Image Essay #15

The piece above is a fan art of Ichigo in his hallow form from Bleach. The artist made a good use of value contrast in this piece. The value contrast combined with the color scheme help makes the character look like he's something to be terrified of. The value contrast with a little shading makes Ichigo look three-dimensional.

An analogous color scheme is used for the background, which makes use of different tints, hues, and shades of orange and yellow. Since the artist used orange and yellow. I assume the background is suppose to be a blurred version of fire, since yellow and orange are colors normally seen in a fire. If the background is fire, then it adds to the effect that makes Ichigo look like some terrifying creature that just came out of hell. Also it appears that the lights value of yellow kind of makes a halo around Ichigo. Normally that kind thing implies that the character is angelic, but when combined with the black and this color scheme, it gives the character a scary demonic look. It's probably there to put more emphasis on Ichigo. Of course Ichigo is the most dominate object on the page, because he's the only object on the page and take up most of the page, making him the focal point.

The image also would fit as an example of Gestalt with it use of symmetry and asymmetry. The colors in the background are in a symmetrical pattern and Ihcigo's hallow mask is asymmetrical. The mask also makes Ichigo himself look asymmetrical, but with out it, one can tell that Ichigo is really symmetrical.

Image Essay #14

For this piece the artist used a spilt complementary color scheme. It looks like yellow is the only primary color used in this piece. The rest of the colors are secondary and tertiary colors. There is also some use of pink, which is a tint for red, along with some white. Since there seems to be a lot of yellow and orange in the water, it appears the lighting might be that of a sunrise or sunset. The temperature of the colors seem to give off a warm, light-hearted feeling.

Some shading is used to make the girl,the swing, and the tree branches look three-dimensional. The girl overlaps the tree branches, so it looks like they are behind her. The girl of course is the focal point of the piece, since she seems to stick out more. From the ripple effect of the background, the fact that the trees are a little blurry, one can tell that they being reflected on water. The piece also has asymmetrical balance with the way the trees are reflected and with the bell on the swing, but the girl is symmetrical, making it a good example of Gestalt.

Image Essay #13

An interesting thing about this fan art of Rukia from Bleach is that no primary colors are used. Only different hues and shades of the secondary color of violet, along with some black, gray, and white is used in this piece. So I guess the piece would be mostly monochromatic. Another thing that is interest about the piece is that Rukia looks sad and violent is a color I wouldn't normally associate sadness with. Honestly I'm not sure what one would associate violet with by itself. But it does look good when juxtaposed with black and/or white. Thought I think some would probably think that the piece would look better if it were blue, because blue is normally associated with sadness. There is chance it could look better is the color were blue, but that would cliche so piece is something different.

Shading is used to make Rukia look three-dimensional. But for the moon the artist used white with different hues of violent and it looks a little three-dimensional, not to mention it looks pretty accurate. I also think that the use of lighting is good. But the butterfly looks kind of flat, which seems to help it pop out more, but Rukia would be the first thing that the viewer would notice, since she is the most dominant.

Image Essay #12

Besides anime fan art Ore-sama(Anna Matheis) also does animal related artwork. This piece is called Sun Down on a Specie. The piece uses an analogous color scheme, with it use as different hues of red, orange, and yellow. The tone of pink is also in there. The colors choices work because they are the colors that are normally associated with a sunset. There is also some use of white in the piece. With the use of black the animal helps it stick out more.

But I'm not sure if it suppose to be a cheetah or a leopard. But from the title one can that piece has do with an endangered specie. Also from the title one can that the piece is suppose to have kind of a sad meaning behind it. Even though the most of the colors in sunset are normally are not associated with sadness, a sunset it self can be considered sad, depending on the situation.

The piece also makes good use of definition. Because the grass in the middle ground isn't as detailed as the grass in the foreground, it gives the illusion of distance.

I think the artist made good use of the different hues to makes the clouds in the background look like they have a fluffly texture, as the clouds one would see in the sky would look. So I think they look about accurate.

