Emma Friedlander

2D Design Blog

[mckenzc4]

Scale and Proportion Advertisements

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In the group exhibition advertisement poster, there is text that reads “layers.” This same phrase of text is repeated multiple times on top of each other. This gives the appearance that the words are layered which is a successful use of text to portray what the exhibit is about. Below that is a description of where, when, and who’s work will be displayed at this exhibition. The information reveals that it is at the MoMA during September 2020, and features Carly McKenzie, Dustin Yellin, John Baldassari, Daniel Gordon, Ryan McGuinness, and Lucas Blalock.

The colors used in this poster are black, white, and lime green. These colors compliment each other well and are used twice each throughout the poster. The color pallet gives the feeling of being dark and closed off. The black feels like nighttime and the green stands out on this background. It mades me think of a room with a blacklight that highlights certain colors in the dark. The title of the exhibition is in the top center of the poster. This is the first thing that the eye is drawn to and stands out. The rest of the information is found in the middle and bottom left of the poster within a circle. This lime green circle helps to highlight and frame the important information.

The solo exhibition advertisement poster reads “Broken connec-tions.” I think this was a very successful use of text format because the word connections is literally broken up into two parts on the poster. This reinforces the concept of the exhibition and gives the viewer a taste of what is in store. Right underneath the title is the name of the solo exhibitionist, Carly McKenzie. The bottom left of the poster has the name of where the exhibition is and the date it is being displayed. This explains that it is at the MoMA during September 2020. I think the size and color of the text is successful at giving all of the necessary information in a way that is easy to identify.

The colors used in this poster are black, white, and red. This color pallet feels very clean, crisp, and robotic with the addition of robot-looking arms on the right and left. These arms are stiff and straight with open palms. The one on the right is broken and has pieces shattered at the elbow. “MoMA” is also repeated many times in the background in a light gray color. This text does not provide any additional information, but instead adds depth and texture to the background.

Both of these pieces were created entirely digitally. I think the colors and use of scale and proportion are successful in creating advertisement posters for exhibitions at the MoMa. I believe that Carly followed all of the guidelines of the assignment and included all of the necessary elements.

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Final Project

Based on the song “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift

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Scale/Proportion Project

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My zoom call with Anna to talk about our final project ideas

[annahrabowyj]

Emphasis / Focal Point

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In this project, Anna brought together a bunch of black and white headshots in the form of 9 columns and 6 rows. Each figure has a black shadow behind it. This was created 100% digitally with what it seems to be found stock photo images of people from the internet. This piece makes me think of humanity and how we have many similarities and differences. There are many different faces depicted here, and I found myself going through and looking at each one of them. These are people of all different sexes, races, and cultural backgrounds. However they are united by the similarity of grayscale. This makes me think of what it means to blend in with a crowd, and how it is hard to make yourself stand out. It also makes me think of how we are all united in our humanity despite any differences.

Anna used emphasis by contrast for her project. The focal point that she created is the dog in the middle of the piece. When I usually think contrast in art, I think of a difference in color, value, or texture that stands out immediately. For this project, Anna utilized a difference in form. Among the many headshots of people, there is just one central headshot of a dog. This figure in the middle didn’t initially grab my attention, but as I scanned the piece I later identified it. And once I spotted this difference in imagery, it was a major point of focus from that point on. 

I think that Anna’s use of emphasis by contrast is successful in the piece because the focal point is a form of a dog that differs from the people. This is a significant difference that makes the viewer question the meaning behind the piece. I am curious to know if the dog is one that was found online or if it is Anna’s dog. I interpret the meaning behind this to be that while there are many important people in a person’s life, a dog can also be a central and important figure. I have a miniature labradoodle, Pepper, and I view her as one of my family members. She is very important to me and I believe most dog owners feel the same way about their pets. Dogs have the ability to bring comfort and joy into a person’s life in a different way than a person can. 

One thing I think that would make this piece more successful would be to depict the front profile of the dog, just as we see the front profiles of the people. I don’t know if the dog looking to the left has any significance or meaning, but I believe that having it face the viewers would help to create more unity in the piece and would convey more emotion by allowing the viewer to look into the dog’s eyes.

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Focal Point and Emphasis Project

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The Golden Ratio:

The golden ratio is created purposefully in works of art in order to create balance and perceived beauty in a work. However, it can also be found in nature. When I see the spiral shape, the first thing that comes to my mind is the shape of clouds during a storm. This is a picture I found online of storm clouds. They spin around in a swirling fashion around one central point. The viewer’s eye immediately goes to this central location, which I think is very funny because it is referred to as the “eye of the storm.” These clouds swirl outwards, creating an implied line that is the golden ratio. In my life, I always love to find the beauty in nature. I think that it is always interesting to see the connections between what our society views as “beautiful” or “perfect” and to find that very thing in something that has not been controlled or influenced by humans.

