My Art: Galatic Federation PED Marine

This is a drawing I made in Photoshop and Illustrator of a Galactic Federation Marine as seen in the Metroid Prime games. I made extensive use of the gradient tool to color in the sections. This is my first serious attempt at making digital art (not counting my quickly drawn Samus) and I'm most pleased with it. I'll be quite now and let you take a look at it.

Artist Focus: Paul Vermeesch

Paul Vermeesch is a 17 year old homeschooled artist who works with the mediums of photography and Lego.

This was a commission of the Charlevoix Public Library, which is located in Michigan. It's highly detailed and very faithful for the accuracy compared to the real building.

This is titled Star Wars: Relativity, and is based off of the classic M.C. Escher's print. It has working lighting and tells the classic star wars story in counterclockwise. The variety of building techniques used is quite astounding and I think I can safely say that Paul has constructed a very visually interesting and funny piece of art.

 

This photograph was titled Equine Sunset, and depicts a horse grazing in a field with a truly stunning sunset occurring in the background. I really love the effect Paul captured.

 

  

 

If you are interested in seeing more of Paul's work, it can be found here: http://paulvermeesch.com/

My Art: Unfinished Link Riding Epona

This is a picture I drew roughly one year ago, but for one reason or another sadly never got around to finishing. I'm hoping to complete it someway but have yet to get around to doing so. It does need some refinement here and there along with more coloring, but I think it will look nice when/if it ever does get finished.

Launching the Imagination: Chapter 9 - My thoughts

Chapter 9 of our book was on the basic elements of three-dimensional design, and overall this was a large chapter that mainly went over information that a student should already know from previous art classes.

Topics such as form (and the various types of form ranging from reliefs to free standing works),  line in its relationship to 3D space, and plane were all early topics. Volume and mass were discussed in how they can effect how we view a piece. Texture was briefly discussed in how just changing what the surface of an object is like radically changes how it is perceived.

The chapter ended with discussing both light and color, which are very closely related. Lighting is extremely important for work shown in installations or for adding value to sculpture, so it is something that should be put into consideration. As for color, it is truly amazing just how much specific artistic choices while using it change the dynamics of a piece. The right color scheme is absolutely essential to convey the message that you are trying to deliver and can communicate information in subtle but influential ways.

The majority of the information of this chapter was simply a refresher, although I will admit that it was nice to have one for a change after the last few chapters that covered more complicated topics.

My Art:Legend of Zelda Sketches

These are two sketches I made for fun a while back. The first image is a Goron, a humanoid creature made of stone (sort  of like a golem but not really).

 

 

 

This ferocious plant is known as the Deku Baba. It resembles the real-life Venus fly trap, but it is large enough be a threat to people. Of my two pictures, this is my favorite due to the interesting colors and dynamic pose.

 

Artist Focus: A second visti of DarklordIIID's work

Surprise! I decided that even though I had shared three of DarklordIIID's renders in my previous Artist Focus that there were more than enough to show three more. Without further ado, let's take a look.

This was titled Taking a Breather, and it depicts the Legend of Zelda's hero Link taking time off from saving the Kingdom with his partner Midna to take a break next to a river. There are many things I like about this, where do I start? First off, it's very symmetrical, with a bridge with sloping banks on both sides making up the foreground. This symmetry makes the piece subconsciously more peaceful to viewers. The colors are all very natural looking and the lighting is basic but does it's job. I do appreciate the detail DarklordIIID put into this, it looks fairly photorealistic. Finally, this image clearly demonstrates the bond between Midna and Link that has developed slowly but surely during their quest.

This is titled The Kingdom of Hyrule, and features the famous Hyrule Castle located by a large body of water that is likely Lake Hylia. I do believe that the effects of the sun setting in the background are downright gorgeous and quite realistic looking. The water is believable enough, although I must say that the castle's location relevant the landscape does make it seem rather isolated. Anyway, I think that this is a good atmospheric picture that features some excellent color.

This piece was titled Waterfall, and it depicts the character Ilia taking a relaxing nap next to a spring deep in the forest of Ordon. I'm of the opinion that it's a very peaceful picture. The twin trees add balance to the work, the colors are all cool, and there is little drama occurring. Ilia's pose if fairly natural and I think the lighting is pretty decent. If I had any complaint it would be that the titular waterfall looks far less realistic than the rest of the semi-realistic artstyle of the picture.

Launching the Imagination: Chapter 8 - My Thoughts

Chapter 8 of our book is titled Constructing Meaning, a subject I admit I admittedly have occasionally found difficult to achieve with my work. The chapter opens with a discussion on how to create a relationship between one's work and the audience and demonstrated exactly what is needed so that when art is seen that it's meaning will be conveyed. Stuff like whether or not any symbolism that one has used in a piece can be understood by the audience is something that definitely needs to be kept in mind.

Next up was both Context and Connections, which are similar and both relate the art with something else in the world. For example, a piece of art might reference a famous person or have a representational metaphor. These are a good way to make the meaning of representational art clear. The book does go over aesthetics, but I am of the opinion that as long as they are not abstract that virtually any aesthetic can be used successfully if used thoughtfully. That is not to say that one can simply use any aesthetic carelessly or at random, but that a wide variety of styles can succeed, albeit not necessarily conveying the message in the same way.

Finally, the chapter closes with a short discussion of drama, which I think is rather important. Drama is what draws our interest in a piece of art, and if there is none even the most powerful messages loses its ability to attract an audience.

Overall, I thought this chapter was good even if it was on the short size compared to some of our previous reading.