I also noticed that chormatic value of the hues get darker as they get closer to the animal, which helps it stick out more and makes it the area of focus on the piece.

Image Essay #11

Another Naruto fan art by Ore-sama. What I find interesting about this piece is how she uses different hues of red with black and white. For the background it looks she made good use of different chromatic values of the color red.

I kind of like how the artist made the characters black and white, but kept the blood red. Black and white kind of gives the feeling like time has stopped. Like it just froze on that moment. I don't think this piece would have as much impact if it were all black and white. Same for if the characters were colored. The use of red really brings more to the image.

Red and black are normally associated with blood and death. One thing that's interesting about this piece is that there is some use of pink in the background, and pink is a color that is not normally associated with death. In yet somehow it still works with image. I don't think the image would have as much impact if the background was one solid hue of red.

Shading is used to make the characters three-dimensional. But they since to stick out more because the gate in the middle ground is two-dimensional. It's solid black except for one area towards the bottom that looks gray. It looks like the lighting is only on where the characters are.

Image Essay #10

This piece would be one of the many Naruto fan arts done by Ore-sama. This piece makes good use of value contrast. How the moonlight reflects on the water and the characters look about accurate. How the shades of gray go from low-value to mid-value to high value bend in well. The use of value also makes the characters, the tree, and the moon look three-dimensional.

The foreground is the darkest. The middle ground has the mid-value shades of gray and is also where one can see the shades start to blend. The area where the moon is in the background is the lightest. There is also some use of value on the moon itself to give it a more three-dimensional look.

The two characters and the tree are the most dominant on the piece. The moon looks very small to make it look like it is far distance away. Also the trees in the background are solid black and two-dimensional compared with everything else and it gives off the effect that they are a far distance away. The piece is also in linear perspective for it seems to lead the viewer eye form the moon to the characters or vice versa, depending on what the viewer notices first.

Image Essay #8

This Trinity Blood wallpaper makes good use of value contrast. The black around the image makes it pop out more and makes Esther kneeing besides Abel's coffin the focal point. It keeps the viewer's eye on the center.

Where is Esther is seems to be the lightest area since she is wearing a white dress. The value gets lighter as it gets closer to her. The use of shading makes the flowers, the coffin, and Esther look three-dimensional. The value contrast of the white and grays bring out the folds of Esther's dress. There is also plenty of value contrast in the flowers and on the cross that is on the coffin. It makes it seems like the place is dimly light. Also the use of the black, the white, and the different shades of gray give the image a sad and depressing feel.

The way Esther and the coffin are juxtaposed is also a good use of value contrast, since the coffin is black and Esther's is white, which also helps Esther stick out more.

Esther and the coffin seem to be the foreground for they stick out more, and the flowers are the background for they look kind of blurry.

Image Essay #9

This fan art of a scene from the anime Naruto is a good example of definition. The character who is ready to come at his opponent with the lighting-based attack is the most dominant form on the piece. The other character is smaller, along with how the rails of the bridge are set up to give off the illusion that he is a farther distance away. The mist is also helpful in creating the distance illusion for it is thicker near the smaller character and as thick near the larger character.

Shading is also used to make the picture seem more three-dimensional and there is a good use of value on the character that is closest to the viewer's eyes on his clothing and hair. The the smaller character is not as detailed to help with the distance illusion.

The piece also has a linear perspective. The character getting ready to strike is focal point of the picture since he is the largest, so the viewer will notice him first. Then the bridge leads the viewer's eye to the other character.

Blog Assasignment #5

Takashi Murakami

1. My major is digital arts. Takashi Murakami has many digital works in different forms and is the founder of KaiKai Kiki Co., where assistants help him with his artwork and as an environment for marketing his work and the teaching of new Japanese Artist.

2. His work is mostly social commentary of mass media. Like Andy Warhol he takes something that considered low culture and repackages it. But what makes Murkami different from Warhol, is that his work is available in many different forms, such as paintings, sculptures, videos, plush dolls, mouse pads, key chains, and cellphone caddies. Even Louis Vuitton handbags. In 2005 he inspired the "Cherry Blossom" logo.

