b9 selfportrait

Part 1:
To me a self-portrait is a representation of who the artist is as an individual be it through a physical likeness or possibly through a portrayal of their beliefs/philosophy in an 2D or 3D art form.
There are some physical characteristics that make me, me: brown eyes, medium build, fair complexion, and moles on my face. There are other non-physical traits that I believe make me my individual self: I have a odd way of looking at things at times (cause people to wonder), can't keep a beat to save my life (perfect off beat though), love history and photography, want to become an art teacher, feel loyalty to my family and friends, and there are however perhaps more to be mentioned.
I can express my different sides through various lighting features, colors, and layers of the photos.
I want people to see me as a person who has different aspects of self that come together to make someone worthwhile.
I can reinvent my self at different stages in my life by reflecting on learning experiences and people who have impacted my life and what I want to do with that information in the future.
I would like to think that as time goes by I am becoming more sure of myself.
I want to become a person that I can become proud of and who has self-assurance that shines through.
Part 2:



I selected the first image because I want a realistic rendering that portrays who I am, but at the same time provides a surreal aspect to the image. This image was a self-portrait of a vegan animal rights activist artist who creates art on to campaign for the rights of animals, focusing on the rights of chickens.
I selected the second image because it is not a traditional self-portrait in that the viewer can't tell directly through viewing the image who the self-portrait is from. I like the fact that this portrait has identifying characteristics through the outline of the body. I think that the remaining composition (background and props) helps provide personality and background information to what the artist wanted the viewer to know about his/her-self.
I will use the characteristics of these self-portraits to help me form the conceptual basis of my self-portrait by helping me decide the tone and characteristics of the final piece.

Part 3:
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~ivy/selfportrait/back.html
I will probably use this resource by broadening my concept of what a self-portrait can be. This website provides images and background information on the various categories of self-portraits. Previously, I did not know that there were metaphysical or signature (I may have heard of this in art history before but this website reminded me of the term) self-portraits.

Adobe Photoshop

I learned two things stand out in my mind from the tutorials. When you are placing an importing an image from Adbobe Photoshop into Indesign put first put a frame box on the page then go to file place and select the file from the appropriate file. Then once it is in the frame go to Object then select filter size. Another thing I learned was that in Photoshop all that you have to do is click on w (or option w) and the brush size will change.
The video that I found most helpful was the video on making selections because even though I use Adobe Photoshop often I have never really used that tool.
I thought that the presenter Terry White was the best presenter as his voice had an even tone, went a good pace and I could not find anything in his presentation that annoyed me.

Adobe Indesign

I learned that when using both the selection and direction if you click on the corners and drag the whole shape will change in relation. I also learned that to select an object behind another object you must command select on the object. In order to group or ungroup a selection once the action has already occurred double click with the selection arrow. The thing that stands out the most in my mind is that when you are editing text in any capacity you can make it set it up so that if you set it in paragraph or character styles it will be uniform in the same area you wish to work in. I learned that it does not matter whether or not you are in the same text space for captions that have numbering because CS3 has changed from previous editions and will know allow you to carry the numbering over.
The video concerning working with text styles was the most helpful because I think that will be one of the aspects that I may use the most.
I think that the presenter who had the clearest speaking style was Terry White. The presenter Anne-Marie Concepcion did not have a serious speaking voice for me and I felt my self wandering and had to force myself to pay attention.

photobucket journal reflection

When I did this project I had a print out of the elements and principles of Art handout next to me on my desk as a reference to help me choose which photos on my computer fulfilled the criteria. I then uploaded the photos to Photobucket and had the program play a slideshow. It was an easy program to figure out all I had to do was upload my photos, then choose an album to create a slideshow. This was my first experience using Photobucket because I was never interested or had a reason in sharing my photos online, besides an occasional profile picture on Facebook. I can see how this may be useful in an art classroom as you could assign students to create their own album for a project similar to this or in a photography class, this could also be of use in a yearbook class.

logo project helpful web site

I found a website that focuses on providing tutorials on how to make logos in adobe illustrator and some tips on how to start the design process on making a logo and what are some requirements on what constitutes a successful logo. I will use this website when I have some questions on how to do edit text and editing an project in adobe illustrator.
http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/15-excellent-logo-design-tutorials-using-illustrator/

Adobe illustrator

Almost everything I watched was new to me. I had not really used Adobe illustrator before and this was helpful. I noticed that some of the applications wee similar in the manner that they were used in Adobe Photoshop. I found out how to use the type on a path tool- I knew it was possible to wrap around text on an object, but did not know the specifics. I learned how to use the advance settings for the shape, line, pencil, and eraser tools. Previously, I did not know that you could click on one spot and then determine your measurements for the object you are creating.

There were two videos that were helpful above the rest to me: selecting and manipulating objects and creating type on a path. I thought that selecting and manipulating objects is a key video to understand because if you master the concepts in that video then you can use them when learning the tools by applying what you just learned with experimentation. The creating type on a path was helpful in that it was different from a regular tutorial on a tool and taught me something I would not be able to easily find out by myself.

I found that the first presenter (videos 1-6) had a clearer voice and better diction. I think that in his videos scenarios that could come up were explained in better depth.

blog post 4

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-take-portraits-19-portrait-photography-tutorials
This website would be useful for teaching students useful techniques on taking successful portrait photographs. I would either have the students look at this website for a webquest assignment or lesson or I might copy and paste sections of the website into word to give the students a handout before they are let loose on their assignment.