I feel like I haven't blogged in awhile, and its probably because I haven't. It's hard to blog about my progress on the book when its all on the computer and there really isn't any picture taking. But oh wells. Critiques are every day and they seem to be helpful. This project is going at a fairly good pace, it's just a lot of printing. But what can ya do? I'm just excited to see what the final books turn out to be like.

Today was nice because the critiques went well and I was able to get a few good ideas form my group and from other people about what looks good and what doesn't. This project seems like its going to go smoothly. I found that I actually like designing books, I kind of always have. So this project is going to be really fun. I just wish I knew how to do more with photoshop and all those tools.

Presentations went well today. I think this project is going to be so much fun, but a lot of work, like how our color books were in color theory. But i'm excited. This is my 400+ word essay. Its about 700+ words actually, but I just had so much I found to write on. It's a rough draft, but I like it so far.

As an outcast from Burbank, California, born on August 25, 1958, for over a quarter century in Hollywood, Timothy William Burton has left his “Burtonesque” mark on the filmmaking industry. While growing up, Tim Burton was not good in school, but he gained pleasure in drawing, painting, and in movies. He also found inspiration in horror films and monsters. After high school, Burton attended the California Institution of the Arts in 1976, and a few years later he was already working as one of Disney’s animators. Soon being an animator wasn’t all it was cut out to be for Burton. He didn’t enjoy the fact that the characters were drawn separately and then put together, and placed over painted backgrounds. The work required talented artists, and Burton was very talented, but he could not stray from the structured manner of drawing the characters. Because his talent was not being utilized, the studio made him one of the conceptual artists, the people who design the characters that appear in the films. From there he did early work on The Black Cauldron and The Fox and the Hound. His work was not the traditional Disney fare so he was set loose to created his own animated shorts, Vincent (1982) and Frankenweenie (1984). Shortly after he was offered his first movie deal to work on Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985), and from there he produced his first blockbuster, Batman (1989). Burton’s career had taken off. Beetlejuice (1988) and Edward Scissorhands (1990) came along shortly after. And just like that Burton had produced thirteen more movies, which included Batman Returns (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996), Sleepy Hallow (1999), Planet of the Apes (2001), Big Fish (2003), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeny Todd (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dark Shadows (2012), Frankenweenie (2012). Other movies that Burton produced were 9 (2009),
James and the Giant Peach (1996),
Batman Forever (1995), and
Cabin Boy (1994).

Now at age fifty-five, Burton still stands out from the rest of the crowd with his trademark look of black jeans, navy button down shirt, black blazer, black boots, black sunglasses, and messy black hair. Like his character’s Burton strangely resembles them. It is said that he uses the “weird environment” from his “weird childhood” to create the stories he does today, which is why so many character resemble his own self. This is especially seen in Edward Scissorhands, with the horror movie sensibility and mundane suburban upbringing in Burbank. Edward is Burton’s spiritual autobiography. He is a fairy tale of the “otherness” felt by every outsider. With his frightening hairpiece, imploring eyes and pruning-shear hands, Edward is the “king of freaks”. Edward’s difficulty of having blades instead of fingers causes him to injure everything he touches, which speaks to the teenage alienation, which was so clearly a part of Burton’s early life, and to the fear shared by many creative people that what makes them special also sets them apart. Like Edward, Burton doesn’t really fit in with the “norm” of society. Because Burton portrays himself in his characters it makes his work so much more personal and it starts to bring his creations to life.

From working for Warner Bros to Disney, and now producing and directing his own films, Burton has created a world like never before. He created dark daydreams and bright pastel nightmares. His movies became extensions of his drawings, and he created a world of freaks and dreamers through pastels, paints, pencils, pens, crayons, and watercolor. Soon his gothic, dark, eerie and entrancing black and whites with spindly boys and girls that are giant-brained extraterrestrial, bug-eyed creatures became known to the world. “Burton uses special effects and visual tricks to create sights that have never been seen before. His movies takes place in an entirely artificial world, where a haunting gothic castle crouches on a mountain-top high above a storybook suburb, a goofy sitcom neighborhood where all of the houses are shades of pastels and all of the inhabitants seem to be emotional clones of the Jetsons” (Roger Ebert). Burton is a director who has made an impact on both the industry and on the cinemagoers. His films, so special in their childlike reverie and cathartic blend of horror and black humor, warrant his inclusion amongst the great visual filmmakers of the past and present (Steve, 2013).

