Character Description

 

Name: Jax Stone

He is from Los Angels California. He grew up close to the strip and is very familiar with the music scene. He is a male and his age is 25 although from drug and alcohol abuse he is a little rough around the edges. In his youth his parents pushed him to become a lawyer but he was never interested in school. He attended class very little and barely graduated. He was interested in the arts from a young age although his parents were never acceptant of his artistic interests. He loved to draw from a young age but his parents forbid him to draw or express himself creatively. When he began skipping class he hooked up with some friends that turned him on to L.A.’s growing music scene. They could usually be found in a record store or in his friend Slatter’s basement listening to the growing rock n’ roll scene. When he came home with a rock record his parents were furious. They where hardcore Catholics and believed rock and roll was the devils music. Jax became rebellious and seemed to never come home. He would stay out late then eventually not even show up. His parents had given up hope on him and focused their energy on his little brother. One day Jax and Slatter decided to go out to the clubs on the strip. They saw many bands that night but one really stood out to them. After seeing Curbside Prophet perform Jax knew he was destined to be a rock star. The next day him and Slatter rounded up Shooter Seven and Rikki Rocc and explained they were going to from a band and rise to the top. Jax would be the guitarist, Rikki Rocc- the singer Slatter- bass and Shooter Seven- drums. Together they would form Loud. They began gigging around town and soon hit the strip scene. One night after playing an aggressive set they were approached by a man from the record company and were offered a deal. They recorded their first album and were an instant success. After beginning the first world tour Jax realized he had accomplished his dream of coming to the top. Unfortunately being on top also included the “glamorous” rock star lifestyle consisting of women, drugs, alcohol and Leather pants.

Digital Painting

"Plugged In"

Charater research

 

For my character research I chose to do Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Shaggy is Scooby’s owner and shares many characteristics with Scooby. Both are pretty mellow and love to eat. Shaggy’s appearance greatly reflects his name; he has a shaggy beard along with his haircut, which is referred to many as a shag. His hair never was combed perfectly, there was always a piece in the back sticking out. When it comes to solving mysteries both are frightened most of the time. Throughout the series, besides Scooby Shaggy is one of the most memorable characters. Even today kids in high school sometimes refer to a facial hair style as the Shaggy (a few wimpy strands of hair on the chin) Shaggy’s background is kind of unclear at times. He originated from a place called Coolville and has two parents. I think his popularity is somewhat do to his sense of style in the time period. He was portrayed as kind of a laid back surfer, which was popular around that time. He is also memorable due to his voice. Almost every statement he makes either starts or ends with the word “like”.The colors used on his clothing where never changed which added to a “whatever” type vibe compared to Fred who always had a different colored scarf and was extremely well dressed. The colors of a red-brown and green added to the mellow vibe. His popularity is proved due to the fact he is the only character besides Scooby to appear in every stage of the series including the movies. From his voice to his overall relaxed appearance Shaggy was able to captivate his audiences and become a memorable character.

Social Issue Responce

Paul Kuczynski is a modern contemporary artist. He is an American who has clearly kept up to date on social issues. The social issues that most of us see on the news but just look past or don’t grasp the severity of the issue influence his artwork. His artwork is created by the use of digital illustration and maybe a little use of watercolor. His works remind me of political cartoons with much more detail and instead of focusing on politics he focuses on larger issues. My favorite piece depicts men cleaning black smoke as if it were a window. The issue depicted is clearly pollution and how we try to cover it up to seem okay. A lot of his works have to do with destroying our environment and also how the government and wars are ridiculous. In some of his pieces he used greed to show motivation. The images are very dramatic to stress the issue and each one combines two everyday things that contrast each other. Window washers and smoke stacks are things we have grown used to seeing everyday but when you put them together the contrast creates drama and does a good job of getting the issue across. Paul’s works are very inspiring to me and some of them have given me good ideas that might reflect in my own composition.

Logo Design!

Guernica Responce

 

            Pablo Picasso’s piece entitled Guernia was based on the bombing that occurred in the small village in 1937.  The bombings were fueled by the Spanish civil war and is believed to be the work of Spanish nationals in alliance with Germany. There were over 1,500 deaths reported on a devastating bombing run that lasted 3 and a half hours. Picasso saw this event as mass chaos. He combined abstract forms of humans and animals in what looks like a shelter, scared for their lives. I read up on the history of the event and one man who was resided in the village during the bombings recalls hiding in a small cramped shelter wondering if he was going to live or die. When I put the history with the painting it made a lot of sense. It was a time of fear and survival. The overall feel of the piece suggests  Picasso was sickened over the bombings and tried to show the devastation caused by them. To me it seems this is very much an anti war piece with strong messages.

