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Project 5: Photomontage

January 22, 2020 / Allison / 0 Comments

Book Cover and Flyer Designs

I was intrigued by this assignment’s artist influences as well as the prospect of recreating covers for my favorite books. Hannah Hoch’s DaDa style of collages is grotesque but intriguing, and Raoul Hausmann’s is continuously surreal. I decided to use one or both of these artists as influences. I struggled to choose between two books, though: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

I first found several pictures that applied to each book and experimented with the positions and cropping of different parts of the image. I found that Hannah Hoch’s inherently strange style was great for I’ll Give You the Sun, so I played around with the design of the twins that are in the novel. These twins tell two halves of the same story, so I wanted to combine them in a twisting way in the style of Hoch.

I was enjoying this process, but after reviewing the different artists, I decided that Slaughterhouse-Five had themes that were more in line with the time period of the Photomontage movement. The collages of Raoul Hausmann would fit very well with the disassociated state that is so present in the novel. So, I started over with images pertaining to Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

This design came very naturally. Raoul Hausmann’s photomontage images repeatedly focus on the mind, subconscious, and invention as does the novel. Taking place in World War II, Billy Pilgrim witnesses the destruction caused at the bombing of Dresden. The entire book is told out of chronological order due to Billy’s ability to “fall out of time”.

All of this is, I find very appropriate and suited for the style of Raoul Hausmann. I then went on to create the flyer for the book event as pictured below.

This flyer includes Kurt Vonnegut’s signature: a small self-portrait.

The second book cover focused more on the psychological aspect of the book and still includes images from the bombing of Dresden. It follows the same black and white scheme, and originally, it was all black and white, but I changed the title to yellow. This was a change made on the part of my class’s critiques. A white banned that was behind the title was a bit distracting, so I got rid of the white and made it yellow.

Below is the book poster that I used the original book design for because of the way it stood out.

Here are my finished covers in full:

I really enjoyed this project; it gave me the opportunity to try a style that I have never tried before and that I’m very new to. It also gave me the opportunity to revisit the books that I have enjoyed reading so much.

Project 4: Bezold Effect

January 22, 2020 / Allison

The Bezold Effect uses subtle changes within patterns using color theory to use the same shapes in design, but it completely alters the effect just by changing very few elements. It is the conjunction of the two different elements that makes the effect so mesmerizing.

I began by making a hexagonal pattern using triangles and diamonds, but I was having a hard time incorporating my color bridge project. After some suggestions from my teacher, I decided to take individual pieces from my color bridge to fill in the shapes in the new design.

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For ease of Photoshop to process my images, I decided to just use one section (triangle) of the new design. I still used elements of the different images in the color bridge, but I focused on the texture and color of the man-made textiles and organic elements. I used many different colors to reflect the color bridge’s intense hues. I then mirrored my arrangement to create consistency in the pattern.

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Because my pattern was made from pieces of images and not from solid colors, in order to create the Bezold Effect, I drew a shape around the pattern acting as a frame for the pattern itself. In pattern A, the shape was made pink, with a white background, and in pattern B, the shape was made white with a pink background as shown below:

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Bezold1-1024x512.png — Bezold Pattern A and Pattern B

Patterns are the foundation of the Bezold Effect, so here I have 2×2, 4×4, and 8×8 versions of Pattern A and Pattern B:

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Lastly, for the final Bezold Effect, I placed all 8 designs from both pattern A and pattern B next to each other and reflected pattern B’s orientation so that the viewer can very clearly see the effector of the multiple patterns against each other.

