Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Book Project



My book project is not quite complete, but I am really enjoying working on it. I can’t wait to finish it and hopefully get it published.  For this project, I decided to use real photographs and manipulate the pictures to create mostly surreal images.  The subject is my niece and various dream-like scenes.  The story is going to be about a little girl and her different travels and dreams, which will also include some other “characters” or animals in the story.  Doing this project has opened up different ways for me to make are or illustrate books that I would not have previously considered or known how to do. 

Art Goals


My goal in art is to seriously commit to working on it consistently, multiple times a week.  I want to have one completed artwork finished a week, even if it is just something small. I basically have to treat my art like it is my second job and stop giving excuses to why I put it off or “don’t have time.”  Time is my biggest obstacle, but I really just need to manage my time better and make time for my art.  Ideally, I would like to sell artwork consistently as if it were a second job, to where eventually it becomes more of a bigger part of my income.  It’s always been a dream of mine to make art for a living, so this is my long term goal.  I just need to produce work consistently and build my skills. I also want to develop my own artistic style because right now, I do lots of different random things.  I still want to do different things, but I would like to develop my own unique style so I can start having series of works.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Archimaboldo


Children's Book Review

I think the children's book The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson (illustrations by Beth Krommes) was an award-winning book for a few reasons.  The illustrations went well with the story.  The illustrations are simple yet detailed at the same time.  They are simple in the sense that they are black and white, with touches of yellow/gold.  This was perfect for the nighttime atmosphere the book presented. Each subject mentioned on a page was yellow, highlighting that page's picture as well as the text.  The pictures were very detailed despite the simple black and white & yellow look.  Every image was made of super detailed line drawings/hash marks. Some were really complex with tiny marks/lines that made up an image. I think these super detailed images made of lines/hash marks as well as the pictures being black/white/yellow are what helped this book win an award.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Art Card


Medical Ethics "Corrupted Minds"

I would evaluate this piece as my best work, which I titled Corrupted Minds.  There are many reasons this is my favorite piece and reasons behind why I made this digital art piece (besides needing to for the medical ethics assignment). The subject has multiple images combined to create one image and mood.  There is an isolated room with lingering handprints as if someone were trying to escape, embedded text of a description of the medical ethics case I chose, a picture of money and pills. 

The medical ethics case was a disturbing case about a guy named Dan Markingson, who was diagnosed as schizophrenic and ended up committing suicide in 2004 while enrolled in a University of Minnesota clinical trial of antipsychotic drugs.  For months his mom desperately to get him out of the study, warning the psychiatrists that Dan’s condition was deteriorating and that he was in danger of killing himself. There was a lot of controversy over this case and many believe it reveals deep problems with the way clinical drug trials are designed, funded and carried out, and I have to agree. This is why I chose to include the picture of money and pills in my artwork. 


I really liked how my piece turned out because of the overall mood it gives. To me, it has a bit of a dramatic effect and it also blends everything together to where you have to look at it for more than just a second to really see what is there. Even then, some may not understand the meaning behind it simply by looking at it.  This is what I wanted to accomplish.  I also love how the colors and texture turned out.