With Art I Can...

I began creating ideas for the assignment 'With Art I Can" from the moment I received it. In an attempt to meet all the criteria, I wanted to create something that expressed my past, present, and future through art; this was attempted with the logic that art can express ones goals. After doodling, I made the conclusion to portray my goals, that in life, that is- to become an astronaut.

With this idea as the base, I built upon it and eventually came up with the draft seen below.

The very bottom of the globe shows an explosion of smoke, which is a representation for how I began my journey to success. The idea is that everyone starts off school in the same level, but at the end, everyone is scattered into different places. It is up to every individual to decide where they want to be amongst the crowd, someone who stands out, or just an ordinary, common person. The trail left behind by the rocket symbolizes my actual journey. This includes all the hurdles and problems I have had to face. The rocket represents where I currently am, clearly showing that I am above earth in its entirety, and no longer an average, typical student. The reason of emphasis is that I believe I can achieve my dreams of being an astronaut if I work hard and excel in my education. This leads to my next point. The moon represents my goal, in this case, to be an astronaut. The surrounding background is inspired by the quote, "Reach for the moon, even if you miss, you will land upon the stars." This truly speaks to me because it allows me to believe that even if I do not reach my final goal, I will be a lot better off than if I chose not to person my dream to begin with. 

After the rough draft was complete, and all my reasoning was put on paper, I began to work on my final product. After its completion, I added clock hands to represent how goals in life take time; and how one cannot expect to complete a goal without having dedication.

When all was said and done, I ended up with the design below, which I believe does an excellent job in portraying my initial intent for the piece.

My Social Cause is Teen Suicide

          I initially chose to do my blog post on the topic of teen suicides for a plethora of reasons. For one, I have time and time again come home to find yet another in a list of articles and reports of teen deaths. These deaths are often caused by the teens themselves; and as such, I feel as though it is necessary to shed light as to what actually causes teenagers to at times resort to such severe solutions to their problems. Perhaps knowing the reasons can help lead to its prevention. It is for this reason that I chose Teen suicide as my social cause; one can only hope that the information obtained from this post leads to suicide prevention amongst teens.

          Upon researching the topic, I learned that teen suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst adolescence. These suicides are often a climax of depression or emotional distress. Said causes are a result of several different factors, ranging from environmental to social means. For instance, bullying, abuse, or a broken relationship, all of which make coping with life difficult for many. Despite these known causes and symptoms, the irony of the matter is that a only fifth of teens with depression and emotional distress get help. Furthermore, it is safe to say that the media, in its efforts to showcase unfortunate deaths in young individuals, actually promote suicide itself. This is known as copy-cat suicides, in which teens crave the same media coverage that others are receiving from there deaths. All in all, it is important to recognize these symptoms, their causes, and help teens cope with them to avoid the unthinkable.

5 Key issues regarding Teen Suicides

• Suicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults. (
Zur, O. 2014)
• About 2/3 of people who complete suicide are depressed at the time of their deaths. Depression that is untreated, undiagnosed, or ineffectively treated is the number 1 cause of suicide. (Dosomething 2015)
• Nearly 800,000 people die each year from suicide. (NoBullying 2015)
• For every suicide death, there are 100-200 suicide attempts made by adolescence. (HealthyPlace)
• More youth die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined. (wtw 2014)

          A recent article published by The Washington Post in February addresses the issue of suicide. The discussion is in regards to the site 'Tumblr', in which two transgendered teens attempted suicide (one of which succeeded) and left a post on the social media site as to why they chose that route. The jist of the article sheds light on the 'copy cat suicides' previously mentioned in this blog post. It goes on to say that the death of the first teen seemingly romanticized the idea of suicide amongst teens, eventually leading to the second teen attempting to take her own life. Furthermore, the article goes on to say that when a suicide gets media coverage or attention, other suicides are likely to follow in hopes that they can receive the same attention for their deaths as those before them. All in all, suicide is a big issue, and is present in both the straight and the LGBT community, it is an issue that should not be taken lightly.

Below is a political cartoon of the discussed Article:

Repetitive Pattern Design

Cell Phone Case Pattern Design

My inspiration for this design is the many giant robots of my childhood. Upon receiving the assignment, I envisioned a design that acted as a tribute to the robots I grew up with. My initial inspiration was that of the power rangers, who often have repetitive colors and designs in there robotic tech. When recalling this, I realized that I to could create a design with repetition while still completing the given assignment.By implementing repetition via both colors and shapes, I was able to create a robotic looking figure that both met the criteria and made tribute to the power rangers.

