Julie's Art Blog

This module was essentially my first experience of doing digital media as before I would only use technology for the bare minimum of stuff. I have enjoyed and appreciated having to learn new skills as I wouldn't have done that off my own bat. I learn best when I am shown at a rate I understand (which might be slower than some people if it is technology). If I clearly write the instructions down in my language and practise them, I can pass off as relatively competent. And I feel quite competent now. I used photoshop extensively for my surface decoration (this will get evaluated in my sketchbook) and I have got the hang of how photoshop works and I can now work out how to do things even though I hadn't been taught that specific procedure. Adobe Illustrator Draw was really quite easy. So I mastered the tools to a degree. The issue I still question is, is it real art? I do feel that the Adobe Illustrator Draw tool could be used by anyone who had a notion to use it and there ne...

I love this! To make this correspond with the environment theme for this project I have drawn everybody in one of their favourite environments. Peter is drinking tea looking at the stars, I am painting in the back garden, Logan is playing with his ball, and Callum is watching YouTube. I used the Adobe Illustrator programme using the method I described in a previous blog and put them together as described in the blog before this one. All I have left is to print them onto two T-shirts.

My aim for my digital project (as well as my surface decoration which is also digital) is to produce a Blur type album cover picture in the style of Julian Opie of my family. Then I will print them on T-shirts for me and Peter. I think that will be really cool and quite funny! I thought I better practise seeing if my newly acquired photoshop skills extended to setting four picture out in a grid. I brought up each photo and used the selection tool to trim to size then pressed crop. Then I did the visual adjustments as usual. I made myself coloured only because it was a truly dreadful photo and the overexposed yellow masked some of my tired features. Each of the photos were made 15cm square. I then made the canvas size 30 cm square and slotted Peter into the top left corner then moved the rest of us into position. It was easy! The issue I can see, is matching the sizes of the heads, my head is slightly smaller than the rest.

 With a lot of these waterfall photos I was  using my DSLR camera with tripod, filter and timer switch, so to try and get the longer exposure and smoother water (or shorter exposure with separated out water). This meant I have had to do some general editing to address exposure issues and contrast issues. However the before photos here are completely unedited. Again I cant remember every change I have made however the contrast has been upped and this photo has been posterised.  Increasing the contrast of this photo brought out the greeny blue colour which I exaggerated.  This photo had an undefined white mass at the bottom so I tried liquifying it to give it something more interesting to look at.  Again increasing the contrast brought out the blue and lightened the white. Ultimately I am discovering the better results come from the better photos in terms of composition. I also need to concentrate in getting the hang of the layers system. ...

 I have been photographing waterfalls for my project. Arran has some amazing waterfalls however unfortunately it didn't have amazing weather when we visited this Easter, however I still took lots of photos to get the shapes and flow of the waterfalls which has helped my decision about my final composition. I have photoshopped a few photos, one to practice using photoshop, but also to see if my playing about gave me any ideas about the colours and style I might use in my final picture. I cant remember everything I have done to this photo however I upped the contrast, deepened the saturation and definitely liquified it.  This photo has been posterised (which is becoming one of my favourite photoshop actions), and has also been liquified.  This edited photo is really cool. I played about with specific colours, as well as posterising it. I did try different actions like inverting, pixelating and twirling, but these did not suit the waterfalls. I am very unc...

 Liking Julian Opie's portraits I thought I would have a go! I got Logan to pose, which was a bit of a disaster as he kept on bursting into laughter, however I thought this picture with him giving me his funny eyebrows had potential.  Then I tried to draw him Opie style. Then I photographed the drawing and started working on it in photoshop. It is really hard to draw with a mouse and I couldn't think how to do the colours. (blue picture below) So then I remembered Nicole and Charlie in class doing all their cartoons on their tablets so I looked up apps and selected Adobe Illustrator Draw (as it was free). Then I hand drew the second bottom picture and coloured it in. Then I realised , with the help of my youngest son, that I didn't have to have any portrait drawing skill as I could draw round a photograph so the bottom one is drawn round the photo. The app was easy enough to use- even I managed it, but I felt like I was cheating and I felt like I didn't need ...