Month: March 2011

So Much for Best Laid Plans…

March 31, 2011 / Rick / 0 Comments

My project is finally done! I worked on it today thinking I only had a few adjustments to make and then after my evening classes I would spend an hour, maybe two, finishing it out, printing it, and enjoying my handiwork. Here I am, four and a half hours later, finally pulling the print off my Epson. This has definitely been a long journey. Since it’s officially Thursday, I will now grace you with my latest Digital Art project, entitled “Evil Eye” (WARNING: Those who are sensitive to religion-based symbols and/or the occult may want to close this window now):

Click Image to Embiggen

This project went through three revisions before I finally settled on the concept. Pulling together the elements was the simplest part. Getting them to mesh in a believable way was the hard part. I still think I can do better, but this is the first time I’ve really done anything like this. Also, from what I’ve seen in many publications, I think my first try isn’t too bad. There are definitely a lot of photo manipulation projects out there that are a lot more technically (as well as aesthetically) flawed than this one.

This is due in about six hours, so I really can’t afford to spend any more time trying to tweak it. Apart from that, I definitely need to practice some more with my fine control and making selections with the selection tools in Photoshop (I ended up using a lot of layer masks and slices of different layers to get the arrangements correct). Based on what I just accomplished (I think I spent a total of 20 hours working this particular project), I’m now a little nervous about the fourth project, which I’ll be receiving today.

Well, everyone, let me know what you think. Do you like it? Hate it? Don’t really care either way? Critiques of my work are always welcome. As for me right now, though, I am going to try to get a couple of hours of sleep before heading to class (my rhythms have been off since DST kicked in and it’s only getting worse). So, off to dreamland I go. Goodnight, everyone.

Work

March 29, 2011 / Rick / 0 Comments

Work continues apace on the Digital Art project. I’m finding this experience frustrating as hell, but rewarding all the same. I have the final planned element in place. At this point, however, it’s going to be a matter of executing the steps to make it match my vision for the project. I believe tomorrow is more lab time in the class (as the projects are due on 31 March 2011) so I will be able to consult my professor for any advice on muddling through this difficult part. Wish me luck on that.

Tomorrow I’ll be speaking with an advisor on assessing my academic status as well as trying to craft a plan to get into the University of Houston’s Bachelor’s of Fine Arts program. I’m quite certain I’ve completed the requirements for an AAS Management degree. I say that because as of a couple years ago I had. I, however, never applied for graduation so therefore I can’t guarantee the program catalog for that degree is still valid. I was going to attempt to enter the Physical Therapist Assistant program, but after 3 classes (all pre-requisites, so no guarantees I would get in anyway as I don’t think my A&P grades would have been up to snuff) I decided that it just wasn’t for me. Photography is calling me and that is where I want to concentrate my life’s work. But I digress…

Speaking of school, this is gearing up to be a heck of a final exam season. Coming up I have, aside from 2 more major Digital Art projects, a presentation, an audio tour (with accompanying research paper), a major research project for English (with its own 30 minute presentation), 2 more exams, and final exams in all 3 classes. Of course, I have to find time to work and do all the other living stuff. I’m just wondering how I’m going to get through this at the BFA level hehe. This definitely isn’t proving to be one of my more fun semesters, but I’ll get through it. As they say, sleep is overrated…

And with that, it’s nearly 1 am here in Houston, TX, so now I will try to go grab some of that fabled sleep and get my butt up on time for Digital Art class in the morning. Goodnight, everyone.

Recently

March 27, 2011 / Rick / 0 Comments

Yesterday I went, on a school-sponsord trip, to two museums in San Antonio. The first was The McNay and then to the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA). Both museums were rather interesting.

The colleciton at the McNay is pretty impressive (much more extensive than Houston’s The Menil Colleciton), but not much really really seemed to strike me. I loved the Medieval Collection at the McNay. That period seems rather underrepresented in a lot of collections, and this was the first time I had seen more than a piece or two from that period of European history. A couple of contemporary pieces did catch my eye. One was entitled “The Cocktail Party.” The piece itself is the size of a small room with several human figures (made of paper-mache, perhaps). The interesting thing about this exhibit was the fact that it all the exterior surfaces in the piece were covered in Cheez Doodles. Personally I had never seen so many Cheez Doodles in my life. A couple of the figures contained mechanics and performed repetitive motions, which definitely added some depth to the piece. The other piece of art that caught my eye was the exercise equipment/torture device sculpture. This wooden sculpture was in the form of an all-in-one home gym setup at home, but it was stylized after some of the more popular medieval torture devices found in dungeons. Since both pieces are part of a visiting exhibit, I was not allowed to take a picture of them, but you can see “The Cocktail Party” at the McNay website (link below).

I was rather impressed with the size and scope of the collection at the SAMA. The Western antiquities collection is what impressed me the most. In terms of pieces, the collection is rather extensive. It even includes a heroic sculpture portrait of Marcus Aurelius and a heroic sculpture portrait of Trajan. I’m not sure if these were official portraits (the head on the Trajan sculpture is believed to have been added to its body in the 18th Century), but they are impressive nonetheless. The antiquities collection is quite impressive, but in contrast to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Houston museum contains fewer pieces, but in my opinion, the pieces in Houston are more significant. Houston also contains a great deal of non-Western antiquities. SAMA also includes a Colonial period Latin American exhibit, with its cornerstone piece a very large golden altar with a painting of the Virgin Mary in the center. This particular pieces easily tops 20 feet in height and is absolutely beautiful.

