Finale.

For my final project I created a couple album covers for myself in representation of my music! There is one I liked but did not think fit with me, so I made up the band name 'Felicity' for that one. Also, you can hear some of my music through this link if you are interested (: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=463464&id=162638130427672#!/pages/Cynth/162638130427672

Tutorials...

http://designm.ag/resources/photoshop-tutorials-for-creating-album-covers/

http://www.ehow.com/how_5432170_design-cd-cover-album-art.html

Le Meridian

This was one of my very favorite pieces from Le Meridian. Glancing at it, I truly believed it was a photo close up. I was in awe and amazement when I saw it was a painting. It truly takes talent and an eye for every single bit of detail to create something so magnificently realistic. Truly blew my mind. 

Original Font

Handwritten letters. I was experimenting with different types of fonts, and it led to this. I think I was inspired by the way I write my 'Z's...I write them with a dash in the middle of the 'Z'. 

Cynth: Vlog 1 + Lighting the Sky cover

Personal and Public Life- 'Untitled' by Greg Dickerson, Mixed Media, 2008

    'Untitled' is a piece that really stood out for me;I instantly liked it. It has different textures and layers ultimately mixed together to create a beautiful canvas. There are two main colors to the entire piece: a teal-ish blue and a warm red. Looking at the piece as a whole, the blue represents a house and the red represents concrete outside of the house. Different textures and fabric was pasted on the house to represent windows and such.
    In the piece, there are four doorsteps, but only two doors in front of two of the doorstep. A third doorstep led to a window, and a fourt doorstep(closest to the left) led to nothing-only the outside of the house. I found this to be interesting, and I feel it represents public life vs. private life There's a lot of interest of public life when knowing about someone elses' private life, however, that information is available to a limited amount of people(the two doors). The doorstep leading to a window represents the curiousness of public and private life, and the doorstep leading to nothing represents the blockage there is between the two.
    There is one door out of the two that is placed more in the middle, and seems bigger and more obvious to be a door. This door is half plaid-fabric and painted half-blue. I feel this represents the fact that the home is split between two sides. The left side, with the plaid fabric, represents a mysterious, yet livlier side of the home. This side also had more texture to it. There are glimpses of two elephants on this side, and they have dotted textures. Also, there is a 'checkered' pattern created over the area these two elephants are in. I feel that this brings life to the elephants(the only form of life on the portrait) as well as stating more energy towards that side of the house.
    The right side of the house has more of a typicalness to it. There's not too much of different textures to it, and the colors seem to be constant. This may be the 'calmer' side to the house, and perhaps the side of the house that is presentable to the public world.
    Going back to public life vs. private life, I feel the right side of the house symbolizes the fact that many people are wary of the way they present themselves publicly, however there is a deeper, more lively REAL side to who they are-represented by the left side of the house. This also makes sense when thinking about the doorsteps. The two doorsteps which lead to actual doors/entrances are located on the more typical side of the house on the right side, and two doorsteps which do NOT lead to doors are located on the more mysterious side to the house on the left side. The right side represents a 'front' to the public world, ultimately, but the left side represents the deepest parts of private life, and is limited to few.
    The elephants on the left side of the house could refer to the 'big elephant in the room' saying. If the house represents the personal life of a person, the part of the life which is unknown to many could be the 'elephant'-information that the person knows but is unseen to everyone else. The elephants are also very unique-they have detailed dots on them. This could represent the individuallity of this part of the person.
    There is a drip of blue paint leading down to the red 'concrete' of the piece. I feel like this represents the mixing of personal life and public life. The two not mixing is ultimately inevitable, but there are ways to keep personal information you want to hide away from the public.
    Thinking more about this piece, I feel that the color blue was chosen for the house because it symbolizes a sense of comfort and safeness. The red on the concrete represents danger from the outside world. This piece relates to the world in my view because public life versus private life are inevitably mixed in our lives;people are constantly coming in and leaving. We cross paths with so many faces on a daily basis, however there are very few, if any in some cases, who really understand us individually.

