The Plausible Impossible

In animation, we watched a video by Disney about the Plausible Impossible. The Plausible Impossible is an animation technique that because of certain context, impossible things seem plausible. These are five plausible impossibles I found throughout the video.

     The video I chose to feature for this post was a short that Disney made about Donald Duck when his cousin comes to visit his house. In this scene, Donald's cousin, Gus, knocks on the door to his home and the ring vibrates Donald's head like a gong. Normally, this would be impossible, but with the sound affects, this seems possible, as sometimes sounds do produce enough waves to vibrate.

In this scene, Gus drinks all of the soup in the bowl shown above within a few seconds. We know this is impossible because no one can eat anything that fast, especially since he was eating it with a spoon. However, since the spoon was moving extremely fast, this action seems possible.

In this scene, Gus decides to make a sandwich with all of the bread and ham. However, he makes the sandwich shown above by shuffling the bread and ham together like cards. That would be impossible in real life because both ingredients are too floppy to do so. But in this scenario it is possible because the sound effects and the way the bread and ham move make it seem like its able to be shuffled like cards.

In this scene, Gus is knitting spaghetti into a sock with needles before slurping it up by the string. This would be impossible since spaghetti is slippery and in no way would stick together like that. Since he does it so quickly and the way he crochets it together like you would with tread, it seems completely possible. 

In this last scene, Donald gets his head stuck in the mailbox after running into it. This would be impossible because no one can fit their head through a mailbox and be okay. But because of squash and stretch like principles, it is possible. And he was going at a high enough velocity to fit and remain unharmed.

Marks/Symbols Blog

Summary

Marks include symbols in them. They are both types of logos just one can be a part of another. Marks can include lettering and symbols. Symbols however, only include pictures. Both types of logos can be trademarked and sold for copyrighted use. Things such as the handicapped symbol, to the Nike can be classified as marks. 

Symbols vs. Logos

Logos represent a brand, and symbols are usually a small picture that represents something else. While symbols can be used as logos, it's not very effective since they're so simple and common. To have a good logo, people need to see it and know exactly what your company is and with some symbols, that's not possible. When symbols are used to make a good logo, it's called a mark. Marks usually have text as well that's easily readable and can fit well to represent a company if used right.

Key Facts

Symbols take a lot of time and thought into them to make them good enough to be a mark or logo. The simplicity can be a good thing, or a bad thing. Lines and/or arrows should always move up to make a positive impact on the audience. Symbols should not be boxed in but should be transparent so it appeals more to the eye.

Conclusion

My favorite thing I learned about marks and symbols is that they can all be related to each other. In conclusion, the way graphic design can all connect together is interesting and makes graphic designing easier to learn about. 

Typography Study 2017

For this Graphic Design project I chose four quotes that represented me. Two of them are serious and the other two are fun ones I did because I feel like they represent my personality.

 I chose this quote because the person who said it means a lot to me and it has a bit of deeper meaning. This quote felt fancy to me so I felt the need to give it a fancy look. Also to put diversity into my project I would need to put cursive in one of the art boards and this quote is the best one.

 This quote stood out to me because it's something I've always told myself since I was a kid and it was thought to me from a young age by many good influences in my life. I wanted to make this quote like a book cover of a modern day novel because I think this type of quote is geared more towards the younger generations like my age group.

I chose this quote because I represents me. It's an odd quote and I'm an odd person so it works. I made it black over the white with  a text the font because it looks like headline and if it was supposed to be taken seriously, it would have a serious message.

I like this quote because I feel it works well with this project but I also love the person who said it. I chose the design for it because I wanted to switch it up from the normal centered text but also make it nice and have suitable graphics. 

These are my quotes I did in color based on four color schemes required. Each of them are labelled with their correct schemes. I mainly put my color schemes in a lighter, more pastel color so that they look better with the contrasting colors. I really liked ho my color schemes turned out and I think they are the best out of my entire project.