3. I like how he made use of the anime style to comment on otaku culture. Also he has work in both the fine arts and digital arts. Also the style he uses called Superflat is new to me and kind of interesting.

4. In some pieces the dominance seems to be in size or number. The most dominance thing on the page sometimes seems to be the largest object on the page or whatever has the most number of eyes.

5. Murakmai had made statues of an anime style woman and an anime styled man. The anime woman statue called Hiropan has unrealistically large breasts with a bikini top that barely covers them and other statue called My Lonesome Cowboy is a nude anime-styled man using semen as a lasso. The works are comments on overly-sexed anime.

6. I can see that one can do a lot with the anime style, especially since I like to draw that way. The works might be helpful in helping me push my ideas more.

7. Murakami's work is literally every colorful. He mostly makes good use of colors and hues that normally look great when they adjacent to each other. He doesn't use complementary colors often by the looks of most of his work.

Blog Assigment #2

Honestly my idea developed because of the stress of worrying about getting the assignment done on time. It mostly revolved around trying to meet the requirements.

Image Essay #7

The artist makes good use of texture in this piece. The textures used are to give the image the look of a star field with some nebula. It is almost like an abstract version of photo from a NASA satellite. Even though it is not that realistic, it makes one think of a starry night sky. If one looks closely at the piece the backgrounds kind of looks like an area of grass at night. The image also makes me think of Final Fantasy X, because when one looks closely the stars kind of look like pyreflies. The texture looks like it could be that of some sort of fabric. There does not seem to be a dominate shape in the composition. If there is any dominance it would probably be in the brightness level of certain stars. Also the way the stars are positioned in a way that leads the viewer off the page. The focal point seems to be the brighter stars that form a triangle shape. Then from there the viewers eye kind of dart around the page. There is a lot of repetition in the shape of the stars. But overall it looks like the piece was referenced well.

Image Essay #6

The composition above is a page from the doujinshi, Ten Years of Death by Anna Matheis(also known as Ore-sama). If you don't know, a doujinshi is a fan made manga. The way black is used really brings out the angst the character is feeling on the page and the faces of the character outlined in white, along with the way they juxtaposed with the character in the middle really add to it. It kind of makes the reader feel sad for the character. The artist used a little bit a shading and noise to make the characters look a little more three-dimensional, thought in the bottom panel the characters, including the shaded one look a little more two-dimensional. It also kind of look like that all of the images are within a curvilinear shape. The noise in the corner which probably represents that the image is a memory, kind of gives it that look. The value contrast of the noise going from black to gray to white kind of give off the effect that the image is a memory. There doesn't seem to be very many differences in line density. Though that kind of thing is sometimes common in comics.

Blog Assignment # 4

Art: 21-Place
1. I guess we define a place.

2. Laurie Anchorson was inspired by many different places. Sally Man preferred the south and worked with what was there. Because they were there was the reason why her children were involved in her pieces. Barry McGee and Margret Kilgallen preferred the outside. Graffiti also interested them and most of their art looked similar to graffiti. Pepon Osirio is inspired by his memories of the place where he grew up and his artwork reflected that.

3. Honestly, it was never really something I thought about before. But I knew that location could serve a purpose in art.

4. I'm not really sure if I felt a connection to any them.

5. Each artist used a different form of media. Laurie Anchorson had the huge chair. Sally Man's work was mostly photography. It was mainly graffiti for Barry McGee and Margret Kilagallen. Pepion Osorio used everyday objects one would find a certain place.

6. When I was a kid, anywhere where I could be alone was good, and school turned out to be the scariest place on earth.
a. school gym - hell
b. bedroom - sanctuary
c. hometown - boring
d. public library - fun
e. arcade - loud

7. The gym of my old school had basketball hoops, and other sport equipment. Even Ping Pong and scuffle board. The gym floor was smooth but hard. Though falling on that doesn't hurt as much as getting run over by one of jocks. With them it's like crashing into a metal wall. The basketballs were ruff and hurt when they hit you in the face. Even though it's brightly lit it's a dark place when you're athletically inept. Especially when there are those jocks who get a little too into the game and nearly kill themselves and everyone else just to get to the ball.

