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Five separate colors at least one tint & one shade/tone

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2-D Final: Unity & Variety

One concept that designers often work within is Unity & Variety. This refers to the idea that within a design there should be a tension between an element of the formal (aesthetic) language that is utilized in a unifying or harmonious fashion, and one that is utilized for contrast/variety/asymmetry.  For our final we are going to do two different 9 x 12 images. Either a two image variants for the same subject/theme OR two “comic covers” for the comic you did for the midterm. The image on each page must be different but related by subject or content. The cover can include the name of the comic, but it is not required. Both must be in full color. Preferably paint or digital.

Image 1: 

Combine the unifying balance scheme of either Mirror Symmetry or Radial 

with the varying/high color contrast color scheme of either: 

Split Complementary or Triadic.  Each of those color systems can be used in the ‘+’ format, which means:

Traditional Split comp or Split Comp+ (traditional split comp plus the direct opposite- 4 colors)

Traditional Triadic  or (Triadic+ aka Tetradic- 4 colors)

*Mirror/Radial with Triadic (primary)

Mirror Symmetry with Triadic (secondary: Green/Violet/Orange)

Mirror Symmetry with Split Comp (Red/Blue Green & Yellow Green)

Image 2:

Combine the variety of an Asymmetric or diagonal flow with the unifying/harmonies color scheme of either: Monochromatic or Analogous.

*Diagonal Asymmetry with Analogous (RO/R/RV)

Diagonal Asymmetry with Monochromatic Red.

Paint/Digital/Markers/Colored Pencils/Collage/Mixed Media. Any color materials.

Though Paint or Digital preferred.

Digital or on Bristol or other canvas/material NOT sketch book.

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The Basquiat/Graffiti Assignment

Watch this documentary about the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat via the NCC library video streaming service.

https://ncc.kanopy.com/video/jean-michel-basquiat-radiant-child

FOR even more context watch episodes 4 & 5 of the “Andy Warhol Diaries” on NETFLIX.

Then similarly to the Dismaland assignment, begin with these questions. You can choose to answer ANY THREE out of the five. After that there is a drawing.

The Basquiat Questions

What similarities do you think Basquiat's later 'gallery work' shared with traditional graffiti art. In which ways was it different?

When Basquiat was starting out, and working as 'SAMO' he was really just writing poetry/philosophy on city walls. Do you think simply words and ideas can be considered visual art? Defend your answer.

Basquiat often felt like he was treated as the art world's 'token black artist,' and was not seen as simply 'an artist.' How do you think this affected him? 

Basquiat collaborated with legendary pop artist Andy Warhol. How were the two artists styles different? Why do you think they were drawn to each other.

Why do you think this documentary is called 'The Radiant Child?'

The Basquiat Drawing:

Jean-Michel Basquiat created crowded, chaotic images where he referenced his heroes in music, sports and life along with words that he associated with the feelings he was trying to put into the drawings/paintings. He also often used symbols like crowns and halos. Without trying to imitate his style directly, create a graffiti or graphic space inspired image in either full color marker or paint (or digital) that includes a reference to at least one of your heroes in music or sports, or life, plus words that relate to your feelings/mood. Try to include symbols/logos/characters from brands or content that are important to you. Try to create an all over visual collage of references/images and words that tells me something about you.

Basquiat...

Traditional Graffiti Art:

Recent Street Art:

Andy Warhol Paintings:

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The Comic/Composition Assignment (2-D Design students only)

You are going to be do a minimum five panel comic using five set ups with specific orientation and weight combinations. The imagery you choose can either be your own original imagery, or a mash up of two distinctive universe such as for example; Spider-man and Spongebob. Rick & Morty and Batman. My Hero Academia and Garfield. The mash up possibilities are endless.

Set up/Comic Panel 1:

Horizontal Flow with Mirror Symmetry.

