website

www.homepages.utoledo.edu/evankli

Processing

For my processing assignment I created a line that not only gets larger as the mouse moves faster or slower, but the color also will change when either the right or left mouse button is clicked.

For the critique it was suggested that I create a background and use a function key to "erase" the image that was being drawn. So I went in and did that but now, once it erases you have to press another keyboard key for it to get to draw again. So I'm trying on fixing that right now. But here is a screenshot of what it looks like when there is drawing.

Psychegeography

From what I could understand from the article, Psychegeography is a type of map that is based on the emotions and behaviors of the individuals. Or maybe it's like an interactive map? I am sort of able to understand what exactly Psychegeography is but I am having a difficult time understanding how exactly it is used. I see that it is a type of map, but thats about it! The Wikipedia article isn't very helpful.

first experience with GIFs!

Below is my first experience working with GIFs. This is something that is frustrating at first but then becomes enjoyable once you understand the basic workings of it. The first one is with a photographic image, and the second was with vector images.

Input from Critique

From the critique on Tuesday here is the feedback that I got to help my website:

1. Word Spacing in navigation
2. Finish my resume and about me page
3. Make navigation and top logo larger than width of images
4. rework gallery - something I want to change
5. add bottom navigation bar - name email phone etc.

MY NEW WEBSITE!!

http://homepages.utoledo.edu/evankli/index.html

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

In the article The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction the author Walter Benjamin talks about how in a time with such great technical advances, the reproduction of works is becoming greater and greater. I found this article very difficult and dry to read. I feel that the author jumps around a lot and I found the article not only be lacking interest but lacking emotion as well.
What I got out of the article was that in this time where computers are in our pockets it is very easy to copy  and "trace" over images. With all the technology around us people are lacking the need for the skills and techniques that Art is based off of. I think the article had really good information, I just think it could be presented in a more interesting way!

Website and Idea Sketches

Attached below are some really rough sketch ideas that I have developed for my future website. I like ideas that are clean and organized. It was hard for me to sketch and visualize how the website will look via the sketch since a website has a lot of different components and links.

Below is my link Layout that I plan on using for my website!

Representative Work

Not only is James Mardsen one of my favorite actors, this is also one of my favorite pieces of my past work. Not only do I love the simplicity of the image, I also love the simplified colors as well as the overall balanced look of the image. This was created in Adobe Illustrator using mostly the path tool. The image was inspired by a photograph of the Actor which I converted into more simpler shapes. 

Artist Watch

Here are 3 artists that I have recently come into knowledge of, and I find them to not only be creative and successful, but inspiring as well.

https://www.behance.net/Ramotion
https://www.behance.net/vergadvertising
https://www.behance.net/tomanders

I actually have never seen or used Behance before and found this website to be a great tool for not only finding artists, but for inspiration and ideas as well. Two of these artists focus on branding and the third focuses on App design. I enjoyed how Ramation showed his sketches and process of some of his projects and designs. The logo and branding designers also had really good simplicity and style to them that caught my eye as well. All three artists seemed professional and have good quality work. Which are both aspects I want not only my work to reflect but my blog/website to reflect as well!

Layout for Comic Strip

Here is a rough of my layout for my comic strip I am working on. The first image is the beginning of what the rest of the images will look like. 

Poster Design With Changes

Flying Reptile Poster Design

In light of the new flying reptile exhibit at the Toledo Zoo, here are some poster designs I worked on for the exhibit. I am really in love with the first one, but not so much the second one. I couldn't seem to get the layout just right and would probably have benifited from having more time to work on it. But overall I am happy with the way they came out as a whole!

Working with Grids

Practice Poster Design

Here are my practice poster designs. Overall I am pretty pleased with how they came out. However I wish the font base on these computers was larger and I had more options to choose from.

