Digital Painting

No reflection required 

Animal Hybrid

The strongest part of my finished art piece is the zebra print on the monkey. This is the strongest part because this are is blend well and fuzz is coming out in some areas which helps it look more realistic. A part of my art piece that could be improved is the eyes. The eyes on the monkey look a little fake and unrealistic because the blending/transition of the monkey skin and frog skin around the eyes aren't blended well enough. To improve this i would actually add more of the green frog skin and then go in with a big brush that is soft. To create this work the tools i used in Photoshop include the layer mask so i could add each new animal to my original photo and the clonestamp helped me add the pattern on the zebra to the monkey. Other tools i used include the paint brush to help blend the different animals and to get rid of the parts of the animal i didn't want to use.

The easy part about this activity was collecting all the pictures of the animals. I enjoined looking at different images of animals and coming up with idea about how i would combine them all. This part was relaxing and extremely easy to do. However, the hardest part of this activity was blending the different animals together. Making the animal look realistic was really difficult because i was able to pick out so many imperfections that would bother me.

My effort towards this activity was good because i used my time wisely and was able to complete the piece on time. Also i helped out the student next to me because he didn't know how to blend the different animals together so i show'd him the brush tool and the softness tool and was able to assist him. Also i submitted all my work including my finished piece, the original images i began with, and the reflection. My craftsmanship of Editing/Quality is decent. There are some sections of my finished piece that i like and think are well done, however i do believe there are some areas that may need improvement. Lastly, my art reflection is complete and well detailed. If i could do this project again I think i would choose a different animal as my base because i feel like the monkey made it more difficult to add certain animals to it. Lastly, if i could rate my effort of this project from a scale of one to ten i would give myself a 10 because even though i got frustrated when it wasn't coming out the way i envisioned it, i still stuck with it.

Pop Art

The magic wand toll was useful during this project because it allowed me to easily select different sections of my photo and color them whatever color i wanted. To make each portrait unique i played with the image adjustments like curves and human saturation. I wanted all my portraits to vary in color and in the lightness and darkness.

The strongest visual area of my piece is in each separate portrait i believe the colors i chose all compliment each other very nicely. For example the yellow and the blue combined together both bring out the light and dark areas very nicely. A visual area of my piece that can be improved is  my bottom left portrait. This particular portrait seemed to blow out all the details on the face. I could improve the by altering the color a little bit by making the colors on the face area darker. The tools i used during this project include layers, the magic wand, paint brush and curves.  I used layers to copy the original piece 4 times and then i edited each piece to make them unique separately.  I used the magic wand to select all the different shade of gray and then i followed this by using the paint brush to paint my desired color to the areas i selected. Lastly i used curved to change the colors of each image.

The easy part about this activity was creating three other portraits after creating one. This is because after creating my first piece I was able to make adjustments on curves to the copies of my original and this took only about 5 minutes.  The difficult part about this activity was attempting to make each portrait unique. Why editing each portrait i was always concerned that i was making them all look to similar.

I met each on the goals in the activity because first of all my effort towards the activity was very good and i was able to use my time wisely and i was even able to help my other class mates with their pop art projects. I also have submitted all my work including all 4 of my pop art portraits and the completed reflection. If i could do this assignment again i would change the original photo i used. I probably would have changed it to a photo which is closer up on my face, but i still like the way these portraits came out as well. Lastly, on a scale on 1 to 10 i would rate my effort on this project as a 10 because i got the entire project done in 2 quick classes and worked hard to make each portrait different.

Clone Wars

The strongest part of my finished art piece is the different positions I am in. I feel like the different positions and actions add to my piece by making it more interesting. I also like the setting i chose because no ones background will look like mine. The people who chose to take pictures in the school may have a weaker art piece because its boring and less unique. The visual part of my art piece that could be improved upon in the edges of me because some of them don't look blended enough. Because the person who took my pictures moved so much it made it difficult for me to keep everything aligned. However, i could fix this blending issue by increasing the hardness of my brush and going over the spots that need blending. To create this piece i use the paint brush, layer masks, my phone camera, and google drive. I used the paint brush to paint holes through each layer so i could reveal me underneath. I used layer masks so i could layer each photo on to each other and then expose the clones with the paint brush. I used my pone camera to take 30 pictures of me to choose from for the clone project and then i used google drive by downloading all the pictures from my phone. I chose google drive because it allowed me to better preserve the quality of the picture.

The easiest part about this project was taking and downloading the pictures. This was easy because the task was very straight forward and once taking my pictures and downloading my pictures only took about 45 minutes or so all together. The difficult part of this project was lining up my pictures and making the piece look real. While i was lining my pictures up i would notice that i had to change the size a lot and it was very difficult to make everything line up. Once i have the lamp lined up the table would be off. Also making it look real was a challenge because every time i cleaned up the edges i could tell  where the line between the original photo and the new photo was.

My effort towards the activity was good because although i was absent a lot during this project i was still able to complete the project on time and i worked efficiently and stayed focused.  I also have submitted all my work including the contact sheet, the finished piece and this reflection. The craftsman ship of editing quality is decent. There are some sections of my work that could be improved however in general the finished product looks real. Also this reflection has been answered completely and answers each question in complete sentences. If i could do this assignment again i would most likely chose a different time of day to take the pictures. Although i do like where i took the picture, the lighting is a little dark. On a scale from 1 to 10 i would rate my effort as a 10 because  worked very hard with the limited time i had to create a piece that looks realistic.

