Artist Statement

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words...

Does this mean Photoshopped pictures are worth a billion words?

---

This page, representing my portfolio, is merely a painting of my struggles and triumphs in this class this year. I often thought there was a certain limit to creativity, but in my work I found that there isn't. There is always something to be thought of in a different ways. Some projects, like my interpretation on The Scream, often take a dark twist into my mind. Or poetic, such as my Park Harrison's "Guardian" critique. My portfolio is a gateway into my mind, it's not a straight road; there are twists and turns with misleading signs.

At least it gives HINTS into my nature.

Looking back, my most cherished project was definitely the Personal Metaphor. It allowed me to give insight to my true feelings, without feeling so invaded. I, somewhat, opened up. Over this course, I learned that it's all right to think differently. No one should be penalized for having their own ideas and thoughts, they all should be welcomed with open arms. I know that, that alone, made me a better person. It's equally expressed through my works, as I hope it would be recognized.

Art, to me, is not a failing course.

Unless you cease to try. I put my heart into all my projects, but I say my most successful piece, was my Lyrics. Also a gateway, I was allowed to express my feelings through song. Definitely not Broadway status, but a song nonetheless.

The last thing I want to say about my artwork is, it isn't better than anyone else.

It's merely different.

Personal Metaphor: In Your Trap of Pain, Like A Wolf

In Your Trap Of Pain, Like A Wolf

I chose this metaphor because often I am taken advantage of, with or without my knowledge. I'm not saying my pain is more important than anyone else, but it happens to me more frequently than any other being should experience. I could fill a book the size of dictionary with horrific tales of my life, but those are matters

I would prefer never to discuss.

If I were to write a book, the theme would be betrayal.

I am trusting and I forgive people for the most horrendous things. I suppose I fit the silhouette of the person that's "too nice". For that, I get taken advantage of, I often know when it happens, but the trusting part of me thinks they don't do it on purpose;

when they do.

I chose to turn myself into an animal because they are taken advantage of as well. Humans use their pelts for their own seductive fashion statements; it is just selfish.

The wolf was a different choice since the most wanted pelts are either cheetah or leopard.

A wolf seems the most alpha to me; one that would fight to the death rather than being used for someone else. But here, the wolf is caught like me. It's foot in a bear trap, and it can't fight it's way out without hurting itself through the process.

---

A first my idea wasn't thought out, I had no idea what to do. Certain events took place that lead me to this metaphor and I went for it. I would have preferred to make my wolf traits more noticeable and blended better. Photoshop isn't exactly my forte. The most challenging part of this project was the composition. Figuring out where to put everything was difficult, but in the end I am pleased with my final production.

Graduation Program

After looking through the slide show of everyone else's program covers, mine seemed a bit less exciting but had well placed structure while some other people didn't. I used the black lines well to break up the unwanted space and liked how my drop shadows were used to make the event name stand out. Although I liked my cover, I can see now that I should have added some pictures to make is pop more. Also, not using as much purple doesn't show the elegance.

I have to admit that trying to figure out how to use graphic designing in my project was extremely difficult. I'm not well knowledged in Photoshop so I wasn't exactly sure what to do, and the restriction on having it be appropriate for the event made it much harder.

Graphic designing is really important to use in really anything. It helps draw your attention to something and you can even recognize labels. The special designs even shape your emotion towards something for better or worse.

The only thing I can suggest for the students last year is, be creative.

Plain is boring and just unattractive.

Effects

Lately we've been working with our skills in Photoshop and different effects that make the pictures stand out. From top to bottom, the effects we used were Glow, Emphasis, and Cross Processing. Out of all these, my favourite has to be the Glow effect. I just adore how which ever picture you use it on, it gives it a dreamy effect. Like how they use it on wedding photos. Everything seems so soft and peaceful and makes the colours in the picture stand out even more. The second picture, Emphasis, is more fun to use when your in a sea of people and you want to get noticed. Although in that picture you look at me anyway since I'm dead center. The third, Cross Processing, was really interesting because it reminded me of a movie. In Dawn of The Dead they use a similar colour scheme so that when the zombies bite the necks of their victims and rip off their flesh; the blood is so vibrant and enticing that you can't help but look at it. It also has a bit of and eerie feel which I also like.

Frames

Out of these two photos, I prefer the bottom picture to the top one. It seems much more mellow and isn't overbearing on the lighting. It's much more relaxing to look at. Black and white photos already have the feel of being artistic and something to ponder about. I think my photos are artistic in the aspect that I'm not looking at the camera lens and you want to know why I'm holding the frame the way I am. In the bottom photo I showed lush grass and clovers in the frame because I think nature is it's own beauty. Due to recent environmental issues, I think soon we'll only remember grass as the green stuff on the ground in paintings.

Colour!

In these pictures, I don't think that it really does the assignment justice. In this bland school it is very difficult to find bright colours that can pop. The top photo has the colours really washed out so I probably would've bumped up the levels to make the contrast better. Perhaps even crop out some excess background. In the second photo I like the green tree because it was the only one in a row of normal brown trees. Although I'm not wearing much colour, that's what makes the tree pop out even more. Again, I should have made the levels better.

Asymmetrical Vs. Symmetrical

Symmetrical Balance is when there are objects or people that balance each other in a photo equally so your attention doesn't stride to one side over the other.

Asymmetrical Balance is basically the same as symmetrical, but the objects in the photo have to be of different amounts but still equal so it's consistently balanced.

Such as, a big banana on one side of the picture and 5 bananas on the other side of the picture as noticeable as the big banana.

Visual balance is important because if the artist wants to make the whole picture noticeable as a whole, everything needs to be balanced so your eye doesn't lead so one side.

Group Collaboration

The most difficult part of this group assignment was picking a setting and how to be set up. I was in charge of the Black and White photo; it was quite annoying to find a unique spot and how to appoint the others to sit and their use their facial expressions. (Although TJ seemed to be going the opposite of our melancholy look.) There really is only thing I would change, and that is to have taken more charge and had thought ahead to how I wanted everyone to set up. Aside from that, this picture didn't turn out so badly.