Final Website

Well it's finally done and up on the web. Feel free to visit it and leave a comment once I get my guestbook page up and running!

http://ramsites.net/~kkorr/index.html

Website: Week 3

So.. basically this is the rough layout of my portfolio page. I originally had them all lined up in equal rows, but that looked so stiff. I have so much structure already so I decided to break them up according to general medium, or at least execution. There's a drawing section, a graphic design section, a painting section, and the beginnings of a sculpture section. I'm trying to come up with ways to make this whole site seem more interesting and cohesive. And I think I'm getting fed up with the color brown, but there's really nothing I can do about it at this point. Though that's the least of my problems. My guestbook is turning into a much bigger project than I had originally thought. There are guestbook templates online and tutorials of how to create one in Dreamweaver, but actually getting it to work has proved troublesome. My goal is to have it working by the critique, but it's not looking too promising at the moment. I have my about me page set up as well, though I think I'm going to experiment with writing out my introduction rather than keeping it typed. Other than that, it's just a matter of making each individual page for each of the artworks posted in my portfolio.

Week 2 work in progress...

This most definitely won't be my final pick for any of the other pages on my website, but I thought it'd be helpful to document all my ideas as I go along. Maybe I'll see something here later that'll inspire me to do something much much better. Anyway, this was mainly just rearranging the elements I already had on the home page. It's a start at least.

I'm starting to think, though, that I may not want each page to look so exactly alike...

Website: Week 2

So after messing around with the layout for a little while, I've finally settled on this for my home page. I didn't get any negative feedback on the design or layout so I didn't change anything. I'm currently working on the layouts for the other pages, which I think I'll have keep the same color palette. I also want to keep this same design image in the other pages. I want to utilize the box and the flower design, as well as more handwritten material for my other pages. I may incorporate different images though; possibly ones that seem more like living room photographs to make the page even more personal. I also have a few technical issues that were brought to my attention by classmates during the last class. For instance, I'm trying to do some research and figure out the most efficient way to post my images on my website so that anyone can see them. Also there's the issue of the guestbook page where my vision is to have visitors to my site be able to leave criticisms, comments, and contact information for me, however I need to understand the logistics of how to do this first. I wanted to put one page on here that would be more of a challenge than just how to design it. I know that since I only have four pages total to my website, that it doesn't look like much and I didn't want it to be too easy as a project for me.

Website: Week 1

So this is the initial design for the home page of my website. In all honesty I’ll probably change it a bit when I get to work on actually slicing up the different areas to make the website functional, but I like the majority of this layout at the very least. This layout design was done completely in Photoshop. I wanted a simple, uncluttered page for my homepage and actually for all the other pages as well. Every time I looked up other people’s personal websites for ideas I was always drawn most to the ones that were simple and elegant. This also works well for me since I’m very new to this whole thing and the simpler everything is, the better. I want the page to reflect my personal aesthetic and style and so all my colors are going to be very earthy and somewhat muted, with maybe a little bit of a bolder color here and there. I also want to incorporate some of my own drawing into the background layout designs. In this image, the flower design in the corner is something I doodled quickly with the tablet in Photoshop. I liked the look of it so I kept it, and my idea for the rest of the design is to incorporate my drawn designs and my own handwriting if I can get better at it. I’m still not very used to the tablets and my control isn’t where it should be for actually pretty handwriting. My plan for the content is to create about three or four pages including the homepage. I want a gallery of my work, possibly a resume, an “about me” page, and finally a guest book or “contact me” page. I’m very excited to get working on this and having it up and running!

Ad Essay

As I do not get many magazines, and I no longer get the paper, I decided to look for my ad online. The one I found is an ad for a jewelry company. It struck me immediately as interesting because of the relative simplicity of its layout and design. I have posted the color version of this ad on my blog, as my printer has apparently run out of some of the color cartridges; I printed it out in black and white.
The first thing I want to mention about this ad is the scale of the image versus the text towards the bottom. Though the text is obviously meant for those actively seeking further information regarding the product and company, it still provides a nice balance to the image in the composition. The centered placement of the hands and bracelet enhance the effect of the hands actively presenting the product to the viewer. There is a definite hierarchy regarding the importance of information in this ad, with the image of the product at the top. Then the slogan “Empower yourself through others,” followed lastly by the relevant information at the bottom of the page.
The text as a separate unit display contrasting text and size with regard to their importance to the reader. As the slogan is meant to be eye-catching and noticed first, it is set off from the rest of the text. It is also much larger and has a less formal alignment, as everything else is centered, left or right aligned. The words “Yourself” and “Others” are made much larger for a stronger emphasis, whereas the word “through” was made much smaller than the rest of the slogan and put in a serif font and italics, which still makes it stand out albeit with a much softer emphasis. The next set of text in line of importance is the two logos for “green” and “Simons Jewelry Co.” and the website address for the company. These are all placed along the same line at the very bottom of the ad as a group. The web address has the same modern font as the majority of the slogan which helps to tie the groups together as mutually relevant. Now finally, if the reader is truly interested, they would read the text grouped between the slogan and the logos. This group has the smallest font size, to the point where it is almost impossible to read. This is obviously the least important information to the reader at this time.
Again I want to mention contrast in the ad. However, this time in regards to the color contrast of the black background against the highlighted skin tones in the hands and the bright color of the jewelry. The bracelet is made as the focus, being a brighter shade than anything else on the page. It has also been placed at the very center of the ad with almost nothing obstructing it.

