Website Part 2: Design Portfolio

My website took a little detour from my original sketch.  I had planned on a traditional style, but when paired with the graphic I was using it looked cheesy.  So, I changed the website design to something more sleek.

Here is my finished product:

Instead of using a small banner, I opted for a larger banner and smaller menu buttons up top.  The bottom are examples of my work.  I really designed this website with mouse-overs in mind.

I tried to make the website functional as well as stylish.  I feel like many design portfolios are so hard to navigate because the designers are trying very hard to be "artsy" and different.  I think a simple layout will allow a website user to concentrate on the subject (in this case, my art).  I am very proud of the work I have done in this class and I have learned so much. 

Website Part 1: Design Portfolio

For this project, my idea was to create a simple blog.  I wanted it to be a traditional style two-column blog with a banner image and text.  Here is my preliminary sketch:

Here is the image I want to use for the background of the banner:

Some social media icons I used:

Avatar Part 2: Emilia Clarke

This is the final product:

I had very few issues with this project.  The instructions in the video were very clear, and I executed them pretty much the same as the narrator with the exception of color.  I enjoyed this project and I learned so much.  The only issue I had with her was trying to maintain the light in her eyes so she did not look like she had dark eyes.  I eventually did more dodging at the end to lighten up the area.  

Avatar Part 1: Emilia Clarke

For this project, I decided to go with a simple, clean design.  I did not create any sketches because I wanted to do what the video tutorial instructed me to do to the best of my abilities.

I chose this picture of Emilia Clarke:

And I went with the mask graphic provided:

Book Cover Part 2: Mumford and Sons

Here is my finished product:

I hope that the book cover accomplished what I wanted it to.  It was a challenge to chip away at.  I decided to add a few more Victorian motifs than I originally planned.  In order to make it look less busy I adjusted the opacity on them so they were still there, but not as obnoxious.

I wanted to achieve a book cover that speaks to the band's audience.  Because the band represents an older style of music, and attempts to do so by drawing on a lot of vintage elements (in their music videos, album covers, etc.), I wanted to honor that vintage feel.  I think I did a pretty good job.  Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Book Cover Part 1: Mumford and Sons

I chose Mumford and Sons as my band.  The band is considered to be a new style of folk/bluegrass/rock, and they are one of my favorite bands.

Here is my sketch.  I wanted the cover to be the band inside an antique frame.  The band is known for their vintage style, so I wanted the book cover to reflect that.

I wanted to incorporate a lot of vintage/Victorian elements to the cover.

These were the choices for the background.  All are old blank movie frames.

Here is the frame:

Some embellishments:

Photo of the band:

I decided on this photo because with some doctoring I could make it look older.

Awareness Poster Part 2: Anxiety

I only made a few small changes to the original.  I thought that the girl in the picture looked a little boring, so I added a blend mode to that layer and smudged her a little bit to create a little visual confusion.  It's meant to have an impressionist effect.

Here is the final image:

 

Overall, I think that the image conveys the emotions I wanted it to convey.  I wanted it to evoke anxiety, and make the viewer nervous.  I wanted all the text to overwhelm the viewer, and for the viewer to see the girl and feel her confusion and pain.  I really like the results, and I hope you do too.

Awareness Poster Part 1: Anxiety

I did my poster on anxiety.  I think that mental health conditions are under-treated and underestimated.  I suffer from anxiety myself, and sometimes I find that people are insensitive towards the condition.  Many people suffer from both anxiety and depression, and I think that just now (in history) people are starting to move towards acceptance of these conditions.
Here is my sketch:

Here is the one image I used in creating the poster:

Here is my preliminary image:

Any feedback is welcome.  I typed all the text myself based on personal experiences and anxiety attacks I have experienced in the past.  In my final draft, I will likely not make very many changes, as I like how this draft turned out.

Photomontage Part 2: Wicked Chicken

I took my preliminary image and used some of the layer blending options to unify the color a bit more.  Many of the layers are individual images copied on top of each other, then blended with the multiply blending option to make it a little darker.  I wanted the final image to be a bit more grungy and darker than the preliminary image.  I also wanted to add a little more "excitement" to fill up unused space. 

The final image:

Overall, I wanted this project to be a little bit goofy and I wanted it to emulate other heavy metal band album covers that I've seen and thought were funny (even though they weren't trying to be).  I think the image turned out good.  I'm looking forward to applying these principles that I learned with this project to other projects in the future.

Photomontage Part 1: Wicked Chicken

I chose to do my album cover on a fictitious band entitled "Wicked Chicken."  They're apparently a heavy metal band, based on my original idea of having chickens at the gates of hell.  I first picked out the images I was going to use, then made my sketch. I realized I had too few images and added another after making the sketch.  Then, I created the preliminary image by using selection tools and blending some of the images in to the background with the Eraser tool.

I found the draft image to not have enough unity in color.  The images didn't blend together as well as I'd like them to, so those are the edits I'll be making with my final image.

The sketch:

Image 1:

 

Image 2:

Image 3:

 

 Image 4:

 Image 5:

 

Image 6 (background):

Preliminary Image:

Overall, I feel the design is a good start.  There's a lot missing from this preliminary image, but it does have good placement of the images, and the colors aren't too far off from making the image a little more fluid and put-together.