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Project 3: Color Bridge

January 22, 2020 / Allison

The goal of the color bridge is to create a path for the viewer to travel down using color theory, all surrounding a theme. In my first trial of the cold bridge, I used my favorite elements of several copyright-free images. I selected and cut these pieces using the lasso tool as well as the polygonal lasso. This created both raw, sharp edges and organic, smooth edges. I arranged these according to their color, but, at first, I didn’t have an initial theme. I was just focusing on exploring color and texture. Unfortunately, not having a designated theme caused me to lose sight of the prompt, so I had to try again with a focus and emphasis on the bridge aspect.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is COLORBRIDGE-791x1024.jpg — My first attempt at the color bridge

I chose a lot of natural images animals, plants, and canyon rocks, but in contrast to nature, I also had man-made textiles. They were equally brilliant in color, and at times it was difficult to tell if the clipping was a man-made textile or a natural element. I found this realization quite fascinating, so I separated the element of the textiles from nature. Instead of having both of these elements completely separated, I chose to use their comparison to nature to flow into one another, but still keep them divided. All man-made elements are cut with harsh, sharp, straight edges, and when comparing these lines to the organic shapes of the natural elements, it created division. To further exemplify their differences, I made a rectangular shape using the textiles, but it can only be seen with the principle of closure.

The path begins in the downward sloping yellow fur textile and flows into the canyon rocks. Note how the straight edge of the yellow textile clipping contrasts to the wavy shape that it analogously flows into. The top and bottom thirds of the project are represented using the natural elements, but nonetheless, they flow into the man-made fabric. The path diverges for the satisfaction of the textile use. The colors of the textiles did not necessarily mix well, but they did blend into the natural elements. This was exactly what I wanted to achieve in this piece, the differences in natural vs. man-made objects, but how they also reflect each other through color and saturation. And, although the path splits and intertwines, the viewer is still guided back and forth from textile to nature, and back to textile.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is COLORBRIDGE-final-psd.png — My final Color Bridge

Real Men Cry Too:

December 14, 2019 / Allison / 1 Comment

Toxic Masculinity in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

The masculine roles in our society are regularly associated with domination and power. Expressing emotional vulnerability and love is commonly taboo among men and can jeopardize their masculinity. This male stereotype is represented by several characters in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but J.K. Rowling also develops critical male characters who express their emotions even if doing so is considered effeminate in our society.

Toxic masculinity is comprised of the over-encouragement of men to hold back many intrinsically human emotions. These emotions are most often labeled as feminine. In Language and Gender, it is described how femininity in a man plays a tremendous role in his societal status: “Men deemed feminine (or effeminate) are seen as inferior men. While women deemed masculine may sometimes be seen as inferior women, they are also seen as striving for what is in cast a valued masculine persona. This is one reason that masculine behavior in women is often less stigmatized than feminine behavior in men.” (24, Eckert, McConnell-Ginet). This ideology that men are inferior when expressing feminine characteristics enforces the rejection of love, nurture, and even crying when, in fact, these are all parts of being human. Toxic masculinity forces men to renounce healthy coping mechanisms like talking about emotions and leads them to internalize sadness and express anger instead. Characters like Voldemort, Uncle Vernon, and even young Dudley conform to this ideology; they resort to violence to deal with their problems. In contrast, Rowling establishes other male characters, like Hagrid and Dumbledore, who are good in nature and possess feminine qualities.

Being a “mother figure” is the embodiment of feminine stereotypes, and Hagrid doesn’t hesitate to express his love, care, and concern for others. After hatching his long-anticipated baby dragon, he speaks to it as any proud mother would to her child: “‘Isn’t he beautiful?’ Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon’s head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs. ‘Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!’ said Hagrid… ‘I’ve decided to call him Norbert,’ said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. ‘He really knows me now, watches. Norbert! Norbert! Where’s Mommy?'” (page 156, Rowling). Hagrid repeatedly expresses his love, and therefore femininity, not only Norbert but for Harry too. When Hagrid is first introduced, he cries for little Harry as he is brought to his aunt and uncle after his parents were killed. Despite being a large burly man, he still freely expresses his grief. The film uses these same scenes with similar dialogue. Calling himself “mommy” to his new dragon is not only endearing to his personality, but it’s also a significant way viewers recognize his disregard for strict masculinity.

Dumbledore is also willing and open about his emotions, especially when speaking about love. This is not as openly expressed in the film, but nonetheless, he speaks to Harry about the love of Harry’s mother, and how love itself is powerful magic: “‘Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign… to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.'” (page 199, Rowling). Dumbledore recognizes how powerful love is, and acknowledges the hatred and ambition that are so commonly linked to the toxic masculinity that is essential to Quirrell’s downfall.

