Tuesday 29 July 2014

MY ARTS AWARD REVIEW

I have had very busy year and have had lots of arty experiences. I have learned a lot of new skills along the way.

Three things I found the most interesting and enjoyable:

1. Watercolour painting
2. Picture and video editing
3. Figure drawing

Three things I found hard or not so enjoyable:

I have enjoyed all the activities I have done on the arts award. I have no so much enjoyed writing about my experiences.

Three ways in which I have developed my skills and how I have improved:

  1. I have learned a lot about how to use watercolour and acrylic paints. I was pleased with the portrait I painted. I learned how to paint skin tones, which is quite difficult.
  2. I have learned that it is possible to do art in different ways e.g. photography, weaving, sculpture and even making videos. I have become open minded about trying different things and visiting places where you can see art.
  3. I understand more about designing and making costumes for theatre performances from when I went to the workshop at the theatre in Stratford and when I was in the wardrobe department on a residential weekend.

What would I like to develop, experience or try in future:

I would like to find out more about graphic art and to learn new skills and try different types of software.

Monday 28 July 2014

PHOTO & PICTURE EDITING

Here are some examples of pictures I have been editing. I am pleased with all of the edits and do not really have a favourite. I liked the way I used text and images in an interesting way in the first picture. I have learned to do techniques such as masking (removing backgrounds), recolouring areas of pictures, such as hair, positioning images, cropping, blurring and changing text.





 
I have been writing some tutorials to help other people create edits online. I have been receiving requests for more tutorials.
 
 
Please click on the link to my Instagram account where you will be able to see more of my edits.

Saturday 26 July 2014

AVATAR ON INKSCAPE

Here it the avatar of Leigh-Anne from Little Mix I created using Inkscape. I am pleased with the way the overall design looks. The proportions, colours and font work well together. It took a bit of time to achieve the shapes that I wanted for the lips and eyes, but I can see that I can create really good effects.

Wednesday 2 July 2014

VIDEO EDITING

MY FINAL PIECE VIDEO EDIT
 



I really enjoy making video edits, particularly of my favourite band, Little Mix. One of the girls from Little Mix birthday was not long ago so I decided to create her a video edit! This is not the first one I've done however. I've done a video for Perrie and Jade's birthday, two story of little mix videos, a lyric video and a couple of others. I made a special edit for my arts award called THE LITTLE MIX ALPHABET. It includes text, clips, pictures, transitions and layered audio. Please click on the link above to view the edit.

SHARING MY SKILLS - VIDEO EDITING TUTORIAL

Why am I sharing my video editing skills?

I decided to share my video editing skills with my Mum. She does not really use an iPad very much and has never made an edit. She thinks that I do a good job making the edits because it involves the following skills:
  • Technical - understanding the software, in this case iMovie and Vont
  • Creativity - how to pick clips and music that work well together and how to tell a story using images and music
  • Timing - it is easy to make a boring video especially if the clips are too long and not varied enough
  • Continuity - it is important to make sure the video flows well and that the clips link together well

STEVE MCQUEEN


 


I did not realise that video making and editing is considered an art form. One of the winners of the Turner Prize, which is a prestigious art award, is a man called Steve McQueen. He won the prize in 1999 for making some arty films. One of them is called Prey which includes a tape recorder playing the sound of tap dancing and a ballooon. Steve McQueen is also a film director. He directed an Oscar winning film called 12 Years a Slave.

What did I do to share my skills?

I got my Mum to create her own video edit. I think it is easier to learn if you have to do it yourself. I showed her how to do the following things:

  • How to start a new project
  • Why it is important to decide on an objective for your video
  • How to use a combination of video clips that you have created personally or ones available on the Internet
  • How to add titles and text
  • How to shorten the clips
  • How to add transitions
  • How to add music and dialogue
What did my Mum think?

My Mum enjoyed being able to quickly put the clips together, but she found it quite difficult to move things around the screen. She also appreciated how much patience is involved when it comes to tweaking the clips.

Three things that went well:
  1. Realising I knew more than I thought I did
  2. Understanding how creative I have been
  3. Helping my Mum to learn something new
What did you enjoy the most about sharing my video editing skills?

I enjoyed finding out that it does take skill to make videos and that it is a creative thing to do.

Sunday 29 June 2014

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE INKSCAPE

What is Inkscape?

Inkscape is a type of software that can be used to design pictures on a computer. It can be used to edit photographs and you can even draw things from scratch.

Inkscape makes what are called VECTOR graphics. These are images that do not become fuzzy if you make them bigger. This is because they are made of objects and not pixels like other types of graphics.

Inkscape can be used to design the following things:

- Pictures
- Logos
- Fonts
- Avatars
- Book covers

I have found some examples of designs that people have done using Inkscape.





I plan to learn how to use Inkscape to design an avatar and then to show someone else how to use it.

GRAPHIC DESIGN HEROINE PAULA SCHER


 
A famous graphic designer I have found out about is Paula Sher.

Why I chose to find out about Paula Sher?

Because my mum suggested she'd be an interesting arts heroine.

What type of research I did to find out about her?

I read information on wiki and I looked at a few pictures of her work.

