Monday, December 14, 2015

Space

The final project for this class was an exploration of color and its ability to create depth in their designs when properly applied. For my piece, I chose to a simple geometric design using warm and cool color combinations. 
The images below are variations I created during the planning process.  

As I experimented with different designs, I began to notice the effect that color saturation had on the objects perceived placement in space. The stronger the color, the closer to the foreground the object appears to be. 

Below is my final design. I felt that in order to better the sense of depth, the piece needed overlapping elements to relate to as they moved toward the background. Using columns of tones that transition towards white as they move towards the horizon line. Doing so created a greater sense of depth and made it easier to position the sequences of squares. I found that the different tones of black and gray helped to further the illusion of space as they interacted with eachother. 

This project focused on using our previous skills from earlier color explorations to create space and depth. During this projects construction, it was important to consider the way specific color combinations interacted with their suroundings if I wanted to create a design that fulfilled the projects specifications. 

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Edges

BThis assignment dealt with the concepts of disappearing and vibrating edges. This first design, when in proper lighting, fulfills this requirement fairly well. With disappearing edges, the further away you stand from the design, the more the figures tend to blend with eachother. In order to create this illusion, similar colors with matching light intensities had to be selected. 
This next design did not turn out as well as I had hoped. The orange and blue were supposed to vibrate, but I could not find an orange that matched the light intensity of the blue exactly. The best areas of vibration In this piece can be found where the violet and yellow greens meet.
Part of the projects specifications called for a transperancy or a color transformation of some kind. I had a difficult time trying to find a way incorporate a transperancy into this design, but I managed to incorporate the combination of orange and blue to make a reddish violet. 

This project helped me to gain a better understanding of color interactions and color theory. Through this project, I was able to use my previous knowledge of light intensity, hue ,and saturation, to create designs containing elements that blend with eachother, and others that shine brightly in contrast. 

Joseph Alber's color transformations


This project explored the interactions between overlapping colors to further our understanding in the concepts of transparency, color combinations and tones. 
The design on the left was the the first portion of this project and involved shifting tones. The objective of this portion was to create the illusion of transparency through shifts in the saturations of a two different hues with equal light intensities. The result created the appearance of a white overlay across the four different sections. 
The design on the right called for similar requirements to the first, but instead of shifts in tone, the overlay had to add color; all while remaining the same light intensity. I chose blue as my overlay color. 

The most difficult aspect of this project was creating a convincing illusion of transparency in the second portion of the assignment. In order to create the quadruple transparency, all four of the smaller color samples had to match in saturation to keep the for overlay grouped. In the end, I feel like that I did a good job on this assignment. 

Transparency

This exercise involved creating the illusion of a transparency. In order to do so, two colors of the same light intensity had to be selected. Once the two base colors were chosen, the color in the center had to be selected based off of the combination of the two base colors.  Using different saturations of the center hue, I was able to give the illusion of three different arrangements: A/B, A=B, and B/A. Below is an image of my first design for this project. This solution was fairly simple yet very effective in creating the illusion of transparency. 
This second design used hues that were not as basic as the first design. Using colors that weren't as pure turned out to be slightly more difficult, but it really brought out the illusion of transparency. 
The most difficult portion of this assignment had to have been aligning the center hue. In order for the illusion to be convincing, the center hue had to be perfectly aligned. 

This project was very helpful when it comes to understanding color theory.  Not only did it give me more practice  with color combinations, but also a better understanding in the way that colors can interact with eachother and create illusions of arrangement and transparency. 

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Light intensity project

 

Using a variety of different shades of black and white, I created a gradient using small scraps of magazine paper. Before I began constructing this composition, I spent hours sifting through magazines, collecting a wide variety of different shades and paper types. Once I had a sufficient amount, I began to compile layers of magazine paper into a sketchbook. This was the most difficult aspect of this project. In order to make the light intensity transition smoothly, I had to stop and view my composition from a distance. Doing so allowed me to locate areas of the piece that made dramatic jumps that were much harder to see up close.

Part 2 of this assignment was quite different from the first. Instead of using small samples of black, gray, and white, this portion of the project utilized gradients in the transition between light intensities. Although this portion of this exercise used less material than the first, gradients are difficult to come by in magazines, adding a little extra challenge to this assignment. However, once I had found enough gradients, I simply had to arrange them in a manner that that gave them the appearance of a smooth transition between light intensities. 
Personally, I favor part two over part one. The compositions created from using small samples of color in part one have a very jagged appearance that, when viewed from up close, took away from the illusion of a smooth transition. Part two, however, can be viewed from any distance and give off this illusion. 
Overall, this project gave me a much stronger appreciation and understanding of light intensity and saturation. Before working on this project, "black was black, grey was grey, and white was white". But after spending hours flipping through magazines searching for a specific shades of black, gray or white, differences in light intensity and saturation become much more apparent. 

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Asymmetrical balance part 2

In this project, the concept of asymmetrical balance was further explored through the combination of two different designs. This portion of the project involved taking three designs from the previous lesson, two similar and one dramatically different, and adding elements that either unified or further separated the two original designs
My craftsmanship on this project was fairly poor and distracting, so I scanned my designs into adobe illustrator and recreated them using the pen tool. This first design was intended to be the combination of two designs that remained separate from eachother. The left and bottom right portions of this design contain thin, sharp lines that contrast with their backgrounds in order to create a very sporadic and aggressive look that greatly differs from the rest of the design, which is made up of simple geometric shapes. In order to emphasis the difference between the two parts, I kept the geometric shapes On the right empty, adding large areas of white to the design. I had originally thought that the large white shapes would draw the viewers eye to that specific portion of the design, but looking back I noticed that the design actually appears to be fairly balanced. 
This next design was part of the unified portion of the assignment. I used the same thin jagged lines and geometric shapes that from the previous design but I added overlap and inorganic figures to create a sense of unity. 
Personally, I found this assignment to be fairly difficult. Unifying two separate designs is much easier said than done. The most difficult aspect of this assignment for me was adding elements to the design that did not create further separation. I found that adding subtle elements to the design was much more effective when trying to unify the two. Making large adjustments to the design tended to draw attention to itself and create a greater sense of separation. 

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Asymmetrical Balance Part 1

This assignment explored the use of asymmetrical balance and the use of a variety of design techniques
This piece utilizes the concepts of line variation, unity, and tension to create a composition with a feeling of depth and space. The image below is a variant of the first design that uses color for emphasis, drawing the viewer's eye to the center of the piece. Personally, I like the first design better than its counter part. The  illusion of depth in the first piece is much greater, making it more appealing and attractive to the eye. While the red shapes also have this effect in the second piece, I found the first piece to be my favorite. 
This next piece utilizes the concepts of figure ground, side-to-side connections, and scale to further experiment with the illusion of depth and asymmetrical balance. While the craftsmanship of this piece is lack luster, I am a big fan of this design and how the different sized squares can guide the eye around the canvas