Printing Processes

Relief Process

This technique involves craving into wood or linoleum so that when ink is applied, the carved areas show up as white space and can either haver grain texture or be a flat black. This skill is needed to easily replicate images with texture or not, and can be used by anyone if not doing it by press when one has a baren. First, you begin by prepping the object with ink so that you may have a background to tell what is happening. Then you transfer the drawing onto the wood, and either use black line or white line composition to create depth. Once the image is cut into the block, it is ready for ink to be rolled over the surface, then put onto a press to transfer the design to paper.  With linoleum, you can use a marker to draw onto the block, and then carve the soft material out, and with this medium, the black is very flat and has no wood grain texture.

Intaglio Process

This technique involves scratching or moving of material on a flat plate, such as copper, to create wells for the ink to settle in. This is a direct opposite to the process above, but is also used to mass produce items, but would be less common as it required access to metals so more popular artists would use this method. You begin by using a variety of tools to create texture on a surface into your desired design. Then, you must soak the plate, wash it, and soak it once more. Once this is completed, you polish and clean it to begin etching, which begins by preparing the ground. Then, you smoke it to create a black surface, and scratch the ground off to reveal the copper beneath. The plate is then put into acid to create the spots for ink to sink into, and is then cleaned for printing. First, you must put ink along the surface then wipe off the excess. A dampened piece of paper is laid on top, then felt is rolled over the sheet and paper to transfer the image.

Lithography Process

This technique involves using a lithographic stone that is both receptive to water and grease, so the grease is the drawing that can be removed with various items, and this printing type is very delicate with its surface. This would be used for printing posters and other pages requiring words, and would be used for those in the writing or news business. The grease is made with either lithopencils or lithocrayons, and is done directly onto the stone. There is a first etch, then rosin and gum arabic is applied to the drawing. TAPEM is applied next to help keep the gum to the stone, and the gum itself is added again, and the whole drawing is buffed. A greasy solvent is placed upon the drawing, making it "disappear," to act as a base for the ink, which is applied after wetting the surface. For printing, ink is first forced into the crevices, and this is down multiple times to gather a full print from the stone, but this also creates a realistic look of each newsprint being hand drawn.

Summary

The printing process I would like to attempt the most is Relief. I feel as though this would be the easiest one to do in a school setting since we don't need a press to do it. Also, I have always wanted to do wood carvings since I tend to be a very nature centered person. I think these older printing processes have affected contemporary designers by allowing there to be ways to print cheaply and have the methods be widely available. Also, this allowed for us to mass produce designs, such as t-shirts, and not create the same thing over and over. Overall, it allowed for more colors and mediums to be introduced into printing, and made the printing itself more commonplace for artists.

Multi Exposure Panorama

DC Panorama

Travel

At the beginning. we passed over a calm river to reach the destination of our 23 bus ride: Washington DC. On our way to a hotel, there was a building that reached up into the heavens, a sight that we would see nearly everyday. The altitude was different here, the air felt lighter but with the amount of plants and trees, it felt more invigorating. Breathing in welcomed the strong scent of rich earth and aromas from various food trucks and restaurants nearby. I had never seen a city so cultured and so different around each corner, people talked in more languages than I could imagine and they were selling everything from around the globe. 

During the middle, we spent most of our time visiting monuments and museum. There was always another building close by that beckoned you to explore it. One of my favorite places to see was the Botanic Gardens, which I know isn't some fancy, towering building with more history than some states, but I felt alive with all the growth, and how they had everything from desert cacti to tropical trees. Don't get me wrong, I feel more knowledgable visiting national museums that taught you everything from art history to NASA, and I will forever keep close the awe I felt when I saw the founding documents. At the end of each adventure, we'd return to what would become our home, safely protected by a stone lion.

The end came with after our parade. The parade itself was through bustling streets, and I had difficulty breathing in the heavy, humid air. But we all pushed through the landmarks and smoke left over by the motorcycles are few hours before. All I could focus on was making it to the end, even though I dreaded leaving the mountainous, lush green region to go back to flat, yellow Kansas. Then, it was over, and I chugged down a water bottle, which had become the sweetest thing in the city to me. The bus ride back to the hotel was quiet, all of us satisfied with completing our main goal for band. Soon after. we began another day long ride, leaving over that calm, shimmering river. 

