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.