Color:

Black and White

ONE SONG- TWO DESIGNS (color/ black and white)

            When the assignment was given my idea for song choice was to find something that included a lot of instruments so there would be a large selections of points to take from.  Rather then finding music that I had never heard before I started thinking about what I had heard before and would like to spend some time with.  Through the process of finding instrumentals I could not settle on anything so I took a step back and decided to go with a simplified song.  The song that I finally chose was AIR TAP by Erik Mongrain.  After picking this song I had doubts as to how I would translate it into two compositions because I was not immediately inspired graphically when I decided.

My immediate thought for interpreting music in graphic form was to create some sort of composition done by hand.  I created a series of sketches and images of what I thought the final result could be.  I found throughout the process that I kept going back to the idea of pointillism or stippling because of the music’s rhythm.  The songs quick picking of the guitar and the two parts that Mongrain creates also made me think of a gradient.  My idea was to blend the two so it would resemble the chords and the quick notes simultaneously.  As I began to finalize my ideas and get ready to paint we had discussions in class about how no one in the class was attempting a computer generated series.  Thinking about this more and more I decided that since the majority of this class was based around technology and learning about how the art world has become a media revolution I would attempt to create use the computer as my tool. After the iterative process I finally settled on two compositions that I believe are successful and meet the requirements. 

Starting with the color composition I used the gradient technique starting from the top of the piece vanishing toward the middle of the piece.  From the gradient I then created a stippled gradient in order to accomplish the idea of notes on a point.  Starting from the base I used an image of a raindrop, which to me the ripples of the drop resemble the sounds waves created by the guitar.  From this image I again created a stippled effect to blend the gradient and the drop together in order to confirm my idea of the smaller pieces blending together in order to create the larger piece.  The final element to the color composition is the altered color of the raindrop itself, which is the highlighted representation of the point where the musicians finger strikes the string therefore resulting in another addition to the overall composition.      

This project being the final project, which in essence is the culmination of what we have created throughout the semester, I wanted my two compositions to coincide.  For the black and white piece I decided to break down a piece of the color composition.  This composition is supposed to be an abstract magnification of each stippled element.  My concept for this piece is that each one of the stipples is broken down to a molecular level.  This idea again confirms the gestalt idea within the two compositions as well as the pieces that can be broken down in the song that I chose.  This piece can work on its own because of the concept that I have created, but is as strong if not stronger as a two part composition with the color piece.    

Music Choice:

I think for the music portion of the assignment I am going to use the Erik Mongrain acoustic song purely based on the fact I cannot stop thinking how amazing it is.  I think working with this song will be very interesting on the level that it is music created by one person with one instrument and I will also be a single person created a work of art.  Maybe I will limit myself to one instrument i.e. medium, utensil, technique, etc.

Song Possibilities

Advertisement: Cold Sky Group

Advertisement #1:  This is the first attempt for the advertisement problem.  I used photoshop as my method of creating both of the designs with aided sketches for my thought process.  The greatest issue I found with both of the designs was finding the most effective way of combining text with image to convey an idea.  I decided to take the approach of attracting the viewer to the piece first and then discovering who/ what the advertisement is about.  I believe that this version is the least successful out of the two, but still a fairly good response to the assignment.

Advertisement # 2:  With this advertisement I really tried to incorporate the idea of excess within the world and combine technology with the idea of recycling.  Again I believe that this is the stronger of the two pieces and really reiterates the message that Cold Sky Group is trying to convey.   

Questions for advertisement

what is the company objective?

-to increase presence in recycling community technology evolves too fast and these  need to be recycled.

who is your target market?

-commercial based/ small startup/ non profits

what feelings do you want to convey?

-resourcefulness using what is there for you. 

what is the philosophical objective?

-contribute to the global good on a local level. do your part!

how big is company/budget?

-small company under 15 employees small scale/ important ideas/ big

what is the aesthetic you are trying to achieve?

-please the masses stay true to the actual busy title.  not too technological and not too crunchy either. balance