"Lens Based Media- Day Two"

For the second day of our Lens Based Media Rotation, we were split into groups in order to do a small group project. At first, we had to do quick illustrations of characters and places from our past and present memory. For instance, we had to draw a character from our dreams so I drew this ghost-like creature that has an eye for its head, since this was the fist memory that came into mind. After that, we had to create three storyboards, consisting of six boxes each. The challenging part was that we had to use everyone's characters and settings from our group and we were restricted by the amount of "boxes" we had to fit our stories in. In the first box, we were supposed to introduce the characters and their problems, in the middle boxes we had to create the development of their stories and their struggles and in the last one we had to resolve their problem. Everyone in class seemed to be enjoying themselves since this task made us think more with our imagination. 

"Lens Based Media- Day One- Part Two"

For the second part of the day, we were asked to go around the university and take photos based on six words- happy, sad, fall, jump, echo and crush. We had to think of various things, such as the positioning of the camera and the cropping of the image, in order to capture the feeling of the words.

Happy

Sad

Fall

Jump

Echo

Crush 

I found that it is not easy to capture the essence of a word through a photograph. At first, it was quite challenging for me to decide what I should photograph and how should I do it in order to create something that expresses meaning. However, after trying a few times, the challenge became something I enjoyed. Every time I found my subject, I had to photograph it various times before I had the final outcome and I found myself thinking before photographing it. This made me realize that the positioning of the camera plays a big part in portraying meaning. 

 

"Lens Based Media- Day One- Part One"

During the first hour of the Lens Based Media Rotation, the teachers gave us a short presentation on what this area consists of. Before coming here I was not sure what LBM was therefore, this presentation helped me a lot. Later on, we had to choose a picture we took and create a copy of it,  I chose a black and white picture I took of my brother. The aim of this exercise was to make us see different elements of the picture we would't have seen before. What I noticed in my picture was that when I drew it out, I over-exaggerated the contrast between light and shadow.

 

After that we had to crop out our drawings in various ways in order to try and give meaning to them and add more emphasis on different parts of them. For the first one I tried giving more emphasis on the background by doing a simple cropping. However, for the next ones I tried being more experimental and played with altering the shape of the picture. The one I like the most is the last one I did by copping the drawing in a triangular way. By doing so, I managed to make it more powerful and 

create a feeling of suspense. This exercise was extremely interesting and I enjoyed it a lot because it gave me the opportunity to experiment and think outside the box. 

"Graphic Design- Day Three"

On the third and final day of the Graphic Design Rotation, our task was to create a piece based on our future aspirations and future memories. We had the whole day to plan out and create this piece and by the end we did a group presentation, where most students talked about their work. It was exciting to see what other people's dreams about the future were and at the same time it was interesting to see their interpretations of it. Some people chose to do three-dimensional pieces, whereas others created posters. I chose to create a self portrait and around it I wrote the words Art, Travel and Work, since this is what I want my future career to consist of. The self portrait is in black and white and everything else is in color. I chose to do this because I wanted to add more emphasis to my future dreams rather than on the self portrait. In addition I thing the contrast between the two makes the piece stand out more therefore, it will be more effective to the viewers. The triangles coming out of the face, consist of printed images which I found and I added them because they were quite inspirational and they might help me with ideas in the future. I think that the triangles add an abstract feel to the piece, which makes it more interesting. The combination of drawing and printed images worked very well together and I enjoy the final outcome. This process was interesting because we got the chance to work completely by ourselves, to manage our own time and create something that is very personal to us. 

"Graphic Design- Day Two-Part Two"

Later on in the day, we were asked to create different fonts, using a range of media and techniques. I tried to use as many different materials as i could and combined them together in order to crete different effects. After that, we had to pick out one of the fonts we created and apply it on the alphabet. It was challenging to complete the whole alphabet since the font I chose had loads of detail to it. However, I enjoyed the process because   I got the opportunity to create my own series of fonts. When everyone put their work on the boards, it was very interesting because each student had their own personal approach to it. Some people tried to experiment with three-dimensional writing and I found this very exciting and a unique approach to Graphic Design.

Later on, we had to choose either a word or a quote which describes us and write  it down in our own font. I picked a quote from one of my favorite poems, "Prayer Before Birth". It says "Let them not spill me" and its a plea against totalitarian societies who try and change people. I decided to write the word "Spill" in red, using a dripping effect in order to add more emphasis to the idea behind the quote. The color red is supposed to portray blood and reflect the idea of people trying to completely change you in order to fit in this totalitarian machine. By doing this exercise, I realized that you can play with words, in order to alter and add more meaning  to the message you want to pass on. 

 

"Graphic Design- Day Two- Part One"

For the second day of the Graphic Design Rotation, we were asked to bring in photographs of various celebrities. During the day, we were asked to create a collage using different parts of the people's faces in order to create a whole new face. This gave us the opportunity of exploring the design process, as well as giving us new ideas of how to create a piece. Although the outcome does not look like a "normal" face, I think it is very interesting and has a unique feel to it since its different. I found this exercise extremely interesting and I enjoyed creating this piece.  

"Graphic Design-Day One-Part Two"

For the second part of the day, we were asked to draw the ear of one of our classmates. We were supposed to create this piece in just 20 minutes and I found that quite challenging. Even though  ears seem to be easy to draw, they are not. They are full of curvy lines,lots of detail and you have to capture how three-dimensional they are. For my drawing I chose to use markers because I though they would help me work quicker. I used three different colors, blue, yellow and red, in order to create a feeling of dimension and shading.When everyone finished their drawing, we placed them on the floor so that we could see each other's work. What I found extremely interesting was that everyone had a different interpretation of the ears and each one was unique in its own way. Some people did exact copies of the ear whereas others, took a more abstract approach. Even though my drawing does not look like an ear, I still enjoy the final outcome because it has movement and a playful feel to it.