Horizontal Flow is the orientation system where we read an image left to right (or right to left,) with a vertical axis dividing the image. (Axis is straight, flow is wobbly line)

This flow or orientation is to be joined with Mirror Symmetry. Mirror symmetry is a way of understanding the weight distribution of imagery. In Mirror Symmetry, imagery on either side of the axis seem to be mirrored or reflecting each other. Sometimes the effect is quite precise, but often it is more implied, which means it isn’t perfectly mirrored, but the sense of twinning is present. 

Precise mirror symmetry.

Implied mirror symmetry.

Examples from Art History.

The following Warhol image ‘Double Elvis,’ is a good example of the limits of the implied version of Mirror Symmetry. The reflection doesn’t mirror, but the overall effect is to achieve balance via twinned images, positions.

So for the first panel of your comic you need an image that has left to right horizontal flow across a vertical axis, and also has imagery which achieves some version of mirror symmetry.

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Set Up/Comic panel Two: you need use the same horizontal flow, but this time with relative symmetry. This is a balance system where multiple elements exist in a loose crowded balance of weight but individual elements are not mirrored in shape or position. There is relatively the same about of imagery on both sides of the axis, but that imagery itself is varied in shape or position. It can be slightly out of balance and still be relatively in balance. This works best with 3 or more elements.

Look at these panels from The Walking Dead graphic novel that have this system.

Relative  with horizontal flow. Axis (imaginary dividing line) shown in purple. Flow is not shown but is there in how we read the direction of the elements.

With a slight diagonal flow

Back to a (mainly) horizontal flow.

And two from art history:

Picasso...

And Manet.

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Set Up/Comic Panel 3: Diagonal flow with Asymmetric Relationship.

In this set up, first you must establish a diagonal flow across a diagonal axis. (Axis represented by straight line, flow by wobbly line.)

THEN YOU MUST ESTABLISH AN ASYMMETRICAL DYNAMIC. This means that an element on one side of the axis is dramatically larger, more dominant than the element(s) on the other, which are smaller and/or weaker.

One from the ‘90s anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion”

From Art History:

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SET UP/COMIC PANEL 4

RADIAL ORIENTATION: This is the set up where all imagery orbits or radiates out or from a central gravity point in concentric circles. (This circular flow is shown.) The weight system is this panel is free form, your choice.

From Art History:

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Set up/Comic Panel Five:

Vertical Flow. This is the flow that runs up and down, and is the most awkward and difficult because it requires an action that rises or drops. This panel can be placed in between any of the others, because ending a comic on with layout may prove difficult. (Axis is shown with a straight line. Flow with a wobbly. The balance system in this panel is free-from/your choice.

From Art History:

HOW TO MAKE THE COMIC:

1. Use the templates below to organize five panels over 3 pages. Panels do not need to be exactly these dimensions, but should follow the general guidelines in terms of shapes and layout.

2. Pencil your piece first in 2H or 4H pencil, then Ink in black pens. This is the classic comic process, see this example.

3. Color is not required or even suggested, if you choose to use color you are only allowed to use SPOT color, which means ONE color in a maximum of two panels.  

4. You either have to CREATE your own characters or story OR mash up TWO UNIVERSES not normally seen together.

6. Panels do not need to show a continuous story or action, and instead can show disconnected ‘scenes’ as long as they include the same characters and general theme/setting. However, doing a continuous story or action is very good practice.

Student examples:

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THE DISMALAND ASSIGNMENT.

The famously provocative street artist Banksy opened up a temporary theme park called ‘Dismalland’ in rural England. Full of his, and other artists depressing, dysfunctional and satirical art and installations, the entire park was one big critique of Disneyland and other aspect of western culture and capitalism.

1. Watch this 28 minute documentary about Dismalland.

https://youtu.be/VCpYYYzQJ3c

Modes of Transmogriphication:

Aesthetic: altering established cultural iconography in mainly visual/stylistic terms, for aesthetic interest. Creating new or interesting or bizarre versions that don't necessarily have a critique or POV beyond that surface transformation (thought it could be said that the very process of changing something so much a part of our cultural landscape is in itself a POV.)

