Layout Content Summary

Layout One - Winter Extreme

Target Audience: Teenagers and Young Adults

Main Content: Information on snowboarding and sledding activites

Style: Vector based layout

Stock Photography: 

         

Layout Two - Fun for all, All for fun

Target Audience: Families and Youth Groups

Main Content: Several team and group based activities 

Style: Simple, Colorful

Stock Photography:

 

Layout Three - Winter Retreat

Target Audience: Couples/Adult Groups

Main Content: Relaxing, Engaging activities for two or more.

Style: Simple, Minimal colors.

Stocks Photography:

Mount Rainier Layout - Creative Brief

     The park I have chosen for this project is Mount Rainier, located in the state of Washington. I choose this park based on the popular winter activities they have. For my first layout I would like to target young people, mostly between the ages of 16 and 25, with the theme snowboarding. I want the style to express ‘extreme sports’ with vector shapes and graffiti symbols. My next layout will be focused on families and youth groups. For this I want a simple style that will appeal to people of all ages and focus on content. My last layout will target older couples and groups of friends on vacation. I also envision a simple style for this with minimal colors and a focus on the various activities offered including ranger-guided snowshoe walks, camping, snowmobiling, snowboarding, and skiing.

Banner Artist Statement

 For my final designs I decided to go with three pieces that emphasized dynamic composition. I did this so that the viewer would see familiar works by Warhol in a different way. My compositions bring focused on cropped areas of his work which add interest and curiosity. The most successful part of my design I feel is definitely my composition and placement. However, I could have worked more on using colors that complimented Warhol’s flamboyant color scheme.

Final Warhol Banners

Here are my final 3 banners for the Andy Warhol site:

Circle Shots

Here are some circles I found around my house:

Picto-cons!

Here's what I came up with using the Pictogram exercise:

Inspirations for Drawing

One of the main issues I encountered with my drawing experience is the lack of original ideas.

I picked up drawing at a young age after being inspired by some of my fathers work. I was determined to reach his level and practiced frequently. However it started to become boring to me and I eventually traded my pencil for a controller. After years of not doing anything, I had a sudden urge one day to try and draw something realistic. I sat down and read through a drawing book and began producing some work comparable to my fathers. Now that I had a spark I decided to get back into drawing again. However this passion didn't last long and I soon found myself in the same position I was in years ago. I had acquired some new techniques but I just couldn't progress further. This was about 4 or 5 years ago.

Just recently I was assigned a two projects for two different classes which required me to sketch ideas out that would later be produced on the computer. Here I was confronted with this curse, this eternal artist block. If I was to ever move forward in my career then I needed to take care of this dry spell some how.

So I went online and asked around for some opinions. To my surprise the solution was quite simple: just draw. After have been stuck in my car today for about 30 mins with only a sketch book and a led pencil I can tell you this much: it works. At first I was reluctant as I started using some drawing exercising I found while doing my research. However after a few minutes I began to see form in my random array of shapes, something that I wanted to pull out. And sure enough after 30 minutes of sketching I came up with this. I feel more confident in my skills now and can't wait to see what I'll think of next just out of shapes.

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Feel like this is you? Well here are some tips I collected during my research that I feel helped me out of this slump:

•  Drawing and sketching random crap is a good way to explore your own creative insight. it feels good to get ideas out of your head and onto paper every now and then--even the written ones, so you can draw them later.
• Using reference photos is a plus. it's a really good idea to borrow idea's in small forms (not complete ones) in order to better understand a concept for yourself.
•  Listen to music. Take inspiration from the lyrics, the beat, whatever strikes at you. Half of everything I draw is inspired by music.
  
