Blog 9B

Collapsus

Blog 10B

“Never say: “I could have done that” because you didn’t” leaped out at me when reading his ten points. The reason this leaped out because it is very true. People are always acting unimpressed by something someone does but while they are wasting there time being unimpressed they could be out there either doing the same thing, or something new they could be proud of.

When looking at the work he does I see a direct correlation between his work and manifesto because what he says is shown through is work. I think his spirituality is what makes him think the way he does which is why he is able to do what he does. So I would say that this means his spirituality does inform his art.

-       Always do what you plan on doing

-       When you have an idea start on it then and there, otherwise it will never get started

-       Look at the whole picture

-       Never do what you think is expected, only what you expect

-       Go for the gold even if you don’t think you can obtain it

-       Don’t think about tomorrow, focus on today

-       Compliment more then you criticize

-       Look at all the colors in the world

-       Dream as if you’ll never fail

-       Don’t count minutes, count smiles

From all the things I have written about and talked about in my blog I have come up with these ten points. These ten points I believe will not only help me creatively, but also they are things I should follow in my everyday life.

Blog 10A

Freak Factor

The article “Freak Factor” is about finding your strengths and weaknesses. Once you do that it tells you how to embrace your weaknesses and how to work on your strengths. Some of the suggestions are about working on the weaknesses while other parts of it suggest leaving your weaknesses alone because your weaknesses are actually a good thing and help people be different. The article also explains that one persons weakness can also be seen as a strength, or the same vice versa, somebody’s strength can be seen as a weakness. This article gives suggestions on how to best embrace a person’s strengths and their weaknesses.

The first suggestion “what’s your problem” is important to me because I have been in a job that has evaluations. In this job my boss had a sheet with what I was doing well and what I could improve on. We were given these evaluations every two weeks and I found it important to work on the places that she said I was having trouble. Sometimes it would surprise me where I was lacking and because of the evaluation I would know what to work on. This is why I believe it is important to find out what my problem is with my creative works so that I can fix them and make the best work possible. It is hard for the creator to realize that there is a problem or maybe that there isn’t a problem. Some artists need to be told they are done. I have always had the problem that I go a step too far and ruin something that was already done and looked good. By going that extra step I sometimes ruin things where as if someone had told me “your good” I wouldn’t have to restart or do a lot of work to fix it.

I believe “Build on Your Strengths” is an important thing to do. Sometimes when I am good at something it covers up for the weaknesses I have. An example of this is the fact that I am not the most amazing drawer but I have a huge imagination so the ideas that I come up with shine brighter then the actual drawing and just by drawing it I was able to show my ideas. I think that if I spent less time workingon my drawings then I could spend more time working on the ideas I have and expanding my imagination because my imagination is my strength. If I focus more on my imagination and the ideas people will care less how they see them.

I also think that “Find the Right Spot” is important because it’s true everyone’s flaws can also be there strength when it comes to the right situation. I have always had a problem of being too loud and so I have been taught to hold in my thoughts and just sit there. Then I became a camp counselor and my loudness was my biggest strength. My loudness helped the campers have fun. The same goes with creativity. Some artists are told there art isn’t art where others will pay millions of dollars. This is a perfect example of that artist finding the right spot to sell her there art.

When it comes to the creative process I find that I have many strengths and weaknesses. My main strength is the imagination I have. I usually think of things in a different way. My imagination is very random and that is what makes its special. My weakness is how I get my thoughts out into the world. I have trouble when I need to draw things. I know what I want something to look like but I always have trouble getting those thoughts onto paper.

Blog 9A

During our presentation I could tell that the audience did not understand how the game was laid out. By this I mean they didn’t understand how the levels were put together. I think we should of explained more about how each level becomes more difficult and the different aspects that make it more difficult. The audience seemed to think all the levels were the same but really as the levels advance there are more obstacles put in place and so we should of explained these obstacles deeper.