Constructivism Poster

Creating the Poster

A lot of the planning I did for this project was just Google image searching, if I'm to be completely honest. The topic of my poster was to make a Constructivism style poster to present an art exhibit at the Nelson Atkins art museum. For my research, I took what I already knew about Constructivism on a previous project and applied it to my poster, the use of bold lines and bright colors is common in Constructivism pieces. Also, the movement originated in Russia, so I used a Russian font for it. For my sketches, I was inspired by pieces I found on Google and eventually decided on this design shown. I chose it because the birdie represents the Nelson and is very recognizable. I also felt the birdie had a good color scheme for my project. In illustrator, I used the pen tool and the pathfinder tool. It was a really simple poster to make.  

Poster Designing

The Character and Functions of Posters

     The function of a poster is very subjective. There is many types of posters to create that have very different messages. What you make your poster about is all up to you. Posters help with our understanding of societal issues as well as political ones. Good posters often have symbols, or hidden meanings, or at least meanings that cause critical thinking. Posters also bring light to a new way of seeing the world that you might not have seen before. Overall, posters are a modern and innovative way to get your point across to your viewers, whoever they may be.

 The Laws Of Poster Designing

     Posters should be visually attracting, it's important to have them stand out, to make your viewers want to read them. When someone sees your poster, you have to make it emotionally appealing as well. You want your viewer to look at the poster and think about it for a while, not just see it and move on. However, there are a few universal concepts of poster designing that are essential to know. 

General Demands

The poster should have as minimum graphics as possible and a maximum effect. (18)

It should stay in the memory and be effective at long distance communication. 

It also must have artistic interest and have at least one message.

Lettering

The lettering of a poster should be done elegantly and quickly, using as less text as you can.

Shapes

Must be modern and appealing to the viewer, forceful and yet smooth.

Colour

Should suggest the implication of an economical, political, or social movement. It also should relate to the message and convey it well.

Three Key Points

Three key points I learned from this article is the idea that posters are used for messages, the modern touch they must hold, and the importance of using clear and concise, yet lasting messages and graphics.

My Favorite Parts

I definitely think the emphasis on the messages of posters will have a lasting effect on how I use my graphics in the future. It will be important because I think it will improve my overall understanding of graphic designing and how I will use it to my advantage.

     

    In conclusion. the article I read on designing posters was informational and important to every graphic designer. I will definitely use the ideas in this article in my projects.

Graphic Design Semester Reflection

What I did this Semester

Vector Projects

One of my favorite projects we did was a unit of vectorized portraits. Now, my actual self portrait was not very good and I don't think it was a good representation of what I can do as a graphic designer. Both these projects shown above were not main projects. The wolf was extra credit and the cat was part of my halloween project. I only had two days to work of the cat and I spent all that time one the vectored side of it that I didn't get to make the font very neat or interesting. Same withe the background. The vectorized cat took two days to make and the wolf took only one, challenges I faced in these projects were time management and making them both look realistic like their photos. I learnt a lot about the pen tool and color schemes while doing these projects. The only feedback I really got from my peers was that they looked really good, not much was said on the improvement side of it. From my wolf project to my cat, one thing I changed was detail. In the cat you can obviously tell there's a lot more shapes and colors so it really took a lot of time to get it to look right. I'm really proud on how this project turned out, I like using the pen tool and vectorizing things is definitely a strength of mine.

Infographics

Another unit we did I found fun and interesting was infographics. Above is the infographic I made, about cats and dogs, of course. This project took me about a school week to make, including planning time and research. The infographic itself was very easy to set up in Illustrator, the thing that took the most time was figuring out the placement of everything for my infographic and the research. I learned what makes a good infographic, and more tricks to use in Illustrator. A challenge I faced was making it look like a professional infographic. While I think it doesn't look too bad, some things could use fixing. Some feedback I got was making the text in the circles more readable, as well as changing some of the colors and placements to make it more connected. Over time of making this project, I changed the circles and moved them to make room for the graph at the bottom. The graph was one of the last things I made. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and I think it inspired me to try harder in my graphic design career.

Time Management 

I have used my time in class fairly well for the most part. In the first quarter my time management wasn't very good but during the second quarter I think I really stepped up my game to try a lot harder in this course and get things done well and on time. I stayed productive in class by doing a couple extra credit assignments whenever I had the time. Outside of class I do a lot of drawing. Art is a passion of mine so I think designing things in my free time helps with this course.

