The Logic Game Parks, & the Beauty of Uncertainty that Benefits

Alright, I want to make this as short as possible because I don't have much time, & you probably don't want to be reading forever. Basically, there's this great logic game (Mobile App) called "Parks Seasons" that I highly suggest you install. It revolves around how you must place one tree in every column, row, and park without trees being adjacent (Even diagonally) to others (See below). It is such a beautiful game because if you take the time while playing to think about strategies, you come across situations where you don't know the exact position of trees, but it helps regardless. I just thought, this is too perfect to not share. Here's an example...

A screenshot of Lv. 47

Just a disclaimer, this will give away the answer to Lv. 47. Regardless, we know that we can't place a tree on the top gray square because that will take away every beige square, this means that we definitely have a tree on the bottom gray squares that takes up the horizontal line (HL) that's 3 squares up from the bottom. Now we can only place trees in green that are on the HL that's 2 from the bottom, but wait, either arrangement of a tree being on the remaining gray squares will take away the two rightmost green squares. In fact, we can't have a tree on the left bottom gray square because that will eliminate all the green squares, so a tree must be on the bottom right gray square & consequently on the bottom left green square. We just placed two correct trees just by knowing how they influence their surroundings. (See 1.1)

1.1

Now we have this. But we can know more for certain... Now we have to place a tree on the bottom left purple square because the others are taken up. We have to also place a tree on the top middle beige square because the sides are eliminated. (See 1.2)

1.2

Now things get a bit more complex.

We can't place a tree on the left most blue square because that would eliminate the rest of the possibilities to put a tree on the navy region. Since the yellow region doesn't have a square in the second vertical line (VL) from the left & we just eliminated the only blue square in that line, the tree in that line has to go in the navy region. The only square remaining in that line is the very top second from the left.

Now it's very simple. The only remaining blue square gets filled in, then the yellow.

Still Life Drawing

This is my still life drawing assignment for Visual Arts Year 2.

Kinetic Typography Principles of Animation

Here are some examples of animation principles that were used in this kinetic typography video.

1. Squash & Stretch

At 1:32 in the video, the "X" in the ball moves to the right & while doing so squashes downward in anticipation to jump, then when in the air regains its form with a stretch.

2. Slow In/Out

At 0:49, the "O" in Societies drops down while accelerating. This makes sense since the force of gravity will accelerate objects at -9.8m/s^2 unless acted on by a more significant force in another direction. Isn't that fascinating?

3. Arcs

 At 3:05, the large hand making the peace sign swings upward on an arc, then smashes down on the "Governments" much like a hammer attached to some kind of fulcrum at its end. I believe this shows some slow in & out movement as well.

4. Timing

Oh boy, there is all sorts of timing in this video, but one that stands out is at 2:07 when the applications drop down in a mess. The forms hit the ground & make the most impact at the prime of when the voice says application.

Kinetic Typography

The pacing of this video varies with breaks in between every 8 words or so, & when their is talking, it's packed with information. This quality makes the movement fast & efficient. Furthermore, the movement of the words really pops out into your face because of the powerful wisdom behind it. The fonts that were used vary as well, with three distinct ones: Cursive for creative parts, simple Helvetica like font for the information, & bolded Helvetica like font for the points that are being emphasized. The video overall is very balanced, it shows words & sentences in the middle, & if it appears at the side, then more words will later appear on the other side. Lastly, I really like how at around 0:21, the "want to" slides right in between the words as if it's building on itself. This shows progression & that's very fitting because the sentence it makes is cyclical.

Helvetica Movie Response

"Helvetica has almost like a perfect balance of push & pull in its letters. & that perfect balance sort of is saying to us - well it's not sort of, it is saying to us - Don't worry, any of the problems that you're having, or the problems in the world, or problems getting through the subway, or finding a bathroom... all those problems aren't going to spill over, they'll be contained. & in fact, maybe they don't exist." ~Leslie Savan

This was said in the movie Helvetica, & I enjoy how it was stated because it seems to relate to order, & I find it to be true. See, the font Helvetica is one that is straightforward, & to the point because it represents text on the foundation of how the alphabet looks at its simplest. Since Helvetica stays consistent as well, it can be read without extra information exploding into your face. All of the extra information that you think you get when looking at the font really materialized in your head due to your past experiences with order. Since order is frequently associated with control, & calmness, it is understandable how the font can say to not worry. Really, I would think of it as the font instead saying; "Don't worry, this is life & you're in control. Everything is simple now, so you can grasp whatever you want."

I'm sorry to who ever is lost. It's hard to explain.

Tattered Seams Play T-shirt & Poster

Creative Process
The first thing I did after receiving the information on how the t-shirt & poster should be designed, is write down my objective and accumulate information about topics that the play revolves around. I studied how circuses are represented & found out that their designs are full of order within disorder. This means that I'd find outlining shapes to be very messy, & the filling inside them to be patterned & ordered. Furthermore, the common theme for what circuses represent is false happiness, so it fit right in with the theme of the play. I then went through a few roughs, & scanned the best for a t-shirt & for a poster.


