Back in the habit.

Firstly, in regards to our last post, No, you can't have the original. My wife is getting it. In relation to that, Cherry would be fine Jake, thanks for the suggestion. (I kinda thought maple would be nice, but....) Also, yes I knew about that talent, I already have several framed pieces around the house, no I will not be changing my major. Now on to the main topic.

I had almost forgotten how much I loved photography. I think all I needed was a challenge. THERE is an interesting statement. Now you will wonder 'did he get back into photography because he found a challenging aspect, or because he felt threatened?'

I have been rather on the depressed side lately (Algebra may have been involved). But right at that crucial moment when you find yourself lost and confused, I felt the overpowering urge to take pictures. I have not stopped since last Friday. Additionally, I have found great enjoyment in photo manipulation. Specifically in Photo compositing. I have been taking several images in a row, and then stitching them together in Photoshop. Here are some samples from last Friday.

Making these vertical panoramics was rather fun,


But somehow they just lack the emotional impact of a traditional panorama.

Besides that, the traditional panoramas have the ability to be manipulated even further with some funa nd entertaining results.

Unprepared

We were given 2 objects to draw, with the instructions that we could use all or part of these 2 objects in any arrangement. But we had to use the whole space provided, and could not fill it with just 1 part of one object. The example our instructor showed us was an abstract drawing featuring parts of the objects inserted in a not quite random way. I've never been a fan of abstract, so I decided right away that mine had to be realistic. Well, MORE realistic.

The two objects we were given were the guitar and violin seen here.


The moment he started describing what had come into his head when his college instructor had explained it to him, a distinct image began to form in my mind. His was abstract, mine was not. I had this very distinct thought, that sometimes we are thrust into the spotlight before we are ready. (hence the broken violin bow.) So here you have it, my vision, for one of the first times ever, pulled straight from my head and onto paper in much the same format I imagined it.
Monday, upon asking my teacher if he had any final thoughts on it, he stepped behind me to get a good look and muttered (wow) under his breath. And he knew what was coming.

Motion Picture Juxtaposition

Our second to last assignment in class. The only requirement was that it had to have black blacks and white whites. I got great reviews on this one.

The 2 items I used here are a sony digital 8mm camera on the right, and an ancient wind up 8mm film camera on the left. I thought it was a fun pairing. the image is drawn from above looking down.

Shadow Massing

Ever hear of Shadow Massing? I had not before I had done it. In shadow massing, you look at a still life scene, then you try to break down the shadows into percentages of black. 0% for example, would be where you have no shadow. 100% would be where you see no detail because it is to dark. Then you divide the shadows into three zones. 0-25% you leave completely white. 25-50% you draw as a 50% gray. All that is leftover you do as 100% black. The end result is rather abstract. Were were given a shadow massing assignment in which we were to include 4 items of our choice.

During the peer review session the teacher called mine incredible. The only fault he found with it was he did not feel my half gray was actually 50%, for which he docked me one point.



The abstract effect is kind of lost in this format, as the camera picked up every bend in the paper. I'll try to get a more accurate shot later.

10 Minute break.

I figured I'd take a 10 minute break from all my studying. Summer semester finals are upon me, and I am swamped. I wish to share with you the current project that is nearing completion for the xbox. Starting Tomorrow or the day after I will show you what I have been doing in my Art class. I'm rather proud of the last 3 homework pieces.

So back to the xbox. After the last piece, it should come as no surprise that what I made next was some sort of a launching platform. This one I did without being asked for. I just really wanted to do it.

More xbox

After completing the missile ship, I was excited for the next subject. He wanted a fighter from me. He decided he didn't like his concept art, so he just told me that he wanted an air breathing aircraft, capable also of spaceflight. He also said he wanted it to be based on the F-117:


But with the, and I quote "total awesomeness of the F-14".


I knew upon hearing that that it would not be nearly as easy. Let me tell you friends, it is no where near as easy as it sounds. Looking at it now, what I wanted to do was not what he wanted. I wanted to take an F-14 and give it facets. Through his additional instructions it became clear he wanted an F-117, but slightly different. I came up, all told with 9 different models. Here are some of them.


Luckily, he was able to take this image and circle the parts he wanted. (ever read the Ray Bradbury story, The Electric Grandmothers? Or maybe see the 1982 Movie? Just asking) Eventually, I got what he wanted.



I have suddenly become inspired however, to build it more Like I had in mind. It wouldn't be hard. I may just do that.

More xBox Plans

Here are some pictures of the next in the series for my friend. This time he wanted a missile launcher. Basically an escort ship for the previous ship. I misunderstood what he was saying, and thought he wanted something the same length, but wider, and with what look, kind of, like four large claws sticking out of it.. Consequently, I came up with this, which at the time I thought was cool.


It kept the same basic theme, the "bridge tower" was taller and I really liked the look. He didn't like it. I was rather disappointed. Really the only feedback I heard at first was that it was way to long and too tall. His concept art, which admittedly I was late in examining, looked like a crab. So I shortened it and hated the effect.


He agreed. His thoughts were that this time, as there was no huge gun attached, there was no need for the bridge based design, and that everything could be inside. I disagreed. I suggested that keeping certain thematic elements would identify ships as being from the same side, especially as this fleet was from a highly organised group. He relented to this point, and I gave it one last attempt at salvaging my idea.

It's amazing what one little change can make. I blended the upper structure into one feature, changed some sizes and it worked. With just a little more tweaking we moved on to texturing, keeping the same paint scheme as before. Here is the completed product:


I'm way happy with the result. I was going to hold on to the original long nosed design, but this is so much better that I'm not going to worry about it.