Logo Creation

Creating a logo to represent myself was interesting, I am not the best at drawing but I drew things people would be able to understand. When creating my logo I thought about my name and my last name is King so I wanted to include some kind of crown. I love flowers as well and always try and draw them so I thought that would be a fun thing to include as well. The most important thing I learned when creating my logo was that just throwing drawings down on a piece of paper can create new and different ideas and stem off of those drawings. The videos really showed me the amount of time and thought goes into the creating of Logos. 

Wonders of Color

I thought it was a lot of fun creating the value scale and color wheel. It was difficult trying to make each shade lighter on the value scale especially when making it darker. Also determining when and how light to make it on the next square (knowing you only had 10).  I enjoyed doing the color wheel it was interesting to mix the colors and get different results. The most important discovery in these studies was it gave people the ability to use multiple and various colors for creations of all kinds. I think the videos gave me a good sense of how to make different colors and how they matter in artist's work.

Click here to view color wheel

Element and Principle Project!

Doing this project really made me think about the pictures I was taking. I can't take a picture now without thinking of what element may be involved. I feel more knowledgeable about what is actually going on in a picture and the elements and principles it holds rather than just looking at a picture for it's beauty.

Click Here For Slideshow

Color and it's Effects

Color is light reflecting off objects and either back to our eyes or absorbed.  There are many different properties of color and expressive qualities as well.  Color promotes emotional responses from people. Artists use it as a way to direct the viewer in a way he or she wants then to feel when looking at a painting. I found that the optical effects of color are very interesting to me.  Certain combinations of colors can "play tricks" on your eyes. Simultaneous Contrast allows colors to appear more intense if they are near each other. Staring at a painting or drawing for a long time can make the receptors in your eyes tired, leaving an outline of that painting or drawing still appear in your mind.  I found that the use of color in Titlan's Assumpion of the Virgin Painting interesting.  Ultramarine, meaning "beyond the sea" was a stone very expensive.  It was imported from Afganistan.  This stone revealed the most intense blue in nature.  Titlan reserved it for the Virgin's cloak in his painting. Vincent Van Gogh used strong/ bold colors to express strong emotional reaction from viewers.  In the feelings video, Art normally shows civilizations changing, it does not change civilizations.  Jacques-Louis David's painting did in a way.  He made paintings during the French Revolution that reflected political action.  The shapes he used in his paintings defined emotions and feelings.  I think this made a big impact on me that art can be that strong to people to transform the French Revolution.

Aesthetics

The key concepts: The first video talked about what is a work of art. How aristotle was different then plato and analyzed tragety. The first modern system of aesthetics was discussed as well.
The second video talked about the history and origin of aesthetics.  Cave paintings and their discovery were also talked about.  Plato (classical era) is the most important because he believes things that are not around forever is an idea that can only be reasoned and that beauty is just an attraction. Changeux view was interesting because he talked about how the brain basically tells you what you are seeing. He also believes humans have artistic non-verbal ways of expressing themselves.  He talks about how the human brain has evolved significantly over time. Ramachandran came up with the 8 laws of art. He believes that a butterfly has beauty because of the butterfly it came from not because it is what our brain makes us see.  These videos explain in depth the perception of aesthetics.  I think these films are very interesting in explaining aesthetics and the origins of them. They both add depth in understanding these topics and bringing up subjects dealing with aesthetics that I would never have thought of.

Beginnings

When creating a new GMail and setting up a blog I found it to be pretty simple. The blog was a little different but other than that no real problems.  This course seems very interesting to me and I would like to learn more about two-dimensional media and the history of the arts in previous years.  I personally love taking online courses, they allow me to work a full time job and still have time to spend time at home relaxing and getting things done that need to be.  I would recommend online courses to anyone who is able to stay on task or has a demanding life.