Sources:

·      Starger, Steve. "Tim Burton's Toy Box." Art New England 31.2 (2010): 10-11. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

·      Cashdan, Marina. "Tim Burton: Hailing Filmdom's Oddest Artist." Modern Painters 21.8 (2009): 48-57. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

·      http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/burton/

·      http://www.timburtoncollective.com/bio.html

Well class was very interesting today, especially to find out that two of my classmates were injured and rushed to the hospital yesterday made today even more interesting. I feel so bad for them! But I guess things happen...Anyways the critiques went well I think for the most part. I am still so amazed by some of the chairs that I saw today!! All I have to say is that theirs look way better than mine did.

Anyways I am really excited for our last project, that's so weird to say(last project). But I have decided to choose Tim Burton as my designer. and by choosing him I am way more excited than I should be. He's not even in interiors or architecture, but he does create his own sets, so that kinda fits. I have been obsessed with his work since forever, and I think it is so unique and great that I chose him. So I guess we'll see how this project goes!

Tim Burton

yesterday was an extremely long day, and so was last friday because I spent 8 or so hours plus the workdays in studio time to finish my vessel. Who knew making a box would take 10+ hours? Especially when I was making as small of boxes as I was. I am so happy to be done with the project, but i will admit it was a fun project. And now I know so much more about how to use power tools and working with wood.

Over all I am happy with my project, there are some things I wish I could change because the glue didn't dry right in places and the bandsaw messed  up my wood a little, but I am happy with it.

Here's what they look like!!!

Today was a crazy day, but I was able to get very far on my project. I have mostly everything cut out, all i have to do now is a lot of sanding...whoopy!! Working with wood is a lot harder than with cardboard. I broke the jigsaw at least twice today because the maple wood was a harder wood to work with than walnut. And I am coated with wood shavings...yuck, but i guess it happens. Gosh i'm such a girl... anyways Cutting out my boxes was a little nerve racking because it's the final box, so it needs to be perfect. I am happy that I am as far as I am though. I'm excited to see how it turns out in the end though, so i guess we'll see!!!

Today was a very successful day. I was able to practice my cutting and complete a prototype of my box using the band saw. I was also able to buy and glue my wood, so on thursday I will be ready to start my real box. The people in the shop are very nice, even though I felt stupid at times because I didn't know what on earth I was doing at times, They were able to help me. So I thank them for that very much!

A few photos from today's progress:

I'm a little behind on blogging, I meant to upload these on Thursday, but just got a little too busy.

The three main designs are:

I think I am going to end up choosing this last one. It's more aesthetically appealing and it is beginning to hold my attention more than the other two.

After coming back from break, I feel drained, like I have no motivation. I need to get back into the swing of thing again. Today's class stressed me out a little because I want my box/vessel to be great and right now I feel like I have no ideas, and there's a lot to get done! Nothing that I can't handle though. Oh boy! At least I have my choices narrowed down to three, which is nice.

Also In my color theory class we took a color quiz. thought it would be fun to share my results because they match my personality to a T, on some parts :). It's kind of funny.

Your Existing Situation

Works well with others. Needs personal relationships which are understanding and relatively conflict-free.

Your Stress Sources

"Wishes for freedom and independence, free from limitations and restrictions except for the ones she choices to give himself."

Your Restrained Characteristics

"Demanding and picky in her relationships, but careful not to bring out conflict or disagreements and this may decrease her chances of achieving her goals and ideas."

Feels unhappy and isolated because she is unable to succeed in finding the cooperation and understanding she desires.

"Although she is able to find contentment through sexual activity, she feels hopeless to change her problems and difficulties and continues to make the best of what she has."

"Willing to become emotionally involved, but is demanding and picky when choosing a partner. Is careful not to bring out conflict or disagreements as this may decrease her chances of achieving her goals and ideas."

"Although she is able to find contentment through sexual activity, she feels hopeless to change her problems and difficulties and continues to make the best of what she has."

Your Desired Objective

Seeks to be known for something she has accomplished and uses her social abilities to win people over. Emotional and sensitive and romantic.

Your Actual Problem

Longs the freedom to make her own decisions and plans without the criticism and restrictions of others. Uses her charm to deal with others and get what she wants.