What we did get across was the concept of this game. It was obvious that our game was about being a hit man. We showed that the person that plays the game gets to become a hit man and kill a target and receive money for doing so. I believe the audience understood the concept just not how it was accomplished.

I believe the hardest aspect to address was the rules. The rules are hard to explain because there are so many. It is hard to explain the procedures without actually playing the game because you may forget a step and that may make the game seem as though it is an entirely different game. There are also many different delimiters to remember. There may be a delimiter that says that the player can only be caught a certain amount of times before having to restart the whole game. This is an important restriction to know but it is easy to forget because there are so many delimiters. An easier aspect to address are the goals because it is easy to explain that what the  player needs to do is get to the next level. It is easy to explain that this is what the player is working for. It is also to explain the mechanics  because a lot of games use the same controllers and most controllers use the same buttons when determining what each button does. The objectives are also easy to explain because these are stated at the beginning of each level and for this game it was just that they had to kill a certain person.

Blog 8A

This American Life

Blog 7

Joke 1

Joke 2

To create differences in the videos my group focused on different aspects of making a movie for each of them.  To do this my group focused on line and shape in the first video, while we used text and subtext for the second video. All of this created big differences in movies that have the exact same plot.

            The first video focused on giving the audience ideas without them knowing by using line and shape. The first time this happens is when the dryer’s lines are all set up in a straight line to create depth. By doing this, the room seemed larger then it was. When Jenny walks into the living room she has lines pointed at her from the fireplace. This sets the audience’s attention on her. She is also standing while Matt is sitting; this shows that Jenny has more of the power in this relationship. The last thing that is put into the scene to make the audience think without realizing it is Matt’s shirt. Matt’s shirt has circles on it that went along with his circular head, this makes him seem as though a jolly kid before the audience ever hears him speak.  All of these lines and shapes were put into the movie to focus the audiences attention and give background meaning without the audience knowing.

            The second video focused more on text and subtext. There are two major changes between the first video and the second. The first is the way Nick’s character which was Matt’s in the first video acts. The second is that there is a new character added, the dad. The text for the joke is the same in both videos but in subtext Nick’s character displays the joke in a way that makes it easier for the audience to understand. The father in this video not only makes it easier to see how the kid is going behind his parent’s backs when he says the last line but also creates a rhythm when he walks through the same way the kid does..

            The two movies have a lot affinity in the fact that they are the same joke and genre. The contrast is shown by the differences in the character of Billy in both movies and the different ways that Billy is portrayed.

Blog 8B

Hero/Villain 1

The illuminator uses color well to show the way the superhero uses its power to create brightness and darkness. During the animation brighness changes from bright to dark back to bright. This is done by using saturation.  When the animation is bright there is a lot of saturation, but when the animation is dark there is a lot of value. The only thing this animation did not use was hue. All of the colors were the same type of blue, purple, or whatever the color was there was no variation. I understand that it is difficult to do this in pencil but maybe if there had been more hue the animation would have displayed the concept of the animation even better.

            This animation also uses tension and release to create more meaning to the concept. At first the animation is bright with the illuminator in it. Then it keeps the illuminator as the familiar, but adds darkness to which is not familiar. Then at the end of the animation it is returned to the familiar with the brightness being restored.

            In this animation the creator made this clip active. The creator showed what the illuminator can do, but it does not show how it affects the world or whether this is a good thing. This is a choice the audience can make. By doing this the creator has made this an active animation because the audience decides what they think of the illuminator.

Hero/Villain 2

Anne Archy in the UK uses a lot of movements in their animation. There is a lot of overlapping movement used to make the body move forward. An example is at the beginning when the legs and arms are both moving when the character is try to move to the side. The legs are moving at a different rate because they are trying to go somewhere while the arms are just moving to show movement. Weight is shown with the heart. The heart appears bigger and it takes a longer time for the arrow to go all the way through it and deflate.  There is parallel movements when the character is jumping because it stays the same shape just moving for three frames.