My Art Show Ad

My main idea for this logo was to create a simple, pattern-like ad. I didn’t want to clutter the space with too much text or information. I started off my design ideas by actually looking up art show ads online and the ones I was drawn to had elements of repetition in the images they used so I wanted to move more in that direction. I took the same image of a cavalier in fighting stance that I used for the school logo and a way to tie them together. However, looking back on it I wish I’d used a different image. Maybe one that isn’t so aggressive looking, or at least that translated better into a pattern and didn’t leave so much awkward space. As far as the text goes, I wanted to create a clear distinction between the “ArtFair” information and the technical details such as date, time and place. I wanted the text for the ArtFair to look very interesting and different, and not so formal or traditional. I’m really pleased with the way it works and how it looks with the larger cavalier image in the background. In earlier layouts that I created, I actually just created a type of border with the little cavaliers that ran along only one side of the add. Then for the text, I incorporated black boxes and interchanging black and white text for the information. Looking back on it now that this version is posted, I really wish I had gone forward with my initial ideas. However, I really do like the idea of a repetitious pattern breaking up the space as is shown in an ad I found online that I posted in a previous post.

Awesome Ad

Sketches for logo

School Logo

I decided to create a new logo for my high school. Their mascot is a cavalier, so I really wanted to incorporate that idea more into the logo design. In their original logo, they only had the rapier to represent a cavalier which actually doesn't look all that bad in my opinion. However, since we had to change it I wanted to go into a different direction. I looked online for an image of a cavalier and I liked the ones I saw of them in a fighting stance, so I took one of those and created a path around it which I filled with solid black. Then I added the text in the school colors and did the shadow for each word in the inverted color. I played around with other design ideas and most of my other ones didn't incorporate images. I liked the ones with just text, but I felt that first of all they were too close to what the original logo design was and secondly I felt that the full figure cavalier was a powerful image. I realized that the multiple colors in it would create a problem and be too complex so that's why I decided on a sillouhette-type image to simplify it and hopefully create a stronger image. I stuck with a simple text because, again, I wanted to keep things simple and bold. Our school song is "The Fighting Cavaliers," so I wanted to embody that image of strength. Also, our school logo has always been simple no matter what it was, and so I wanted to stay with that idea. Hopefully this new logo turned out well.

Original School Logo

Illustrator image

Edited Self Portrait

I wasn't able to do much to my original image. It looks like I forgot to save a copy as a psd. file, so I only had the jpeg. version to work with. The first thing I did was to try and take away the black outline around the wedding photo. I used the smudge tool for this, which seemed to work pretty well. Then I used the magic wand tool to select the area between my husband and I in the wedding photo, where someone had mentioned a lamp post that was out of place. I played around with the brightness and contrast until I got an image that resembled the lighting of the background. Then I used the smudge tool again to soften the edges of my husband and I, and also to smudge the altered section so that you couldn't tell there was a lamp post in the background. I tried to do something about the blurred trees in the background, but that didn't work out so I cropped it, but I've also uploaded the before image since I'm not sure which one I like better. I also went back in both of them and made the whole image darker. I like the darker effect, and now that someone had mentioned it, I'm really glad that the lamp post is gone. I really wish I could have changed a lot more things, but for what I could do I definitely thinks it looks a little bit stronger.

Self-portrait

I actually had a very hard time with this portrait. Editing the individual images themselves was pretty straightforward, but they kept locking themselves and becoming part of the background so I couldn't move them or edit them separately afterwards. Even though the composition may be a little cluttered towards the bottom, I'm relatively pleased with how it turned out.

