My Contribution

About the Blog
I really enjoyed this activity and I think that it would be nice if every class had this feature. It allows people to share with the rest of the class, who they are and what they do. I think that this has helped me connect with people in a way that I was unable to in other classes. In other classes I generally know about 5 names, however in this class I know atleast ten. This is because the blog and it's review is sort of like a conversation between that person and the rest of the class. These conversations help us remember the person after seeing their posts over and over and we develop a recognition of who they are.

This activity has also exposed me to some amazing works of art of the internet. I do not know how to re-post but I will reference the entry by Joelle Faith. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K8k9rD7lx9c This video is freaking amazing and excellent choice in music. I agree with everything Joelle said about it:

"I not only appreciate the brutally honest choice of words in his description of character and emotion, but also the very unique method of expression that honesty. In the song titled "Wooden Heart - sea of mist called skaidan" Smith gets down to the nitty-gritty of life and living. He speaks of the challenges of human nature and decay along with the struggle to survive.

     This video is also compelling because of the colour choice, the curious content, and Smith's expressive nature. I can never quite understand just how I feel after watching this talk music - a feeling of being uncomfortable with the mystery, joyous because of the beautiful location, or left longing for more explanation - but when I do know for certain: I love it." 

 

But I would also like to add that it is the best beat or spoken word I have ever heard.

My favourite piece this semester would have probably been this one.
I love johnny depp so very much that I draw him most of the time.
and it was more like a personal piece than anything else, but it still counts i guess
because I did it this semester!

Iron Man

Sooo this wasn't done in any class at ocad, but it was a type assignment in gr12

I like this too...thought I might share!

I think this blog has allowed me, as I'm sure it has everyone else, to get an actual good look at the people I'm going to school with. What they think, what they like, how they react to tasks and how they communicate. Now having only gotten two sentences into this post and already sounding like I'm trying to beat everyone in a chess game they didn't know they were playing, I would just like to explain that for me at least there is a certain fear that exists in regards to my classmates at times, because since I know nothing about them at first, there could potentially be a whole class of people better than me at something I've been practicing at my whole life. For many reasons I know thats not true now, but the experience of getting to know the actual people I found myself nervous about at one point is a useful commodity in that sense. I'm sure there's someone who described it's practical purpose as well before me, and better than I think I can; at least I hope some one did or does, because I just got sentimental and that wouldn't help describe the help this blog has been properly.

treelk

Hmm...favourite piece of work?

Definetly my animation...

but if I had to choose another,

my first colour assignment...

well, the process work!

It's a reindeer and it's antlers grow into a tree...

it's much more detailed than it appears...

i like it :)

Favorite piece

I will not lie, I don't actually know where my pieces from this semester even are. Luckily, I photographed the one I can say I like best. I like it the most for a very simple reason, that being it was a piece that I was comfortable with when I was done, I didn't feel I strongly needed to add anything, other than a background, and there was nothing to feel but contentedness with it after it was done. It looks like me, and it looks funny, it did everything I wanted it to.

Then Rob Ford stole my face

Reposting Yacov's Wit

My re-post was basically decided as soon as I got to Yacov's post entitled "These fonts make the girls sweat even more", a title referencing the music video he posted for our expressive type phase.

Also included in his post was the statement "If that wasn't expressive type, than type cannot express", which I thought was a pretty profound statement, as well as the kind of statement that makes you not actually want to disagree with it. The writing was good, and the European techno was in good taste.

BABY I'M YOURS

Hey guys, remember this? Baby I'm Yours, this was posted for the blog week colour from Dawnice. I really liked this example. There was a massive amount of colour used. In the original blog it said that there are about 2000 watercolour images painted one after another which took 3 and a half months to create. Also this is a high-spirited song and with the combination of the art, it was even better. There are numerous of beautiful colours in this video and the quality + detail is amazing. In this music video, you can see the time and hard work put into the art. I think that this was a nice contribution to our blog.

Somewhat of a Conclusion

Like others before me, I enjoyed the idea of a class blog. Back before I entered high school I enjoyed web-designing and blogging on the side so having an opportunity to pick up blogging again was pretty exciting. It was definitely a pleasure having an opportunity to see so many different pieces of artwork--all great sources of inspiration--as well as reading what other members of the class had to say. Overall it was a great learning experience outside the classroom setting. It would have been nice if the blog was used more often, but I still enjoyed what was shared regardless.