This animation is another active theme. The creator did not really show whether or not the hearts were the bad guys or good guys. All we know is that the character shoots at the heart. This could be the villain or the hero, but the audience has to decide its self.

There is contrast and affinity created between the character and the heart. Both of these appear in the animation as things that can float. The difference is the heart has a color to it while the character is all black. Also the character is able to throw things while the heart was only able to float.

Hero/Villain 3

In this animation color was used to create differences among the hero and superhero. By doing this a contrast and affinity was created. Both superheroes were created with the same shapes but the colors were different to show which was the hero and which was the villain. The hero uses brighter colors with more saturation. This was done by using a bright orange and bright greens. The hero also has different hues of green. These different greens are all bright and most superheroes are made with bright colors to show that when the superhero comes to the rescue they are noticed right away.   The villain uses more value to create a darker image. The villain also does not use hues as the superhero does. Instead it sticks with only black, a dark red, and a dark purple. All of these create a differences between the two characters to show which is the hero and which is the villain.

This animation unlike the other has a didactic theme. This animation tells the audience to root for the hero. It does this by shows the villain as evil, and in the end having the hero win. These two things make the audience root for the hero unknowingly. 

My Adventure to the Convocation Center

The presentation that grabbed my attention was from ETB. This is student founded, built, and sustained organization. Their mission to express and deliver knowledge about our planet through campus and community outreach. They do this through educational skits, dances, theatre, and artist performances. All of this is to educate the students. I found it interesting that there are students that care so much about our planet.

Blog 6B

Blog 6A

Blog 5B

Blog 5A

This image creates a feeling of heart wrench from just looking at it. Then just by zooming in on one part of the image the picture is vastly changed.  The reason I zoomed in on the eye with the tear is because this was the main reason I was drawn to this image. The image is powerful with the way that the woman is wiping her eye and all of the different characteristics created the intensity of this picture. By zooming in the picture is changed from a CU to an XCU, which just adds intensity on the eye.  In the original image the face is a circle, which shows innocence, but in the second image you cannot see the face only the eye, but this too is circular so it still lets out the feeling of innocence. In both images there are tears falling down the women’s eyes, which cause a visual movement within the frame. In neither of these images is there text but in both of the images there is subtext. The subtext is that the woman is upset about something and the tears she is wiping away and the sad look on her face created this. The images are didactic in the way that the audience is basically shown that the woman is upset and that there is no way of looking at the image in any other way. All of these different characteristics that the images have alike have created an image that pulls at the heart and makes the audience wonder what has made the women upset. By zooming in on just the eye the contrast between this image and the first image is the fact that there is no where else to look but the tears streaming out of the eye which causes an even more heart wrenching response from the images. 

4B Critiquing of Songs

Jesse Bethea's Song

Jessica Witt's Blog

4A Brainwashed

Seth Godin's "Brainwashed"

“Acknowledging the Lizard” is explaining the fact the lizard is the part of the brain that tells a person to do what the person is told and only that. This is saying to acknowledge that a part of your brain wants you to do that, but that does not mean do it, actually instead you should not listen to it but remember it is there.

            By acknowledging the lizard for these blog assignments I am more likely to become more creative with my responses because I will be able to think about what is wanted of me and what I normally would put and say no I will be more creative and write my real feelings.

            The passage titled “Learn” is about the fact that everyday people must learn. It says that it is the key pillar to the other six mentioned. It says that people have school at all times in the different things people do. It explains that we took the first step by reading this and that from here we must keep learning.

            This to me is important because it is true. In life people are always learning new things from the different things they try. If people didn’t try new things they would never know what works and what doesn’t. With this blog I am seeing I am learning what I really feel and think, and also what my peers are thinking. All of this is why learning is an important part of people’s lives.

3A. Exploration of Cover Songs

I chose to listen to Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin and covered by Stanley Jordan. Both are done amazingly in their very own way. These songs have a lot of the same to them but still Stanley Jordan was able to add his own spice to the song.