Concept Map

Logo image responce

I chose these five because i like the use of some sort of design along with the name. All of these logos are pretty simplistic but represent the brand well and are unique to that specific artist. I do like the use of some color but I would like to keep the color minimal since i will be placing my logo on artwork that will have a lot of color so you need to be able to see it clearly. I also like how the logos dont take up much space. Logos that are too big and bold take the focus away from the work so im going for something small and simplistic that still represents me and my artwork.

Symbol Research

Symbolism is using a symbol to represent something. A logo is like a signature for the artist that represents his or her brand making it very similar to a symbol. A logo, like a symbol is a personal representation of the person or the thing it represents. The logo you choose should make your artwork unique to you and be recognized by others that it is your brand. Therefor a logo and a symbol are one in the same.

Reflect

I finished the raffle tickets, they turned out well and Mrs. McHattie was pleased. I decided to put the animation on hold until next year so I made a sweet picture in photoshop instead and i also printed off my Elvis photo. I think i will also print off this tree picture, because its pretty awesome. I also edited a photo of my new guitar.

Goal/reflect

Since the internet has been all jacked while ive been working lately due to testing i havent had enough time to wait for it to load to post so in the last two weeks i have made buttons for joey for his job, edited a photo of myself to make it retro and i also started work on a 2-d animation. Last class i needed a break from animating so i edited a photo of my new guitar then began working on a collective portrait of Elvis Presley which i finished this class and it ended up turning out very cool. The theme behind the Elvis project was memory. When i was little i was an avid Elvis fan and still enjoy listening to him so i chose Elvis to reflect my memory theme. Ill make another post of all the things i have completed thus far. I plan to work on my animation next time and i would like to get it finished up by next Thursday.

Goal/Reflection/Goal/Inspiration

These are what i finished while Destany was gone last week. I got pretty pro at retroizing photos but now im fed up with it so I am going to start a 2D animation this week. My Inspiration is coming from Don Hertzfelt. Destany and I should hopefully be able to start on our Portrait project Wed. So this is basically my goal/reflection/goal/inspiration since the internet was so slow last week.

Goal/Theme/Proposal

since Destany isnt here again today im going to work on a seperate theme project until she is here. Today i whipped out another name tag and now im going to go with a retro/ tarnished kind of theme. ill have Mr. Elmore take my picture and go from there. It will probably take me today and one more class period to finish so i plan to have it done in two class periods.

Goal.

Destany will not be here today to take pictures so i am going to make a name tag for my friend today. When destany returns friday we will take our pictures.

Goals

This week i am starting a new project that will incorporate photography and photoshop to make a self portrait for Destany. Next class we are going to shoot a few pictures then on friday we will upload them and begin working with the images.

new project/Inspiration

For this next project destany and I are going to create self portraits of each other using photoshop. we have made lists of each others interests and what we might like to see incorportated into the photos and we will take pictures next time. I really would like to make some sort of altered reality in the photo so here are a few inspirational images. Each of the images take one photo and edit it into looking like they are in another environment which is what i would like to do by incorporating destany's interests also. it should be fun.

Final!

We added the smoke and mgmt and now we are done!

reflect

this is what me and destany have ended up with. we are going to leave it like this for the show and then we will keep working on it to add the MGMT part.

Reflect

This is what ive got so far on our co-lab project. We are gonna both mash together what we have done so far and go from there. this project is going great thus far.

goals

this week Destany and I are sketching out ideas for our co-lab project and we are going to do a retro concert poster so we will put our ideas together and hopefully get a solid poster drawn by the end of the week.

Reflect

I finished my fish and Emailed Pedens for pricing and such. I also finished my Demo Reel cover which i have attached here. its pree neat. i took the photo in photo class last semester then just photoshopped my name on the sign. Also me and Destany have decided to do a retro concert poster as our next project.

goals

this week i plan to call pedins and take my piece down to them to find the cost and get printing details squared up. I also am going to talk to destany about a CO-OP design

Reflect

I am Finally finished! time to send the design off to pedins!

goal

It is mid march and i planned to have the shading and coloring done with my fish, but i am already past this stage and I think i will have it finished up today and have it sent to Pedin's by Wednsday at the latest. All that is left is cutting the background and fading the edges.

reflect

So i finished my watercolor and got it scanned and got it placed onto my computer design, it looks pretty good, no lie. next week i will get the background cut and faded and finish the project.

Goals

This week i want to get my watercolor background scanned in, onto my computer design and get the edges faded and uniform so i can finish up in the next few days and see about printing pricing.

