Week 14

Download my Magazine Portfolio

Week 13

Cover of my portfolio magazine...

For my cover I chose to use pictures I took of downtown Chicago.

Week 12

Happy Thanksgiving!

Week 11

Craft: Using Adobe InDesign I created this 2 page spread, pictured above. First I created a new document with 8 pages. Using the "Rectangle Frame tool" I drew a box on the second page to cover most of the page. I then went to "File" -> "Place" and selected the photo I wanted. I then chose a font and typed "The Deer" title for this article. Under that I drew a rectangle line. Using the eye dropper tool I chose the color blue from my deer illustration. I then went to the next page and drew a rectangle and filled the color to black. I then used the "Rectangle Frame tool" to create a box for text which I pasted in from my blog posts. I drew another box for the pull-quote. Then I added a few more pictures. I used the rectangle to tool to draw a box to hold the page number and then copied that onto the other page.





Craft: First, I copied over the title and underline from my first article. I then used the "Rectangle Frame Tool" to create a box to hold the text. I then drew another box on the other page and placed in that image. I added a black filled box under that image because the image wasn't large enough. I also put a gradient over the image so it blended with the black box. I copied the pull-quote box from the first page and using the eyedropper tool I picked the color of the building in the illustration. I also changed the color of the line under the title. I then placed in some more pictures and copied the page numbers from the other page.





Craft: First, I copied over the title and underline from my second article. I then used the "Rectangle Frame Tool" to create a box to hold the full page image. Using the place feature, I selected the image and placed it into the article. I then drew another box on the other page and copied the text I wanted into it. I added a black filled box under the whole page and changed the text color to white. I copied the pull-quote box from the second page and using the eyedropper tool I picked the color of the sky in the illustration. I also changed the color of the line under the title. I then placed in some more pictures and copied the page numbers from the other page.

Week 10

Craft:
To create these illustrations I used the program Adobe Illustrator. Using the pen tool and brushes I drew the background first. For most of the illustration I drew it using a Bamboo illustration tablet and stylus pen. After completing the background I drew the plant in the front. To create the plant I only drew one leaf and copied it many times. Using the color picker I changed the color of each leaf. Then I used the selection tool to change the size and direction to make each leaf vary. For the last illustration I selected everything and went to the brushes palette to change the stroke brush to give it a rougher feel. For the first illustration I added effects to the leaves, pot, carpet, and walls giving it a more realistic quality.

Composition:
Throughout this series I varied the composition. Webster dictionary defines composition as the arrangement into specific proportion or relation. For the composition of the first illustration I went with a traditional room setting with the plant in the corner and an abstract painting on the wall. The abstract painting on the wall is brighter and is the first thing you see when you look at the illustration. I wanted you to see this first because I really like abstract painting. For the second drawing I went with the traditional room but viewing the room from straight on rather than looking at a corner. This gives the idea that it could be in a different room. I drew the plant large because it is the main focus and main point of the illustration. For the last illustration I drew the plant on a deck out in nature. With the deck boards and railings showing where it is at.


Concept:
For this series I chose a concept of a plant which relates to how someone grows overtime. This growth that I’m showing is the growth of learning the program and creating more interesting illustrations the more practice using the program. For the first illustration I wanted to connect growth with my love of abstract paintings so I placed the plant in one corner and the painting on the other wall. In my second Illustration I was going for the plant to look as it was wilting because of the stresses of trying to keep up with everything. The growth that I had is fading away. The last illustration brings the rebirth of the plant outside in nature where it all started. With hard work you can complete what you started. I decided to make this illustration have a rougher painted stroke because nature isn’t perfect. The naturalistic world is rougher.

For the entire series I kept the colors consistent. Mainly I used the same greens and same browns. Throughout the serious I kept the object the same. I also used brushes in each illustration. The differences between each illustration are where they are composed. One illustration is composed in the corner of a room, another in just a room in front of a straight wall, and the last outside on a deck. Another difference between each illustration is the use of strokes. Some use rougher stocks and the others smoother. The last difference that is varied from each illustration is the size of the plant.

AIC Museum Visit

On October 16th, I visited the Art Institute of Chicago....

Pictured above is Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris Street; Rainy Day" from 1877. I was really drawn to this painting because of the depicting of rain. I haven't seen any painting using his brush technique to capture this atmospheric condition. This was one of the first painting that really drew me to it and you can see by the people in the picture that it does the same for many others.