Stories
1. I'm not really sure. There are so many old stories that are still told today, and it's kind of hard to say which new stories will still be told years from now.

2. If a story is still being told after a long time then the story must have some significance.

3. The artist used used sketchbooks in journals to put ideas in. I guess sketchbooks and journals could count as art. Artist use them to keep track of ideas, and sometimes something drawn or written out of boredom could provide ideas for a project.

4. 4 Year-old Voice:
Why isn't Daddy here anymore? Why does Mommy always have to go to work? Why can't I leave the yard? Jake think he's leader. I'm the oldest. I'm in charge.

Present Day:
There was so much about the world I didn't understand when I was four. My parents were divorced but I still didn't understand why my Dad wasn't around anymore. I didn't get why my mom had to go to work everyday, mainly because I missed her while she was at work. But now that I'm older I fins that it's easier to do things without a parent breathing down your neck. I was probably more adventurous then, because I always wanted to know what was beyond the backyard. (Sigh) I think was more confident when I was four. At that age my cousin Jake considered himself group leader. (Group meaning Jake, me and my sister.) I felt that I should be in charge because I was older. But it also may have come from the fact that I was taller than him then too.

Image Essay #4

This image of Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion makes good use of symmetry, both symmetrical and asymmetrical. It's symmetrical in two ways. Rei herself is vertically symmetrical, and her reflection in the water also makes the image horizontally symmetrical. But there is also some asymmetrical elements. The way the loose feathers are positioned make the image a little asymmetrical. So the image would probably also be a good example of Gestalt. Rei is also the focal point of the image. But when one looks down at her reflection it takes the viewer off the page. If ones breaks down Rei into geometric shapes, then one would get, circles, triangles, and rectangles. The triangles are the most dominate shape because there are more of them than circles and rectangle's. Shading is used to make Rei look more three-dimensional. There is also a large value contrast. There is a lot more light than dark, which causes Rei and the moon to pop out more.

Image Essay #3

The image here makes good use of repetition. The border images are the same image that is in the middle, but it appears that each has been altered by a different filters on Photoshop. It looks like Photoshop was used to alter an original piece of art work by Kaori Yuki for her manga series Angel Sanctuary and combined then together. A few of the images are still the same color only with different textures and a few are different colors making a few breaks in the pattern. Those breaks keep the piece from having any rhythm. The filter used also made the image kind of abstract. The image in the middle seems to be the most dominate one, since it is the largest, while the other images appear to be the same size. But it is apparent that the images around the larger image is just the same image at a smaller scale with different Photoshop filters. The middle image also overlays the other images, while the other images are juxtaposed. The smaller images are the subordinates of the larger image. The different filters are probably an attempt to add more variety to the composition.

Image Essay #2

This fan art for the anime and manga series of Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto, is good example of Triangular Hierarchy. When it comes to hierarchy in art, whatever is highest up is the most important. The artist put the characters in which is believed to be the order of importance. So it makes sense that Naruto is one who is higher up because he is the main character of the series, and it is even named after him. The artist must have felt that Sasuke is a slightly more important character then Sakura, so he is up a little higher than her. Also the way him and his teammates and friends are arranged and overlap make a triangle shape.

The artist also used shading, using light to dark gray, and the values of each color used to make the trio look three-dimensional. There also seems to be some use of value contrast.