Reflection

First, I had everything in black and white so that they could have a shared mood. I edited the contrast balance so that the images might have a dark black and a bright white. I kept color in what I felt had the most impact on people, which in the end was the colors red and gold. The 2 rivers were both put down as the background, one at night and on at day. The tried to have the buildings show up in the order that I saw them, and had the ones I saw the most in the middle and on the left side. I wanted it to appear as though they were right by each other, without having hard lines and by deleting the backgrounds. I feel like the little bit of color represents what the city itself tried to make the most important, having a strong historical/political background. The buildings were either in the background or the foreground to keep it consistent. Then, extra items were put along the middle. The emotions were mostly awe of the monuments, and a sense of wonder. Overall, I tried to make it flow from the beginning to the end, to have that sense of Travel through DC, and to convey what I felt along the trip. 

Photoshop Pop Art

Pop Art

For this project, I was partners with Audrey Young and had her as a subject to create pop art. To begin with, I cropped out the background so it was only her and then made it into black and white. With the background, I tried to have the repeated circles of Roy Lichtenstein's comic style, and also made it cool colors to add further contrast with the bright, warm triangles and horns. The is some influence of Warhol with her inverted image, so that the subject is also repeated. I tried to have it be flashy like theirs to balance out the black and white adjustment mode. 

Over this adjustment mode, I used some layers with the Color blending mode or Overlay blending mode to retain the feel of the original image, just with some Pop! The main filter that I used for this were the Blurs, seen with the inverted subject and then the triangles. There were many masks to keep the desired effect in a specific area and to add back color. I wouldn't say I have a true color scheme, just various forms of warms with cools, so almost complementary colors, and then there is contrast with the black and white focus.  I would say I was effective in creating my design, as I was able to easily add and take away additions to her, and had a lot of freedom in what I wanted to do. 

Photoshop Challenge

Editing the Nature Man

With this project, we had to combine what we learned from the 2 previous tutorial groups to create an edited version of the given Nature Man or someone we found online. The only conditions were that his face had to be shown, and that we had to have blend modes, layer masks, and adjustment layers. For it, I chose mine to be flowers, being inspired by the video tutorial we had, and kept the man instead of finding someone else. I already knew that I wanted it to be yellow and very vibrant, and thought that a sunflower would be best in place of his hair. Though I slightly changed what I planned, it stayed pretty consistent.

To use the required items, I used the blend mode Overlay on the jacket flowers. Before this, I made a layer mask with this layer so that they would only be on the jacket and not the background or his shirt. Overlay was able to give me the best color and also keep the details below, like texture and wrinkles. They were originally yellow, but with a color balance layer adjustment, I changed them to be purple so that I could have complimentary colors and the image itself became less uneven. With the head flowers, I used multiple layer masks, patching and healing, and copying different sections to move and have the petals I wanted throughout his hair. There is some green I kept because I felt I had distorted the images enough. Also, I used Curves to change some of the shading so that the various pieces could fit with one another.

Honestly, my end result didn’t really match my vision of it. Without video tutorials to follow, it was difficult to decide what I needed to do to reach my goal. The hair was pretty similar, but it looks too unnatural and doesn’t have a flawless transition, so I will have to find out a better way to incorporate multiple photos into one. My jacket was changed, but I like how it turned out better than what I was originally going to do. The yellow it was happened to be too much for me, and also before I worked it out, you couldn’t see any of the jacket’s details. I would also improve on using adjustment layers and blend modes so that I am able to go even further with my projects. Overall, I would say that I did well on my first challenge and can’t wait to see where the next lessons and practice takes me.

Graphic Design Basics

Photoshop Tutorials

Scope of Project

To begin with, we had tutorials to teach us more of Photoshop skills and review ones from last year. The process was generally watching certain videos to one of the 6 tutorials, then working alongside with it to edit the given images. To make the edits, we used the Content Aware Fill, Patch Tool, Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, and Spot Healing Brush, all of which will be mentioned below. These skills that we worked on would be great for photographers and magazines as they are able to fix what was missed and provide necessary adjustments for publication. Out of all of them, my favorite tutorial was the original Patch Tool. Though we jumped right into working on the computers, these tutorials will make future projects easier and more understandable.

Content Aware Fill

The first of the videos was the content aware fill, which uses a selected area's surroundings to replace it. There were 4 photos to do of these, and they only worked if given enough space to copy from. This skill is used for minor edits, like an unseemly background blemish or a logo that can't be used. If the Fill didn't come out exact, you are able to change the layer's lighting for a more even look or choose from smaller areas. I can already tell that this will be used often in the future for quick fixes.