Original: Aesthetic Transmogrification:

2. Conceptual Transmogrification: This is the mode where the image/subject changes for the purpose of making a cultural/political/ intellectual or philosophical point/critique. This often also includes an aesthetic alteration but not always, sometimes it could be expressed via re-contextualization or the story/narrative used. This is mostly the process used by the art we saw in the Dismaland doc.'

THE ASSIGNMENT:

Choose a character from any children's/YA media (Disney/Pixar/Nick/Dreamworks etc..) and on Bristol in ink and colored markers (or digital/other color medium) create a new version of that character that presents him or her (or it) in an unexpected way. Could be the way they look or dress. Could be what they are doing or the situation they are in. Maybe you are satirizing Disney ala Banksy? Maybe you are pushing against expectations to make a social or political critique. Maybe you are creating a surreal or bizarre remix of the character. Be prepared to explain to us during crit! Reflect on the two concepts of transmogrification that we discussed above and in class.

Student examples.

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Value: Using Light and Dark

VALUE

(noun) - A formal element of art, value refers to the range of lightness or darkness of tone or color within an image. Value becomes critical in a work which has no colors other than black, white and a gray scale. For a great example of value in action, think of a black and white photograph. You can easily visualize how the infinite variations of gray suggest planes and textures.

Gradient Value: This is the approach to using tone or "shading' which utilizes soft, blending, blurring movements from light to dark and vice versa to try to capture the effects of light on subject matter in the physical world. Light and shadow is used to created the illusion of shape, depth and texture as well as environmental illusions of light.

Rembrandt, Artists Father

Edward Weston

Dorothea Lange

Colin Kaepernick Nike ad (2018)

Robert Longo (contemporary)

Now look at the difference in the same subject matter when we switch to Graphic/Closed value, where independent shapes and areas are given distinct non-gradient values edge to edge. This effect creates greater contrast and immediacy, but sacrifices realism. This is the approach to value most frequently scene in graphic design.

Shepard Fairey

Grey scale pencil  (graphic)

Grey scale pen/crosshatching 

Gradient (pencil)

Gradient (pen/halftone)

Gradient pen (pointillism/halftone)

4′” x 4″ alternating pencil gradient with pen gradient.

Part ONE Part 1     7"x 9": graphic/closed value abstraction in your sketchbook

Draw two horizontal lines with two different angles across the bristol paper. Then draw one vertical line. Then draw 2 curving, looping, moving irregular lines that start at the left edge and finish to the right.  Should yield 18-22. If it yields less than 15 add another line. In each shape one must create a closed value, with a maximum of 3 paper white areas left blank. The goal is to have no two adjacent areas appear to have the same value. It is a good idea to use a darker (6B) pencil for your black and dark grey areas, a 2B pencil for your mid grey tones, and to experiment with the H pencils for your lightest tones.

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Understanding line, and the moodswing line portrait

Line is an essential building block of imagery since the first artists painted in caves. We can define it this way:

Line is most easily defined as a mark that spans a distance between two points (or the path of a moving point), taking any form along the way.

As we learned in class there a various elements of line which a designer can control, among them are:

1. Direction: the way a line moves, where it goes, how it gets there. 2. Intensity: the heaviness or lightness of a line, thickness or thinness.  3. Density: how a line accumulates in area. Does it concentrate or space out. 4.Context: where in a picture plane a specific line is placed. 5. Medium: the tool an artist uses to make a line, the texture created.

In design we have articulation lines, expression lines, and abstraction lines.

Articulation lines, are lines we use to carefully define the edges and outline and interior details of forms we wish to have a specific appearance. Often these are lines used to render something from observation.

DaVinci Skull

Albrecht Dürer

Expression Lines  are lines which have an intensity and distinctive mark which bring the individual style, vision and aesthetic of the artist into collaboration with what is being articulated.

Vincent van Gogh Starry Night Sketch.

