One of the biggest things I improved in this project was my painting skill. I learned how to make a nice gradient color effect with smooth transitions, but I also learned interesting techniques of texture along with that. I'm fairly used to painting with more precision, so when I was told to let go and be smooth I learned a lot and it turned out well. I also learned even more about color mixing and color schemes. In practice using paints, colors are much harder to mix perfectly and replication is hard, so I learned to adapt to this as well. Paints also have different consistencies and thicknesses, along with color vibrancy and ability to mix or be changed in value. I gained a better understanding of all of this throughout the project and found a liking in painting.

Through all of this I learned to use color and the RGB scale to a great extent. I've had photoshop experience in the past, but I learned the new aspect of RGB numbers and how they apply in photos. My photography skills also improved greatly with the teaching of how to focused, controlled pictures. The main three things I used in this project were a camera, photoshop and color mixer.

Observing was definitely a thinking process in this assignment. Between the two different color scales, and the many different schemes that we had to employ, I began to think much more about color relations out in the world. Having to do many different schemes was hard to wrap my mind around often when I would have to match two colors with each other. In the end, I learned a lot more about color than I had ever known before, and I can now more easily see relationships. This helped in a later painting assignment when I had to decide what colors to use for certain paint schemes.

Shapez

This is meant to have directional movement from the bottom right to top left (can be percieved as the opposite to). There is also some balance in it from the small side pieces to fill space and frame the main object.
Again this is meant to have directional movement from bottom right to top left. It is also meant to have balance and contrast between geometric shapes and organic shapes. The balance is also formed in transition of shape and size going upward.

How to make Ray-o-gram with enlarger:

• First adjust the aperture (amount of light let out) by twisting the knob at the bottom of the enlarger to let out the correct amount of light. Then set the height of the enlarger.
• Next RC photo paper was laid out on a frame underneath the enlarger and aligned properly.
• Objects were laid out over the photo paper. Then we set a light timer. When ready, we push a button to turn on the light for the alloted time.
• The photo paper is moved to the developing process. It starts out in a developing chemical. The bin of developer is shaken and agitated for 1-2 minutes until the picture appears fairly clearly. Next it is put in a 30 second stop bath to stop developing. Finally it is put in a fixer bath for 2-5 minutes. At the end it sits in a water bath for a while and then is laid out on the drying racks to be enjoyed by the public.

The main idea of this is balance. The hook necklace creates a dividing line between alternate sides with equal amount of white area. Also some directional snake-like movement.

Linez

2. I thought I did fairly well at observing in these drawings. I put a lot of detail into my drawings, and these were some of the best examples of my detail. This applied to the proportion of some of the drawings' elements, small lines, or subtle shapes or shading. Besides the detail, I did do fairly well at observing and capturing the general shape of the figures drawn.

Because of all this detail, I could have done better on envisioning and creating some of the ideas or elements from my mind. It was supposed to be a sketching project, but I still think there could have been a bit more simplicity derived from creativity.

I thought I did fairly well with Stretching and Exploring in this project. There wasn't much instruction on specifics, so I liked having freedom in my materials used and harnessed this freedom a lot. For example, the blue wire was a very hard material to work with, but I eventually found ways to manipulate it fairly precisely in ways like the jacket and shoes. I also found some ways to build on previous experiences with making wire men and improved some techniques.

I thought this was a fairly artistic project, but it didn't have quite enough expression. It had elements that I thought would be fun to make and incorporate, but they didn't totally serving much meaning. The whole thing itself didn't have as much movement as would be expected from parkour, so I could have improved on the posing of the figure, after crafting him.