Shapes, shapes, and, more shapes

This weeks reading was really fun and reminded me of a really fun website that is all about shapes. It is can kinetic sketch, and it is all about drawing with shapes and gravity.

Triangles, Rectangles, and Circles oh my!

I have really enjoyed reading the Molly Bang book. The concepts that are talked about by Bang are things that we all observer and know but rarely to we really see these concepts. In Verbal and Visual Rhetorical we read about simplification of as argument for amplification. "When we Abstract an image we're not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details. By stripping down an image to its essential meaning an artist can amplify that meaning in a way that realistic art can't." (McCloud). I really like this quote because of the universal truth of it.  As artist we all strive for access  to a large audience and sometime we over complete our images in the hope that we will reach as many people as possible. But Molly Bang and Scott McCloud remind us that simplification can be an elegant solution.

New uses for old products

Thinking about project 6 the other day, I turned to my husband and asked him if he could help me brainstorm.  He suggested that I go this website.  I found of a lot of really good ideas for new uses for old or discard products and felt they were good enough to share with the world. 

Jittergram

Jittergram is one of my favorite apps. It allows you to create animated GIFs. It is as simple as that. You may ask why would anyone want to make animated GIFs? Well why not? They are fun and silly and good for the whole family.

Here is a couple that I made for all of you out there.

Rats off to you!

And now for something completely different!

Seasons Greetings from Baltimore

This evening I finished then holiday cards. I am so relieved and a little sad. I really enjoyed working on them but I am really glad that they are done.

Here is the finished product.

One less car

I am 28 and I never learned how to drive a car. I have lived in cities most of my life and have always loved being able to get from point A to point B using my own self propelled power. This weekend I have been doing research on organizations that promote using alternative transportation and found Bike Maryland. They are an organization that promotes biking around the state. I am interested in creating a "one less car" campaign for Bike Maryland.
I am still trying to figure out how I am going to show cause and effect with this campaign but I have some ideas.

Call to action

Here is a great example of a campaign that uses a metaphorical effect to get their point across. By showing a very jaring  image of a little boy with a bag over his head made up of smoke, the people behind this ad are demonstrating what it is like for a young child in a household where smokers light up with children around. The call to action is very simple here: don't smoke around kids.

Cause and Effect

When I was in Ireland studying photography I saw a very provocative commercial about wearing a seat belt.  It has been along time ago since I first saw it but it is still very vivid in my mind. The haunting voice over saying "This is Mike, today he is going to hit his girlfriend so hard she is going to end up with permanent brain damage." over the image of a attractive young couple kissing. It makes you think this is a PSA about violent against women. But then the couple gets into a car and shortly after they drive off the car is hit. Mike begins to bounce around the cabin of the car hitting all the passengers and his girlfriend. At the end of the commercial the cop on the scene says into his walkie-talkie "3 dead in this vehicle, the girl is critical. They say the guy without the seat-belt did the damage." 
When I first say this PSA I was blown away. They are showing both cause and effect. If you don't wear a seat-beat you will cause harm to more then just yourself, and the effect will be damage to those you love.
Needless to say I wear a seat belt every time I get into a car.

Rats!

Working very hard on the Holiday cards, and I thought I might share one of them

The inside: To the New Year!

H.P. Lovecraft

Halloween is coming and I am very excited. It's my favorite holiday of all time! I love getting dressed up and going out to see everyone's costumes. Another thing I love about Halloween is reading scary stories. And the king of the scary stories is H.P. Lovecraft.  Lovecraft created a wonderful vivid world with books like The Call of Cthuhlu, At the Mountain of Madness, and the Dunwich Horror.

The Mythos that Lovecraft crafted captures you and makes you look at the world in a tilted manner for weeks afterwards. One of the most famous member of the Mythos is Cthuhlu; a tran dimensional god and subject of my project 2.

So I would like to leave you all with a picture of Cthuhlu