HW3.3.2 Digital Drawing Artist Research: Jason Seiler

Jason Seiler is a digital illustrator, best known for his exaggerated caricatures of celebrities.  His illustrations have been featured on the cover of numerous magazines, including TIME, The New Yorker, MAD Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.  He is originally trained as a traditional painter, but uses digital painting for his published work.  He paints with a 21" Cintiq made by Wacom.  Digital painting allows him to create works without scanning and color correcting the images and with the ability to make changes at any point in process.  The time required to digitally paint is also considerably less than traditional painting.  He only uses digital painting in his caricatures and does not use any photo manipulation, but his practiced approach creates photorealistic details.

Sources:
http://jasonseiler.com/

HW3.2 Digital Collage

XOXO

For this assignment, I chose to create a digital collage based on famous art historical kisses.  With Valentine's Day approaching, I thought it was an appropriate theme and something with which I have past experience.  About two years ago, I began a project intended to decorate my room.  I wanted to find posters of several art historical kisses and frame them in a salon style.  I collected frames and decided to paint them all matte black in order to aesthetically connect the posters' very different art styles.  In the end, I arranged them around a framed quote by Sylvia Plath: "Kiss me and you will see how important I am."

My Room

Although I used some of the same images in my room decor and in my digital collage, the process involved was very different.  For my digital collage, I decided to crop the background out of each image so that the focus was on the embrace of the figures.  I think by highlighting the figures only, this piece is more physical and active.  When making my room decor, I was limited by my own funds to only buy so many frames and so many posters.  Therefore, there are only seven images of kissing couples.  In my digital collage, I had no limits and was able to use as many couples as I wanted.  I ended up using twelve couples in order to fill the square shape that I had created as a background.  I was also able to have the art historical couples interact with each other much more in my digital collage than in my room.  By using Photoshop, I was able to overlap the images and put them in the same plane.  This created an interesting juxtaposition between the various styles of art and made a dynamic contrast in the work.  I really enjoyed creating this collage as a further exploration of my interests and it would be interesting to extend the collage to include more types of art.

HW3.1 Technological Etiquette

I chose this quote because it is one of my personal bad habits.  I often forget to reply to emails in a timely manner and it is something that I would like to work on.

Because I so often reply to emails later than I should, I am very experienced at writing apologies for belated replies.  I try to make each of them heartfelt and sincere.

This is one of my pet peeves when I am on public transportation.  I can't stand people who refuse to wear headphones and force everyone else to listen to their music or game sfx.

Source: http://eetiquette.com/

HW2.4 Technology Lesson // Selfie Stick

This week when we were asked to bring in a unique piece of technology, I reached for my trusty selfie stick.  In an art class setting I think the selfie stick could be used to explore perspective, photo editing, and backgrounds.

Perspective

Summer #23, Susannah Bielak
Ex: perspective from above

The Selfie Stick extends and allows images to be taken from very high above the subject, very low below the subject, and everywhere in between.  Students could take photos of themselves from extreme perspectives in order to see how the perspectives alter the subject.  They could then incorporate the perspectives into there own art.

Photo Editing

That pesky 'stick'

The most obvious use of a Selfie Stick is to take a selfie.  However, although the selfie stick allows one to take selfies without holding their arm out to hold a camera, the ‘stick’ portion of the Selfie Stick is sometimes visible in the photos.  A digital art class could work on editing out the ‘stick’ in the photos with programs such as Photoshop.

Background

The benefit of using a Selfie Stick is the ability to take a selfie while also capturing your surroundings.  Traditional selfies are limited by the length of your arm and can usually only contain the subject and perhaps a cropped portion of the background.  With the Selfie Stick, selfies can be taken from farther away and from higher angles in order to capture more of the background.  Students could focus their attention on creating interesting backgrounds in their selfies by setting up intricate scenes or finding beautiful backgrounds in nature.  They could then create art with specific objects in the foreground and fantastical backgrounds.