Visual Language

For the t-shirt, I put a ring of fire surrounding a high angle view of the ring master. This shows that the circus workers are trapped in a world of despair, & makes them look small & insignificant to the world. The "Tattered Seams" writing is fancy hence showing disorder, & it's sitting atop the flames to emphasize the point of the play having a dismal feel. The marionettes at the sides are surrounding the ring master because they represent the circus worker's dreary thoughts. Furthermore, their hands are supposed to look large because I wanted them to look all-controlling & I drew them with the idea of how a humonculus looks.


For the poster, the font is an old western broken down messy serif typeface so to emphasize a disordered contour. The colour that was used for the words "Tattered Seams" is wine, the background is gold, and the tent stripes are dirty red & light gray. All of these colours have at least a hint of gray in them because it made the poster's appearance look dirty & gloomy. I left plenty of empty space around to make the poster look clean and straightforward. The gradual fade to black in the middle is a visual metaphor for how in the middle of the family circus, there is despair.


Technical Procedure (The same for both t-shirt & poster)
After choosing the best rough sketches, I scanned them using the Image Capture application. I opened them onto Adobe Illustrator so I could make the final out of clean lines. I drew the "Tattered Seams" text with the pen tool while making slight adjustments along the way. I used rulers to make sure everything was either centered fully or centered on a side. I then tested out many background colours & lastly I put in the gradient black fade.

Final Reflection
I am satisfied with the final product. The poster is unified, clean & uses the information hierarchy that shows the play's brand first & the details later for anyone who's interested. The t-shirt design is frippery, & captures the mood of the play well. Though, I do think it is too unorganized, and thus unappealing. I do think I met the requirements for the client, especially since there were few. Ultimately, I learned how to operate Adobe Illustrator a lot better, & much about what circuses represent.

Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xr46TzoCvqBCXJ9c5yhGFfV0g2Y_edbldJqi3dP7p7A/edit?usp=sharing

No touchy!

Pixel Explosion Effect in Photoshop

This video teaches how to make a pixelated explosion effect in Photoshop. In the process, it gives information about using masks to show pieces of an image, using shadow effects, and a type of brush that paints in unusual ways. With all these features together it created the effect, so it feels like instead it gave me a better understanding of multiple options.

The creator of this video did a great job of teaching how to incorporate the effect into artwork, but since this specific effect can be used in so many different ways that weren't explored, I think that reading or watching a tutorial about what one can do with brushes would give a lot more valuable information.

I personally don't see myself using this effect very much in the future, but it would be great for an album cover because it's alluring and surreal.

Masks & Blending Modes Used

Title: Combines;Gate

The image that you see above includes a Professor of Physics at the University of Nottingham, Philip Moriarty. I placed an image of him in front of a lovely Green Tea background and a metal gate, then I used a mask to hide Moriarty's real background to show the tea background & selected the Multiply blending mode on the tea background in order to faintly show the metal gate.

I call this Combines;Gate because it merges a gate with tea, and there's a great time-travel anime called Steins;Gate.

Pixel Portrait

Wilson Joseph Pixel Portrait GIF

Wilson Joseph Pixel Portrait PNG

Format-Comparison


I don't notice a difference when enlarging and comparing the GIF and PNG image formats. The only difference that I learned about them is that PNG can carry many, many more combinations of colours than GIF, and therefore frequently has to encode the information into a slightly less compressed format.



Features

When making this image, I was trying to emphasize the curving of my hair. I did this by making boomerang type lines, where the lines are thicker in the middle and fade out on either end. I was trying to make myself look formal and proper, so I darkened or lightened lines that head in the same direction to make it seem orderly. Another addition to formality was my use of grayer colours, such as bronze, light-silver/beige, and dirty-blue. I recently learned that gray is a neutral colour, and thought that it would be a good fit for coming across as solemn.


Procedure

I made this through Photoshop CS5, as a 100x150 px image with RGB colour and 72 dpi. I first took a reference image, shrunk it, and put it on the bottom layer, then I put an adjustment layer over it to lower the opacity of the reference to be able to differentiate between the original and the new. Then I had another copy of the reference of to the side in order to copy the original colours. The rest was making new layers for different parts of the image, putting down main colours, and shading what needs to be shaded.

Chinese WaterColour Painting

Flower & Bird Painting

Flower & Bird painting reference

 Flower and Bird painting style was introduced in the Tang Dynasty around the 9th century. They frequently include branches, flowers, birds, fish, insects, cats, and really focus on natural scenes. The brushes used to make these paintings are similar to the brushes used for calligraphy, as they both have a fine tip and a broad back for brushes. Additionally, empty space is often used in these paintings to create balance, and many curved or faded lines are used for plant life. The background of the art is traditionally a steel-brown colour by virtue of the style over-using the colour.










Four Seasons Painting

Four Seasons painting reference

The four seasons paintings, sometimes called "four gentlemen" are represented by four plants: Plum Blossom for winter, orchid for spring, bamboo for summer and chrysanthemum for autumn. Each plant combined with their season represent another meaning. Many of these artworks instead use one type of plant and have it shown in all four seasons, or sometimes include underlying colours that are widely used in each season.