self assessment 3

Kristin Seymour

Self-Assessment #3

            This project combined my first two projects in a whole new manner. I used the trails created by car lights from the first project, and the moss design from the second project. The central theme of the work followed the same overall theme I have been working with for over a year now, seeing the unseen. With this project I wanted to create an animated short movie that would be used for a portfolio. I am applying for an internship with Under Armour in the winter so I wanted to produce a compelling piece to send them. I have been creating art for the purpose of fashion and constructing clothing all semester. With this project I took the designs to a whole new level. I not only implemented the designs into clothing advertisements, but I also made a physical scarf with my design.

            My inspiration comes from my love for athletic clothing, specifically Under Armour. I love the company’s products, uprising and commitment to the community. They are also always coming up with new designs and new lines of clothing. This is why I would like to work for them. They just introduced a semi-artistic line called “Lux”. It is meant for yoga, but the designs are more artistic then those of their previous products. I think that my organic designs would add an aesthetically pleasing style to a new “artistically athletic” line of sports wear.

My inspiration specifically for the designs themselves comes from my organic surroundings. I have recently become interested in the shapes within nature. I began shooting macro images of objects within nature. First, I started with the belly of a turtle and then to moss on a brick path. For this project I focused on the moss. The shapes created by the moss were magnificent, shapes that I could never think up and create within my head. I feel that I have thus far been very successful with these designs and want to continue on this path.

As I have stated in previous self-assessments, my process is multi faceted and used multiple different methods and programs. I first take the macro photograph; edit it to black and white with high contrast and definition. Then I use Adobe Illustrator to separate out the shapes with live trace. I then recolor them and then move the design to Photoshop for adjusting and final editing for size and shape. For this project I took it a step further and downloaded clothing images from Under Armour, cut out the sectioned I wanted my design to be located, and placed the design within these sections. I also created a design from the car light trails and placed the design on a sports bra. I decided that I did not just want digital versions of clothing that I wanted to create a physical clothing item out of my designs. Since I cannot sew and/or create shirts etc., I created a scarf. I changed the moss design to have a white background with black outlining the shapes. I printed and attempted to sew the scarf. Although it did not turn out perfect, I am proud of what I was able to make.

I learned a lot about After Effects during this project. Most of all I learned that you cannot give up on a new art program just because you do not understand it at first. I, like most of my classmates hated After Effects at first. I was not as similar as Photoshop and Illustrator. It used different controls and short cuts. The location of menus was different and I had to get used to the key frames. It took weeks to get the hang of it enough to navigate around. In the end I figured it out enough to create the animation that I did. I then finished it in I movie, due to the simplicity of adding effects and sound. I coordinated sound effects with the light streaks to make it sound like electronic lasers progressing into car drive by sounds. This was intentional due to the source of the design. I then showed the source of the lights by taking the original photo from back and white to color through the saturation of the light beam across the image. This was accompanied by a sound effect that I think was one of the most successful ones in the animation. I then showed the original moss image and overlaid the design congruent with the shapes within the moss. I am very proud of how it was so easy to see the direct source of the shapes within the photo. The movie then finished with the appearance of two articles of clothing from Under Armour wit my two designs on them. I chose to play a musical piece with the movie because I felt that it suited the tone of the movie and the lack of words did not distract the viewers. The Hip Hop violin style was intense but playful at the same time. I would listen to this sound while running or warming up for a game, which I think suites the athletic wear at the end.

I am happy with the two finished products. Although I do think my first two projects were ore successful, I am proud of myself. I think I am less satisfied with this project because as an artist I like physical objects and works I can display more so then a movie. Yet, I do know that this movie as well as the scarf will help me as an artist while applying for internships.

Stepping back from my own work as a third party viewer I think I would see the animation as successful. I may say that it is too short and that I would want to see more clothing mock ups. I would notice the synchronization of the sound effects with the images as well as the music. I would also think that the scarf was interesting. It is not a normal looking scarf. It is a far more interesting design not like I had seen before. Usually scarfs are solid colors or very recognizable objects like feathers. This one has shaped that may appear familiar and I may try and connect with a previous memory, but unable to do so.

I think that even though this project I did not produce as compelling and successful of work as in the past, I did work very hard at it. I managed to create an animation from two programs I was unfamiliar with, as well as creating a physical object like I had never done before. Also, I completed this assignment on time and was ready to go 9:00 this morning. I am always prepared and finished before the due date. I take pride in my work and make sure it is completed and presentable on the due date. I think I deserve a high B for the finished products and an A+ on effort and time.