VIDEO PROJECT
A Documentary on the Importance of Family
For our final project in Digital Arts, we were given the task of creating a video about anything we were passionate about. In this project we were given an ample amount of creative freedom. This allowed my partner and I, Skylar, to go in any direction we liked. The only requirements we needed to meet were documentary elements, basic kinds of lighting (Hard, soft, diffused), different camera angles ( Rule of thirds, Golden section), and basic editing skills. Skylar and I decided to focus on the importance of family. We interviewed our families (apart from my dad, he was California) asking them “What does family mean to you?” and ‘What are you grateful for?” This project was very beneficial for my filming, editing, and over knowledge of video production. This was a very successful closing project to Freshmen Digital Arts.
1.What is old, and what is new in any work of art?
The use of the Elements and Principles in art is an old aspect of art, while the concepts, underlying messages of what the artist is trying to communicate, and the mediums the artist uses are new aspects. Art in society is largely based on current themes of society, social unrest, and pop-culture.
2. Why do Artists Produce Preliminary Plans?
Arts use preliminary plans to have a pre-established idea of what they want their art to look like and what message they want the layout to convey. They also use this to discover what colors work best, what draws your eye, and the overall Balance of the art piece.
3. How and why is art used as a vehicle for communication?
Art is such an influential way to communicate information to the public in a relatable, visual way. It allows us to feel so much emotion in response to issues of our society.
4. How does Material Culture influence artistic decisions?
Material Culture has influenced every aspect of our society including art and creation. In modern pieces of art, such as street art, we see this underlying theme of consumerism, greed, and waste. It has driven artists to think about how they can accurately yet influentially represent this theme in their work.
5. What problem-solving skills are employed in making works of art?
Art teaches people so much about themselves, their strengths and their weaknesses. Art requires you to dig deep and draw conclusions about yourself and how you relate to society. In art, you come across many problems that require solving and it really helps you to improve in this area and approach your idea in different ways.
POLITICAL CARTOON PROJECT
A visual response to the Documentary, Blackfish.
For our Digital Arts project we had to make a political cartoon in response to the 2012 documentary Blackfish. Blackfish is the story of the captivity of Killer whales held in Sea world, namely Tilikum. After watching this, we were given the task to create a political cartoon portraying our response to these wildly beautiful animals being held in cement tanks for their entire life. I found Blackfish and this whole issue very upsetting and thought provoking. For my cartoon, I wanted to emphasize how incredibly wrong it was to hold these clearly not meant to be held animals. I also wanted to highlight the fact of how much it has affected him not only psychologically but also physically. I decided to make a simple cartoon with few words in the hopes it would be the most powerful. I have two boxes, one with the date ‘1983’ (the year Tilikum was captured from the wild) and one with the date ‘2015’. In the first box, his dorsal fin is completely erect, while in the second box it is completely drooped over. NO wild Killer Whales have a drooped over dorsal fin except for a very small percent. But at Sea World, all of the held Killer Whales have a drooped dorsal fin. This represents the toll captivity has taken on him and how cruel it has been for Seaworld to take this wild animal and hold him captive.This project was one of my favorite this year in Digital Arts. It allowed me to critically think about a very controversial issue through a medium that can send such a deep message.
WOLF LIVE TRACES
For this task in Digital Arts, the objective was to learn how to use the Live Trace in Adobe Illustrator, gain a better understanding of the program overall, and learn new art techniques. To start off, we watched a video and completed a worksheet teaching us about the Pen Tool. After that we had to scan in our Pre-Historic animal drawing we did earlier that week. I decided to draw the head of a wolf in the Alaskan Native style. We were experimenting with charcoal drawing pencils instead of the typical graphite pencil. I really enjoyed using these because it gave me the freedom to make darker lines, blend and smear more easily, and create more shades. After this was completed we scanned in our drawings. We then Live Traced the picture 5 different times with 5 different Live Trace settings. What you see below are my Live Traces.