Pictured above is Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" from 1884. I really was drawn to this painting because of the use of dots to create this scene. From far away you see the whole image but when you get close you see his style for achieving this image. I think it's such an awesome idea.

Lastly, I chose Francis Picabia's "Edtaonisl (Ecclesiastic)" from 1913. This was the first paintings I saw when I walked into the next room and it really stood out to me. The use of bright and contrasting colors and shapes really captured my eye. It also gives a great sense of moment throughout the piece. I really like more abstract/geometric painting.

Week 9

Object Series

Craft:
To create these illustrations I used the program Adobe Illustrator. Using the pen tool and a small brush I drew the basic shape first. For most of the illustration I drew it using a Bamboo illustration tablet and stylus pen. After completing the general shape and refining it to how I wanted it I drew in more details. To complete the other illustrations I copied the main shape and pasted it into another drawing making changes between each drawing.

Composition:
For the composition of these illustrations I kept it pretty simple. The first illustration being just on a table with no other references. For the second illustration I added a chair to give more relative information. For the last illustration I gave a reference to something off to the side. It actually was a computer monitor but you don't see enough of it to tell you what it is.

Concept:
For this series I decided to draw a wooded reindeer that I found in my house. The reason I chose this is because it had an interesting shape. I wanted to keep the illustrations more linear feeling. In each drawing, I kept the object the same, used the same brush, and used monochromatic colors. The differences between each drawing are the composition/scene, color of the stroke, and amount of detail.

Teapot Drawings

Craft:
To create this illustration I used the program Adobe Illustrator. Using the pen tool and a small brush I drew the background first. After completing the background I drew the teapot. I filled each closed shape with a color and used a black stroke to unify the objects. For most of the illustration I drew it using a Bamboo illustration tablet and stylus pen. After completing the general shape and refining it to how I wanted it I drew in more details.

Composition:
For the composition of this illustration I kept it pretty simple with just being on a gray surface. I wanted the main focus to be the teapot so I didn't include anything else in the illustration.

Concept:
For this series I decided to draw a teapot. I chose a bright background to draw you to the illustration. I decided not to add anything else because the main point of the illustration was the teapot.

Craft:
To create this illustration I used the program Adobe Illustrator. Using the pen tool I drew the background first. After completing the background I drew the teapot. I filled each closed shape with a color. For most of the illustration I drew it using a Bamboo illustration tablet and stylus pen. After completing the general shape and refining it to how I wanted it I drew in more details.

Composition:
For the composition of this illustration I kept it fairly simple with just being on a gray surface. I added the computer monitors to give the reference of being in the computer lab.

Concept:

In this illustration I was going for a simplified blocky style. I wanted it to feel like a rough sketch rather than going into so much detail. Since the objects were very simple I added more details to the illustration.

Craft:
To create this illustration I used the program Adobe Illustrator. Using the brush tool I drew the teapot first. After completing the teapot I drew everything around. I changed the style of brush to reference different surface. I then added some color by using the brush tool on different layers. For most of the illustration I drew it using a Bamboo illustration tablet and stylus pen.

Composition:
For the composition of this illustration I wanted it to be exactly how it looked when I was drawing it. From where I was sitting I saw the back of another computer so I included that in the illustration.

Concept:

In this illustration I was going for a sketchy style. I wanted it to feel like a painting. Since the teapot was very simple I added more details to the illustration.

Week 8

"Nature of Pullman"

For this illustration I wanted to depict Pullman as a neighborhood with respect to nature. I chose to use the color green to represent nature. I used the complementary colors, red/orange, for the logo to make you look to the logo first.

"Painting Pullman"

For this illustration I choose to limit the color just to the logo. This creates the feeling the neighborhood is being painted with a paint brush.

"A Scary Night"

For this illustration I chose to make it dark as it might appear at night.

"Blinded"

With this illustration I chose to make it feel like a very sunny day where you kind of get blinded because of the brightness.

"Halloween"

I chose to make this feel less realistic but have a scary Halloween feel because of the darkness and colors.

Week 7

(picture from http://www.unionstreetinn.com/visitsanfrancisco.html)


San Francisco, CA


- There are over three hundred coffee houses within the city boundaries of San Francisco.

- San Francisco is home to the largest Chinese community in the world, outside of China.