Strengths

My areas of strength as a graphic designer is definitely my knowledge of how to use the applications. The design part of it can also be good at times, as I believe my designs are a little bit above average, I think. or at least are average. I put a lot of time into improving my work if I can, but working Illustrator(especially the pen tool), comes really easy to me.

Improvements

While I know how to work Illustrator fairly well, I think the more complicated parts of it are what i need to work on the most. I know how to make out things accurately in Illustrator, but there's always room for improvement. This goes for my designing too, some parts of it I'm great at but then you hit certain points in your projects that you know something looks off, but you don't know how to fix it. I think every artist has ran into that problem at one point or another.

Summary

This semester I loved doing the vectorized things. they were a fairly easy concept for me to grasp and I mastered it in no time. I think over this semester I think I want have tried harder. Especially first quarter because I hated it at first but I grew to love graphic design as one of my favorite classes. My learning this semester definitely improved my work ethic in this class and my motivation to do better. My only goal for next semester is to keep improving. I think if I continue to get better, I'll have the potential to be a great graphic designer.

Portfolio Reflection Blog

The first project I feel the most proud of is my Pen project. I liked this project because it shows how I've improved in Maya over the semester. I learned a lot about 3d modeling this semester and I feel this project shows what I have learned. I f I had to change it, I would make the edges smoother, but other than that I think it turned out pretty well. I feel my strength in this project is making it look realistic by the textures added on. My weakness was making the bumps in the grip, which I didn't exactly know how to do. I didn't learn this project because it was a test of my skills, but knowing that I think I did pretty well on it. I feel like I did really well on this one because I really tried on the lighting and overall object. I'm also really proud that I actually got it done in time and turned it in on time. Overall, I'm just really proud of how I improved over the semester in Maya.




The second project my favorite is is my hammer project. In this project, we learned how to bevel objects and a bit about spotlight lighting. To improve this one I would definitely make it brighter when rendered, but we had just introduced lighting at this point and I was gone when we were working on the project. So, for missing some things, I feel like I did pretty well. The materials on the hammer aren't as good as the pen project(which I see as my best work thus far), but considering it was an earlier project, it's not that bad. I like this project because it taught me more about the extrude tool, and I used that a lot on my pen project so it was really helpful. I like that the hammer actually looks like a hammer, I don't know but it kinda looks cute. If it wasn't so dark. In conclusion, this project was more like a basis to my final and I'm pretty proud of that. It taught me a lot as well.

My next project is my Ice Cream Model. This project was important because it taught me how to animate in Maya. While it isn't my best modeling, as I was rushed to animate it, I still think it's a valuable project that needs to be included. I did like how I animated it and the texturing isn't that bad. However, I could definitely have improved in the lighting and the realism in the project. Some of the ice cream is sticking out of the bowl and the ice cream scoop is in the table a little bit. But other than that I think I did pretty good on my project and the animation was done fairly well. The animation itself was pretty simple once I got the hang of it. Even if I did need some help with it at first, I think that that was definitely my strength in this project. My weaknesses were definitely the lighting and proportional modeling, even if the modeling itself was pretty simple. I hope to be able to apply the animations to different works in Maya in future projects in this course.



This next project definitely isn't my best project, but it had important aspects in the making of the project that helped me with my final. I'm proud of the transparency I did at the bottom and the texturing on the cap. The lighting definitely could be improved and I would change that if I could, I think the problem was that I was behind on the project and was in a rush to turn it in so that I could start on my final. There needs to be more lighting on the background so that it doesn't look like its floating in space. However, even if the background is way too dark and bland, the lighting on the cap really shows of the texture and realism of the object. I have greatly improved in my lighting skills, as you can tell in my pen project. However the shape and lofting was a critical part of this project and the steps taken to make this project will be needed in future projects to come.




My walk cycle in animation is my final project I'm most proud of. This is my best work that I made in After Effects. It was really simple to animate in after effects and I think my animation was my best part in this project. I think I would want to improve the background and make it match my character  more. My strength is the animation and the weakness is the quality of the background. I learnt how to make a walk cycle and how to scan my drawings in, which is how I made the dog. The background is made in photoshop, which is why it doesn't match. All in all, I think this animation was fairly decent and probably my best and most essential animation in After Effects.