Patch Tool

Next comes the Patch Tool, do go even beyond what the Content Aware Fill can do. On some areas, like the man's shirt from before my version, the Fill doesn't have enough area to mimic the shirt. So, with selecting the desired area, you can then drag it away to bring in the portion of the shirt you want. You can also copy shadows and texture this way to give it a natural look. If one area was too bright or didn't, you can continue to drag smaller areas for precise adjustments.

Clone Stamp and Healing Brush

After that, we went onto something harder: removing a tag while preserving texture of the item. To do this, we had the clone sections of the coat nearby the tag in the pocket to continue on the shadows and pattern we'd see from the clothes. Then, we had the find sections of the pocket to copy and layer. With the Healing Brush and some Filter editing, we removed the soft and blurry look that had occurred and made the coat lose its natural look. The Filter was able to add back Noise that creates the texture, and the Brush fixed small problems. This was the first usage of the Clone Stamp, but it plays a huge role in the following tutorials, being one of the easiest ways to continuously fix an image once removing an object from the
photo.

Clone Stamp and Patch Tool

This next tutorial combines the previous ones to erase a larger part of an image with a more complex background. First, we had to clone out most of a pole which was coming from the man's head. There was a small section of Content Aware that you could do, also. Then, you had to fix his hairline and patch the sky back in. Once that was finished, we had to blend out the sky to keep the original gradient and a smooth finish, making it seem like there was nothing to interrupt the background at all.

Spot Healing Brush

For this tutorial, we worked on quickly removing blemishes, in this case it was dirt, and over large expanses of a photo. At first, we used this brush to individually clean up the image, but it was difficult to get all of them since we had to work with a smaller brush as to not cause inconsistencies with the skin. To combat this, there were masks and layer additions to be added to the end result, and the results were immediate after using a normal brush set to black on the mask itself: a picture perfect kid that no one would have guessed was just outside. 

Building a Portrait Collage

This final tutorial was the most engaging and time consuming of them all. In one way or another, we used all of the previous skills to create the collage. To begin with, we set up the photos in the order they would be in, then edited the one of the left to be near the same height. Then, we extended the background by first cleaning up the branches with the Clone Stamp and patching the sky and making a new layer to extend the background so that the center image had a place to rest. Any transparency above the head was fixed later on by cloning sections on all layers.

I think the hardest part of this tutorial was working with the middle girl. There were constant revisions to the hair and clothing; to make the sleeves, we had to take them from a different image and line it up, then work with filters and various brushes and masks to have it look natural. Once the center image was ready, we had cropped the image and finished the placements for every layer. The final touches were done by editing the color and tone. We had the background be muted so that the extra saturation on the center really popped. By finishing this collage, we concluded the first set of Photoshop tutorials.

Reflection

Before doing these basics, I had no idea what Photoshop was truly capable of. I now know how to fix problem areas, how to merge two different images, what masks can do and to use black or white brushes to affect them, and especially the importance of all the brushes and selection tools. Also, I have become aware of how time consuming and precise the process must be. I'm no expert yet, not even close to it, but these have forced me to always be problem solving and to bring together all the skills I have to work on one issue. Looking back, I can already see what I need to work on, and plan to continue using the next set of tutorials as a way to refine and develop my abilities. 

4th Quarter Reflection

Final Exam

4th Quarter Project

Our final project in e9 was to create a product by using all of our skills from graphic design, animation, and video. This project took the whole quarter, with us rotating every 2 weeks to go to the next section. Some challenges I faced included redoing a large portion of our items and having a steady team. Along the way, I learned how to do more within Photoshop when animating and was able to do things more quickly towards the end. Some feedback given to us included making everything set for school, providing more information the product, and talking louder without it being stilted when moving around the team. We changed the cost and vines used for our product to make it more appealing for all and appropriate. Overall, I like to think that I did my best work on the ads and their animations, but less so on video.

Below is what out team decided to create, virtual reality Vine glasses by Totally Not Vine Co. called Vinels. I have included the two animations and coupon I created and then there are screenshots to the side of what the website looks like along with it's layout and items included. We created Vinels as Generation Z and often Millennials miss the famous video app, and have watched every compilation. With it, you can watch everything new and create your own on the go. Our color scheme was monotone green to add CARP (Contrast and Repetition). Katie worked mainly one the website and top banner, Blake on the 3d animation and was the cameraman, and Audrey was the actress and creator of one of the ads and the final logo. For the project overall, we had 4 style of ads, a web banner, a slogan and logo, website (with various pages of information), commercial, and 2 animations showing the product itself. A lot of work and time went into this project and I know we have all grown as students and people by doing it.