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The Rule of Thirds:

I see the rule of thirds being applied in many advertisements. This is one advertisement that I found online of a beer company using the rule of thirds. The beer glass goes directly along the line on the right, while the company logo and slogan is on the opposite side. By putting the beer on the right side, this allows the viewer of the advertisement to focus on the product while also taking in the scenery of the water and mountains in the background. This creates an ambiance that entices potential customers, as they want to experience this scenery for themselves. This is an experiential tactic used by marketers that is often successful with food and drink products. The logo and slogan on the left are also large and catch the viewer’s eye as they move around the piece. I think that the rule of thirds creates movement because the composition is broken into three parts that one has to take time to focus their attention on.

[gabbylatargia]

Texture project

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For her texture project, Gabby chose to recreate a picture of a large turtle swimming in the ocean. She included three pictures above: one of the original picture, one of her thumbnail sketches, and one of her drawing that incorporates texture. The piece has been created entirely using hands-on methods. It appears that it is drawn with a think black marker.

There are five boxes of texture in the thumbnail sketch. The first is a star with many outlines surrounding it. This particular style reminds me of progressive rhythm, as the shape changes in a regular manner and generates a sequential pattern. The next texture box is a lot of small rectangles that align vertically and horizontally. This style shows unity in the way that Andy Warhol’s “Marlin Diptych” has repetition of the same images over and over. The next texture box is a bunch of circles of varying sizes that are drawn close to each other. The following texture box shows many triangles of varying sizes. These triangles have more space around them than the circles do. And lastly, the final texture box is made up of thick arches that are on a diagonal angle and filled in with marker. It looks as if this could be a cropped part of a circle with rings that become bigger as they spread outwards.

This piece is successful in using texture to represent different values in the original picture. The turtle has many different values of green and brown that shift all along its body. Gabby successfully displays this change in value on the shell by using all 5 of her texture patterns on that portion of the piece. The shell does include all of the different values of green and brown so this is appropriate. The values are not necessarily shown in the areas that she drew them in, but it would be hard to get it exactly right because they are constantly shifting. The turtle’s head was created with the circle texture. I think this was the perfect choice because the real patten of the turtle loosely resembles circles. The fins were created with the arch patten, which I believe is successful because it adds movement to the picture. The turtle uses its fins to push forward through the water. The lines are arched forward in this direction that it is moving in.

This project shows balance along a diagonal axis. Looking along this line, there is one fin on each side, half the shell on each side, and half of the turtle head on each side. I think positioning the turtle on a diagonal instead of straight forward adds more interest to the piece that I appreciate.

One improvement that I think could be made would be to create a texture for the water. In this recreation, one cannot tell that the turtle is underwater. Gabby could add a wavy pattern to represent water to give the impression that the turtle is swimming in the ocean. I would also add a texture for the turtle’s shadow in the water. To achieve this, the same wavy pattern can be used but more bunched up together to show a darker value.

Overall, this piece is successful at recreating the picture of a turtle in a way that shows texture, balance, and movement.

[emma-2d-design]

Texture Project

[neonstarsign]

I wanted to represent my ethnicity of being Dominican and nationality as an American. One of the few things both countries have in common is baseball. It’s a very passionate sport that is an important past time in the United States and the Dominican Republic. I used the colors of both flags which are red, white, blue. When creating the image, I realized even though both countries use the same colors, they’re not exactly the same when put on the same canvas which I found very interesting to see. I attempted to make all the colors the exact same but it was too intense to look at and felt distracting so I made the colors of the U.S. flag look duller by lowering its transparency. I kept the white the same hue for both flags as another way of uniting both countries aside from the baseball theme. I also wanted to add images that give a tropical feeling to represent the Dominican Republic as an island in the Caribbean. I thought of the palm trees at the beach and the hibiscus flowers that are very common to see there. The green hue was taken from the national coat of arms of the Dominican flag which features a bay laurel branch and palm frond of a palm tree. Originally, the plants were going to be silhouettes in black but it left the image very plain-looking. The color green makes the plants on the image stand out but it doesn’t take you away from the rest of it, which I believe balances well with the other colors. I made the hibiscus the same red, almost pink, color as the stripes in the baseball diamond so it wouldn’t look to intense since it is already taking up a lot of space on the image. I wanted to show what makes each country special in their own way while finding out what they had in common so that others could understand where I come from and I could represent and honor both of my cultures.

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For this project, Jordana chose to represent her heritage with the colors of red, white and blue. This is because they are the three colors that are present in both the American and Dominican flags. She made the choice to make the red appear to be duller in the American flag by lowering the transparency, as she felt the same shade of red would be too distracting. I believe that lowering the transparency of the red is successful because it separates the two flags and makes each one stand out in its own way. If the red was the same in both flags, then they would blend together in a way and not be as striking to the viewer. In order to connect the two flags, Jordana make the white in both flags the same value. I think this was also a good choice, as it creates unity in the piece without being distracting. The area where the white stripes of the American flags runs into the white stripes of the Dominican flag looks seamless and sleek. The next thing that stands out to me in this piece is the use of palm trees and hibiscus flowers. They both function to give a tropical feeling, as the Dominican Republic is an island in the Caribbean. I think these symbols are a great touch that add emotion to this project. When I see palm trees, I think of sunny days at the beach. This is successful at adding another layer to Jordana’s heritage and creating a visual picture of the beautiful beaches that are present in the Dominican Republic. In addition to adding emotion, these symbols also add a great pop of green color. Without this addition, I think the piece would be too much of the same. The green color of the palm trees and leaves of the hibiscus flower stand out and add more interest to the center of the picture. The last thing that my eye lands on in this picture is the baseball bats and ball in the center. At first glance, I didn’t even realize that that the white stars and blue background where in the shape of a baseball diamond. I think this was very creative and gives the flag an even stronger purpose. Baseball is an American sport, and forming the American flag into the shape of a baseball field reenforces this fact. A suggestion that I could give is that it would be interesting to see Jordana form the Dominican flag into a shape that represents its culture, as it was so successful with the American flag. Overall, I really enjoy this piece and it does a great job of showing her heritage and a little bit about each country.

