He was wearing these ridiculous oversized women’s sunglasses.
Monthly Archives: October 2008
1 Eye:
Just pinpoints of purple. Fell in love with both pictures on first sight/site.
In the wood, shape and lines illustrate how we perceive familiar shapes in objects that don’t actually hold the image. The wrinkles repeat a pattern in both pictures and of course the focal point of both is the eye.
These two are very rich and detailed, slightly/very unlike most of the rest of my designs but they match each other so well. So I am not worried too much.
The lines go in a swirl, in curves.
2 Silhouette:
I wanted to do something interesting with negative space. I think its kinda ironic that an elephant might be negative space, since well usually they take up so much of it. Not sure if I like the white or black version better. But the black contrasts with the light green in the other image.
The green actually was an accident. I started out with a purple image w/ white background and then tried to unthinkingly invert the colors the purple went to green of course instead of trading with the white like I had wanted but turned out to look better with a colored image anyway.
I guess I will explain the first image though I kinda want it to be an interpretation on the viewers part.
This is not a hat.
This is a reference to one of my favorite books, The Little Prince or La Petit Prince. In which the narrator draws an elephant…inside a boa constrictor and shows it to all the adults who say it is a hat.
3 Baby:
And speaking of insides…
I have been having an impossible time trying to design the pair for this card.
I wanted it to have a baby theme, but narrowing down my choices is difficult.
Mostly I want to have a human baby with an elephant environment such as in a wallpaper pattern or toy.
I tried to make this work over and over. Tried it this way and that. Changed several different elements and just couldn’t settle on a design that I was ok with. And I was planning on making a pure pattern anyways so…
I changed my mind, I am going back to a previous design.
I have decided that a picture I took like the second day of this project will indeed work better.
The picture is very soft and cuddly, which fits the baby theme I wanted. But the womb picture is very warm and full of life and vigor that doesn’t translate to well between the two designs.
4 Indian/Ink Design:
A mahogany elephant statue with an India styled background of warm colors. Purple, plum, maroon, and gold.
After trying many different things, I decided that I just couldn’t get the other colors right.
I couldn’t find an image with quite the right color of wood so I messed around with it in photoshop to get the perfect wood finish. A lot easier than varnish!
< I deleted the background for the second. Some reason the transparency got all messed up when I uploaded it?
Some issues with doing the ink. Working out.
For the second image, I actually drew out the design on a purple sticky note. Drawing it out on the computer didn’t work like I wanted so I scanned the sticky note in.
I love it but I am not sure if it matches it’s friend. Should change the color a bit but I like it this way on its own.
5 Contour/Pattern:
I chose that fashionable fifties photo for my contour card. It has great lines and looks great in a two colored theme. I think its a very sensual piece. Dark purple over tan.
For my Pattern card, I have been working back and forth between several ideas but I want it to look very nostalgic, like a 50’s kitchen.
Either: a repeating elephant pattern or a pattern overlayed on an elephant shape. Green and purple.
I’m thinking the first one.
Dainty woman with large elephants + multiple dainty elephants.
Together I think they look like a playing card.
…
I Only have half of them done. Mostly done. All Done!
Not only did I have a lot of last minute challanges, I completely forgot the due date in the first place and then had to get sick on the only day I had to work on them. Blah excuses!
I think my brain may explode if I try to finish these in time.
The biggest trouble I have had with this whole project is in sizing everything. For some reason Photoshop and GIMP dont want to be consistant with their scale. Which bewilders and fustrates the heck out of me.
On a completely irrelevent note my spell check on mozilla also decided to quit working. :’(
This is a bit more of my research stage of this project.
Found some interesting links. Actual Eames Cards…
I read a bit of the wikipedia page on Charles and Ray Eames the design team behind these cards.
The nostalgic feel of these kinda makes me wish I had found it earlier in my design process.
Though, I feel Elephants are a good choice after finding this next link.
A gathering of Eames elephants.
I decided I couldn’t answer all of the review questions in one post so I am going to start a new one for each post like everybody else I think that works better anyway.
Read Chapter 7.
Choose and answer four questions from the review questions found on pp 134.
1. What is texture as it applies to design?
A way to add more detail to an image. It is a mimic of touch and surface.
4. What is one of the main visual elements that can be used to create texture?
Value.
6. What are some common issues with filters that should be avoided?
Unoriginality, uniformity, Overuse. With everybody using the same photoshop filters textures start all looking the same. It gets boring.
8. Can a flat pattern also be thought of as a texture?
Yes.
I had a harder time doing this assignment.
I tried to do a painted wood texture…
Conte Canyon, set just right so it is vertical.
Paint, in streaks.
Chrome.
A random use of filters…
Render>Fibers
Texture>Craquelure
Liquify
And a soft thick carpet texture…
sponge
filter>Fresco
add noise
Rough Pastels
3 More Blur (to make it look soft?)
