Progress

I'm trying a different method of painting it other than the one we learned from the eye tutorial. Its a black and white to color technique I learned from watching many different tutorials on youtube. I'll post some of my experimentations later. for now this is what i got.

progress

Reference Images (Ideas)

Here are just some ideas as far as what I want to do for poses for my illustration. There's still more I want to do. for instance i dont like the lenght of the hair so i'm going to change that in a nother reference pic.

images

I wanted to do more of an 'environmental' portrait.. hence the reason he's at caribou coffee in the picture.
I'm posting 5 for feedback on which one you think will work best.
Also, is it okay to stay pretty true to the background?

Photoshop eye Painting

For Photoshop Drawing

For my photoshop illustration I want to do a cover for my graphic novel that I'm going to be illustrating over the summer. The cover will display an image of the main character, with his hands outstretched in a crucifix like form, with stigmata like wounds. The wounds are meant to portray the character as a Christ like figure and let the viewer know that book has some spiritual and religious connotations. The character’s expression is meant to be devious and provoke feelings of mistrust and intrigue. The way I intend on constructing the image is by basing it off reference photos of myself in the pose wearing the same type of clothes that the character wears, and of a plain setting such as a brick wall or monochromatic background, so that all attention is paid to the character. And of course, I’ll put the title up at the top of the cover.

Jericho with Mace

generative art pieces

eye tutorial

Generative Art re-done

new generative art piece

Final Image

I want you to do this by the end of next week

How to Paint an eye is PS.

Generative Art Experimentation

Generative Art Example

Here are some examples of generative art I found while browsing google and deviantart. What I like particularly about these pieces is how they mimic the human form while still maintaining a form of oddity.

http://www.donrelyea.com/hair_particle_drawing.htm

http://leavingbehind.deviantart.com/art/Generative-Art-1-107819127?q=boost%3Apopular%20generative%20art&qo=8

http://kalvinorama.deviantart.com/art/Tango2-162173945?q=boost%3Apopular%20generative%20art&qo=11

Final Vector Illustration

final image for first project

generative art examples

The first two images are from a really great article I found with examples of generative art:
http://mediamilitia.com/getting-started-with-generative-art/
The first image is my favorite of all of them.. I love the complexity of it and the many layers that went into making all the different shapes and textures.  I like how they all can stand alone as images without an image behind it.

These second two images are  done by a guy name Marius Watz.. I really like the the use of colors in both the images and the organic feel the top one has.  Both very much in a style I'd like to explore.

First image is from this link: http://somerandomdude.com/stream/tumblr/past-processing-work-by-marius-watz-ported-to-javascript-through/

Second image is from this next site and also has a good article about the guy and his work: http://www.pixelache.ac/2005/archives/casey-reas-marius-watz-lectures-in-helsinki/

This one feels very different to me than the first two, but I like this idea of the arrows being incorporated.  Found the image at this site: http://4volt.com/Blog/archive/2009/07/29/new-generative-art-ndash-missile-cloud.aspx

Generative Art

Joe and Jenna,
You are going to create an illustration using generative art. Must be able to make a print up to 16x20 @ 150 ppi. Read through the information below and play around. Post at least 3 experiments. Research Generative Art. Find as many program/tutorials as you can find. Post at least 3 examples of generative art that you like as well as links to where it came from.

__________________

New Media is much more than trying to mimic traditional media by way of a computer. To this end, you will learn a little about generative art and combine some with your photos.

Scribbler is one of the cooler things that I have come across lately. I have wanted to introduce students to generative art for some time, but hadn't found a readily accessible means to do so until now.
Generative art is digital art in which various algorithms (math formulas) are used to determine the line, composition, color, etc. Basically, it is art created by software. Some of the earliest digital art was generative art.

Please begin by reading this Wikipedia article on generative art. Fractals are a very popular type of generative art. Here is a link to an online fractal generator. As you change the variables, the fractal that is generated changes.

Scribbler takes a neat approach in that it combines user input with generative output. Essentially, it allows you to anticipate and influence its output.
It may seem like a novelty at first, but there are numerous means of modifying the output of the software as it is "scribbling". You can vary the transparency of the line, the thickness of the line, and the amount of "Scribbleness" which I interpret as a combination of the size of the scribbles and its randomness.

I have included an example of a piece that I began with just six strokes. As it ran, I paused it and added additional strokes in anticipation of Scribbler's inclusion into the larger composition. (Image is not up at the moment...)

The one thing that is missing is a Save command. You have to take a screen grab in order to have a version of your work.
See below for instructions on how to do this.

How to take a screen grab

A screen grab, or screen capture, is a recording of what appears on your computer screen. There are innumerable uses for screen grabs. For example, my students are working on a project in which they need to pull a screen grab of a map into Illustrator for use as a template. I use them to record purchase receipts and to take images for use in tutorials and handouts. Depending on your operating system, the means of creating screen grabs varies widely. Below are links on how to take screen grabs with the most popular operating systems.