Image Essay #1

There is use of curvilinear design in this fan art of Haku in his dragon form from Spirited Away, one of the anime movies directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It fits well from the way his tail is curved. Also the way the tail is curved adds a little depth to the picture. Haku is also the most dominate form on the page on the page and is the focal point, also known as the area of focus in the image. Haku is the first thing the viewer would notice over the clouds in the background. Also he overlaps the clouds. The image is asymmertical. Not all of the lines have the same density. Such as the outline around Haku is denser than the outine around his scales. His scales are a pattern with only a few breaks in the pattern. One can see the texture clouds and they look every accurate. So they must have been pretty well referenced, which is true to the nature of Miyazaki's work, since in his movies everything animated from fire burning to how a cat moves is referenced from the real thing. The image is kind of dynamic becuase the postion Haku is in and the background suggest that he is flying through the air.

Image Essay #5

The piece above is good example of Gestalt. The image has symmetry and balance and is a couple of different things combined. There are what looks like splats of either ink or black paint. But one can also see the shapes of what looks like two dancing women and two ballerinas. So it seems a dance related theme. Another way this a good example of gestalt is that the women and the ballerinas look like they are fused together, which makes the image an unified whole. But if one looks at it more closely, it appears that the ballerinas overlap the dancing women.The two dancing women also seem to be overlapping. The way there are overlapped kind of makes it looks their fingers are laced.

Besides the dancer there are other shapes one can see in this piece. The dancers seem to be in somewhat of a heart shape. Also the negative space between shapes like a butterfly. It is similar to the those illusion pieces that is both a vase and face. Out of all the principals of Gestalt, this piece seems to mostly follow proximity. The image also seems to make use of the curvilinear shape, since the image looks like it also forms a curve shape.

Blog Assignment #3

1. Before this Blog Assignment, had you ever kept a journal, diary, or blog?
Yes

2. Before this blog have you ever written about art before?
A few times

3. Have you ever written for fun (poetry, fiction or non, journalistic or research)?
Often

4. When writing do you use a dictionary or thesaurus?
Dictionary

5. If given the chance, would you rather discuss art verbally or through written means?
Written

6. How is your overall vocabulary?
Average

7. How would you rate your vocabulary of art terminology?
Below Average

8. How would you rate writing abilities?
Insecure

9. How would you rate your writing ability when writing about art?
Insecure

10. How would you rate your ability to use specific vocabulary when writing?
Average

Biographical Statement

I believe I've been interested in art for a long time. I've liked to draw for as long as I can remember. I guess it could be because I find it easier to express myself with art than with words.

I normally like to draw or paint if I come up with an idea and there was time where I liked to draw landscapes. Now I normally prefer to draw fantasy images and I also like to draw in anime style. Though mostly what I draw now a days is anime and manga fan art to try and stay in practice because I haven't had very many ideas lately. But sometimes what I draw or paint depends on my mood. For example, sad scenes if I feel depressed and violent scenes if I'm in a bad mood.

I find I normally improve if I keep practicing. But I didn't have much time to draw last semester, so I think I've gotten a little rusty. Also I normally like to listen to music while I work. My favorite groups to listen to when I'm working on art are Linkin Park and Evanescence. But sometimes what I listen to might depend what I'm about to draw. For example if I'm drawing a romance scene then I might listen to Celine Dion or Cascada, and sometimes the music I listen to inpires me.

When it comes to making art, I just use whatever supplies are available to me. I've mostly used notebook paper, color pencils, computer paper, water colors, posterbroad, and tempra paint.

I don't really know why I like to make art, sometimes it seems like something I do when I'm bored or trying to keep my mind off something. I've had times where I would really get into what I was working on and lose track of the time.

Even though I like art, and I think movies, music, video games, and comics also count as art, I fine it hard to define what art is exactly. In my Art History class last semester, my classmates and I were taught that everything is art. So I guess that could be right, but so far it seems like art isn't something that defined with words. Though one of my classmates in my English class last semester believed anything made on a computer isn't art. To me that doesn't seem like a fair judgment. Especially since anything can used to make art.

Last semester was my first time going to museums and art galleries. The last time I when to a museum was in December on a field trip for my art history class.

The last time I drew was in my Drawing Foundations class. We were doing contour drawings. But I also drew some anime/manga fan art during winter break.

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