Foshay Tower Pieces

This piece reflects the creation of the Foshay Tower. It portrays the dream of the Foshay Tower in, theoretically, 'Wilbur Foshay's' eyes. Metaphorically comparing the image to the Foshay Tower itself, the tower draws you in(it is the center of the pupil) and is very bright and colorful compared to the black and white of the rest of the eye around it. 

This piece represents Wilbur Foshay as well as the height of the tower. From my readings, Wilbur Foshay seemed very ambitious. This image reflects him 'reaching for the sky' with his dream of building the tower. It also reflects the height of the tower-it's so high you could 'touch the clouds'. I read that it is second tallest next to what was the Empire State Building. 

This piece reflects the fashion-esqe sense of the Foshay. It's very 'hip' and contemporary. The height of the tower combined with it's contemporariness reminded me of a supermodel for some reason. The idea happened to pop into my head, and I started working on it. I found the perfect model to go along with the Foshay Tower image I had found. 

Metaphors We Live By

It was interesting to me how they compared 'argument is war' to 'argument is a dance'. If that was how the saying goes, there would indeed be very different actions and thoughts to arguments. It was interesting to think about. I also like how they broke down how war is a metaphor to arguments. Dissecting the metaphor really shows how they relate using th literalness of war. It was also cool looking at the break down of 'time is money'. The two definitely relate in many ways- and I found it true that most people believe this in American culture. It'd be interesting to hear the view on that phrase from someone outside this culture.

Buisness Card: Cynthia Yang Photography

Inspiring Artists

Antassias Elias: http://anastassia-elias.com/portfolio/viewcategory/8
This artist inspires me to think out of the box. She has many types of art, however one that really intrigues me is her toilet paper roll art. The concept sounds basic, but if you look at her work, you'll see that it's got to be meticulous work.

Beru Betto: http://www.designswan.com/archives/humble-art-toilet-paper-roll-art.html
While looking at Elias' work, I came across Beru Betto. He, as well, creates art using toilet paper rolls. However, rather than focusing on one roll, he collaborates them to create a bigger illusion. I found this to be unique. His work is inspiring to me because he creates beauty in the bland.

Liu Bolin: http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/meet-the-real-life-invisible-man.html
This is one of the most brilliant artforms I've ever seen, personally. This man paints himself so precisely to camaflouge himself with his surroundings. I presume it's quite pretentious work, & it's wonderful the creativity to what he does.

Susan Manvelyan: http://www.behance.net/paronsuren/Frame
Manvelyan has a variety of genres in the images she photographs. I found the pictures from "Your Beautiful Eyes" to be extremely cool. I had never seen eyes in the way she portrays them in her images. It's different, real, and beautiful.

Bill Waterson: http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes
As a fan of Calvin and Hobbes, I had to include Bill Waterson in my 15 inspirational artists. His characters are cartoonish, though they have big personalities. What I love about his work is the characters' personalities are so well portrayed in his work. His artwork really brings the characters to life.

Frank R. Paul: http://www.frankwu.com/paul1.html
Frank R. Paul's work is very attracting to me visually. I love the vintageness of his work- created before his death in 1963. What I find most inspiring is how he created sci-fi such things, such as ufo's and aliens, in a time where technology was only beginning. It's fascinating.

Yusuke Nakamo:
Nakamo is the illustrator to one of my favorite video games, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time. While searching for game illustrators, I found it's rather difficult doing so, unusually. I love the artwork of Windwaker, & I believe Shigeru Miyamoto did the illustration for that game. However, both artists have different roles in different games-not just as an 'illustrator'.

Madison Dube: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hiimmadz
Madison is a friend of mine. I really love her photography and graphic design illustrations. It's inspiring her passion for the arts. Every artist sees differently, and I love seeing the world from her eyes through her camera lens.