Helvetica

Although I've heard of this movie before this was the first time I have actually seen it. I found this documentary to be quite interesting. I guess I never really realized how much Helvetica is actually used, and I will definitely be seeing it more often now. It was interesting to watch what other peoples opinions of the font was. Some people loved it, and others hate it. I guess I am a more in-between person. I think its acceptable to use in some cases, but not all. And I do think that it's starting to become a little bit over-used. Overall though I thought the documentary had a lot of really useful information and I enjoyed watching it.

Assignment #2

For this assignment we had to recreate letter forms using only circles, squares, and triangles. The adjective I choose was 'Light'. I choose this because it has more than one meaning and interpretation so i used this assignment to make a play on the word itself.  The only one that isn't necessarily a play on the word is the first one, but the other two are.

 

Color Theory

Since I wasn't here for this assignment, I still kind of did the assignment the week before in class. (I'm just that good!) Here is what I was working on the week before that applies to this week since I wasn't here.

Vintage Advertising

Here is the beginning of my vectorized piece of old Crayola crayon box. This was the original box design that Crayola used. 

How to Choose a Typeface

Upon being shown this article at Smashing Magazine on the correct and incorrect way to choose a typeface I know have a better understanding on the technical side of choosing the correct type. I believe that I have always had a knack for choosing typefaces, i've been taught the proper way to choose since my junior year of high school. I have taken that knowledge and expanded it over the years and still use those techniques everyday at my job, and full time with my career choice. This article helped kind of map out and explain why you do or do not want to use a serif or sans-serif typeface. These are things i've known how to do, but have never really read anything that is so accurate and simple on the do's and don'ts of using text. 138 Another aspect of this article that I found to be really useful even at an experienced level working with type, was the fact that the article compared the right ways to use type right next to the wrong ways. It helps get their message across and helps show individuals who have never worked with type before what to look for when working with type, Since let's face it most of us are gonna be visual learners here! :)

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/24/how-to-choose-a-typeface/

^Here is a link the the article I am referring to in this post!^

Working in Illustrator

Of course this is not my first time working in illustrator so this assignment was fairly easy for me to do. Here is my name that I created in Illustrator using the pen tool by tracing a scan of my name that I drew. I like the stylistic qualities the image has, it is very true to my style of writing and drawing which is using lots of curves and wide gestures!

Passionate

A word I use to describe my love for art and my art style is passion / passionate. 

I love being able to be creative and express my passion for art!

Alphabet Letters!

A B C D E F G... Admit it, you sang that instead of reading it! 

Here is the Alphabet I created for my Digital Media class. What I did was I took some potpourri and arranged it to create the letters. I really like the way the potpourri turned out because of all the colors that appeared and how vibrant some of them can get. So here it is..

Emerald City

Messing around with masks again today I was able to create this image, I edited the background out of the original photo of my self and replaced it with one of the other images I had taken. I then adjusted the color in both of the photos to give it the same color as my eyes are. I like how the image to me looks like the Emerald City in Wizard of Oz. :)

Working With Masks in Photoshop

Photoshop Masks can be a very effective tool or not a very effective tool. Many times people will use masks to the extreme, or not. Both can and cannot be successful. Today we began working some different mask options in photoshop and had to combine 2 of our past images to create something new. For my image I took a photo and adjusted the saturation and overlaid on top my second image and erased the spots there was to show the bottom image. It creates almost like a frame, or that the bottom image really is on top of the "button" like items. I then aded the black rectangles to break the image up so it wasn't so much all at once. As always feedback is always appreciated!

Type

Type has to be one of my favorite design elements. I love the fact that you can do so many different things with type alone! I understand how important type can be and why it needs to be used correctly. I deal with using type everyday at my job so I know the difference between a good font and a bad font. Here are three different pieces that rely only on type that I really enjoy! I think all three of the pieces are strong in their own ways and each convey the simplicity and wide range of approaches that type can take.

Point. Line. Plane.

Here are some images that are all representations of either a Point. Line. Plane. Or Both. I am not big on picture editing (At least not to the extreme) so most of these are edited with a simple crop, contrast adjustment, or hue/saturation adjustment. I want these photos to hopefully speak for themselves. So I will just leave it at that.