The songs are most different in the fact that one has lyrics and the other is almost all instrumental, and pretty much all guitar at that so it is not worth discussing the lyrics other then to look at the fact that this song almost does not need lyrics to get its point across which may be what Stanley Jordan was trying to point out when he did not include lyrics and instead added his own spice to parts that would have had singing while being played. The lyrics of this song is very much about words and thoughts. The whole song is almost about wondering so maybe what Stanley Jordan was trying to say is that instead of singing about it just wonder while playing.

Another part where the song seems to differ between the cover and the one by Led Zeppelin is the musical quality. Both songs start out slow and and through the song the speed increases and so does the intensity. The only thing is that Stanley Jordan adds a little more to each of these things then the original. When Stanley Jordan increases the speed his song becomes almost a speedy song while the original only speeds up a little making it almost a normal speed where as when it began it was almost too slow to be a song. When Stanley increases the intensity the song adds drums banging and crashing, while so does Led Zeppelin but the drums are not banging and crashing they are just being added to create more depth to the song. Both focus at one point on the instrumental guitar solo but this is where some of the most contrast between the two songs begins. At this point the listener of these two songs would almost not be able to recognize the fact that they were the same song. At this point Stanley Jordan takes his own spin on the song and goes into almost a different guitar solo but with the original song as the rhythm to go off of.  The songs kept the same organization the entire time. They did this by having the same beginning with the slow start, Stanley Jordan may of gone on his own wild tangent during the guitar solo but he did do the guitar solo at the same time, and then ended the song at the same time making the songs almost the exact same length and time.

Even though Stanley Jordan does an amazing job of playing the cover of this song the winner in my heart will always be Led Zeppelin. Even though Stanley Jordan tried to change some parts about the song to make it his he didn’t change the right things and I felt that by taking the lyrics out of the song he took a part of the song that actually helps make the song what it is. 

Soundscape critiques

Andrew Cooke from A02

Morgan Messenheimer from A01

Maddie Schneider from A01

New playlist2

Soundscape

I Found My Howl

Find Your Howl

The story I am summarizing is Part 2. In this part the author explains about a time in fifth grade when a teacher he highly disliked made him write a five page story that made him disdain his friend because unlike him his friend was able to not only write five pages but actually ten. Also the story his friend wrote moved him. The story was about a tiger that every time he escaped he would just be sent to a new cage in a new zoo. This story gave the author the meaning that in life the same is true you can never escape your own cage.

Breakthrough Methods

"14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas"

The article “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas” is about innovation and the importance of it and different ways to get innovative ideas. Mitch Ditkoff uses the article to show fourteen different ways that this can happen to a person. There were three suggestions that caught my eye; Follow Your Fascination, Fantasize, and Take a Break. Out of these three I find two to be very good suggestions and one not so helpful. Altogether the article does help with how to get innovative ideas.

            The idea to follow your fascination is a good idea because the more a person likes something the more likely they are to work hard on it. The article explains that fascination is the way to get a person’s attention for the first time and this is very true. When working on a homework paper about the history of the War of 1812 a person is less likely to be enthused and ready to right unlike if they are writing a paper about their favorite movie. By using this idea I would be able to pick out something such as maybe candy because it is something that excites me and when creating a new type of candy I may have some expertise because I know a lot about what flavors go well together. Fascination is also a way to keep your attention because fascination is what gets people involved in things. Without a fascination people do not get involved in the first place. So not only will fascination spark an interest and get the juices flowing but it will also keep a person satisfied and make them keep working on their innovation until it is the best it can be. Just by following your fascination a person has a beginning to the innovation process.

            When Ditkoff makes the suggestion to fantasize I have to disagree with him. As much as fantasizing is fun I know that whenever I start fantasizing not only do I not stay on the same topic for more then a minute and I almost never remember what I had been fantasizing. Fantasizing has been called a bad thing and not been encouraged for a reason. Usually when fantasizing occurs nothing actually happens because of it, it is really just a person’s brain going on a break and going on autopilot. Even if there are breakthrough ideas that are thought of while fantasizing I do not find it likely that the person will remember it when it is time to put the innovation down on paper or even if they did, it is most likely not going to be as a good of an idea as they thought it was at the time.