Men are often subliminally taught that to assert dominance, which is highly encouraged in toxic masculinity, fear is usually used to exert control over others. When Harry first learns about Voldemort, Hagrid can’t even bear to say his name out of the terror it causes him: “‘…This — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin’ fer followers. Got ’em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o’ his power, ’cause he was gettin’ himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry… terrible things happened. He was takin’ over. ‘Course, some stood up to him — an’ he killed ’em. Horribly.'” (page 35, Rowling). Voldemort stops at nothing to gain power, and he especially doesn’t hesitate killing people who disagree with him. Voldemort cannot fathom the love described by Dumbledore, and would never cry over a child or feel as though he was a mother like Hagrid. He rejects any and all feminine qualities and enforces the toxic hatred and emotional suppression that is instilled in so many men and young boys.

Uncle Vernon, while never having murdered anyone, is still never seen expressing a loving word except when he is proud of his son for hitting Harry or yelling about the number of presents he received. He consistently assumes that brute force will solve problems. Once acknowledging that Harry is a wizard, Uncle Vernon figures that using abuse as a punishment could have solved Harry’s peculiarity a long time ago: “‘Now, you listen here, boy,’ he snarled, ‘I accept there’s something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn’t have cured…'” (page 36, Rowling). His abuse is his way of creating fear, and it’s comparable to Voldemort’s terrorism. While Uncle Vernon’s toxic expression of masculinity may be hurtful to Harry, it’s taught to Dudley too. Dudley then inherits these traits and uses Harry to express his anger.

J.K. Rowling consistently gives the positive male characters some feminine qualities, or rather, allows them to be men with freely expressed human emotions. In contrast, the ‘bad guys’ of the story are filled with anger and use fear to exert their power. Both the novel and film use these characters’ femininity or masculinity to portray their good or bad intentions (typically concerning Harry). Dumbledore’s speech on love is both in the film and novel and expresses the importance of it regardless. In both versions, Uncle Vernon and Voldemort, despite their differences, thrive on anger. The toxic masculinity present in the book is ever-present in the movie as well, but thankfully, it is understood to be dangerous. Expressing emotions doesn’t make Dumbledore or Hagrid any less masculine. They simply have healthier coping mechanisms, and they are in a better mental state because of it.

Works Cited

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic, 1997.

Eckert, Penelope, and Sally McConnell-Ginet. Language And Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Print.

General Reflection on LDR 101 and Leadership

December 10, 2019 / Allison

Classes do not always leave a lasting impression on you. However, taking a course that not only makes you evaluate your leadership skills but also those of beloved characters from young adult fantasy novels can leave you questioning the impression your leadership has on others. Throughout this course, I have learned about the two most prevalent styles of leadership: autonomous and interdependent. Those who lead autonomously tend to call the shots and choose the roles and responsibilities of their peers. Interdependent leaders prefer to work on the same level as their peers and specialize in utilizing their strengths. Evaluating these two types of leaders in the context of gender roles gave me incredibly valuable insight into the mechanics of our society.

From this course, I gained a more profound understanding of what effective leadership is through the articles, essays, and novels we read. At the start of the semester, I knew that I preferred to work alongside others to understand and learn from them. I also knew that a stereotypical leader is more likely to dictate others through actions and decisions. Because of this, I didn’t consider myself a very commanding and authoritative leader. However, by reading and analyzing books and articles, and through completing the essays and projects in this class, I have come to a better understanding of how I can be an influential leader without having to look down on others. Being an effective leader is not about gaining status. It’s about inspiring others to act, which I do best when collaborating with others and not while working autonomously.

Based on the two modes of leadership, one can infer that leaders perform in various ways. However, when defining what qualifies as leadership, we tend to set standards. One of the critical essays for this class was about our response to William Cronan’s “Only Connect…” The Goals of a Liberal Education. This article focuses on how being educated in liberal arts should produce certain qualities in those who experience it. While analyzing this article for the assignment, I agreed that many of Cronan’s listed characteristics could apply to effective leaders as well; they should inspire change, practice empathy and humility, and communicate effectively. However, some traits did not seem necessary to be an effective leader. Cronan’s idea that being able to solve problems, as useful as this may be, is unnecessary if you’re trying to lead people towards a common goal. These are good things to know if you’re trying to define what leaders should be able to do, but they are not very helpful if you’re trying to analyze your influence on others. I did not gain much understanding of leadership in context to myself or my peers through his list of favored qualities found in liberally educated people. Instead, I developed my views on leadership with the help of other assignments that were unique to this class.