As the day came to an end I was glad to be going home, but now I’m itching to go to either Dallas or Austin to see what’s on display in either of those cities. Until then, however, I’ll just have to rely on what I can find online.

Work on my project for Digital Art is progressing. I’m finding this to be a challenge as I am forced to work on indivual pixels at times in order to make things integrate smoothly. I hope to have it done by Tuesday at the very latest and will post it once I turn it in for grading. As for me now, I have to get some sleep. Have a good night, everyone, and if you get a chance, check out the links I provided below.

The McNay Museum
The San Antonio Museum of Art

A Blank Mind and New Software

March 17, 2011 / Rick / 0 Comments

Other than the drone of existence and working the past few days, I’ve pretty much kept my mind a blank slate. I’ve pretty much been taking everything in, processing it superficially, and then moving on with the next course. Today I decided to snap out of that rut and start thinking again. Let’s see how this goes.

My next project is due at the end of the month. That was part of the reason I shut my mind off… I was hoping I could come up with something for it after re-engaging my mind. So far there’s been no luck. Just to let you know, the project is to be a juxtaposition of photographs (one of the things that Photoshop was built to do). I did have one idea, but quickly dismissed it as it didn’t fulfill the requirements. Oh well, work will continue.

Speaking of Photoshop, I did find out that Adobe makes a version of Photoshop Express for the iPhone/iPad. I downloaded it and tried it out on my iPhone. Although the editing options are rather limited (this is a phone camera we’re talking about here), it did produce some nice results. This little program will be great for those photos that were compositionally good, but got caught up in the limitations of a phone camera sensor’s capabilities. Besides, who says you can’t take great photos with a phone?

The first picture of Ozzy is the one taken straight from my phone. I used the HDR function on my phone to take the picture (which actually takes 2 pictures and reprocesses it to get the tones correct) as the flash just didn’t look very good. It’s not a bad shot, but it is a little underexposed and the colors are a little washed out. The second picture was processed using Adobe Photoshop Express. I increased the exposure value first. This did introduce a little noise into the photo (which canbe seen in the highlight areas) but I can live with that. I then turned up the saturation as messing with the exposure tends to wash out colors in the process. This actually helped the overall color balance of the photo, since it was taken in a room with yellow incandescent bulbs. I realize the brick is now a little washed out, but the main point of focus – my beagle resting on my leg – is now looking better. I suppose the software could do with a white balance feature, but this is a phone app, after all.

This set of photos was taken later in the day. I was really struck by the harsh coldness of this room, which is surprising given the color of the floor. The building’s designer seemed to go to great lengths to emphasize form over function, but instead got the reverse. I used the app to straighten the photo (I made the floor line parallel with the top edge) and then turned up the saturation to bring out the color swirls in the tile. The result, of course, now closely resembles something you would see in a Saw sequel, which is the impression I got when I first entered the room but was not able to fully capture with the camera.

Overall this is a nifty little app to have on your phone (or iPad 2 if you were lucky enough to get one already). I am still playing with it a little, but you can convert to black and white, add different color tones, and add a limited selection of effects. I don’t know if there’s an Android version (my Nook doesn’t support 3rd party apps at this point) but I’m quite sure one exists.

WIth that, I must continue my journey toward finding a genesis for my next project. Have a good night, everyone!

It’s Already March…

March 11, 2011 / Rick / 1 Comment

I have to begin by apologizing for the lack of updates. I got busy the past few weeks with various work and school-related things. Earlier this week I woke up with a fever, which was really bad because I had 2 exams scheduled that day. I only hope the essays I wrote on them were coherent enough to at least earn me an ‘E’ for effort. The fever broke the next day, thankfully… I just wish it would have never occured in the first place.

But I digress. I completed my poster project for my Digital Art course. I’m pretty proud of it, especially given the amount of work I put in regarding the concept, composition, and making sure each figure cut was the best it could be. A lot of the last factor depends on fine control with the pen tablet I use, and I think I’m developing that fine control rather nicely, although I do have a long way to go. I guess I could ask a surgeon how they keep up their manual dexterity, but I’ll leave that for another time. Without further ado, here is “Charisma:”

Click image to see full size

I came up with the concept while working on my lab projects one night and a song by the same name came up in my iTunes mix. A high level of charisma, as anyone with an original thought knows, is almost always an undesirable trait in a leader. Yet, people fall for their words and eventually pay a terrible price before waking up. Only one leader mentioned in that poster has been considered great, and two of them have yet to be judged. The message here is to dig beneath the surface and think for yourself.

With that, I will now take my leave of you and try to recover some more. I’m still quite congested and it’s not a good thing for me right now. I have a big day planned tomorrow (first stop: Blue Man Group!) so I need to get all the rest I can. Take care, everybody.