The evolution of this design started with a simple idea. One of the biggest parts of my childhood were the power rangers. The intent of the assignment was to create a design with repetition, which, as previously mentioned, immediately reminded me of the power rangers and their varying colors as well as repetitive shapes. With this in mind, I began with a simple hexagon, and continued my way until i began creating what appeared to be the figure of a man. Once this idea was established I moved forward, choosing shapes with straight edges, and eventually came up with the figure of a robot. After adding the extra details, the final design came to be.

The finished design, as previously described, is meant to look like a robot. By implementing the idea of robots from the Power Rangers, I was able to create a design that not only met all the necessary requirements, but also resembled the shape of a futurist machine. As such, the final design would not be possible if it were not for both my inspiration and evolution for the design.

My design as it looks around a phone:

 All in all, I am proud of the design I made, as I successfully gathered inspiration from a part of my childhood and developed my own twist on the matter. The final design, as it looks around the phone, meets the requirements of the assignment and my own craving for originality. With this said, I believe that my time spent creating this was both fun and a learning experience.

Colony Termite

The task I was presented with was to create a logo design for a termite company entitled 'Colony Termite', in which the colors of red, white, and blue were ever present in the original logo used by the company. Upon researching the clients competition, I decided to come up with a design that not only displayed termites, but also demonstrated the fact that the company's job was to eliminate the insects from homes.

Beginning with sketches, I came up with three different concepts, all of which portrayed the idea previously discussed. The goal was to create a design that exemplified what the company was all about in a simple, compact logo.

I eventually moved to illustrator, where I came up with a few more ideas. I realized that most of these designs had to many elements for it to sit comfortably as a logo. With this thought in mind, I created a blend of all my designs. The final design turned out to be a large boot stomping over a termite. This, I believe, demonstrates both ends of the spectrum and easily identifies the company for what it is - a business that gets rid of termites.

Once I was set on the final design, I began adding color to it using illustrator. This design differed from my original intent due to the fact that this is the only design created that does not revolve around  the concept of the circle. I instead blended the name of the company into the design in a way that I believe truly pops out to those who see it. The colors were chosen for several reasons. For one, the company's original colors were red, white, and blue- a symbol for the colors of the united states dawning back to the first rebellions of the American colonies.With this in mind, I applied such colors to my design accordingly, eventually choosing red for the title as it tends to pop out the most.

In addition the the logo, I implemented the actual design into the form of a business card to demonstrate the real world usage of the product. The simplicity of the design combined with the chosen colors allows for one to easily grasp the intent of the company in a matter that is both accurate and noteworthy.

Water Conservation

Why its of concern: Community
- California is experiencing a serious drought due to three consecutive dry years.
- The state population is growing, and it is believed that California will be the home to 60 million people by the year 2050.
- Even during years of no drought, it is often difficult for areas of California to keel all demands for needs for water.

What the Community Should do:
- Reduce the amount of water wasted by sprinklers.
- Do not leave water running through hose for excessive period of time.
- Place restrictions as to the amount of water waste allowed per individual.



Why its of concern: Family Households
- Overloading sewer systems can cause untreated sewage to flow to lakes and rivers.
- Water is an essential part of a lot of the technology found in households.
- Wasting water increases the amount of ones utility bill.

Solutions:
- Installing water conserving equipment such as water saving shower heads.
- Using technology to its fullest advantage - Ex: Use washing machine for full loads only.
- Check for leaks in any household equipment.



Why you should care:
- No water means bad hygiene and decline in health.

- Reducing water waste will save you money and ensure the ability to afford future generations.

- Lack of water results in stricter government laws that will force it upon you to conserve more than you would like should the problem become more prominent.

Solutions:

- Waste less water and time in the shower.

- Don't use the toilet as a trash can.

- Don't overwater plants/grass.

Web Links:

http://www.saveourh2o.org/content/conservation-why-and-how

http://eartheasy.com/live_water_saving.htm

http://www.seametrics.com/blog/why-care-about-water-conservation/

This is a poster design intended to persuade people to conserve water. It uses several methods to achieve this and does so in way that not only shows how, but also informs individuals as to why the drought in California can affect them personally. The newspaper states that California water levels are extremely low, which is then aided by a dry desert in apparent through the window. The painting on the side if a symbol of how life use to be - filled with greens and life. Where as if we choose to continue down the same path, life will be filled with death and dryness. The spilled water represents the last of the water, and the water that could have been conserved, but was instead wasted. It is this connection and deep meaning, while at the same time providing understanding and interpretation with a quick glance that I chose this as my final concept when creating the design.

