This photo has a low key value where it consists of mostly darkness, The low key value sets an eerie mood to the photo. When i look at it i feel as though it can be a scene in a horror movie.

The top light is the only one that projects a graduated value of light to dark which contributes to the dark, dramatic feel. Meanwhile the other lights give off not shadow or rage of value. It stops abruptly, making the photo darker.

It was difficult to take high value photos because most of them all looked balanced but this is what i came up with.  When i look at this photo i feel icky and trapped.

You can see that at the top of the photo is is very bright but as you go down the shadow gradually blends in almost making it seem as if there was no shadow to begin with. This adds to the feeling of being trapped but because the picture is high value it doesn’t feel as scary.

To be honest when I first heard that we were putting music and art together I got scared. The first thing on my mind was how difficult it would be. It wasn’t until we did an inclass experiment that I was beginning to understand how easily drawing with sound can come to you.

When it came to drawing  staccato and legato pattern squares I enjoyed myself to a great extent. I was surprised that I came up with many ideas and I even had more! My other classmates had unique and beautiful pattern squares also. I always feel that I do better  when seeing someone elses work or when I get advice. My peers give me great inspiration and that is something I am thankful for.

Trying to figure out which pattern square went well with one another  was a challenge for me. They all seems great individually so I often felt that putting a few together would be too much. Eventually I was able to make 3 of the patterns work. As you can see from my previous posts I made a quick mashup sketch, another sketch with just black marker, and then the final which was in pen. I am a true believer in practice makes perfect.

The Gif and popcorn maker  experiment also  a challenge for me.  I ran into so many problems. Creating the Gif was easy but when I had to add the music it was frustrating. No matter how hard I tried it didn’t look unified or it sounded bad. Eventually, after convincing myself that it was just an experiment, I felt that what I had was good enough. Then I had trouble with the link. Unfortunately I couldn’t post my popcorn maker mashup  but I am glad it was saved and could be accessed when logged in.

Overall this project was enjoyable and interesting. Even though it was a bit challenging and out of my comfort one, this project has given me a chance to gain a new perspective on art and music. I now am interesting in animation and maybe making my own remix cd just for fun! 🙂

So this is my final. As you can see I only changed it a little. I am very proud of this work even though i would have liked to spend more time experimenting with other pattern squares. Anyways, the final took about 2 to 2 and a half hours to do.

As you can see I did a sketched version of what I think my pattern  mashup will be. The bottom is not the final inked but it is a preview of what it most likely look like. Instead on inked pens I used sharpies and fountain pens. I also didn’t use Bristol board paper but regular printer paper.  Even though I have the preview I am experimenting and trying to  see if I can make a better mashup with different patterns. We will see if I have time.

My sketch took about an hour to finish while the preview took about 2  and a half hours to draw and fill in. I also took my time thinking about unity and flow.

These are my pattern square thumbnails. I got carried away and ended up doing 12 staccato and 12 legato. I think its interesting how much patterns you can create.  I actually enjoyed making these. I know I have a lot of combinations to choose from.  Each thumbnail took me 2-5 min to do. As you can see I like to over do things  :T

When listening to the song the notes are soft. The set of notes repeat itself. The pattern of low to high notes continue until it escalates to a higher pitch only to go very low. The sounds flow softly like a melody.  If i listen carefully  i can hear short intervals of breaks. In the end the music fades.

I can imagine waves on the beach as they softly go towards the shore. When a huge wave crashes harshly on a rock  because the wind is too strong, i imagine the songs notes rapidly changing pitch. As the waves slowly go back to sea.. i can imagine the song gradually fading into the background.

In this project I have learned many things, not just from the teacher but from the students as well.  I get inspired when I look at what my classmates have made because it allows me to gain ideas, learn new techniques, and etc.  I believe the most difficult part of this project for me was understanding the word ambiguous. I know that it is when your eye shifts back and forth from the figure and ground and you are unsure which is the figure and which is the ground but when I actually tried to make my ambiguous drawings it truly looked as though it was stable. For example my inked thumbnail with the heart shaped spiral. Others believed that it is ambiguous while I believed it to be stable because that’s how it looked through my eyes. Even right now I am still unsure.

Although i loved this project, I really didn’t see much  improvement with my work as I would’ve liked. One of the things I know I have to improve is managing my time and paying more attention to balance and detail. I also believe I should have spent more time in my finalized cut outs. I found it difficult to grasp any connections or feelings into my work. It was also a bit messy with the glue. I know that next time I will think more about meaning, detail, balance, and of course neatness. In my own separate art book I will continue to make figure/ground drawings to improve.