In any case, one of my favorite posts on the blog belongs to Trisha. This particular post resonated deeply with me as I love photography (I'm sure a lot of you have seen me with my DSLR at least once before, haha) and seeing these pieces lit something up inside of me. I love experimenting and learning new things when it comes to photography, and it always gives me an excuse to go and explore the world, and see it through a different "view", haha. I'll definitely do something like this when I get the opportunity to wander around Toronto during the break.

"Squared Cities"

MONTREAL

TORONTO

BARCELONA

Photographer Daniel Hanai put his skills to the test when he deconstructed the most famous cities in the world and reunited them into a collage. He named these pieces "Squared Cities" and constructed them by assembling different views and angles taken with various camera settings. Personally, I would love to do something like this. I have some experience in photography so whenever i get the opportunity I will most definitely jump on it. When people think of "collage" they automatically assume "cut and paste" or assembling a number of images on top of each other. Rarely anyone thinks of photography.I thought these were beautiful...
hope you guys enjoy them as well!

Color Project Dioarama

This project is for my color in context course. I had to make a paper box diorama using a color scheme that represented an emotion. Knowing that fashion is my passion, I have of course made this into something that has to deal with fashion, with the theme being Gothic Lolita (type of dress inspired by the 18th century Victorian era) . Being so Gothic, i had made the color scheme consisting of blacks blood reds and purples. It really allows my creativity to flow and is the most interesting project for me this semester  as i could do it on any topic i wanted :D

last

This blog has definitely invited me to other student's works and allowed me to see how others take on the same projects. It has allowed me to think about projects in a different way and know to explore more ideas when I take on a project. Also, my favourite post in this blog would have to be the collage post. I posted a surrealistic approach to the idea of collaging post. Similarly, my favourite project (not from this class), would be the project I had to do that's in relation to collage.
I was to take photographs of a random place and create a collage, like a postcard. Because it's a Color in Context project, I had to make sure that the colours were balanced and fit the chosen city ( Toronto). Also, I had to include flat shapes as well. I think I rendered this project pretty well. My theme for this "postcard" was to re create Toronto's cold and wintery days--days in which Toronto's weather is pretty well known. Overall, great class. This class, and that class.

Best Artwork

Not the best angle but this is one of my favorite pieces I have done this year; only because the teacher said it was one of the portraits that showed character the best and I haven't been doing that well in the class so it was a nice boost.

Review

Overall I think the blog was successful in getting an understanding of the other people in the class and where they get inspiration for their own artwork. I can't say that I kept up to date with all the posts but I feel that after the first couple weeks the posts slowed down and the conversation was an engaged as it was in the beginning. My favorite post on the blog was Newt's expressive type example.

Batman

As for expressive type, I generally focus more on the literal matter rather than form and what not. Here, Sohjunhao has created Batman with text. However, instead of using just pretty letters that create good use of form and counterform, he has chosen to use the passage that Batman spoke near the end of the movie, the Dark Knight. While I don't believe this is the best of works, I can say that it is different. This would obviously be seen as better or more fitting if it was on a dark rainy background, and Batman had intense shading, but in this image it seems as if it's simple writing on a piece of paper. It's not fitting, but I think it's pretty cool...

Tina's Beautiful Collage

I decided to re-post Tina's collage post because not only is it beautiful but I completely agree with her when she said "collages aren't necessarily always pieces of work that look like it thrown together without careful thought." I too love mixed media and carefully putting various pieces of work together in order to create a whole unified work. Not only is this the perfect example of collage beauty but so are many of our book covers we've done recently!

When you look at this collage, you right away know that there was a significant amount of attention and detail put into this. The colours are beautiful and tranquillizing and although may be calming at first, the figures intrigue you to look deeper and allow your eyes to move through the piece in an inordinate fashion. I would love to blow this up and put it on my wall! I think collages developed a bad reputation down the road. Give them a chance, some are outstandingly beautiful!