• Tell a story. If you can come up with a story, you can translate it into a piece. This sort of depends on how much of a visual learner you are.
• et your art be your diary. Whatever you're feeling, draw it. If you have trouble translating your feelings to paper, think metaphorically. Pour your heart into a piece, and you've completely stepped up your game. Emotion is sometimes difficult to master, but well worth it.
• Take a walk. Just take the time to experience the beauty of nature. Notice the shapes, the colors, the harmony of everything.
• Be childlike. Remember when your teacher told you that puppies weren't purple? Forget that. Forget everything you've ever learned about...well, everything. Forget that green is green (it's probably turquoise or yellow) or that whatever color green really is it has to be that color. Forget the symbols of things and observe them for what they really are. Know the rules, then break them.
• Turn something in to something completely different. A range hood can look like a vacuum hose nozzle. A water bottle can look like a light house. Stretch your creativity by looking at an object and thinking of other uses for it. Even better, do what they did on Pappyland: draw weird squiggles and try to turn them into something else, sort of like what Oberon was saying.
• Draw a lot, I mean really, really a lot and do it using as much as varied references as possible; even if they were just trivial elements of a picture or a small item in the whole drawing. Bend and customize these elements to your liking and experiment with them, eventually you'll start creating something new out of them and it will be evident more and more as you draw.
• draw random shapes and then draw things inside the shapes. Whether that means more shapes or just stick figures, who knows.

Project Proposal - Andy Warhol Banner

The artist I choose for my banner is Andy Warhol, a master of the pop art style. Warhol’s art begun to gain fame in the mid 60s when american pop art was just beginning to surface. Warhol was obsessed with pop culture and tried to describe that obsession through his art. Two of his most famous works are the Campbell's soup can art and “Gold Marilyn Monroe,” one of his many depictions of the famed actress. 

My plan for this banner is to try and imitate Warhol’s flamboyant colors and high contrast. I want to include his depictions of famous stars as well as a self portrait. Finished size will be approximately 900x350

Some of my favorite sites

I'm on the computer everyday but I rarely search outside of a handful of sites (unless I'm doing research). Here are 3 that interest me the most:

Flickr

I have a moderate interest in photography, and Flickr easily allows me to view and share my thoughts. The plain white background makes it easy to identify the blue, pink, and black text. Headings stand out with large text. Photographs are laid out in a grid format with thumbnails linking to a larger image, making it easier to navigate and find something you like. There isn't much of a logo but the colors act as sort of a trademark; the simple white background with blue, pink, and black text is consistent throughout. I feel the target audience here is mainly photographers but anyone with a general interest in photography might find this site useful.

Overall the design of the site works well with it's purpose, to upload and share photographs with the world. The simplicity of the site gives more attention to what is really important: the content.

GameTrailers

I enjoy video games. I began playing at the start of this generation's major consoles such as the PS3 and Wii. The video game industry has grown rapidly the past few years and as such magazines and websites were formed to keep people up to date on the latest video game news. GameTrailers works well as news site. A majority of the content is visual (for obvious reasons) and the videos are easily accessible. The front page contains a secondary navigation bar with sections being broken up into consoles so that you can immediately find what you want. However it isn't as prominent as it should be; it's easily drowned out by the video reel at the center displaying all of the latest uploads. This works in this case though, since people visiting the site are mainly here to see the latest in gaming news.

Overall the site can feel a little to cluttered at times with an overload of information being crammed into the page but it has great content.

deviantART

DevianART is somewhat similar to Flickr in the way it presents it's content. The difference lies in devianART's emphasis on selling prints and merchandise via artist uploads. DeviantART isn't focused on one particular aspect of art, therefore it must be easy for people to find what they want. This problem is solved with a side bar full of information such as categories and prints as well as a search bar right at the top left screen. I feel they did a great job with having this information readily available as soon as you enter the site. Most of the headers and text are contained in a box making it easy to read and notice. One thing that has bothered me every time I visit is the fact that one of the most interesting parts of the site, the daily deviation, is included all the way in the footer and can thus be overlooked at times, which defeats the whole purpose of artwork worthy enough to be displayed on the front page.

Overall the layout of the design is simple and easy to navigate, without too much content or ads filling up the page.