This week I am writing to you from the wonderful state of Florida!!! It is very beautiful and warm here and I have already been super sunburned! Getting away and relaxing is s=definitely something I would recommend for everyone! :) Having homework over my spring break is a little bit of a drag, but i guess it has to get done one way or another.

I so far have only come up with a few ideas for my vessel/box. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do or how to design it. I've never made a vessel/box before so I'm not exactly sure what I am able to do with wood. I hope to, in the next few days, brainstorm more ideas on designs though, so hopefully I will.

While reading the excerpts from The Nature and Aesthetics of Design by David Pye, I realized that we are able to create anything that I can image. There is several ways to achieve any design possible. As long as there is a way to obtain the materials needed, anything is possible, so long as we have to techniques and tools to produce it. By knowing this, I hope that it will help me brainstorm a few more designs so that I can explore all options possible. And because this will be my first time working with wood and tools, it would be fair to say that learning how to do the more difficult things would make the less difficult things easier in the long run. 
In the reading I really enjoyed the quote of "Our sense of the beautiful in nature and art is our sense of close rapport with our environment, our sense of intimacy with it. [...] Beauty and friendship enable us to get outside ourselves and to live as we ought to live" (p. 102). For my vessel/box I want to be able to produce something that I will actually use, or something that I can give as a gift to a family member. In order to do that I need to design something that I makes me happy, and that I am proud of. It also needs to be able to function the way it was meant to function.

well the second project is officially done! I hope I never have to work with cardboard again. I am happy with my chair, but with seeing everyone else's I feel like mine could have been better. I'm a little nervous for this next project because I don't know if i'm comfortable with working with the big tools; I can't even use an exact-knife without cutting my hand, but I guess we will see.

This is Tiana and I.

Today was the first day of creating the life-size model of our chairs. I feel likes it's been a while since i've worked on it, but it really hasn't been. Man these snow days are throwing me off. In class today I was able to get the main base or structure of my chair built. It is looking great! I think after this project though I will never want to work with cardboard again!!! It's so messy and it's so hard to work with. Thursday is another work day so we'll see if i can finish it up then!

It was nice to be back in the studio after a long week away. Now it's time to get started on the final life-size chair. I am a little nervous on how to really piece it together because I won't really know how to do that until I actually begin to work on it myself. I did happen to change the design with the help of Margie, my design prof, and I happen to like the idea a lot better, and I think it will help make the chair look more aesthetically appealing and I think it helps define my relationship better. here are a few pictures of the newer preliminary model:

This picture(above) makes the new design look really good. 

The cylinder columns on the left side will be vertical instead of horizontal. It helps with the contrast of the relationship and makes it look more appealing.

This picture (above) shows how the leaves will be intertwined with each other.

I am starting to get a little sick of these snow days.... especially since the due date for our project is coming up a week from today. It's making me a little nervous. Hopefully spring will come soon because i am ready for this warm weather!!!!

I've been working on my process book and have gotten as far as I can go on it. All I need is a work day to start working on my chair. I still used tape on this one, but I'm going to tab the top piece to the two blocks with the cylinders and then I am going to tab the leaves together and tab them onto the top piece. I'm only a little worried about its stability. I guess we'll see..

Well we had a snow day today! Yay! I wasn't able to get feedback on how to connect the "leaves", but i'm sure I will next Tuesday. Trying to figure out how to make a scale model for the chairs is a bit difficult. I find myself still using tape, but I have a few ideas on how to connect everything. I guess we'll just have to see how the final product turns out!



 Now I'm ready for sledding and snowball fights, maybe even building a snowman! The "snowpocalypse" is intense.

I've narrowed my design down to:

It is both organic, elegant, strong, and it is contrasting. The only thing I am still unsure about it how I am going to connect the organic "leaves" to the rest of the chair/bench. I know the dimensions and everything, I just need to figure out how to connect them. I'm not sure if I should some how wrap it around into the "leaves" or what. I'm not even sure how to do it. But I like this idea.

Brainstorming in studio time was a bit harder than I thought it would be. The relationship with my best friend Tiana is very crazy, contrasting, confusing, and strong. To build a chair from that relationship is a little hard, but I feel like I could do a lot of crazy things with the design of the chair. Here are a few models of what I came up with so far:

This chair amazed me today in class. I would like to see how he connected each piece of cardboard and how he thought of the idea. I even want to know how many of them he has sold and for how much. This is just a fun thing I thought I would share from class.