 

Class Time Used

During class time, we did what had to be done at these computers, like building the website, using Photoshop and Sketchup, and at the beginning of the quarter, filming and editing the commercial. I stayed productive by either improving on what I had done before, like editing with newfound skills, or by looking ahead on what we would need for the product. I also made sure that my team was working on what was needed and that they were also caught up. Once outside of class, I worked with another e-Comm group in their commercial as they needed help, and I helped myself and others with critiquing and edits to better the design. Also, most of our team agreed on what was needed to complete the website and have all the necessary components for a good grade, and wrote a script then. Throughout this project, I made sure to constantly check in at times so we had decent time management.

Strength and Improvement 

My areas of strength include graphic design and animation. In these two, which I plan to focus on next year, I have spent most of my so far e-Comm career. I have gotten used to the basic functions of Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, and can maximize my strength by going beyond what school teaches us and watch more tutorials on subjects I wish to learn. With the animations, I used both frame and video to utilize both of these skills, and next time can go even further in how I create a product. We can all expand our strengths by also looking at our weaknesses to use more ideas on what makes us good and targeting what is difficult for us.

My areas that need improvement include video and website design. With video, I think my editing skills are good, but I haven't had much experience in filming and creating the story to shoot, so to support this I plan to work on a short film with my friend and I helped others when filming in a way to familiarize myself with video. On website design, I didn't have much work to do for creating one, so I checked in with Katie to make sure it looked correct, had CARP, and edit what was needed. To continue improving these areas, I can work outside of my comfort zone and take on more responsibilities with projects.

Summary of Quarter

What I loved the most about this quarter was having more freedom on what we can do. It wasn't just a strict guideline, but had one thing to follow while the rest was up to us. By learning from doing in this project, next time I would have a stronger idea on what we would be presenting before hand, and would spend more time outside of class with my team so that we would be better prepared and connected. This quarter has taught me how to have all of your skills intertwine to create one item, and how to manage everything when having an on-going and constantly changing project. One goal I would like to set for myself next year would be to do even better on graphic design and animation by learning more of what goes into them. My final thoughts are that this quarter was a good way to see all of the various branches of e-Comm in work, and that I now know what goes into a good creative team, along with what type of people go into them.

CSS and CARP Design

Web Design Project

The Project Overview

This project was to use CARP and CSS to improve how a page looked. The beginning of a page is just HTML, the code and basic format of some sites. With the CSS style, the designs come and bring the page to life. By using specific styles, you can add principles of design. With it, we could add CARP: Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, and Proximity. 

Contrast

With just HTML, you get simple black text on a white background with little variation. While this is a form of contrast, it's not pleasing to the eye or effective. However, once the style was added, there were multiple colors, with the brighter ones jumping out of a black background, having an extreme contrast. Also, the notice text and link are now more prominent. With the image, the dark face pops out of the background onto the body section. CSS styles allowed a more interesting distinction between the various text with the size, font styles and color usage, thus removing the bland look. 

Alignment

In the first photo, all text and the photo are aligned right. With it, though, there are various alignments and a floating image on the right. The notice, body, and author are aligned right while the title is centered. This way, you can better use Proximity by changing where on a page something falls. CSS styles allow us to manipulate positions, which draw attention to various sections of a page and guarantees that not all of it will be similar in location and provides items to be in the correct place.

Repetition

In the first photo, the only factors that may count as repetition are the black color, some bolded text, and how the poem is separated. In the second photo, you have more varied repetition, like getting the website's colors from the dog itself, having the titles have the same Alignment and color and the body text is like this too. This also allows greater attention to the important areas and draws relations between the page's ideas. CSS styles allowed more input on how repetition is used and broadens the HTML limits of it.

Proximity

With just HTML, the grouping is altogether except the text the comes out of the photo. However, with the style added, the text is divided into the notice, title. body, and author at the bottom. This allows related ideas to be near one another, making it easier to understand. One way this works is by changing Contrast and Alignment. CSS styles allowed to have grouping on pages, a layout, and develops relationships to distinguish between the ideas.

CSS and Conclusion

Overall, I learned how to use CSS styles to manipulate a page's design and to make it more appealing. One thing I now know is how to use colors from a photo to form Contrast. I wouldn't have though to use photos already in the page to make up the text color, but it just brings everything together. This, now that I actually have a better understanding of Dreamweaver, went quicker than last time since I knew the general locations for editing the style. For the little Web design we'll do, this was a nice experience for how to set up a page and how to utilize CARP.