For our second project we created a self portrait that portrayed some form of duality in our own personalities. For this project we were allowed to use any medium or size of project. The concept of my piece was that since I play rugby I have to have a bigger, stronger looking exterior but also have a certain mental state while playing. Off the field though I am a completely different person and I'm just the skinny, goofy kid. I showed this in my art by having a skinny character of myself putting on armor that is to large for him standing next to a shield and sword which are just as big. I put myself on a giant pile of gold coins to unify the character and the weapons and to also create a diagonal composition.

If I could change one thing with this piece it would be to add colour to it because I think it would create a much more interesting to look at work of art. If I could have only coloured one part of the entire piece it would have been the pile of coins. I think this would have made the piece stand out more as well as unify the piece through one easy step.

Overall I am pleased with this piece and I am happy that it is finally complete. This piece took me a while first because I was gone at a school camp trip, then because of a constant workload from all classes which culminated in me getting sick from being really stressed, but in the end it all worked out and I am done and not that stressed.

Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud is a German born artist. Born in Berlin and the Grandson of the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. His early work was meticulously painted, he was often described as a Realist or even a Superrealist. During the late 1950's his handling became broader. I chose his self-portrait because I like the detail as well as the thickness that he applies the paint. I think the way he defines the wrinkles in his face.

Reflection

1985 (150kb); Oil on canvas, 56.2 x 51.2 cm; Private collection

Uncharted 2 + Google Sketchup

In this video Robh Ruppel, Art Director of Naughty Dog explains how he and his co-workers created the 2009 Game of the Year with a free 3D program called Google Sketchup. It was used mainly in the developmental stages of creating the game. IT was a great tool for them because they could make design choices in the third dimension they could speed up the process and make it mor eflexible since they are already in the third dimension. Robh Ruppel can believes that the futur eof concept art is going more three dimensional, because even though you can show an amazing drawing the real design comes in working in the third dimension.

Minecraft

Minecraft is a new game that is currently in beta but will be released 11/11/11. Currently it is in patch 1.6.6 and moving forward with bug fixes and new additions constantly. The creator, Marcus "Notch" Persson wanted to create a game "that was simple yet dynamic and that has a lot of potential to turn into a really great game"
As of right now the game is just an open sandbox indie game without a plot but has still made an estimated $33 Million as of April 2011. For the future of the game Notch wants to add in multiple ways to play the game. For example he wants to add an adventure mode, a survival mode and a building mode. Each mode for a different type of player.

The game is written with java script and is under development by a Swedish gaming company named Mojang. Originally Notch started creating this game by himself but felt once the game fully kicked off he had to spend time managing the website and other things instead of focusing on the game. This is why he created the company. He originally only hired four people, but has since expanded to a much larger staff.

Edward Burtynsky

Recently in class we watched a film on Edward Burtynsky who is a Canadian photographer. We watched his acclaimed award winning documentary Manufactured Landscapes which displays his breathe-taking photography and shows you how man has altered the earth through industry. I felt the film was very good because it showed me things on our planet that I couldn't have even believed existed. The most interesting thing I saw in the movie would have to have been the giant ships being disassembled for their metal.

To talk a little more about the actual artist Edward Burtynsky he was born in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1955 of Ukranian heritage. He says that he links his early exposure to industrialization from his home town to the development of his photography. His works are currently being exhibited in solo and exhibitions across Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. Some of Burtynsky's distinctions include the TED prize, The Flying Elephant Fellowship, and the Roloff Beny Book award. He was also awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Canada and has four honorary doctorate degrees.

Paintball Art

On Friday I went paint balling with a bunch of my friends and after watching people target practice on one of the building inside I started to wonder if someone ever tried to do a painting with a paintball gun.

It didn't take long to find a video of someone doing exactly what I pictured on youtube. His name is David Ballinger and from his statement he sounds like a very interesting person. He believes that there is no such thing as failure in his art and always strives to do better. He uses many different mediums in his works. Recently he has been getting into Op Art to combine two images. One you see from far away, and the other is recognizable from up close.

Here are the two videos of his paintball art.

To see more of his work check out his Gallery

Luminescent Lines

While working on a project for my class I wanted to create some interesting glowing lines, but I had absolutely no idea how. After cycling through tutorials I found from google I found a really good one. In the tutorial it gives you very detailed step by step instructions allowing almost anyone with any photoshop experience to complete it. For anyone interested in this great tutorial here is the link.