88 MOCCA: Multimedia

Today I stumble upon this great website.  It is The Museum of Chinese Contemporary Art on the Web.  Take a minute and be inspired.

88 MOCCA - multimedia

Self Portrait

Self Portrait

To start off I need to include a disclaimer.  I have never worked on a Mac or with Photoshop.  I found it very challenging.   So with this in mind, here's the background on my self portrait.  I feel that we, as humans, are constantly changing.  My portrait is a snapshot of my current life experience and as a result there are many things happening in this creation.  Looking at the photo as a whole it appears to be a random mishmash of color with a ghostly image.  Looking closer at the photo you will notice images from my life,  both responsibilities and blessings.  I am a single parent, I work full-time and I am now taking classes here at WSU in addition to receiving on going training in my profession.  Having so many things going on I have started to feel that I am losing a bit of myself.  Thus the ghostly image of myself in black and white.  I layered colored images atop to identify whats causing me to lose a bit of myself (work, school, home repairs, cooking, cleaning, parenting, the list goes on) and also images that are feeding my soul and keeping me forging forward (my child and our family pets).  Lowering the opacity of all the photos allowed me to blend images together giving a cleaner overall effect.  I kept the edges of the photos hard and straight in order to allow each overlapping image to be view more clearly by the eye when the scrutinizing each picture.  This also applies to the layers of my life as where one thing ends another has already begun.  The colors I used in the images were primarily red/purple/pink and yellow/orange/green.  This tied the feel of the overall portrait image together.  I was able to bring a green color from one of the photos through the black and white image of myself which changed the portrait eye color to green, which is my eye color.

My hope is that this self portrait is able to communicate a bit of who I am, at this moment in time, in a way that is subtly accented by the colors in my life.

     

5 Best Ways to Creative Success

 

5 Best Ways to Creative Success

 

I came across this short article by Simon Manchipp, co-founder of SomeOne design agency.  SomeOne is an award-winning London based design practice that strategically launches, relaunches and protects brands world-wide.  I believe it is always wise to take the advice of someone who had been successful and accomplished when I am pursuing new goals and dreams.  While reading the article "What Made Me - SomeOne's Simon Manchipp on the 5 Best Ways to Creative Success" it seemed like the perfect thing to pass along to those of us just starting down the path of design. The advice seem to really hit on some key considerations to living life in addition to being successful in the field of design. 

 

1.  Believe in weird.

2.  Keep on keeping on.

3.  Say yes.

4.  Be happy.

5.  Adore craft.

 

Please take a minute to follow the link and read the article.  You may find a jewel to carry with you and make you more successful in life as well as design.

 

What Made Me - Simon Manchipp on the 5 Best Ways to Creative Success 

 

SomeOne 

The Recessions Effect on "The Creative Class"

So first of all I am a NPR nerd.  I love listening to the many clever programs via the radio or podcasts.  Tonight as I walked my dog I was listening to Studio 360 where I learned about the effect the recession has had on the artistic working middle class.  We often hear about large layoffs but we never really hear about the small scale victims.  I was saddened to learn that the "creative class" had been hit quite hard.   I have hope that the economy will improve and as technology continues to increasingly permeate our lives that the "creative class" will begin to thrive again.  Where's the beauty in life without art?  I hope you will be interested in listening to or reading the article.  Here is the link and maybe you will become an NPR nerd too!    Studio 360 Recession Wanes but Artists Still Starving

Remix of Image and Sound

Check out this article in WIRED!

 Wired - Assmebling Internet Images into a Garden of Webly Delights

 The artists took hundreds of images from the web and created their own unique work of art.  Not only did they create interesting murals but by sampling sounds from numerous web sites they created a sort of music or story to compliment the image.  (There is an option to turn the sound off in case it causes sensory overload.)   Be sure to drag the blue box over the image because on the left of the screen you are provided with a magnified view allowing you to see the details.  I hope you find it as interesting as I did.