What was the most interesting thing I learned about Paul Sher?

I was interested to find out that she designed album covers for musicians.

Where is she from?

Virginia, USA

How did she become a graphic designer?

She studied at Tyler School of Art, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She then worked at a few companies including a record company where she created hundreds of album covers, for example:


She then set up her own agency called Koppel & Scher and then became Creative Director at Esquire magazine. She now spends a lot of time teaching about graphic design.

What do I think about her career path?

It is interesting that she had lots of different types of jobs.

What work is she famous for?

Her most famous works include using text in an unusual way like in these posters. She is also famous for designing the Microsoft Windows 8 logo.



 
What do I like about Paula Sher's work?
 
I like the way she uses text to create posters that are cool.
 
What influence does Paula Sher's career and work have on me?
 
I think it is good that she has been successful in her career and has come up with some original ideas. It is good because she is a woman and it is sometimes harder for women to reach the top. I am not sure whether her work will influence me or not. 

GRAPHIC DESIGN

I have recently become interested in the idea of learning more about graphic design. I have really got into making video and photo edits and enjoy being able to make cool designs using different effects. I thought it would be a good to find out more about graphic design and graphic designers.


What is graphic design?

Graphic design is using text and pictures to create ads, posters, magazines etc.


What sort of things do graphic designers design?

Typefaces
Logos
Websites
Book covers
Posters
Leaflets and magazines


What kind of companies do they work for?

Big companies might have their own in-house design department. Other graphic designers work for a graphic design agency. Some work for printers. It's also possible to be self employed, this is called freelance.


What tools do graphic designers use?

Computers - lots of different software such as, Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator etc.

They also just use pencils and pens.


How do you train to be a graphic designer?

You can get a graphics GCSE, you could then have an apprenticeship or do a graphic design degree, or combine the two.


Who are the most famous graphic designers?

Matthew Carter - designed typefaces which we commonly use such as Helvtica, Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia
David Carson

Stefan Sagmeister
Milton Glaser - I love New York logo



 

PHOTOGRAPHY

I have been practising taking photographs of flowers, plants and scenes that I have seen out and about and in my garden.


 
 
 

TEXTILES EXHIBITION

I went to see a Textiles exhibition at our local arts centre (No 8 Pershore). I thought the stuff there was cool. There were some artists that I preferred more than others. I thought the designs were very clever and I was amazed by how small some of the stitches were.

My favourites designers are:

Carolyn Bradburn
Pauline Barnes
Una Smith
Jacqui Cotterill






WORKING IN A WARDROBE DEPARTMENT

I went on a residential weekend in Wales with the online school that I go to. The event was called Interhigh Weekend and the idea was to take part in producing a show. I could choose whether I wanted to perform, work in stage management, technical or in the wardrobe department. I decided to work in wardrobe, which I really enjoyed. Here is a list of the different activities I got involved in:

- Costume design - I designed my own 'fairy tale'outfit
- Mask making
- Make-up and face painting
- Sewing - I created a mini version of my design as well as a pin cushion
- I also was lucky enough to visit the costume department of a local theatre.


 
 
 

PORTRAIT PAINTING OF PERRIE FROM LITTLE MIX

I'm obsessed about the band Little Mix and have been to see them perform a few times. I have drawn lots of pictures for them in a fan book I have been working on for nearly a year. I also actually met them in Liverpool in May and I got them to sign my fan book. I also did some drawings of the four band members, to give to them as presents as well as some homemade dream catchers. Leigh said I was very good at drawing and thought it was amazing!
 
I decided to do a painting of one of the band members. I chose a picture to work from which had some very bold colours. I sketched out the outline by scaling the picture up using the grid method. I then used acrylic paints to complete the picture. I found the skin tones quite difficult and had to spend a bit of time mixing the right colours. I looked for advice on the Internet and from my Mum.
 
 

 
I posted my finished picture on my Twitter account and got lots of nice feedback from other mixers (what Little Mix fans are called). I even got a tweet from Perries' Mum!

ART AND GARDEN DESIGN

We have been very busy over the last 8 months making a garden to show at the Royal Horticultural Show Spring Garden festival in Malvern. I worked with a group of 24 other home educated children, but unfortunately I was the oldest haha! The theme we had to work with was "A Great Moment in History". We decided to choose "The Invention of the Wheel". We decided to make our garden a circle shape with different sections that would be different colours of the colour wheel. In each section we put different things that represent how the wheel has been used. I enjoyed using different coloured plants to make a colour wheel collage.


 
The other kids made some clay discs and I helped paint and varnish them. We then hung them on metal trellis in the garden.

 


We also did some weaving using old bicycle wheels and scraps from the Worcester Resource Exchange. I helped to make a large dung beetle out of garden wire and fabric from the scrap store. I liked weaving with natural materials such as willow. I created some willow fences and helped to make a giant "dung ball". The dung ball and beetle were supposed to represent the moment in history when humans got the idea of the wheel from watching dung beetles rolling around their dung balls.



 



 
We also did some painting, including splatting some tyres and painting a wagon wheel like a colour wheel.
 







 You can find out more about the garden on our blog: sarahhudsonblog.tumblr.com/