Martin Pureyear Website:

I liked how this website gave us background information about who Martin was and what he specialized in. However, I wish there was a bit more information on the website about his work he is showing us. You can tell that he studied Asian, African, European, and American cultures to create his designs. Each object shows parts of the culture of each country. He uses very unique shapes and uses the basket weave style a lot in his work. It is very interesting, but I want to know why he chose to do so many circles. What was his motive behind it? Not being able to see Pureyear's creations in person does alter what I could think of his work. I find it hard to put the objects into context and figure out what the object is especially when I cannot see it in person. His work is very whimsical to me because of the curves and swirls of some of his pieces. His pieces are created with various materials and consisted of a lot of pieces. This makes his work inspiring, to see how you can manipulate objects that way and turn them into something so amazing. His work is also very minimalistic. He uses pieces but only the bare minimum and by doing that he shows the object and what it is constructed of.

Kendal Buster Website:

What I like about Kendal's website is that it shows all sides of her work and gives the viewer a chance to really understand her work from different view points as if we were actually there. Her work was very intriguing and it kept me in awe. I liked how she described the project and gave the audience an overview of what she did. Her models were also life-size and took what is normal and manipulated it into the unthinkable, such as her Model City design with the camping tents. Her designs are also whimsical with the spherical shapes and curves. It even gave me a few ideas on ways I can construct my seat/chair. I also really liked how she designed things for the inside and the outside environment. Her work is very impressive and I am drawn to it. Even the colors of her pieces are inviting.

Today was a success. I really like how my final design turned out, and I think a lot of other people did too. Because AFH and basketball is such a big tradition here maybe I could sell my collage. :) but anyways I liked a lot of other peoples' collages as well. Some of them turned out better than I thought they would, and others fell a little short. But overall this project was very fun and I think I will be trying to do this collage with other objects and spaces now that I know how to do it and try to make some decorations for my home.

The new project sounds pretty stressful because, well simply, how on earth do you build a chair out of cardboard?? And how do you make it strong enough to hold someone? I'm a little intimidated. I looked at a few designs on Google and I am thinking to myself that those chairs are so complex and look so difficult to make, but I guess I will just have to try with paper and see how it all works out. I am a little nervous about having a chair due next tuesday, but I just need to have fun with it and play around with the cardboard and card stock and see what I can come up with.

Today was a success. I finished my collage and was able to finish my process book. A whole bunch of stress has been lifted off of my shoulders. Who knew design would be so tedious?! The project as a whole was a lot easier than I thought it would be...I think I just make things harder than they have to be. I had a lot of fun with the project and I hope the ones to come are even better!

Here's a look at my final collage:

Class on Thursday went very well. I have decided to take on the challenge of documenting Allen Field House as my photo collage. I am a little nervous because I only have one shot to get all the pictures I needed so I guess we will see how things go.

My two bigger collages were the tea cup and AFH:

       Class today went very well. I feel like I was able to get good feed back on my small collages. And I was only happy with about 2-3 of how my collages turned out. I felt like it was so hard to make the collages and take the pictures because I fell like I have no idea what I am photographing and so I'm just taking random pictures, which is not a good thing. It is difficult because you have an idea in your head of what you want your collage to look like, but then you are not quite sure how to make that idea real. I hope to continue to keep photographing and I hope for the best from this project.

Here are a few pictures of my collages so far:

My favorites were the Tea cup and AFH, but with the tea cup you can only go so far with 75+ photos.

Response to Errol Morris video:

    Photographs are connected to the real world. We investigate the world through photos and we document our findings by taking photos of it. Today many people do not know if a photograph is posed or not. Photos today are so manipulated and we as the viewer do not know what the difference is between truth and false photos. This not only applies to photographers, but also to graphic designers as well. Morris said "there's always an elephant outside the frame." You can never see the absence of something outside of the frame of the photo. The lens decontextualizes everything. Understanding photography is to pose more questions about what is outside of the frame and ask what is truth and what is false. From this video I realize how much I give into a photo. I lose myself in very good photography. Now that I have watched this video I realize how much I do not ask if it is fake or not, or if it has been edited or not. Nowadays it is so hard to tell if a photo has been edited or not. I found it interesting and kind of humorous with the story about the girl who snuck into the crime scene and took photos. If you want something bad enough, they you will do anything to get it, and would do anything to tell the truth about it. I feel like from now on I will be a little more curious as to what I am looking at in a photograph.