            Ditkoff did have a very good suggestion though, to take a break. I know that there have been many times that I have been working on a paper or studying for a test and just sat there staring at for what seemed like hours. Finally I would take a break and then it would happen I would be reenergized and have my creative juices flowing. Just as Ditkoff said the more obsessions and thinking the more likely you are to just keep coming up with the same ideas. Every time there is a standardized test given they don’t just give each test right after the other, they always give a break to stretch your legs, eat a snack, or just use the bathroom. All of these things help the students give their brains a break so they are fresh reenergized and ready to start a new test. The best thing to do is to take a break, stop obsessing, and return when ready to take a fresh look at the problem.

            At this time I have an idea to create a new candy. In a way I can maybe go out, get supplies to start trying to make candy. I could also start thinking of types of candy I want to make. I could decide if I want it to be chocolate or fruity, sweet or sour, and so many other decisions. If instead of telling myself this was a dumb idea and I actually went out and bought the supplies I would be much more likely to actually start working on my idea instead of just wanting to work on the idea.

            All of Ditkoff’s fourteen ways may be able to help someone become more innovative. They each have their own qualities that would be able to help each person has there own ways that they will come up with there own innovations. By using these tricks it will give people help when coming up with innovations, which is what the main point of the article was. 

My Creative Idol

Creativity has always been a quality I am proud to have. When I create something my creativity has most like a splatter painting because all my creativity is all over the place. When it comes to who inspires me to be creative this person does not have the same type of creativity as myself but she has shown what a lot of hard work can pull off and also the different creativity that can come out of a paintbrush. Olivia De Beradinis is not only the top pin up artist of her time but also my aunt. Olivia does not only paint the women but adds a different setting for each of the girls. Each painting has a unique creative scene or aspect to it. She has painted enough paintings of Betty Page (a famous pin up girl from the 20s) that she was able to make a whole book of paintings of Betty Page and none of the same. There are paintings of geishas, sailor girls, women of the night, and so many other creative landscapes.

A lot of Olivia’s artwork tries to bring themes from familiar scenes. She uses Contrast and Release to make her paintings more real. An example of this is Olivia’s artwork of Geishas. In these photos Olivia uses some artwork that is part of Japanese culture but then she adds her own part in such as a Tiger with big eyes to show that this is not an actual Japanese culture painting. She uses a Japanese woman as a Geisha, this women is where the biggest similarities and differences are. In this painting she has the women dressed as a geisha but has added touches to how the women is dressed to make it her own painting.

Olivia’s artwork explores Tension and Affinity by showing a much more dramatic way of different real life images. One of my favorite paintings Olivia painted is of a woman as a night cat. She is sprawled out on a tree just like a cat would be, but instead of a cat it is a women. The way Olivia shows the difference between it being a cat and a woman is by enhancing the women’s features but adding cat parts such as adding cat ears and whiskers. The women in the picture are sprawled out across the tree leisurely almost sleeping just as a cat would be doing. All of these things are painted to show the women as a cat but there is also a sexual appeal added with how the women is drawn and sprawled to keep it in the pin up art.

            In Olivia’s paintings she always leaves room to have your own opinion but she also pushes her own opinion through by using Objective and Subjective. In all of Olivia’s paintings she has her own opinion what the women is suppose to be or their background story. She shows her idea by painting the image and giving them their own story such as the sailor girl, or the football player. In these images Olivia may have had her own idea for what these woman in the painting storyline is but she just provides the character and the setting but the storyline can be up to the viewer of the painting.

            All of this put into Olivia’s paintings showing her creativity and it all shows how she puts more into the painting than what first hits the eye. Olivia Interview Olivia Homepage Olivia's Facebook

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