Goals

This week i will not be here friday so i am going to start work on my background and see where it goes in one hour.

Reflect

I acomplished my goal by finishing the fish and now I am moving on to a background of sorts. Im not totally sure what the background is going to be at this point but im just going to doodle something i think. Lookin' good.

Goals

This week i would like to have EVERYTHING colored by Wed. I also think i need some sort of back drop behind the piece.

Reflect

Well, as you can see Elmore and I decided to scrap the old flangies once i finished the dorsal fin so i didnt totally meet my goal for the week but it is looking alot better with the change.

Goals

this week i would like to have the tail colored and finished and begin work on the head which will take the most time because i want the head to really shine.

Goal Update

My goal was to lay in the body colors and i pretty much completed this except i really want the head and dorsal fin to look awesome and stand out so i spent a little extra time planning that out. looking good thus far

Goals

this week i plan to finish color on my fish including all shading on scales and such.

Goal Reflect

I acomplished my goal and a little more! the color is going in very nicely and im satisfied with my progress thus far

Goals!

This week i plan to put my fishy in photoshop and begin work on color and a background.

Goal Week 1

This week i want to get all the paper work done so I can begin on my sketches and move forward with the creative aspects of this project.

The Breakdown

For January I plan to have completed my sketches and start working with the images on the computer and get something going. By the end of February I would like to have the outlining done and ready to be shaded and start on shading. In mid-March I want to have the shading completed and the colors layered in so I have a complete project to give to a printing company and have it printed and ready to go for April. In April I will pick up my completed shirt and show it off to all my peers!

Proposal

            After looking through various designs and artists I have decided to make a Tee- Shirt design that I will have completed and printed by April 6^th.  I plan to use some Japanese influenced artwork but put a more modern tattoo like take with it. I am going to make a flowing black and white background that consists of various shapes and line thicknesses. The main design will be the focal point of the piece and will have the only color in the piece. I plan on having a Koi fish as the main design with waves going around it and then another design of an anchor or something to place on the back of the shirt. I would like to use some sort of grey shirt to really set off the color choices. The pieces I have seen all use really nice vibrant colors which is the direction I am going and they all had a sort of modern take on a traditional design which is also what im going for.

Art Analysis

Art Analysis

The artist of my favorite inspirational piece goes by the name of SFHD. The piece is entitled “Japanese Water Garden” and is part of a collection called  “Traditional Japanese Influence”. The art is a very flowy design. The lines move and flow together to give the illusion of a fish swimming gracefully. It is a very peaceful design that creates a sense of calmness when you view it. The colors are vivid; they are added to the fish in kind of a paint from so it’s not perfectly colored in. The color is powerful because the background is all black and white then the foreground has the bright vivid color overlay. The lines are very crisp as opposed to the coloring, which really makes the image come to life. The textured affect is created by layering the images and adding scales to the fish that appear to be overlapping making it look three-dimensional. The lighting is created by adding shading and shadows and slight gradation to the fish. The meaning of a Koi fish is overcoming obstacles since the fish swims upstream instead of just going into the flow so the artist was trying to show an image that represented overcoming an obstacle but did it in a way that appeals to the viewer and uses the Koi as a symbol. The mood of this piece I think is created with the bold lines and color. I get a feeling of accomplishment and boldness when I see the picture. With the lines and slight amount of color it comes off bold as opposed to just some sort of colored mess and the Koi I see as a symbol of accomplishment. I think this piece is great. I really like all the elements that are used to make this one image and the artist has a great sense of value and space. This piece reflects what i'm trying to do because I want a mostly black and white image with one focal area of color and also I want to incorporate a Koi in my design

Inspirational Images

Artist: SFHD

Artist: Oscar Mendoza

Artist: Vincent Regal

Artist: Ana Gaberiala

Artist Iker Hiro

Sketch!

Well I found a blogger app for my phone and decided I would test it by uploading a sketch I did for my shirt design here at home. Im kinda liking the direction this is going, shading and color to come!

Independent Project

For my Independent project i would like to do a mix of things because i can't narrow it down to just one. Right now my main focus is a graphic design for a shirt. I would like to create a design that is unique and kind of a modern take on an older art form. I have a few ideas of recreating some traditional japanese art into a modern style such as a Koi Fish that is swimming upstream to represent overcoming obstacles to get to what you want but the modern take would be to create it in kind of a tattoo design fashion. I would also like to finish the ending on my animation to something more exciting. I dont envision these two things taking the rest of the semester so once I finish I might do a calibration with Destany.