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.