Week 6

Gallery Visit

Pilsen East Galleries

On September 26th I visited the Pilsen East neighborhood (18th & Halsted) to view artists' galleries at the "39th Annual Pilsen East Artists' Open House". I spent most of the day there. There were so many interesting works of art in many different mediums.

Pictured above: Me at the "Vespine Studio and Gallery" (19th & Halsted) in front of an Artist's work. This is where I started my venture.

The first artist that stood out to me was Patricia Leeper. My favorite is the "La Tour Eiffel" (second one on the left) Closeup view. I was really inspired by her work, with amazing mixed media. The contrasting white, blue, and green really caught my eye. Comparing it to other artists I found her to have a really different style with the use and limit of color. I also really like the fact that each piece has a texture to it. Really amazing.

Next, I chose Alexander Fedirko's "Sears Tower; East View". I really was inspired by all the detail Alex puts into his paintings and also how huge they are. Even the perspective of the buildings in his painting are so accurate. Since I was little I always loved architecture and I think Alex does an amazing job of depicting Chicago from above. I also like the use of black and white. I think it makes the composition more dramatic.

Last, but not least I chose Lucinda Chapman's, "First Born". I was drawn to this piece because of the unique use of materials to create this composition. I always like when people can take other objects and combine them into a piece of art. All the objects representing a first born child.

Week 5

Craft:
Using Adobe Illustrator's pen tool to further enhance my original illustration. Also using the direct selection tool to refine shapes and the eyedropper tool to pick new colors.

Concept:
Creating a vector illustration from an image taken in the Pullman neighborhood. I refined the original rough shapes to make them look more like the real image. Also added other details for a more realistic look.

Composition:
The composition stayed the same as my last one... [For the composition I decided to take a little off the image on all sides. I wanted it to have the same distance, to the frame edge, for the signs on the left and on the right. I also wanted to get arid of the little patch of grass in the lower right hand corner.]

Reflection:
After the critique I agree that the grass needs to be more defined because it looks flat. Also I will define the sidewalk and add more to the trees. Playing with gradients will help the sky and also the building to look more realistic. As far as my style I was going for more of a realistic look to my illustration. With fixing the grass and trees I think I will be able to achieve that look.

Week 4

Before, pictured above.

After, pictured above.

Craft:
In Adobe Illustrator I used the "place" feature to import an image I took of the Pullman neighborhood. After resizing the image I used the pen tool to trace the objects in the image. Starting with the sky, then the trees, then the building, grass, sidewalk, and lastly the signs. Using the eyedropper tool I was able to choose the color of each object. While drawing, I placed each object in different layers according to what they are. ie. signs, buildings, and grasses. Under each layer I have groups. An example being sign1, sign2, and sign3.

Concept:
Understanding using the pen tool, layers, grouping, and placing an image into Illustrator to create an illustration representing the Pullman neighborhood.

Composition:
For the composition I decided to take a little off the image on all sides. I wanted it to have the same distance, to the frame edge, for the signs on the left and on the right. I also wanted to get arid of the little patch of grass in the lower right hand corner.

Week 3

Craft:

I used Adobe Illustrator's pen tool to create the letters and the car. I also used the gradient tool to add a gradient to the letters and the background. I used the shape tool to create the rounded-corner rectangle for the background.

Concept:

I chose to draw a pickup truck because everyone else was drawing cars. I also wanted the background to feel like a license pate relating to the truck.

Composition:

For the composition I decided to lay it out on a license plate. I wanted the truck to look like it was driving on a road so I placed it on the bottom of the image. My name I placed near the center to make it feel more like a real license plate.

Week 2

Craft:
I took this photo during the day. I chose a day that was a little cloudier to add more interest in the sky. I used a regular point-and-shoot camera, no flash and held the camera still to keep the picture from blurring.


Concept:
I decided to take this picture because I think it really shows the culture of the people from the past. How they were slaves and they worked for the rail car company, Pullman. The area around this is where they worked and lived and this photo helps convey this.


Composition:
For the composition of this photo I decided to take the mural head-on. I wanted it to feel like the mural is just floating in picture rather than being painted on the back of a building. I also decided to move closer in when taking the picture because there was a stage platform near the mural and I didn’t want it in the picture.

Week 1

Name: Jordan Groll

Major: Graphic/Web Design

Year: Junior (Transferred from MVCC)

Favorite Band: Mostly rock bands

Hometown: Oak Lawn, IL

Favorite Color: Blue & Green

Transportation: 2004 Ford Mustang