How to take a screen grab on a Mac

How to take a screen grab on Windows XP machine

How to take a screen grab on Windows Vista or Windows 7 machine

I would like you to save it as a PNG file rather than a JPEG if your screen grab software allows for this.

**There is now a ScribblerToo which allows you to save your files****

Muro - a online drawing application with some generative art "brushes". Some of it is similar to Scribbler and some of it is similar to some stuff that you can draw in Illustrator. It hosted by Deviant Art. Some brushes are unavailable as you have to pay for them to unlock them.

Alyssa posted her generative art images and they look really awesome so if you would like to post them, I would be happy to see them.

Discussion questions:

1. What is a PNG file? What is a JPEG file? What are the differences?
2. Why would I ask you to save the file as a PNG rather than a JPEG?
3. Other than the hassle of taking the screen grab of the completed image, what is the disadvantage of not allowing the user to save the Scribbled piece?
4. What do you think of Scribbler?
5. What do you think of generative art?

Scribbler was not a pure generative art application because it built on top of the user's mark. For this assignment, you will be using a few other applications which also use generative properties along with your marks.

Here is an online application that produces generative art based on user input, audio, and imagery. It only allows the user limited input, but the results are still pretty amazing. You select from a few variables including the selection of a song, arrange a path in a way that you would like, and then the work is created based on the colors in the photo that you selected and the audio properties of the song. It allows you to save a PNG from any point in the process. Please play around with it.

Flame is an online drawing program with a very unique premise; you draw with fire. It can be a real challenge to make a digital mark that looks like fire. I can honestly say that I think this is one of the coolest things I have seen is some time. You will see that the dynamics of your brush keep cycling to create the effect. It is a very well developed application that includes a Savecommand. When you use the Save command, it will open up a JPEG of the image in a new window. To save it to your computer, you have to right click the image and select Save Image Asand choose a destination. The resulting file will be a JPEG of 1680x1050 pixels. You will see that you can change many of the variables. This allows you to make all kinds of crazy effects and looks.

There is also a downloadable version of the program for PCs for about $15. It has some additional features and can save images at much higher resolutions up to 6000x4000. It will also allow you to save the image as TIFFs rather than JPEGs.

Please spend some time playing around with all the variables and making drawing until you get the hang of it. You don’t have to draw something literal like a dog, but I want like to you to try to draw an image that evokes a particular emotion. You can probably easily come up with some ideas about what anger looks like in flames, but what does happy look like in flames?

Lastly, check out the other “experiments” of the Flame creator. They are pretty amazing. None of them are as developed as Flame though, so you will have to take a screen grab of your work.

For Monday, I asked you to play with these apps and any other generative art apps that you come across, take some photos that you feel will work well with type of imagery, create two images combining photographic and generative art imagery (and anything else you want). We will look at the images first thing on Monday morning.

Chicken info

Chicken article with info chicken guy

sketch

OK, clearly I haven't drawn anything in a few years, evident by my sketching abilities hah.  This is kind of what I'm going for.. although the perspective and everything needs work.  I promise the quality of this sketch will not reflect the final image haha.
And the formal dress and pose was definitely on purpose.  I want him to look very out of place to show how different of a life he lives now compared to growing up.

Sketch for Illustation Project

Digital Portrait update

This project is kicking my ass so far. I can tell I'm going to spend more than a day's worth of hours If I want this to look good. Here's what I have so far after a couple of hours and going through the tutrial and I also posted the reference picture as well. I'm using at least several different reference pictures. A couple for his face and pose and several others for the environment.

Here's the image I was working on.. I also posted a close-up so you can see better the section of the face I was trying to do.  Some of it looks out of line because I wasn't sure how to save it as a jpeg and when I moved it to photoshop it messed up a bit.

I probably spent a total of 2.5 to 3 hours on it... It's definitely not as easy as it looks!  But it helped me to form my own procedure of working on it.. Next thing I want to do is look more into using gradients to blend the different sections better.

I took a few images and thought one of these two would be best.. Obviously, the background will be different.

Portraits

These are a few of the portraits I thought were very successful.  They're done by various photographers and have different styles, but I think the most important thing is that each portraits conveys a really strong sense of emotion and/or is an environmental portrait that gives additional insight to the figure's life.

Portraits I find successful

The portraits in this blog are by a German Artist named Dirk Dzimirsky. He specializes in pencil and charcoal portratis. I find these portraits successful for two main reasons. First, they accomplish a whole new level of realism in pencil drawing, to the point where they put the photgrpahs they're based off of to shame. Second, the portraits do a tremendous job in portraying the humanity and personalities of their subjects.