Peter Jamus Holme: http://www.peterjamus.com/
I found Peter through facebook. He is a photographer/graphic designer of my age around the local area. His work is top notch, in my opinion, and deserves to be acknowledged by graphic designers and photographers of higher status. His passion for the art really is inspiring. On his facebook page he had a project going in which he created an image once a day for a whole year.

Martin Waugh: http://www.liquidsculpture.com/fine_art/image.htm?title=AmberOrb
When I first saw Waugh's image sof liquid sculpture, I thought the concept of it was brilliant. It's wonderful and amazing how he can capture a second, if even, in time and make it into something so beautiful. It really brings me into a different world .Some of his work kind of reminds me of Alice in Wonderland.

Various Architects: http://www.wackyarchives.com/featured/20-unusual-house-designs.html
I'm not sure who designed these houses, but when I see the buildings I see art. It's really cool how they created something so big out of a small idea in their minds. I also love how unconforming the buildings are. They're all really awesome.

Don Marco: http://www.themastercrayonartist.com/shop/custCat.aspx
Marco creates all his artwork using merely crayon. It's definitely more prestigious than most people's crayon-drawings. He brings crayons to another level. I especially love and admire this piece of work: http://www.themastercrayonartist.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=292

Diem Chau: http://blog.tuesday.com/2010/03/31/chinese-zodiac-crayons/
I stumbled upon this image one day and was fascinated by it. Another artform that requires meticulous work. The animals(from the chinese zodiac) are so detailed. I love the idea of what he did, and making Crayola crayons into something more.

Addity Karmakar: http://browse.deviantart.com/?order=24&offset=48#/d30aylh
I'm not a fan of goldfish, but this image is beautiful. It gives the goldfish a whole new life and sense of importance. The colors really attract me & the entire image is jut appealing.

Javiar Alvarado: http://www.poisonvectors.com/
His work is incredible. I especially love the images with a lot of vibrant colors wrapping around the model. It gives off a sense of life, youth, and vibrance. It definitely inspires me to create and look into digital art.

Rajaram Rajendran: http://el-el.deviantart.com/
I really love his photography, as well as his advertising. It's larger than life and makes me want to see more.

“Mamihlapinatapai: A look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start.”

Incomparable: Obsession With Perfection

I changed my image after the critique we had in class. I changed was one of the lines beneath the right eye was crooked in the original, and so I clone stamped over it and made the line straighter. Also, I slightly decreased the cyan in selective colors, as well as slightly increased the contrast.

I had several ideas for this project. First, I experimented with creating blood on Photoshop and had the idea of a horror-movie look. In the process of fidgeting with that, it somehow led me to playing with textures, which I intended to use in the poster. I drifted away from the idea, however, as days passed. Then I had the idea of creating a collage from pictures in magazines, and creating a poster idea of a young girl with high insecurities, with pressure from the society we live in today. I couldn't think of a girl I knew that could be used personally, so I looked in magazines in search of a 'normal' girl. It ended up being that I couldn't find one girl who wasn't dolled up and dressed to perfection in the magazines I looked at. They were all too perfect for what I was looking for-something that pressures women and young girls in society today when it comes to looks. This led to a thought-many people in today's world undergo plastic surgery, and some obsessively, to look like the 'perfect' women in magazines and on TV. I based my poster idea around that thought, and made it a documentary-film based poster.

The woman in the poster is from a page from a photoshoot in InStyle Magazine. I saw this photo before I knew exactly what my poster would be about, and I really hoped to incorporate it in some way because I loved her facial expression and features. The image was much too beautiful-the pretty pastel colors made her look like an angel-not what I was looking for. Therefore, I copied the image onto Photoshop, cropped her face and some hair, and started fidgeting with effects. Firstly, I drew the lines on her face representing marks that are made when undergoing plastic surgery. I used the brush tool for this. Then I selected everything except for her eyes-I wanted them to 'pop'. I then went to Color Selection and blasted the 'Black' to 100%, 'Magenta' and 'Yellow' to close to -80%, and 'Cyan' to only 7%. This made her less saturated and less colorful(what I was going for). After that, I turned the 'Gamma Correction' up in Exposure to give her a more 'rugged' look. The blend of these two effects together gave, with the pop of her eyes, gave her the look I wanted.

