Photography

I was looking through my pictures today and I came across an album from last summer when I was visiting family in Spain. I really miss it but I'm exciting to back in a few months from now. It'll be my first time going for Christmas! :)


Here are just a few. They were taken in a small town in Salamanca...

 

  

(I used the top one in my showcase for IB).

Design 2D: Texture

FINALLY! I GOT AN "A" WITHOUT A "MINUS"!! :)
The purpose of this project was to successfully use pencil to display different textures. (Each square is 6 x 6 inches).

SQUARE 1: ACTUAL TEXTURE
Materials can be items such as an old jeans pocket, sand or simulated such as tin
foil. You can combine materials that have different textures.

I came up with this little collage. I used felt fabric with an animal print on it for the background, rope, corks, pebbles, aluminun foil, parts of decorative flowers, and a huge plastic penny!

 SQUARE 2: SIMULATED TEXTURE
Use what you have explored with line, shape, and value to create simulated
texture. As you develop this square, you should focus on texture and not on the
object. The texture should be the entire square.

This was the most challenging!! However, I took the advice that my professors have been giving me lately to BE BOLD! I took a completely different approach than I normally would. I remember starting this square not being scared at all! I made very dark marks (well, to me they seem very dark) so that when you stand back, the objects actually look more three dimensional.

By the way....that rope took forever!!!

SQUARE 4: INVENTED TEXTURE
This will be an invented texture of your own, but still relate to the other texture
squares you have produced. This square should focus on tactile sensibility but may
involve some type of patterning.

 The purpose of this square is to keep all the shapes the same, but simply change the texture of them. I turned most of the circular shapes into buttons (which honestly are a lot less detailed than what I had to do in the first square), the pebbles into a sponge texture, the rope into ribbon, and the leaves into feathers.

SQUARE 3: ABSTRACTED TEXTURE
This square will contain the abstracted texture that draws upon the first 2 texture
squares. Develop those in a different way. Focus on essential elements of the
texture to arrive at your abstraction.

In this square, you can use your imagination to completely "abstract" the actual image. I turned the big penny combined with the cork from the first square into an engagement ring, the plant into a sunflower, and the pattern of the shape made by the pebbles into a snake!

Drawing I: Sheets

Drawing sheets is one of the most challenging things I've been asked to draw in my Drawing I class!!! It requires a lot of concentration and time. We were asked to take gray paper to class along with black charcoal and white conte crayon to draw in the highlights. For the drawing below, we were given about 20 minutes. My professor told us to incorporate everything we have learned so far this year, like contour drawing and crosshatching while at the same time remembering to use speed and precision.

This drawing is a lot different from what I would have done in the beginning of the semester. During midterms, my professor's biggest critique for me was to not be so afraid. She wanted to see me be more bold in my pieces. In the drawing above, I really tried to take her advice but I could still use more practice in that.

The next class, she gave us the whole three hours to complete one drawing!......

I realized that even though we were "rewarded" three hours to work on this, I wasn't able to finish it! It was hard for me to be as "bold" with the highlights as a I am more used to doing with the black. My professor helped me a lot in trying to create contrast. She always suggests to take a step back from what I draw to really be able to see what needs to be brought out more.

It's really exciting seeing my growth in this class! I started off having never taken an art class before, to really being able to observe things in a different way.
Next class we are meeting up in dowtown Orlando! I'm really excited because urban places have always inspired me in my photography and it is where I have gotten my best shots. Hopefully I am able to use what I've learned and draw with SPEED!!!

"Think better. See better. Draw better."

-My Drawing I professor

Design 2D: Shape

The second project in my Design 2D class had to do with shape. Using photoshop, I came up with the design below....

 

  

I started the design by placing a very large bird that covered most of the top. I started playing around with the sizes of that same bird as well as with other bird shapes. I then printed this image out in the size 16 x 20 inches and traced it onto a black paper. Then, little by little, I used my x-acto knife to cut out the designs and used paper cement to glue the pieces onto white illustration board.

After many long hours of cutting every last detail, this is the final result!

  

During our critique in class, the people in my class found it hard to see the big bird at the top and they suggested that my piece looked better placed horizontally. 

I like the black and white effect and the structure given by the nine quadrants :)

Design 2D: Line

I realized that I started this blog right after I had to turn in this project...but I still wanted to put it up! :)

Assignment:
Recreate an image using only line. You will not use outline to define the image. All
the lines will be placed within the plains of the design. Using a variety
of line, width and length you will be able to show direction, value, and dimension.


 I decided to use a photograph my dad took while we were on vacation in New York City. This was taken on the subway....which we agreed was one of the most photographic places we have ever seen!!

Items to consider while working: Where do your eyes rest on the drawing?
Does it move up or down? Left to right? Is there a focal point? How does the
different type of lines affect the images?

This is how it turned out! I decided to do the whole image using pointillism.

Looking it at now though, I have definitely learned a lot since then! Today, I met with my professor to talk about my Value Project (which will be posted soon). She told me that my biggest issue is showing depth. To improve this project, I would need to go back and really bring out the darker areas because as of now, it looks incomplete. However, she did say that I successfully used "the rule of thirds"...yay!! :D

Besides that, I'm really happy with it! I love that the actual image (that I ended up making millions of dots for and spending endless hours on) means a lot to me. :)

Drawing I: Portraits

Last week in my Drawing I class, we were told to bring in a hand-held mirror to start doing self portraits. I started off with this drawing...

I'm not too happy with how it turned out. I am still working on getting better with contour drawings. Next, my professor suggested to present ourselves with more of a challenge by trying to draw a different angle of the face (by either placing the mirror higher or lower). She also demonstrated a new technique where you draw the face using closed shapes, and fill in those shapes with lines.

This technique forces you to pay close attention to the shapes in your face and in which direction the planes go. I thought this was such an interesting way of drawing! This is the result...

 

 Although some of the proportions are off (like in the nose and mouth), I am so happy with how it started to turn out! Apart from the fact that I was looking at my face from a different angle, it just looks so much more edgy than the first drawing.

It could definitely use improvement (like in the line quality and proportions), but I'm excited to start practicing! For homework we have to turn in a completed self portrait using this second method.....I should probably get to work! :)

Triathalon!

This past weekend, I took the car and had a little roadtrip down to Miami. It was so good to be home! On Saturday, there was a triathalon being held in the park in front of my dads house. My dad and I thought it would be a great opportunity for photos!
This is a shot from the balcony on the 30th floor of the apartment. (I was excited to use the huge zoom on my dad's Nikon!!) However, I was more excited to get down there and take advantage of the free muscle milk!! :D

These are a few more shots from the day:

It was way too hot but a lot of fun! I miss Miami :(

First Post!

Honestly, I'm not too sure what to write about....but I figured the first step in creating a blog is making a post! So here it is :)