Art Making/Material Exploration #2 Logo Design

1. Discuss what you thought about creating your logo. 

I thought it was kind of difficult creating my logo for a few reasons. I created a logo using Photoshop and Adobe in a computer art class I took in high school so I have never created a logo using just hand utensils. I thought that it was definitely a challenge. I did like it though, because I got to be creative and try to express myself as much as I can. I do freelance makeup and I love doing makeup as a hobby. That is why I did a makeup logo because it could be something I use on a business card or a portfolio one day.

2. Describe the process: creative thinking skills and ideas you used in the logo creation.

When thinking about what I wanted my logo to be, I really had to think about my values and who I am, and what I wanted to represent. I really thought about using makeup as it's main focus, but I have a plant-based vegan diet and lifestyle so I was thinking about incorporating that into it, too. I went the makeup route though because I am not too sure what, other than green leaves, could represent veganism. And veganism does not represent me 100% either, it is just my lifestyle. 

The creative thinking skills I had to think of were shapes, colors, and lines that represented me. I am very simple and minimalistic so I wanted to base my font and colors to be super neat and simple. I wanted to add cursive to show a feminine side because I am very feminine. Overall, the creative process was fun because I had to explore my preferences and what showed what kind of person I am. I chose the red lip because it is classic and shows that it is a lip (because I am not the best drawer) but I did try to make it as real but not too real as possible. 

3. What was the most important discovery you made in the creation of your logo?

The most important discovery I made during the creation of my logo is that I am not good at making straight lines, even with a ruler. I do not have the patience to sit there with a ruler to make a straight line even though I try so hard. I thought that was interesting because it seems like such an easy task. Also, I got to learn certain skills I thought I did not have. I did not think I would be as good as drawing the lips as well as I did. I thought they were going to look horrible to be honest. I did it though!! I got to experiment with the creative part of my brain and I thought it was fun to discovery new things about myself.

4. What is the most important information you learned from watching the videos, power point, and reading material for this project? What is your opinion of the videos?

The most important information I learned from watching the videos, power point, and reading material for this project was that logo design is a literal career. I did not know that, even if that sounds ridiculous. People literally make careers out of logo design and spend so much time. The people that logo designers create logos for businesses, private and public companies, personal companies, the average human and it is actually quite expensive to hire someone to create a logo for you. It is actually very interesting and neat how much goes into it. I think the videos are very educational and beneficial for learning about logos because it goes into depth what makes a good logo and what catches a consumer's eye and what makes you chose a company over another because how the logo is represented. The logos must be aesthetically pleasing. 

#1 Idea, rough draft page

#2 Sketch page
 

#3 Final Logo

Module 5 // Project #2 Art Gallery Visit #1- Responding To Artwork

*The Albright Knox art gallery did not have scales for the art I viewed.

Tara Donovan
Untitled (Mylar), 2007
Mylar and glue
Gift of Mrs. Georgia M.G. Forman, by exchange, 2008
A.) This piece of art made an impression on me because I thought it was a very unique piece. When I initially saw this piece of art, my first instinct was that I wanted to touch it (I know, I can't) but I was really curious as to what it was made out of. I read that it was made out of Mylar and glue, and it reminded me of something that would be on set of Alice in Wonderland.

Gustave Courbet
La source de la Loue (The Source of the Loue), c.a. 1864
Oil on canvas
George B. and Jenny R. Mathews Fund, 1959
B.) I felt a connection with this specific piece of art because I live on lake Erie and there are water caves on my private beach that I explore during the summertime. I spent my childhoods exploring these caves with my siblings and aunt and it's honestly so much fun and I felt so liberated exploring such a mysterious, dark place. It is kind of beautiful actually, and this painting is beautiful as well.

Jean-Francious Millet
Les falaises de Greville, 1871-72
Oil on Canvas
Elisabeth H. Gates Fund, 1919
B.) I felt a connection with this piece of art, too, because of where I grew up on Lake Erie. Obviously, this piece of art is a painting of an ocean, but I still resonate with with the nature and water. I love water and tropical places so I really enjoy this piece and I feel as though I can connect with it for that reason. I want to live in Hawaii or somewhere tropical when I am old enough to settle somewhere.

James Ensor
La feu d'artifice (Fireworks), 1887
Oil and en caustic on canvas
George B. and Jenny R. Mathews Fund, 1970
C.) I would like to learn more about this specific piece of art because my initial reaction to it was "There were firework in 1887?" I did not know that fireworks were invented by that time. I thought it was very interesting because I had no knowledge when fireworks were invented. Also, it does not look like fireworks-- it looks more like bombs in the distance because of how much surface area it covers.