Kaleidoscope

Reflection:

The strongest part of my first piece in my opinion is the organization of it because i feel like all the squares that make up the image all work together well because of where i places them. Also I like the color scheme i chose to work with in this piece. The strongest part of my second piece is the filter i chose and the colors. I like this part of my piece because the blue background looks like the sky and the white flower petals almost seem like birds in flight. The strongest part of the third piece is the "alienish" look it has. I like this because i feel like all the separate triangles combine to create what almost looks like an extraterrestrial creature. The visual part of my first piece that could be improved is that i wish i had originally added more to it because the final product is very simple. To improve my second piece i would've changed the color scheme. Although i don't hate the color scheme i used, i also believe there could have been different color adjustments that may have been able to add more different types of colors to my design instead of it all being one. To improve my last piece I would work on changing the design of some of the components. The entire design i created has the same filter and to add a little more to this piece i would change the filter for some of them to make it more complex.

The tools i used to create this piece includes Photoshop, Miss. Cabral's tutorials and demos, and my iphone to take the photo i used. I used these all the create my final design by taking the photo that i took in San Diego and then using Miss. Cabral's tutorial and demos to assist me in creating a kaleidoscope with Photoshop. I followed the steps i was given to create a piece that was symmetrical and then played around with Photoshop until i got the final design i desired. The easy part about this activity was changing the color and adding filters to my final design. This was easy because all i had to do was click adjustments and then move the color scale or click through the filter options i was given. The difficult part about this assignment was getting started. I found following the kaleidoscope tutorial to be hard. I needed a lot of added assistance from my peers and Miss. Cabral. Often times after Miss. Cabral goes over what we to do with the whole class i forget exactly what she did and then i get stuck.

I met the requirement for effort towards this activity because i stayed very focused throughout class and stuck with the work even when i got frustrated because i didn't know how to accomplish what i wanted. My compositions also all have symmetry because if you vertically/horizontally cut my images in half they will mirror each other. Also i did submit all my work and have finished 3 final pieces and i have also submitted the original image i worked with. My Craftsmen of Editing/Quality is weaker than i would like however i do feel like i properly edited my images and there are no gaps. Lastly, i have completed the Art Reflection which was required. I answered all the questions in complete clear sentences and i used correct vocabulary. If I could do this assignment again i would try and be less afraid to ask for help. Sometimes when i go stuck i would avoid asking for help even though i should've just done it. This would have made completing my project much smoother. On a scale from 1-10 i would rate my effort of this project at a 9. I worked very hard on my pieces, however i want to be less embarrassed when i get stuck and simply start asking for help.

Letter Form Shark

- The strongest visual area of my finished art piece is the top left of my design. This piece is the strongest because the different opacity of the letters added depth and texture to my work. Also in this section, letters overlap and face different directions which draws the viewers eyes into this section.

- I believe the visual section of my work that could be improved is the left bottom corner and the top right corner. These two sections don't contain anything other then the background color and I believe if it is wasn't just blank it may have been able to add to my piece.

- The tools I used to create my work were Photoshop, Miss. Cabral's blog spot website, Miss. Cabral's packets, and Google images (for inspiration).

- I used Photoshop by using Miss. Cabral's DI1 packet and following the directions to create my new platform. After establishing this I played around with all the different options on Photoshop. I experimented with colors, gradients, size, directions, and patterns before coming to my final decisions. I also used Miss. Cabral's student examples found on her website and Google images for inspiration. I did this by taking my original ideas I completed with a sketch and then tried adding to it in similar ways other  students had.

- The easy part of this activity was deciding how you wanted to design it. This includes color and how i wanted the letters to fall from the top of the page and into the sharks mouth. Although it took multiple tries before accomplishing what I wanted, I was able to experiment with my design and then finally decide what I liked best.

- The most difficult part of this activity was learning how to use Photoshop and being sure I followed the rule of thirds to have good composition. It took me a couple days into this activity before I felt comfortable using Photoshop on my own. Even though Miss. Cabral would show us how to move objects and change their color, I would still forget and need to be reminded. Once I got the hang of using Photoshop, this activity became much easier. Another difficulty I faced was being sure I had good composition. When I first began the activity I fell into the trap of creating a bulls eye. 

- I demonstrated effort towards this activity because everyday I came into this class I was very focused to improve my work and finish it on time. I even was able to help many of my class mates around me because some of them were struggling  with using Photoshop.  Overall, I used my time wisely and got my work done on time. My composition was good because I avoided the bulls eye and I followed the rule of thirds with the placement of my letters. My wok also is creative and original. I came up with my design on my own while playing around with Photoshop and created a unique product. I also demonstrated that i understand the technique Miss. Cabral taught us. Lastly, I have completed all the required reflection questions in complete sentences while utilizing vocabulary correctly.

- If i could do this assignment again I would do a completely different letter and design. I would want to experiment and see what my work would look like if I used a different letter and whether I would like that creation more.

- I would rate my effort of this project as a 10 because I didn't let myself get frustrated when i was confused with Photoshop and I kept working. Also i continued to stay focused on my work and attempted to create a unique and interesting design which followed all the rules of good composition.

Gabby Del Pico

Demo