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Focal Point in Daily Life

The TV is the focal point of my living room

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Emphasis in Daily Life

An orange m&m among many blue m&ms

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Color Heritage Project

The left side of the piece represents my mother’s Irish Catholic side of the family. The background is St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, which is regarded as the holiest Catholic shrine in the world. In the foreground, I inserted an Irish flag, Irish soda bread, a crucifix, and a shamrock. These are all well-recognized symbols of Irish Catholics that I believe would resonate with many people, as well as myself.

The right side of the piece represents my father’s Hungarian and Russian Jewish side of the family. The background is Haram Al-Sharif in Jerusalem, which is the site where Abraham is said to have offered his son up as a sacrifice to God and where Solomon built the First Temple for the Ark of the Covenant. In the foreground, I inserted the Hungarian and Russian flags, matzah ball soup, a menorah, and the Star of David. These, again, are well recognized symbols that many people would be able to identify with. 

I chose to highlight the color red for my project. The background pictures have a tint of red over them and all of the symbols lining the bottom of the piece have a red outline. This color ties together the two different sides of my family. In Catholicism, the color red is displayed on clothing and decorations during the feasts of the Passion of Jesus and for the feasts of martyred saints, who shed their red blood for Christ. Red is also the color used during Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles. This was seen as the birth of the Church. The color red is also a prominent color in Judaism. It symbolizes life and vitality because it is the color of blood. The Hebrew word for blood is dam, derived from adamah, which is the same root as the words for man, Adam, and earth. Therefore, blood and life are closely tied together in the Jewish faith and is symbolized in the blood put over the door during Passover.

While the two sides of my family have different cultures and religions, there are also similarities that can be found between the two. The color red helps represent these similarities, as it is used throughout the entire piece. I think that the use of red in my project brings everything together and shows the unity between my whole family despite their differences.

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Ellen Gallagher, “Morphia,” 2008.

Medium: Ink, pencil, watercolor, varnish, oil, gesso, egg tempera, polymer medium and cut paper on paper

Gallagher is an American artist whose pieces address issues of race and racial stereotypes.

[mckenzc4]

Value Project

[emma-2d-design]

For her project, Carly has chosen to recreate a magazine picture of a scarf and glasses in grayscale. The scarf is bunched up in certain spots that creates highlights and lowlights on the material. These spots, where the light is hitting it and the spots where there is a lack of light, can be translated to grayscale using different values of gray. I think the piece is successful in recreating the original picture by using black, white, and gray cut-out paper. There was a lot of attention to detail put into the recreation and it has all of the necessary elements. The green part of the scarf is the darkest color used, translating to a dark gray, almost black. I think this is a good use of dark gray because it is the darkest color in the piece. Dark green is a very dark gray in grayscale. The red dots are then recreated in a very light gray, almost white color. I think this helps the polka dots stand out in the picture. However, when I did the in-class value exercises and translated red to grayscale, it didn’t become this almost white color. It was a darker gray than the one used in this piece. For this reason, I think that the red should have been represented by a bit darker of a gray in the piece. 

The glasses in the picture were recreated with amazing detail that looks spectacular. I think the difference in value around the rim of the glasses verses the value of the middle is accurate. Carly created the outline of the back of the glasses seen through the glass. The shadow of the glasses is also very well done. There is one shadow that is darker, and then another one that is lighter, which is how it appears in the original picture. The only other critique I have is that the highlights on the scarf may be a little too light. The contrast between scarf and the part where the light is hitting it seems too be too high. It would make it seem more realistic to have a smooth, more subtle change in value. In the recreation, Carly didn’t include the lettering of the brand on the scarf. I think that this is an acceptable choice, and is not a detail that is needed. It would take a while to cut out the individual letters and glue them on. This extra effort  wouldn’t add much to the final piece. This is because the main focus of the artwork is the value of the scarf. 

Carly was overall very successful with her value project. The original picture from the magazine was recreated in grayscale with great detail. She put a lot of effort into it and it looks great!

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Daniel Gordon, “Ratatouille and Smoke Bush,” 2014.

Medium: digital print

Through a process of manual cut-and-paste with printed images, Gordon re-imagines this still life as an outburst of color and pattern.