Ger Van Elk
Study for Sportive Sculpture, 1981
Oil paint and color photograph mounted on canvas
George B. and Jenny R. Mathews fund, 1982
C.) I would like to learn more about this piece of art because I thought it was very unique. I want to know where and who the photographs are of. I want to know the artist's purpose of half of the painting being blank and having the focal point being the different color star wheel. I am just genuinely curious about this piece of art.

Frank M. Moore
Niagara, 1994-95
Oil on canvas
General Purchase Funds, 1995
A.) This piece of art made an impression on me because when I saw this piece of art, I was stunned. It is absolutely stunning and the detail in it is phenomenal. I live in Buffalo, NY so this is a site I am very familiar to and I love going to the falls. The artist did such a wonderful job recreating this photo. I am still stunned by looking at this piece and I could stare at it for hours because of the detail in it.

Art Making/Material Exploration #1: Exploring Value and The Subtractive Color Theory

1. Discuss what you thought about creating the Value Scale and Color Wheel.

I thought that it was very simple but educating. For the value scale, I thought that creating it was easy but it took some time to make sure each box was shaded to the correct shade. For the color wheel, mixing the colors together was kind of fun and I found it interesting.

2. Which media did you enjoy working with the best and why?

The media that I enjoyed working with was charcoal. I liked using charcoal because I enjoy the shading. I also like the texture of the charcoal while using it, although it is very messy. That was not a huge problem though.

3. What was the most important discovery in the creation of these studies?

The most important discovery in the creation of the studies was the way creating the color wheel. This was an important discovery for me because I mixed certain colors together to create the colors I needed for the color wheel.

4. What is the most important information you learned from watching the videos for this project? What is your opinion of the videos?

The most important information I learned from watching the videos for this project was that blue and red are too dark to be primary colors and that light colors like magenta are missing from the color wheel. While learning about colors at a young age, we are told they are the red, blue, and yellow are primary colors but it turns out that they are not. I liked the video because it was short, sweet, and too the point.

Photography // Project #1

During my reflection while doing this project, I really took the time to think about each element and principle. I took a computer art class in high school, so this project was not very challenging to me for I enjoy photography and have learned about elements and principles before. The biggest challenge of this project for me was the weather. When I wanted to take pictures, it was either too dark or too rainy out. I met in the middle and really tried to get the pictures I could while incorporating the principles and elements into the photo. I tried to incorporate a different element and/or principle for each photo but I found that hard, too. For nature, you can't really incorporate a couple of the principles or elements. 

I own a personal Canon Powershot sx530 which is very nice at focusing and zooming. It is nice for my everyday use but I would like to upgrade to something like a DSLR. I also think I need to learn more about the settings of my camera so I can use it to it's full capacity. 

I am familiar with Photobucket so making the slideshow was not hard for me. I have been storing my photos on there since I was about ten years old and the only difficulty I have had with Photobucket now is the fact that it has changed so much. As far as the project goes though, I did not have any problems with storing my photos or making the slideshow.

Color Theory and Emotional Effects (Module #3)

1. Describe Color and it's effects on emotions. Use the appropriate vocabulary of color in your posting.

Color, by Google definition, is the "property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way the object reflects or emits light." Color is one of the first things I think of when anyone brings up art because it sets the mood for the entire piece of work. Color has this strange effect on emotions in which is beautiful because you can use colors to explore the art world. Using different colors and light to make a viewer or yourself feel a certain way really sets the mood for wherever the color is placed. Even the slightest bit of color change in a piece of work can make the emotions of the work change completely. Not only do we feel emotions while looking at art, but when the artwork is placed in a room or a setting, we feel a large amount of emotion, there too. Like how VanGogh made a painting of a cafe so the viewer would feel stressed out, violent, and mad when looking at it by using clashing, unnatural colors of red and green. Certain colors make you feel different ways, like more calm, more violent, depressed, sad, happy, and indifferent. This is how humans perceive the different colors and light and that is interesting because without it, I feel as though we would not have the emotions we have. Color and light are important for that reason exactly.