I worked a lot with hue saturation and transparency with this composition. I wanted to create a dreamlike image, since this is kind of like me reminiscing about my wedding day. I didn't want stark colors, so I toned each image down and reduced the saturation. The background is a picture I took at a garden. I liked the composition and the unusual walkway next to the water. After reducing the saturation of colors, I pasted on an image of my husband putting a wedding band on my finger. Originally, my other hand was present in the image, but it looked funny just floating in midair, so I erased the other hand, which overlapped the wedding finger hand. I then used the stamp tool to fill out the part of my arm that had been overlapped by my other hand. Then I added a full-length wedding photo of my husband and I and made it a little more transparent and slightly blurry. I also had to change the angle of the image so that we'd both be standing on the walkway. Lastly, I wanted to have myself actually looking back on that scene so I took two pictures of myself and uploaded them. I reduced the saturation of these as well, because their stark colors clashed with the subdued background. I also wanted to create a softer tone, so I used the color balance tool to put more yellow into the two images of myself. I reduced the transparency of the eraser tool and slowly wore away bits of each image to try and make them seamlessly flow into each other. I finished off the composition by using the smart select tool to select all the major images and then inverted the selection. I applied a motion blur to the background to put more focus on the main images.

Tablet sketch

Not my best sketchwork, but here it is. Maybe I'll get a chance to work at it more in Photoshop.

Tablet sphere

Portrait

Originial photo for "Dorie 4."

Dorie 4

So obviously one of my steps here was to convert the image to black and white. I then used the contrast and brightness tool to create severe lights and darks in the image. I especially like how this turned out in my husband's face. I then cropped the image to create a stronger focus on the two faces in the composition.

The original image for "Dorie 3."

Dorie 3

This was the first image I played around with for this assignment. In the original photo for this image, she was actually quite indistinct amongst her surroundings since the photo encompassed such an expansive area. So naturally the first thing I did was to crop the photo down using the rule of thirds guide option to make a stronger composition centered on Dorie. I made the contrast a little bit stronger, but not by much. The same goes for the brightness of the image. The main thing I did besides cropping it a fair bit, was to adjust the color balance. I ended up with a red-ish tint to everything, but I kind of liked the effect so I left it.

The original photo for "Dorie 2."

Dorie 2

With this image, I again started off by increasing the brightness of the photo and the contrast. Then I used the color balance to give the colors in her coat a little more distinction. I thought about putting this image in black and white, but I liked the grayish quality to the colors in this image.

The original photo for "Dorie 1."

Dorie 1

For our photo assignment, I decided to do images of my dog, Dorie. In this photo, I first played around with the brightness and contrast of the image to make the lighting more dramatic. Then I altered the hue saturation to give the color more distinction. The overall image might be a little dark, but I didn't want it to look too washed out since there were already some nice shadows in the original image.

This photo originally showed Adele's entire upper body and was, of course, in black and white. I first transferred the photo from color to black and white. Then I made it much brighter and added some more contrast. I then decided to crop it to create a stronger composition.

Other image for cartoon strip

Sometimes, Shadow woman gets confused...

When we were given the assignment to create a comic strip centered on oursuper hero, my partner and I decided to make our silly. In our comic strip, Shadow Woman sees a little girl in her all-knowing orb and automatically assumes that she's in grave danger. However, when Shadow Woman arrives on the scene, she sees that it's in fact just a little girl trying to get her kitten out of a tree. We found this picture of a cat to be the last frame in the comic. It was originally much brighter, so we used the magnetic lasso tool to select the sections around the actual cat and put them in black and white, then we just changed the brightness and contrast levels of different parts of the cat to leave its head lit and its body in shadow. We didn't have time to do the middle frame, which was supposed to have the girl in it.

Shadow Woman

Shadow Woman is a very reserved and humble person. As a hero, she expects and seeks to attract no praise or recognition from others. She lurks in the shadows, seeking out those she can help. In her possession is a knowing sphere that aids her in finding those in need of saving. That, along with her ability to manipulate the shadows around her to either cloak her and others or even to become a solid structure with which to manipulate her surroundings enable her to attempt feats that would not be feasible with her physical body alone. She is not physically strong, but she has a strong sense of justice that fuels her need to help those around her.

My partner actually did the all of the photoshopping for this image, while I created the background story for our character. We both spent time finding images of dark alleys and women and came up with the background in the picture and an image of a young gymnast with a ball in her hand. My partner used the smudge tool for the majority of the effects, and created the shadowy "cloak" around our hero by taking colors from the background and transferring them.

Hippo Hero

Hi, I've created a blog.