Digital Imaging : 2013

Monday, May 6, 2013

Digital Imaging Self-Evaluation

Alyssa Hess

Self-Evaluation:

Honestly, I think my final project went very well. It was definitely a challenge that took a long time to create, but ultimately it was a labor of love and I really felt so comfortable making this goal a reality. I think I got a pretty interesting video out of my initial drawings. Everything seemed very scattered for a while and it was hard to envision a final product but I was so proud of the fact that I was able to take an original character and make it move on screen. I gave it emotions; a personality. I only wish that I had made it smoother, but because of the time restraints, it was the best I could do. For this reason , in the future, I would like to add slides to my original sequence to really get the smoothest animation possible. I’d also like to get my own sound recordings to give my character the voice and mannerisms that I’d foreseen prior to starting this project.

Digital Imaging Final Animation

Digital Imaging Final Production Log

Alyssa Hess

Digital Imaging Final

Production Log

I have been fascinated by cell animation ever since I was kid, since old Disney movies were done that way. The original idea I had for my project was to do my own 2D animation of a cat sleeping, waking up, chasing a mouse, and then going back to sleep. However, due to the time constraints, I had to change my concept. The new concept I came up with wasn’t terribly different but the new sequence involved the same cat sleeping, waking up because of a buzzing fly, sneezing, and then falling back asleep again. Unfortunately, I knew little to nothing about animation before starting this project, so I researched Robert Crumb, a cartoonist popular in the 60s and 70s to get a better understanding of the artistic processes and styles that go into animation. In order to create my final project, I first drew 84 slides by hand using micron pens. I traced over each image I drew, very slowly adding in new movements and actions to avoid choppy end footage. From there, I scanned in my images to Photoshop so I could edit them and make them the same. This would be vital in putting together the final project. Then I uploaded the images using Photoshop’s animation tools and included sound effects. Finally, I exported the file and rendered the video. Fortunately I didn’t encounter too many problems while during my project and I was very pleased with the end result, though if I had had more time, I would have wanted to make the animation less choppy.

Digital Imaging Final Research Component

Alyssa Hess

Digital Imaging Final

Research Component

I. Robert Crumb

Humble Beginnings:

- Robert Crumb was an American cartoonist born in Philadelphia on August 30, 1943

- He had one brother named Charles who proved to be a major influence on Crumb’s work because of his love for comics

- Crumb often felt like an outcast in school and sought comfort in drawing

“I was one of those social rejects, but then, you know, a lot of people were — nothing unusual about being an outcast in high school.”

Illustration:

- Crumb’s family moved to Delaware in 1956, and Crumb lived there until 1962, when he moved to Cleveland, Ohio

- Crumb found a job with the American Greetings Corporation

- He began slowly, working as a color separator, but was then promoted to commercial illustrator for the company

- Crumb’s artistic style largely went unappreciated by the American Greetings Corporation, who preferred him to draw more appealing characters

- Crumb admitted to taking L.S.D when he started working in Cleveland and claims that during that period he created his best characters and learned a lot about his drawing style

“My boss kept telling me my drawings were too grotesque. I was trained to draw 'cute' little neuter characters which influenced my technique, and even now my work has this cuteness about it.”

Fritz the Cat:

- Crumb’s first major cartoon was one called “Fritz the Cat”

- He had created the character as a teenager and was approached by Ballantine Books to make a comic using Fritz the Cat

- Feeling that the cartoon was a failure, Crumb swiftly ended it

Mr. Natural:

- During the seventies, Crumb moved to California where he introduced some of his best characters, one of which was named Mr. Natural

- Mr. Natural was a bald man with a long, white beard, who wore a yellow robe and big red shoes

- Mr. Natural was a mystic and a guru who lived a humble life without many material possessions

*(another famous cartoon by Crumb was Angelfood McSpade, a stereotypical African American woman portrayed as a nymphomaniac)

II. Animation:

For my animation, I drew 84 frames for my cartoon “Clyde” by hand using micron pens and sketchbook paper. I then scanned in the images to Photoshop and edited them, making each frame the same resolution and size. Then I used the animation tools in Photoshop to organize my frames. Finally, I added sound clips and exported the file.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Digital Imaging Illustrator Assignment

Image of a clock done with Illustrator

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Color Corrected Images

Before: Bathroom, original photo with poor, yellowish hue.

After: Bathroom, photographed and color-corrected in Photoshop.

Before: Jon, original photo with poor quality (blurred, color issues, etc.)

After: Jon, photographed and color-corrected in Photoshop.

Before: Store Statue, photo with various technical and color-related issues

After: Store Statue, photographed and color-corrected in Photoshop.

External/Internal Composition Photographs

Internal Composition of a flower using the Rule of Thirds.

Photographed, and digitally enhanced in Photoshop.

External Composition of a New York City street.

Photographed, and digitally enhanced in Photoshop.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Mid-term Portfolio Documentation

Abstract: This mid-term portfolio in its entirety includes photos and artworks that have significant meaning to me as an artist. The photos themselves aim to evoke emotion and are meant to be interpreted differently by each person who views them.

Portfolio Log: As my portfolio progressed, I realized that I wanted to use pieces that demonstrated more technical skill with regards to digital imaging. For this reason I chose to include an abstract portrait of my friend Jess, a digitally enhanced photo composite of my other close group of college friends, and a manipulated photo of my friend Becky looking at a butterfly. The amount of time it took to produce each artwork varied greatly depending on what elements of the artworks needed to be retouched. I found for example, that my photo composite of my friends gathered in a kitchen took longer than the one of Jess.