2. What is a theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues/fascinates you? Why?

A theoretical aspect of color that intrigues/fascinates me the most is the aspect that color can change a mood completely. This goes for both art and design. I am really into decorated and home decor (it is more of a hobby for me) and I love when colors in the room or the decor set the tone for the room. That is interesting to me because I believe it is beneficial for aesthetics and for life in general. That is why people like artworks of nature because it is so calm and pleasing to look at. Someone can make a piece of artwork that uses colors that are violent and harsh and it could set your mood while looking at it. I also like how certain colors completely compliment each other, subtly compliment each other, or do not compliment each other at all. I am a freelance makeup artist and I find this is very important for certain looks and color correcting on a face. I think this is important because it really puts the finish product all together and completes it. This also sets the mood for the piece of work.

3. In the Color video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions?

In the Color video, the biggest impact in regards to color was the fact that certain colors make you feel different types of ways. How blues can make you feel calm and warm, while reds can make you feel stressed and angry. This is not always true though, because different shades of those colors can make you feel just the opposite. I think this is very interesting because the way the light hits a color, kind of changing the color, can set the mood for a piece of work completely. I enjoyed when VanGogh made the painting of the cafe intentionally the stress out the viewer of the painting and feel as though you could do "criminal acts" by just looking at the painting. That is very powerful because he is just using harsh colors and by just doing that, can change your emotion completely. If he were to of used complimentary calm colors, the entire tone of the cafe painting would be different entirely. That made a huge impact on me because of how neat I think that is.

4. In the Feelings video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions? 

In the Feelings video, the biggest impact in regards to color was the faces of Goya and David. I believe this gave the biggest impact because of the impressions on the men's faces and the realism behind the time they lived in. Goya looks mysterious and dark whereas David is described as having a "blazing, fervent expression." This really set the mood for the time period these painters had lived in. That being said, these types of painters had similar painting styles but what differs the most is their use of color in their pieces of work. Goya's paintings during the Revolutionary wars are very dark and sad, using very dim and dark colors to express the sadness of the war and time period. David's paintings used colors to show the passionate, powerful side of the Revolutionary war that when looking at it you almost feel inspired. These two types of moods of the same exact time period shows the perfect example of feelings using color in art. This is important because color and different light is used to express the feelings of the time period and these two painters show both sides perfectly.

Module 2 // Video Review Blog

1. For each video and article list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

*Video #1-- Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts

• Aesthetics: the study between the difference of beauty & art
• Artists & Philosophers-- Plato, Aristotle, Joseph Addison, Francis Hutcheson, Shaftesbury, Immanuel Kant, Sedhal, Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Leo Tolstoy, R.G. Collingwood, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Morris Weitz, Richard Wollheim, George Dickie, John Dewey,
• This video went in depth with the different centuries and eras throughout art history. With all of the artists and philosophers, it explained what each person theory was and why-- with many quotes from the artists/philosophers.
• In each clip, it also had different professors and doctors in university’s views on the artist and philosophers. They picked out their favorite theories as well and went into depth on why they favor a specific theory and why.
• First formulation of aesthetic disinterestedness: the idea that there is a special attitude of disengagement from the practical concerns that is essential to appreciating art. (The first person to practice this was Francis Hutcheson “An Inquiry Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmony, Design.”)
• This video explored why and how music and language, including lyrics and poetry are forms of great art as well and the philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, who pushed that.
• The Kantian theory of Genius & how it shaped romanticism & the movement whose main tenet was the importance of the artist. How there is no school to teach someone how to be an artist and how to make a masterpiece.
• Apollonian Art-- refers to Apollo, the God of the clear images that appear in the light of the day and the blurred images of dreams (visual, figurative, and the imaginary) Principle of happiness and purification through the images.
• Principle of Formal Order: Harmony, symmetry & order
• The Dionysian Principle of Art: Derives from the Dionysus, God of wine and revelry-- conjures the impulse to dissolve the go, lose all limits, and submit to delirium, in lyric poetry and music. Prevails pleasure.
• Dadaism, Cubism, Surrealism, Pop Art, & other movements in the 20th century. Expression theory of Art by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1953)
• Avant-garde works: Popular works of art, heavily known. New and unusual. (films, musicals, jazz, photography, science fiction, & comics)
• Technology made art become less original, because no piece can stay it’s own with it (television, movies, posters, etc.)
• Aestheticians/Artists= Two different things and how you cannot teach an artist a set way of aesthetics.

*Video #2-- CARTA: Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics

• Changeux explained the different types of skulls throughout human life, explaining that they are all symmetrical and how they remained symmetrical throughout time.
• Art & Aesthetics Definitions--

1. Works of art- Artefacts, human productions, specialized for intersubjective communication, symbolic forms genetically & enginetically encoded.
2. Distinct form language- Non-verbal communication of emotional states, knowledge, experience with multiplicity of codes yet, under implicit constraints of rules.
3. With aesthetic efficacy- Staggering effects on emotion and reason mobilizing conscious and non-conscious processes.
4. Art in constant evolution- Art history. Renewal without apparent progress.