A particularly striking concept I realized in this course was that a person’s preferred leadership method often correlates with their gender. Alternatively, we often label the two types of leadership as masculine or feminine. For this course, we read several articles that covered a broad spectrum of related issues, including a study performed at an all-girls school concerning their leadership methods. In this particular study discussed in Making Connections: The Relational Worlds of Adolescent Girls at Emma Willard School, it was revealed how these young girls almost always resorted to interdependent leadership. These girls also avoided roles such as class president because they felt as though their method of leading was better suited in other (less authoritative) positions, and perhaps they were. However, in the book In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development, Carol Gilligan explains how the idea that women belong in more caring and neutral roles is instilled in females all of their lives. With this in mind, perhaps an interdependent leader would be very well suited for class president, but they have just never associated their ability to integrate opinions with people in a position of power. Shortly after reading these articles, our class wrote a reflective essay on our modes of leadership. In this essay, I had the opportunity to evaluate why leading autonomously is preferred to leading interdependently in our society. In summary, it’s because recognizing a strong leader whom people look up to for guidance is much easier than acknowledging one who works on the same level as others.

Leaders do not always have to be authoritative to lead effectively. With this knowledge, I was able to approach the novels we read with a new perspective. On several occasions, our group discussions on the books challenged me to analyze characters and their actions. Suddenly, I was noticing that even minor characters were exhibiting forms of leadership. For example, Hagrid from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone leads autonomously by guiding Harry into the Wizarding World. Using characters to distinguish modes of leadership considerably helped to not only understand them properly but to understand leaders in their entirety.

Applying this extensive understanding of leadership (especially when analyzing its relation to gender) is what guided us the most in our final project: the making of a young adult fantasy film. It was clear that my team members also preferred to work interdependently because none of us became the team leader. Being an interdependent group helped us to feel free to add contributions without the pressure of one decision-maker. I would engage in communication, complete my decided parts of the project, and reach out for ideas and opinions from others. I see myself as interdependent because that’s how I feel most comfortable. At the beginning of the semester, I assumed that ideal leaders only acted autonomously, but now I can recognize that effective leaders can communicate alongside their peers and accomplish just as much.

Project 2: GESTALT Principles

October 23, 2019 / Allison

The Gestalt principles can be described as visually perceptive qualities in a work of art. Using these principles, and especially combining them, we are able to make engaging and interesting pieces and compositions. I really enjoyed this project, especially when pushing one design to be visually stronger (you can see this in several of my process drawings).

Symmetry

In this principle, I mostly focused on berries for my design. Strawberries have an interesting design considering their seeds are on the outside. It also gave me the opportunity to create the illusion of a 3D form. Adding black to the background also created closure within the surrounding strawberries.

Closure

I wanted to experiment with the peeled orange and how the white skins that cling to the orange could be used to represent the orange as a whole. The third image was most directly representing that idea, but it gave too much context to strongly represent closure. Placing the orange at an angle made it much more engaging. I also like the idea of using dragon fruit, but because it needed more context to be fully understood, I decided to keep the orange as my final design.

Similarity

I immediately gravitated to using pomegranate for similarity. All of the little seeds are nearly identical, and there are so many of them. However, I tried other fruit concepts including the principle of an anomaly with the peach design and even a tomato which represented similarity trough the repetition of the slices.

Proximity

I used bananas in several of my trial designs because I wanted to accent the closeness of the banana bunch and the distance of the single separated banana. I tried the same thing with several fruits in the same image, but I decided to keep it to just one fruit to keep the theme consistent. I also experimented with the distance created by a bunch of grapes that have been mostly eaten, but later found that I wanted to use the graped for continuation.