Egon Scheille

Other times there is no subject matter, and an artist uses only Pure Abstraction Lines  to create a design with no connection to the physical world

Jackson Pollack No. 14

Cy Twombly

We have now created an in-class abstract expressive line vocabulary in our sketchbook for the following emotions or psychological states:

1. Anger/rage 2. Joy/ecstacy 3. Depression 4. Tranquility/Zen 5. Confusion/Anarchy 6. Order/Authority 7. Fear/Anxiety

Your assignment is, using pencils or markers (or digital stylus/wacom) to create a 'mood swing line portrait' of either yourself, a friend, or a celebrity based on a PHOTOGRAPH on one piece of 9x12' Bristol, or digital. This drawing is to be composed only of articulation, expression and abstraction lines, and NOT soft areas of shading, blurring or smudging. 

Using the line vocabulary we created in class, you are to choose 3 emotions styles to integrate/infuse into the subject of your portrait, and 1 emotion style to use for a  1 or 2 color abstract background. The background line abstraction can be done in colored pencil or marker. While you should use the influence of our classwork, you are allowed to make changes/refine your style guide from the classwork. Remember you do not need to explain why you used a certain emotion style in a certain area, they are just aesthetic/design choices.

We should be able to see how the specific styles you created in your emotional line vocabulary have influenced the expressive lines you have used in your portrait. I will ask you to explain where and how you took the style created in your in-class experiment and integrated it into your portrait. The background is just a pattern of pure abstraction lines drawn in 1 or two accent colors.

Below are some examples of the assignment. How you balance articulation vs. expression is up to you, but remember this is a lesson about line and expression, and I want you to err towards making these electric, abstract and interesting.

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Organic & Geometric Shapes: tension/competition/ integration

All two dimensional shapes break down into two basic categories: Organic (or curvilinear) and Geometric (or rectilinear) Organic shapes are typically asymmetrical shapes with an irregular boundary, often flowing or curving, thus they are often also referred to as curvilinear shapes. However, the boundaries or edges can also be jagged or prickly, showing one of various possible influences from the natural world. Examples of organic shapes include the shapes of plants, rocks and animals. Aside from obvious organic forms, designers  often create abstract and unique organic shapes and patterns which may reference nature, but do not precisely resemble any actual natural object or being.

Examples of Organic Shapes in Art & Design:

John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851. 

Salvador Dali ‘Metamorphosis of Narcissus’

Salvatore Dali ‘Burning Giraffes and Telephones’

Joan Miro, ‘Carnival of Harlequin’

Georgia O'Keeffe

Peter Max, psychedelic art.

Ryan McGinness

Emilio Pucci print

Arcimbolo

Steve Ditko, Dr. Strange Comic book 1960s

Examples of ORGANIC ABSTRACTIONS:

Geometric (or Rectilinear Shapes) are mechanical shapes characterized by their ability to be mapped or grid-ed mathematically. Thus they have straight lines, definable angles and arcs, and can be represented by points and equations. Beyond squares, circles and triangles, designers build new and provocative geometric forms by combining and expanding existing shapes into new directions. Examples of geometric shapes in art & design:

Piet Mondrian

Frank Stella's 'Harran II', 1967

Blinky Palermo

Movie poster, Boris Bilinsky, 1927

Dado panel, first half of 15th century; Mamluk Egypt Polychrome marble mosaic

Star Wars video game 1980.

Contemporary 8-bit/vaporwave digital art.

EXAMPLES OF GEOMETRIC ABSTRACTIONS:

THE SHAPE ASSIGNMENT:

So our assignment is to render a 9″ X 12″ 2D image where you create visual tension, transformation and/or integration between organic and geometric shapes. This could be expressed 'figuratively,' meaning with recognizable objects and settings (like a werewolf wrestling a geometric robot) or through abstract compositions of shapes, tones and colors. 

THIS ASSIGNMENT IS ON BRISTOL IN FULL COLORED INK, OR FULL COLORED DIGITAL OR PHOTO.

Student examples: