Survey of Design: Project 1
Sept 7, 2020
I visited my intersection, 86th street and Broadway, for the second time today. Last time, I went at night, which wasn’t a good idea considering that we were taking photos. I also took photos that didn’t exactly fit the prompt, capturing elements that captured my eye within the intersection as well as within a half-block radius of it. Today I went around 6pm, before the sun was going down, but at a time that it was set enough to change the lighting (in a good way). I tried using a digital camera for this round of photos but it did the scenery a disservice. The stoplights bled and the colors were off; I think I probably could’ve gotten better images with my iPhone camera. In today’s photos I made sure to include features that caught my eye; they didn’t all fully represent the intersection as much as possible, but they did capture the parts that made it unique.
p.s. some of them uploaded sideways, but then righted themselves with the wrong proportions. I wasn’t sure how to fix that
Sept 16, 2020
For the second version (grayscale version) of this project, I didn’t have enough grays. I had cream, white, a very light gray, and black, which really limited my options and ability to effectively create depth and explore the possibilities of grayscale. I had the idea to try to create my own grays by using the Copics from the design kit to draw an even gray layer onto my white paper, but it was too difficult to get an even shade. So, I chose a new intersection photo with some different elements, and I made another full white piece.
After discussing my piece in breakout groups with my peers, I realized that the bush/tree in the foreground does the piece as a whole a great disservice because it’s just extremely flat. We also noticed that the clouds in the back could be interpreted as more trees. I found it hard to create depth with this piece in general, because although my cutouts are technically precise, I think I could have done a better job of including more pieces to represent different planes (grass on the right has height and a slight curve downwards as it nears the road, but looks very 2d in cutout). The dimensions of the house in the front are also ambiguous.
Overall I think there is a lot to improve on with this piece, but I was at least satisfied with the technical aspect of it. I take some pride in my cutting skills.
Sept 17, 2020
I did my grayscale with color cutout, and I think it turned out well. Here it is:
This is definitely an improvement over the first iteration using this photo. I tried to solve the flatness with some cutouts for the general shadows and I think it worked pretty well. My main problem was the fact that I was trying to save my 4 and 5 (darkest gray and black) for the clouds to give them some weight in the composition, so I still couldn’t really show the true depth of the other elements. Something that I also noticed is that my 2 (lightest gray before white) is really close to white. The signpost on the right is 1 and the road is 2, and I really thought that the post would pop more than it does.
My choice of red in the sky was more driven by the fact that it was one of the few good colors that I had, but I think it worked well with the dark clouds. The clouds alone conveyed a very ominous atmosphere, but I think the red sky amplified that a lot. It doesn’t communicate the atmosphere in the actual photo accurately, but I think it was successful in creating a distinguished mood for the piece.
Sept 21, 2020: Final
In hindsight, I realize that I should have taken more time in choosing the first photo. My first cutout was very flat, and I think that was partially because I didn’t initially create the photo with depth in mind. I chose my second photo remembering this, and I think I was able to create a better sense of perspective with my second and third renditions.
Regarding my creative process: I learned (relearned) that I need to give myself a large block of time to work. I’ve always been somewhat of a perfectionist, and in many cases, it’s gotten in the way of me learning from my mistakes. When I draw casually, I tend to not finish pieces out of frustration. Something I’ll keep in mind after this project is that it’s always better to complete a piece of art despite its mistakes. It’s easier for me to see my personal progress when I have a final product that I can really critique properly.
Regarding communicating with shapes: I’ve gotten a better sense of how features like shape, color, texture, etc. all influence a piece’s impression on the viewer differently. Composition and depth are crucial elements when everything but shape is stripped away. I had never consciously considered composition in my art before, and this project helped me realize even more its importance in an effective piece of art.
Sept 23, 2020: Post Reflection
What did you learn from the review of Project 1 today?
Today’s review mainly reassured what I learned through the process of the project: completion is crucial to progress. I also noticed how the boards functioned differently in progression versus as individual pieces. While my progression was a bit disjunct, because I couldn’t fit both photos and all the boards, I saw in others’ that the pieces made much more sense and I was more appreciative of the changes when I was able to see them in layers.