My original idea was to make a design in which the image portrayed a man stranded on what appeared to be a desert; no fresh water in sight and dead fish as a result of such conditions. However, I eventually morphed the idea to what the final design is now. The reason being is that I chose a path that would allow the message to hit closer to home. Still taking the influence and overall idea from my original plans, I was able to come up with an effective design that easily conveyed the importance of conserving water while at the same time providing an effective wake up call as to how loss of water can greatly affect every person as an individual.

Pictograph - People and Technology

My progression through this project was driven with more changes than I normally found myself making. The original idea upon creating my pictographs was to make unique designs based solely on items relating to technology and display them with a hexagonal background. I began my drawing units by hand with the idea that I would eventually transfer those exact same concepts to the a digital form with illustrator.

However, after a discussion, I deemed it best to change my initial topic and fuse both technology and people- that is, how people and technology interact. With my idea set, I created a blocky character I would use to interact with the technology (the character symbolized a human being). I then began making the items from my original ideas and blended them with an interaction made by the character. Later on, I advanced my idea by deciding to make the background canvas resemble that of a typical smartphone. Once that was said and done, i had to come up with three different colors to bring life to my creation.

As seen on the left, I chose white, gray, and light brown. I felt that these colors complimented each other in a favorable way. In addition, the gray and white are typical colors found in many forms of electronics. I originally included black, however i decided that i needed a lighter color for the inside of the background canvas, I therefore had to sacrifice black and substitute it with the light brown. It was from that I began filling in my drawings.

My final results are shown here. I chose the best twelve of my initial hand drawings, fused them with the character, and completed a pictograph for each of them. To reiterate, the idea was demonstrate the interaction a human being has with the technology he/she may use- a sharp contrast from the original thought of simply having the technology itself. All in all, the design turned out better than I believed it would. I feel as though the canvas promotes the notion of technology, as it is an easily identifiable sketch of a smartphone.

Toon Character

The type of cartoons that I'm interested in,  love and admire are those from the late 90s or early 2000s. The reason being is that they are the cartoons I group with as a child and therefore the ones I have the fondest memories of. For instance, I recall watching spongebob, Invader Zim, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and things of the like. Each had their own respective plots and genres, nonetheless I enjoyed watching them all. They were not however, limited to television shows. I also enjoyed a substantial amount of Disney's films that came out around the time period; including but not limited to 'A Goofy Movie". All of these animated forms of entertainment make up the entirety of the types of cartoons that I'm interested in.

Many thoughts filled my mind before attempting to start this assignment. However, after several minutes of deep thought, my character of choice was that of Super Pencil. The assignment required us to create a toon character that would appeal to students between the grades of first through fifth grade. I chose the design of a pencil because of the vital role that education plays on everyones lives in modern society. This is said due to the simple notion that a pencil is a necessity for a student to achieve the required curriculum for any given grade. With this in mind, I made a superhero in the form of a pencil. The pencil is intended to be scaled with a regular life size pencil, as he has an owner that used his in classes. My logic was that, throughout this characters adventures, he would fight crime with what he's learned from school and at the end still have time to get back to his owner so that he too can succeed in school. This idea kills two birds with one stone; not only does it bring the joy and excitement provided by a superhero that children love, but also shows the importance of school. 

My initial development of the physical character itself faced many revisions. As shown in my concept art above, I had several different ideas in terms of forms and appearances for Super Pencil, I however settled on the design seen at the very top. The preceding step was then to begin making  a full 360 degree profile of my character.

What is seen above is a full 360 degree profile of my character. This was down by first deciding on the final design and then scanning my hand drawing onto Adobe Illustrator. Once that step was completed, I began visualizing a full rotation of my character, this eventually became the Turn Around seen here. 

 Once a full visual profile was in place, the next step was to create typical movements and expression that Ben (the name of the character) would normally find himself doing (This is known as a model sheet). In order to accomplish this feat, I had to look at myself making the expressions visualized in my head. This was done by looking through a mirror and then replicating the expression on my face in regards to my character via Illustrator. As for the full body shots, they were simply forms I deemed typical of my character when fighting crime.

The last step of the assignment was to create stickers for the toon character I thought up. It is in this phase that I transferred the three poses from the Model Sheet and added the best background I could come up with to each one. I then had to apply a clipping mask over a circular template to create the basis for the actual sticker.

In summation, the process of creating and designing a toon character is more difficult than it seems. One must first create a hand drawing, transfer it to a computer, and open it in Illustrator in order to begin the digital process. Afterwards, one must use the foundation provided by the hand drawings in order to create a final version of the character. Once this is completed, one must then proceed to creating a full visual of the character easily understandable by those viewing it. Afterwards, a model sheet must be created to give people an idea as to how your character will react in situations. To reiterate, the process is much more than a simple stroke on the keyboard.