January 14, 2011

Second Quarter Art Blog Post

            My second quarter art project was all about basketball, the NBA specifically. In the beginning of the quarter I did not really know what I wanted to design.  Starting was the hardest thing to do because I didn’t have a clue on what I should do. Finally, I decided that I wanted to make a poster about my favorite NBA team, the Miami Heat. The poster is a reflection of the team and it’s three best players, Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh.

The top of the poster reads HEAT across it. The right side of each letter is outlined with a black marker but the colors of the letters are painted orange.  Right beneath the letters that spell out Heat is the team’s logo. The logo is a red basketball that is painted in the shape of a flame that goes through a white ring, which is, suppose to be the basketball hoop. The end of the basketball flame is painted yellow. I outlined the lines of the basketball with a black marker as well.

            To the left of the logo is a picture that I printed out of Chris Bosh shooting a basketball. The picture is in color. On the far left side of the poster are 3 concentric circles. The first concentric circle has Dwayne Wade written on top of it and it has a big 3 inside of the circle that is colored red. Dwayne Wade’s name is outlined black and red, while the outlines of the circles and the 3 are with a black marker. The middle concentric circle is the same thing but it has Lebron James name on the top of it. His name is outlined with a black and yellow marker. Instead of there being a 3 inside of the circle, there’s a 6 that is colored in and outlined with a black marker. The circle is colored in yellow and is outlined with a black marker as well. The last concentric circles is the same thing as the other two but it has Chris Bosh’s name on top of it that is outlined with a black and orange marker and there is a 1 inside of the circle that is colored orange and outlined with a black marker. The circle is also colored orange and outlined with a black marker.

To the right of the team logo there is a picture of Lebron James. That picture is in color.  To the bottom right of the logo there is a picture of Dwyane Wade, which also is in color. The last symbol on the poster for is located at the bottom right hand corner of the poster. It is the alternate Miami Heat logo. The logo is upper case “M” and “H” that is connected.  Both the “M” and “H” are painted red.   The “H” is outlined by a black marker. The top right of the “H” is a flame. Half of the flame is painted orange and the other half is red.

For the second part of the project I decided to draw a couple of NBA logos and post them on a paper. The logos that I drew were the Boston Celtics,  Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder and Washington Wizards. For extra, I drew the NBA logo. This was a fun project, I just wish I knew how to be more creative. I could have done something else.

AJ Carter

1-6-11

Art statement 2

            For this project I selected to do superhero symbols. At first I didn’t know which one I wanted to do for my project. I tried doing superman that didn’t work out so well, I tried doing the Flash symbol and that was even worse. So generally I was have bad progress at first. So I thought why not try Batman’s because I used to do it a lot when I was a kid.

            At first I thought why not go bigger by making a poster of Batman himself. That didn’t quiet work out like I had planned. The hero was not all to good so I decided against it. After that I went back to just doing the symbol. So to practice I Just did rows and rows of Batman symbols. Then I finally shot for the big one, which turned out pretty good.

            I think for the next marking period ill try doing the actual hero. Since the period is so long I can work on how to make him. Pick up some ideas on the way on how to make it better. Practice a lot, and maybe a little copying practice so I can see how others draw him. That way the final project looks great.

Edited Pictures From Q1:[Photo's by Brett Chapman]

   .:Quarter Two Benchmark:.

.:Sketches:.

Finished Posters:

Artist Statement:

For this quarters art benchmark, I decided to make posters for Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows and Inception. At first, I only did the Deathly Hallows symbol. Harry potter, I've been a fan of since the very  beginning. Out of all the books, the part about the Deathly Hallows was my favorite. The story behind it was so amazing, and I always thought the actual icon/symbol was really cool looking. After seeing the movie, I go the idea to do the art work and have the trees, and the moon and sun inside the symbol. The quote I wanted to incorporate somehow, so I though that if I made it go along the outer rim of the drawing it would look nice. The font was probably the most difficult thing for me to do, since my handwriting to begin with isn't the best. Also, I had some trouble with blending the colors together. Since I've only done that one in my 8th grade art class, it turned out better then I thought it was going to. I'm pleased with the final result of the drawing. I wish, I could of made it all even, because the triangle is lopsided in some places, but people that have seen it said they couldn't tell. The second picture was a line from the movie Inception, it's one of my favorite movies. I took the riddle from the movie that Cobb and Mal used to say together. it goes like "You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't be sure...but it doesn't matter, because we'll be together. I thought that doing word art would be cooler. I added a train and all of the main charterers totems at the bottom. I also thought that if I did word art, it would help me improve my  handwriting.