Choosing a font was rather difficult. I had trouble creating my own font, so I decided to just stick with using the fonts available. I scrolled down to see how numerous fonts looked with the title, and thought Orator was the best one. The title, Incomparable, goes along well with the idea of the poster because plastic surgery is meant to make you 'perfect' in the way you see yourself, in a sense incomparable. However, the reason plastic surgery is wanted is because of made comparisons to other people. Therefore, I made the 'In' in Incomparable black, and the rest a dark, dull red(I felt this color went along well with the mood of the poster). I used the same font for the rest of the poster, and I feel the placement of the texts are in spots to draw in viewers to the face in between the texts. Also, the lines on the face and the pop of her blue eyes draw attention. I thought everything I had on the poster was just enough, therefore I chose not to layer other images upon it. An inspiration I kind of used for my project was the Salt poster of Angelina Jolie's face. I'm glad with how it all turned out.

Keep on truckin'.

The past is the past. All you should have to do with it is listen to it and learn. Every living breath you are given in life is a chance to decide. A chance to live. There's simply no reason to waste your energy and time on what has happened. Rather, focus and wrap your mind around what can be. The possibilities in life are at the surface of your fingertips, and all you have to do is simply live for your todays, and aspire your tomorrows. It's a constant cycle that leads to success.

That's my view on life. This quote is specifically from a song called 'Forget and Not Slow Down' by my favorite band, Relient K. The road in the image symbolizes moving on and the journey each person has in his/her life. The lens flare symbolizes the 'light' guiding and leading the journey. The font was chosen because I thought it fit the saying- it's sophisticated, and common, yet personable. I bolded and made the font bigger on the words that I thought were most important in the saying, so they really jump out. The image was appropriated- I changed the contrast, blurred it, cropped it, and added the lens flare. 

Poster, poster.

My mind nearly gasped when I first saw this poster, simply because of its unexpectedness. A broken Statue of Liberty would be such a deep impact on the country. It really drew attention to me though- the poster tells a tragic story in itself. The dark colors, battered Statue of Liberty, and smoking buildings really ignite a curious thought as to the story behind the poster. The font, and effect of the font, led me to believe the 'something' that had 'found us' has to deal with aliens(just my first thought). It is really compelling because it is such a powerful poster, especially with the focus on the broken, headless statue.

This poster has an interesting element of the forming of a flag, however it is one that I quickly glanced over looking at a sea of posters. It is very simple, however I saw simple posters on the site that were striking. A great concept, but the visual and text of the poster just did not appeal to me.

200 Words.

Who am I? To be honest, I'm still trying to figure that out myself. For starters though, my name's Cynthia. I turned eighteen yesterday. This is my third and last year at AR. I enjoy photography and reading a good, warm book. The holiday season is my favorite time of year, though my favorite weather is the beginning of Fall. I believe when people speak out their passion, you learn so much more about them, opposed to them just telling you about themselves. Therefore, my first blog will be a crammed summary of my passion for music. Music has always been the tunnel leading me to the light at the end. I love searching beyond the sounds and words, and discovering the true meaning of a good song. The best part about it is the meaning is almost different to every person. It's truly just all-embracing. I write music and lyrics, and I play a couple different instruments, but mainly acoustic guitar. It's truly such a blessing that I've found a way to convey my thoughts from within onto paper, and better yet to bring the words to life through music. In the process, I have learned so much about myself.  

                                                         

                                                                    Freedom from within. 

                                                       (http://weheartit.com/entry/3656855)


Here's a link to an awesome blog: http://alexkuno.blogspot.com/