Sources:
http://mocoloco.com/gaze-quartet/
http://www.techsharx.com/4251-2014-time-magazines-25-best-inventions-now-selfie-stick.html
http://www.indiatimes.com/lifestyle/technology/8-reasons-why-you-should-buy-a-selfie-stick-228657.html

HW2.3 On/Off Experiment: Artistic Response

My artistic response to the On/Off Experiment is a piece of embroidery based on the digestive system.  It symbolizes my rekindled connection to my body and its systems when I am away from technology.  Around it, written in binary to emphasize my technological surroundings, is the phrase bon appetit.

Source:
http://wskg.org/science/write-your-name-in-binary-code/?c=science

HW2.2 On/Off Experiment: Exit the Online World

For this experiment, we were tasked with turning off our digital devices and leaving them for a period of time while examining our experience.  I live with strangers as roommates in my apartment, so I tend to eat all of my meals by myself while watching Netflix and Youtube on my computer.  This is a daily ritual and I often stop whatever I am doing in order to watch something on my computer while I am eating.  For the last few days however, I have stopped myself from using my computer while I eat my meals.  Instead, I have sat at my desk (where I usually have my computer set up) and eaten without the distraction of Netflix.



My meals felt very quiet without the sound of music or dialogue from a show playing.  I heard the noises of each bite as I chewed my meal and the sound of silverware against my plate.  I tasted my food more deliberately and concentrated on the flavors and actions of eating.  Without my computer to distract me, my meals felt like they lasted longer and were more involved.  I turned my attention on to myself and my actions as ate.  I listened to my heart beat and my saliva collect as I swallowed mouthfuls of food.

When I finished eating, I returned to my computer to work on assignments for class and amuse myself by watching videos on Youtube.  I realized how much of my attention was devoted to the screen in front of me.  When I ate sans-computer, I paid attention to my body and felt connected to my actions, but when I was at my computer my focus was elsewhere.  I remember many times while on the computer when I realized I was insatiably hungry or thirsty or I had been sitting in an uncomfortable position for longer than I'd realized and developed a strain.  If my focus had been on my body as well as the activity at hand, I would never had let myself become so hungry or sit so long.

HW2.1 Class Discussion: Our Relationship with Technology

Our class discussion on technology made me realize how prevalent technology is in our everyday lives.  Although our assignment was to bring only one piece of technology to class as an example, without realizing it we all brought numerous technological objects with us.  My phone, keychain flashlight, pants zipper, school ID card, etc. are all pieces of technology that I have on me at all times.  It felt strange sitting in a room surrounded by computers and talking about the possibility of separating ourselves from technology.  In fact, when we define technology this broadly. it's hard to remember the last time I was completely without it.  Even while backpacking in the Sierras, far away from my day to day life and as close to nature as one can get, I had a tent made of fabric with heat saving technology, a stove with gas canisters, and always, zippers on everything.  When I think about it this way, I am not sure I have ever been free of technology in my life.

But this technological landscape started well before my life began.  Although Millennials seem to constantly be reprimanded for their reliance on technology, when we define technology as broadly as we are in this class, technological dependance has been an issue long in the making.  The first microwaves were invented in the 1950s, the zipper was invented in the early 20th century, and before that there were centuries and centuries of technological innovation.  Even a Roman in the 6th century would rely on the technology of a tide mill as a power source. In modern days, to truly find a realm outside of technological influence, one would have to live on the outskirts of society as a self-functioning individual.  Thus, we all rely on technology, not just Millennials.

In a way, all artists also rely on technology, not just New Media artists.  Technology affected art long before 3D printers, film projectors, and social media.  Traditional painters were only able to easily paint en plein air or in open air in the 1840s when metal paint tubes were invented.  Without this technology, artist's paints would dry up and become unusable outside of the studio. Technology allows artists to more easily create their visions just as it allows everyone else to more easily live our lives.

Source:
http://www.thomasnet.com/articles/hardware/zipper-history
http://fiftiesweb.com/pop/inventions/
http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/005.pdf
http://lagunapleinair.org/history-of-plein-air/