Artist’s Statement

Recently I have noticed a big change in the style of art that I create. I have been moving further and further away from illustration and moving into music. I have been playing the guitar since sometime sophomore year and it's practically possessed me. On my off time I spend hours upon hours practicing, learning new songs, tunings, chords, and techniques. I am intrigued by how the instrument works, and how different voicings and types of chords can invoke different feelings in the listener. I prefer using acoustic guitar when learning or performing music because it feels more personal to me, and I feel like I can put more soul into my work acoustically then if it was being distorted through speakers.

Bottle Cap Poster

When starting this quarter Miss Hull introduced us to the artist Aurora Robson. Aurora specializes in creating artwork out of plastic bottle caps and bottles. When she started creating these works they were made to reflect upon nightmares she used to have as a child. She connects these nightmares to the collective nightmare of the overuse of plastic that affects us all and is destroying the environment. We created posters to inform the school of a bottle cap drive; in this way we could keep some bottle caps out of our oceans and landfills and provide material for Aurora to use.

Project

For our assignment we had to create a piece of art that revolved around the theme of recycling.  At first I had no idea how I could connect both music and recycling together, but then it came to me; last year for a physics project I built a three stringed guitar out of a cigar box, a piece of wood, and some odds and ends. Even though the guitar didn’t work very well as a conventional guitar, it worked perfectly as a slide guitar. My father also fairly recently discovered a beautiful guitar thrown away in the trash with some very fixable problems. After some cheap repairs he gave the guitar to me. So there I had two instruments that both had a relation to recycling, so all I needed was a song to record.

My choice song was “Loser” by Beck. There was no real rationale behind this choice besides it has a prominent slide guitar riff in it.

I recorded the song in three different parts, the slide guitar, the lead, and the sitar (which I arranged for guitar), and then pieced them together using GarageBand. I was going to record the bass in the song also, but my bass amp died on me during the recording process. Once I have the amp fixed I would like to go back and complete the song, and maybe add some drums with a drum machine.

MP3 and GarageBand File

Instruments

Home Made Cigar Box Guitar

Trash Find

I am inspired by details.  Once I have arrived at a concept of what I will create, I am from the outset of the creation of a piece, highly intuned to the precise placement of each element in that piece. Deciding how each color relates to the other, complements the other and bounces off one another is taken into consideration along with the strategic placement of the items. One of my favorite things to do is take an object, pull it out of its element, and give it a new perspective. Then, the purpose of the object is completely different. It may or may not be useful, but it will always evoke some type of emotion.

I like to use natural elements, and shape and twist them into something that they were not intended for. I feel that the piece will emit a more honest vibe, if it was created from something that people may see everyday, but never truly appreciate. With this approach, it is sometimes hard to envision how the final product will turn out, but I don't really mind. I feel that the piece will always turn out to be how it was meant to. I'm just helping it complete its aesthetic purpose. I see myself as an aide in helping people recognize the true potential and beauty in commonplace objects.

The process of creating a piece, rather than the actual final product is what is most important to me. For instance, if painting, I am more likely to slowly and carefully paint each color that butts up against another than paint one color over top of the other. I would much rather go through the process of creating a close detail-oriented piece of work, than just have the overall piece be quick, easy and generally aesthetically pleasing. And although not intended, the result of such close detail work is that when someone looks at a piece, it may seem basic at first, but on closer inspection the details begin to show themselves. Someone would have to really be paying attention, in order to truly appreciate my work.

Bottle Cap Poster

An artist named Aurora Robson has been creating pieces from plastic bottle caps for some time now. We learned about her in class and about why and how she creates these pieces. Most of them are reflective of images from nightmares that she used to have. Not coincidentally, since they are made from plastic bottle caps, (which can not be recycled) they share a common element with her audience, as we all share in the nightmare of how we are destroying the Earth with our nonchalant overuse of plastic. Our class was planning to visit Aurora and her new exhibit, and we wanted to be helpful to her cause. So, for our first project we were to create a poster informing people that the art room would be collecting bottle caps.