I'm not sure if I missed a blog but I saw some students posting about what they thought about the blog. In my opinion, our class blog is incredibly useful! Not only do we get to view other works and inspiration but without even knowing it we get to learn a lot about our fellow classmates! On one hand sometimes it doesn't even feel like work :)

Best piece

I have had several good pieces this year at OCAD, but one that is really good is my superunitform grid with an overlayed silhouette. This was for colour in context and i made it by first painting a small part of the grid, then scanning it in and repeating it 5X5. After that i overlayed a natural form (humming Bird) that i thought went well with the grid. I thought the two went together because my grid reminded me of hanging flowers that a humming bird would go to. This piecs was not necessarily my favorite to do, but it came out very strong in the end.

-Alex G

Color comes in a wide assortment of ranges and shapes and they play an important role in our daily lives. The colors we see help don’t just help us to differentiate objects and signals but they also help us identify and simplify the way we perceive our world. However not all colors appear to be what they are in plain sight. When particular shapes and variations of color are put together we sometimes get optical illusions. The video I posted is a good exercise on color and apart from having great music, it does a good job of informing us of certain image and color anomalies.
Dawa Bokhang


I really enjoyed this music video, mostly because I simply adore this song. It is also a great video, due to its interactivity and including of the viewer in the optical illusions it illustrates quite aptly. This post made me rediscover this band, along with showing an amazing clip. This sort of thing is what the blog was all about for me. Discovering new-found interests, revisiting the old and seeing what other people are likewise, interested and amazed by.
Nick Ragetli 

Alex's Typography

I really liked Alex's typography assignment. As typography is my favourite course, I found this to be very interesting and it flows quite elegantly. I really like this.

This first semester of OCAD was amazing, i have improved so much and had a grate time. Throught the semester i have made alot of art and design pieces, the hard par is i like mostly all of them. At the same time one stands out to me the most is a letter combination i did in typography class. The thing about this is that i did not over think it or really plan it extensively, it just happened. I Wanted to do AG because it is my initials and i could use it as a logo. To make it i just cut off the loop of the G and put it on the loop of the A. Then i cut of the bottom half of the loop of the A and formed it to match the angle of the top half. All in all, i like it because it is simple, readable and it was fun making it.

Alex's repost

Like David; i too think these posters are absolutely amazing and i think he described them spot on. They are so powerful and say so much, yet they are so simple. They can do this because their use of color, awe factor and they give a sense patriotism. The colours in the posters tell us what countries the posters were made for; like red for the soviet union at the time. Also, the awe factor is like a smack in the face because it is so graphic and empowering. Which also goes with the patriotism the posters display because what looks better for you country than an air squadron boasting their power over the capital city?

My favorite poster is the one with the bayonet stabbing the cat. I say this because it is so graphic and to the point. It says that the Soviets are going to kill the head of the Germans and "cut the head off the snake" to say in other words.

-Alex

In many classes at this school, I have found myself, as i'm sure many if not every other student in first year have also found themselves, questioning the nature of the human reaction to colour. As designers, colour and the corresponding collective reaction to it is paramount in our creation, seeing as our creations are more purpose bound than self expression pieces.


I find a great example of this form of colour utilization is to be found in propaganda, namely that of the Soviet Union. Marxism at it's core rejects vanity and religion, among other things, and therefore in states like China and Soviet-era Russia, the government takes it upon themselves to capitalize on the absence of those elements from people's lives by readily and visibly placing figures and symbols of the state and government in the people's mindset. The most popular method that Soviet propaganda departments would use to incite the feeling of the state's hand, would be to employ overpowering amounts of red, in high contrast and in the focal point of their images. Red is a colour with many emotional interpretations, however during the cold war red was the undeniable symbol of Soviet and communist ideals, and thus propaganda would employ it to incite the feeling of the Soviet Union's power, making the viewer uneasy, or even in fear of the subject matter, Russian or no.


A masterful use of colour can be found in the top poster, a poster literally and figuratively inciting the viewer to look into the eyes of Lenin. The employment of yellow in the composition essentially leaves the viewer uneasy and unwilling to do as the words command, words that demand that you reflect on any wrongdoings to the state and reminding you you should feel very bad about betraying your friends if you did (as if ten years in a hard labour camp wouldn't do that well enough). You look into the eyes of this yellow giant, and you are very aware of his power, you know he's looking for something and you can tell that there are bad things coming if he does indeed find it, and the colour and tone have illustrated that horrifyingly well.

Posted by David Paton