Figure Ground

This principle came as more of a challenge when trying to make ideas for figure-ground reversal, however, I soon realized that the theme would stay consistent if I simply reversed the background are foreground. I also experimented with the pineapple design, but I was much more fond of the papaya and all of its egg-like seeds.

Continuation

As I mentioned in “Proximity”, I wanted to use grapes for continuation, particularly accenting the continuity through the line of the stem, but also through the cascading orientation of the grapes themselves. Again, I experimented with other fruit, but I already had a biased towards the concept of the grapes.

Project 1: Shape Integration

October 1, 2019 / Allison / 0 Comments

To explore negative shapes, spaces and Photoshop itself, our first project of Art 144 was to choose a letter, font, and crop it on at least three sides. From there we were to create equivocal and unequivocal images from these shapes. Here, I started with a ‘g’ and made separate layers for each of the negative spaces.

I began by moving the shapes around more than transforming them, and after experimenting a bit, I found a sort of landscape. After manipulating the opacity, I had begun to create a sky out of the negative space.

The previous piece had a small protagonist in the lower right. I really liked the idea of creating a narrative for this character, so I played with the value around the ‘g’ and selected a particular space to create the glowing eye of a monster focused on the protagonist.

Continuing the narrative theme, I realized the outside shape of the ‘g’ could look a bit like water. I used a lot of the transformation tool, and especially the stretching tool to move the water and create a boat. I then edited the sky and wave to have a gradient, then the wave and sail with opacity.

Here, the same protagonist triangle explores a dark cavern. The gradient and opacity tools were useful when creating the illusion of a glowing lantern and the stalagmites that the character passes as they journey. I had some difficulty with the quality of the triangle after expanding it so much. I decided to leave it as is because it added some variety to the very clean, sharp shapes.

I had some difficulty with this piece, I was unsatisfied for a while. Eventually, I found a configuration with the warping tool and made it look like a genie.

I liked the glowing effect from the second piece, so I experimented with it more by selecting several areas and filling the spaces with different tints and shades. Then filling the white spaces with corresponding tints and shades. I found another tool to make the edges of the ‘g’ foggy.

For the next four equivocal and unequivocal pieces, I used the letter ‘R’ and once again cropped and rotated it. Then used each sectioned area to transform for the project.

Modified in rotation, opacity, and color, this piece is simple, but I’m quite satisfied with how it turned out. It gives the effect of a logo being shone up in the sky.

I really just wanted to see how far I could manipulate the ‘R’ using the warping tool. I also think that the change in the eye of the letter draws the viewer to focus on the space around the ‘R’ more than the letter itself.

I hadn’t focused so much on opacity in the other pieces. Without transforming each shape too drastically from the original, I moved them around for a more balanced image and made sure that the overlap of opacity was visible.

Using tints, shades and the gradient was essential to creating an illusion of a glowing piece illuminating other unidentified shapes. Again, I selected an area to create the light ray but considered the proximity of the objects when changing their value.

The combined and finished pieces:

My Five Strengths

September 29, 2019 / Allison

My five StrengthsQuest themes appeared in the following order: developer, ideation, adaptability, maximizer, and positivity. I would like to elaborate on two traits that I most closely identify with, and hope others see in me: developer and positivity. A developer can use the strengths and potential of others to achieve a common goal. Positivity exhibits enthusiasm and encouragement for others to become excited about a project. These traits work together by helping people strive to be their best selves and function as my strengths in leadership.

In positivity, instead of dwelling on the problem or what is wrong with a circumstance, I like to focus on what can be done and why it is never as bad as it seems. In my own experience, encouragement keeps people motivated to persist. It is important to celebrate smaller achievements to work towards bigger ones. I want others to know that if they are struggling, or simply need to vent frustration, I am willing to support and listen to them. I expect others to recognize that being positive does not mean being happy all the time, but having the initiative to move forward from troubling times and inspiring others to do the same.

I choose to build on existing relationships and develop bonds between people. Being a developer means helping others to realize their own potential, despite any shortcomings they may see in themselves. Effective teams have people who understand how to utilize their respective strengths. As a leader, I help others find where their strengths lie, where they are needed, and encourage them to flourish in that role.

Allison Aguilera