• Efficacy aesthetics & access to consciousness. Difference between women’s brains & men’s brains.
• Sexual selection (Darwin) Group selection (Kropotkine) Intersubjective & communication social bonding (JPC) By product of brain evolution (James)
• Ramachandran explained the Science of Art: Neurological science of Artistic Experience
• Art is distorted or made into a hyperbole to make it art, not reality on purpose.
• Artistic universals: Chinese art, Greek art, Roman art, Indian art, etc.
• 8 Laws of Art (Aesthetics)--

1. Grouping or “binding”: Aesthetic “jolt” we get when viewing abstract art and how lawful distortions are pleasing to the eye for that reason. Explains camouflage.
2. Peak shift principle: Caricature
3. Contrast
4. Isolating a single cue to optimally excite cortical visual areas (“attention”): Isolation-- art of understatement. Less= more, an outline, minimalism. How autistic brains might have a part of brain that has a super function.
5. Perpetual ‘problem solving’: Playboy vs. Outline of woman in the shower-- when brain has to essentially search for an image, it automatically becomes more pleasing to the eye.
6. Symmetry: Human face, butterfly, monuments and the building in the Athens.
7. Abhorrence of unique vantage points & suspicious coincidences: Brain likes generic viewpoints & not unique viewpoints.
8. Art as metaphor

• Kisch art: Bad art that does not use the 8 principles.

*Article- What the brain draws from: Art and neuroscience by Elizabeth Landau, CNN

• Why we recognize art, lines, & faces.
• “The human brain is wired in such a way that we can make sense of lines, colors and patterns on a flat canvas. Artists throughout human history have figured out ways to create illusions such as depth and brightness that aren't actually there but make works of art seem somehow more real.” I think this is a very influential quote in the article because it really shows why humans understand and appreciate art the way that we do.
• The science that goes behind art and all of the experiments with monkeys, infants, and different cultures.
• Color vs. Luminance- 3 kinds of cones in the eye's retina: red, blue and green. The brain compares the activities in two or three cones and that is how you know what color you’re looking at. Luminance combines activities from the cones together and determines how much light gets through a different area.
• 3 Dimensions to give illusion, that’s how artists play with color and luminance.
• The Mona Lisa explained and why her expression changes-- The technique that makes her expression change is the shadows that were painted on the piece of art.
• Distortion with mirrors & shadows

2. Which philosopher's theory on aesthetics do you feel is most important? Be sure to mention the philosopher's name, era (time in history), and contribution to the aesthetic theory in your response.

From the video, the philosopher who I found had the most important theory on aesthetics had to be Georg W.F. Hegel, who was a western philosopher in the 19th century (Victorian era). “The work of art is a sensible object not only for the sensible intuition, but also for the spirit. The beautiful is defined as the appearance of the sensible reflection of the Idea, of the Absolute” -A quote by Georg W.F. Hegel. His theory on aesthetics was influenced largely on the spirit believing that art was connected with the spirit. I find that important because it means it’s a deeper than anything physical and I just really like how he found that connection between a surreal world and the real world.

3. What do you think about Changeux and Ramachandran scientific view of aesthetics and art?

I like that Changeux and Ramachandran, as professional scientists, can make a connection between science and art. A lot of people view science completely separate from any humanity topics like art. Honestly, I couldn’t  really understand Changeux but I like how he explained how symmetrical all human skulls are and how they evolved. I enjoyed Ramachandran’s speech a lot (probably because I could understand him & he cracked jokes) because he studies neurology and vision-- and obviously vision is a huge part of art and you need vision in order to see visual art.

What was the most interesting fact you discovered from each speaker's lecture?

* Changeux

Each temple and how they evolved over the millions of years of humans.

*Ramachandran

The 8 Laws of Art (which he said after to cross out the art, and say “Aesthetics”)

4. How do the videos and article relate to the readings in the text?

The videos and article relate to the readings in the text because they explain the principles and the facts in art history. It all ties together and relates as well.

5. What is your opinion of the films and article? How do they add depth to understanding of the topics in your reading in the text?

My opinion of the films and article was that they were extremely educational and had a lot of information in them that was extremely useful and that I did not know initially. I gained a lot of knowledge from the films and article and I think they were very beneficial to learning in this course. They add depth to understanding the topics in the reading in the text because they go into detail and give a different perspective & view to the information I am learning.