going on then. Plus, it would show how our nation came to be, what our founding fathers and american heroes really looked like.