Final project

So for my final project I had to find a way to take the previous design and make it into something more.  When I started on the background I had the idea of a kind of road runner style scene with the "trees" as the main attractions.  I guess I succeeded in making the picture more than it was originally but I can't say that I'm completely happy with the result.  I still believe the problem is in the original concept and had I done a better job with that I would have had a better end result.  I know that I thought about each step as an end unto itself and that's what led to not considering how I would ultimately use the project.  In this situation it was difficult because I wasn't checking the future assignments as I went, hopefully in a professional setting I will know more about the end goal at the beginning. 

color study for final

After coming up with my final design I had to create 4 different color schemes to portray it.  It was at this point that I really started to run into the limitations of my design.  It wasn't just that the design itself was limiting but I also the method that I went about creating the initial design also left me stuck with trying to color it.  In the end I had to recreate the design in order to add the color.  I took my time and recreated it and marked it as a lesson learned.  Hopefully a lesson I won't soon forget.  At every step of this process I was kicking myself for not having thought harder about what the final project was going to be.  Amazingly enough, even as I was doing this and kicking myself I still forgot that I wasn't creating the final design ( we'll get to that next week).  I still managed to complete the assignment and while it isn't at all what I was hoping it would be it is something and, believe it or not, sometimes the knowledge that you accomplished something is still enough to give you the confidence to keep going.



final project ideas

For this week I had to start working on my final project.  The first thing I had to do was write a statement describing what I was going to do.  It took me forever to come up with something,  I learned that I work a lot better when I have some kind of guidelines.  If given a blank slate and told create anything I have trouble.  I finally settled on transformation, the idea was that I would take smaller shapes and have them merge into something greater than themselves.  Once I gave myself some guidelines it enabled me to start working on something but I still don't think this is my best work.  I tried a few variations on this theme and ultimately let the due date dictate what got turned in.  I knew at this point that this would be the first piece that would be colored but I didn't consider color at all while doing the original design, that was definitely a mistake.  I did manage to create something and I don't hate it but I know I'm not ready to just do my own thing yet.

depth and volume

This week I had to create a design with the spatial illusions of both depth and volume.  This design came about in a very easy manner.  I didn't even try any other designs this week.  It took me a little bit of time to get the details correct but after having completed my perspective class it wasn't very difficult to create depth on a flat page.  This is one of those designs that really shows how nice it is to work with adobe illustrator, that program is so versatile that you can save loads of time if you know how to use it.  Other than the pleasure of figuring out the designs to fit the criteria I think that the use of illustrator to do everything was very useful.  As much as I like this design it was rather simple and took almost no time to create.  It's amazing how the simplest things can sometimes have the most appeal.



Asymmetrical Design

For this assignment I had to use black and white forms to create an asymmetrical design.  I played with this for a while getting the details the way I wanted but I came up with the general layout pretty quickly.  I really like the way the more organic and flowing circles counter balance the rigid straight lines on the other side.  My initial layout (as you can see at the bottom) had the circles stopping before they intersected with the straight side.  My instructor told me that it was to balanced and that one side needed to "win."  When he first told me that I didn't agree, I like the idea of the two sides being in balance with neither "winning," but looking at the final design I think it does work better but I can't explain why.  By this point in the class the entire process feels like playing and I look forward to each different assignment to see what I'll come up with.

design class 3

For my next design project I had to use black and white forms to create a design with formal balance.  I was debating on what I wanted to use and I saw a blanket that we bought for my son that has a really cool turtle pattern on it.  So I used a similar turtle design and then decided on a plant like semi flowerish design to go with it.  I had a lot of fun working with this composition, until now most of my designs had been more abstract and I found it nice to work with symbols to create something.  Even though it seems obvious it is a nice moment when you realize that you can really do anything (within the limits of the assignment) with a design.  Even though you may intellectually know that you can do anything I think, at least for me, that their is a kind of mental block that makes you see things a certain way and makes you think about things in a certain way.  Whenever I have an assignment that shows me that you don't have to see things or do things the way you always have or the way you think you have to, that moment is always an amazing moment for me.  In one sense I hope I always remember that their are no limits on design but I hope I never lose those amazing moments while I'm designing.



design class 2

For my second assignment in Fundamentals of Design I had to create a form using 2 - 4 black and/or white of the same size.  Then repeat the pattern 2 - 4 times.  I really enjoyed this assignment, I felt that it was open enough to allow for a lot of creativity but was also restrictive enough to keep me from being overwhelmed.  I used 3 circles and repeated them 4 times for the design that I ultimately turned in for a grade, but I showed my teacher 4 different designs to allow him to choose the one he liked and then did more work on that one to make it as interesting as possible.  I normally don't like abstract designs but found myself enjoying this assignment.  I think because it was a unique challenge for me, I had to work in a way that I never had before and even though the design is simple I think it came out quite well.  With this assignment and several of the assignments I did for this class I found that it was fun to do work, that simply sitting down and exploring shapes and the relationships between the shapes was enjoyable and made the majority of this class a lot of fun.

Here are the original 4 designs I submitted