To begin, the photo of Jess is undoubtedly one of my favorites. I included this piece in my portfolio because I loved the bright colors and raw atmosphere within the piece. I am strangely proud to say that this piece was a product of much random experimentation. I over saturated many parts of the piece and used curves and brightness/contrast to give it the edge and boldness I was looking for. However, I noticed that the white in her clothing was somewhat gray, so I went back with the paintbrush tool to erase and correct the dull areas. From there I added a very noisy shadow behind her with the burn tool. The end result was so fascinating and unexpected to me. I almost felt like I had created a pop art piece and needed to showcase it in my portfolio.

The photo composite on the other hand, required far less experimentation. I simply wanted to incorporate a friend of mine into a photograph that he had previously been absent from. I discovered recently that despite the fact that he is a major part of my friend group here at college, my girlfriends and I had very few pictures with him. I thought this unfair. The process involved in creating the final product largely demanded the many photo-editing and color-correction skills we learned in class. The original photo of my friend was taken in the dining hall, which gave the photograph and unsatisfying, yellowish tint. I used the color balance tool in Photoshop to counter this to the best of my ability, and then sharpened and brightened it. I became very good friends with the curves tool at this point, which allowed me to get the shadows I was looking for in the places where I wanted them. I also became very close with the shadows/highlights tool for the same reason. From there, I used a layer mask to remove him from the original photograph. I inserted him into the new photograph and made some minor adjustments to the entire piece to unify it in terms of color and composition. This is another of my favorite pieces because I think that from an outside perspective, some people would not realize that my friend had been Photoshopped into the picture, and I thought this to be a great indicator of what skills I have acquired with Photoshop.

The picture of my friend Becky is one that was slightly less challenging yet very fun to create. I remember one sunny day when she was wearing her tinted sunglasses, the art building across the street from her reflected beautifully into her glasses. I thought it would be interesting to remove all the color from the image, except for what was reflected in her sunglasses. This largely required the use of the black and white tool in Photoshop, but I also enhanced the black and white parts of the photo with brightness/contrast and curves. From there, I removed the image of a butterfly from another photo of mine via the layer mask tool, and inserted it into the new picture to make it appear as though Becky was looking at a butterfly rather than at the art building. To make the picture more convincing, I also put the same butterfly image in her sunglasses, (colored of course) and completed the piece with some last minute minor enhancements. I included this piece in my portfolio because I loved the effects that were added to it throughout the entire process.

Self-Reflection: As with any artworks I have ever done, I feel that some of my pieces were better than others. For example, where my self-portrait demonstrated considerable drawing ability, I feel that I should have focused more on the digital imaging aspect of the piece. I also felt that these pieces lacked unity due to the fact that I chose them all based on what I liked visually rather than grouping them together under a more coherent theme. These are things that I would like to fix about my pieces in the future. However, I also felt that my work featured some strong points as well. As I mentioned above, my last 3 pieces showed more digital skill than the other artworks in my portfolio. I really had to focus on what I had learned with regards to photo-editing in order to create convincing and interesting pieces of art. I did think that I was successful in this, especially in the piece featuring my friend Paul, since he was never in that photo but appears to have been there all along. I would like to keep honing my Photoshop abilities as this class progresses, and I would also like to develop my skills as a photographer, so I consistently have the best possible photographs to use in my work.

Quarter Portfolio Documentation

My quarter portfolio includes my portrait of myself, my picture of a cloud, and my picture of the London Eye in England. I chose to use these three pieces in my portfolio because I felt that they were not only meaningful to me, but that they also demonstrated certain artistic strong points. The portrait of myself for example, was completely hand-drawn and then retouched slightly on the computer. I felt that the goal of this artwork was to illustrate the thought-process behind an artist and their work. I, for example, often find that I am constantly thinking of new ideas for a given piece while working on it. This is shown through the many small thought bubbles and squiggles around my head, which symbolize my inspiration and changing ideas. I did some cropping in this piece to get a good composition, and I also used the photo editing tools in Photoshop to add contrast to my work. I found that the original work was very dull and gray until I brightened the image and colored in areas that needed to be darker.

As for my cloud, I did some slight retouching on this as well. I photographed the cloud originally because I was cloud-watching and thought it looked like an abstract dragon of some kind. I have always found clouds so inspiring because despite their nonrepresentational nature, we as people are nevertheless able to find meaning and familiar shapes in their forms. For this piece, I once again did some minor cropping to achieve an acceptable composition, and sharpened and brightened the sky as well. I highly considered using the clone stamp at one point to erase the telephone line and rooftops that are present in my image, but thought better of it at the last minute because I really liked the way the lines framed the cloud. I thought they added so much more interest to my piece and I included this photo in my portfolio simply because I loved the effect so much.

Lastly, I added my picture of the London Eye to this portfolio. The original image for this is extremely bad in terms of color and overall photo quality. It required several of the photo-editing techniques we learned about in class to fix. For example, I had to sharpen the image to make it clearer, and then used curves, brightness/contrast, and color correction to bring life back into the photo. There is still a problem area in the bottom right corner that unfortunately cannot be changed, at least with my current Photoshop skill, but regardless, I consider this piece to be one of my best. It also documents a great memory of mine; one in which I was able to travel to London and capture a photo of an attraction that has helped so many people see London and its beauty in its entirety.