Author: Rosa Cortes

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Bio and Avatar

Bio:  Currently a student at City tech, within communication design major. Since middle school, I’ve enjoyed drawing and writing, over time it became a hobby I would enjoy and often work on.  I usually worked on creating my own characters in drawing while in writing I would write fanfiction. Over time I have improved a lot in both areas and hope to further improve on them as well. These also inspire in working on drawing and writing childish/fantasy like ideas. I usually am open minded to many things however whenever a situation arrives that I become uncomfortable with I place the line and speak up.  Along with that, I have the belief of giving people a chance or a second one if there has been any wrongdoing after that there isn’t another. My goal in five to ten years would be possible in being able to stary on working on storyboards or animation, mostly center around anime. On the writing side, being able to start writing a book whether it be a novel or a fun children’s book. For these the general area ideas I have to work on would be within an adventure or fantasy kind of storyline.

Avatar: For my avatar, I chose a cartoon version of myself that I drew a while ago for a drawing account I have online.  The reason for this would be because it’s just me, it looks a bit childish in the style I used and utensil that makes it look like a crayon, this for me would show how open I can be almost like a child who is always open to something new or curious of something or someone new to them. That’s the feeling I had for the avatar I drew because an avatar can really only tell so much until you actually get to know someone.

Overall my thoughts in my bio and avatar satisfy me because well I just enjoy being consider as someone to easily approach and an open minded thought. This matters to me because I feel it can tell others that I am approachable or is able to talk and try to continue a concersation even if it might get akward. This can also be appropiate wuth professionals because I feel it would give then an idea on what I can work with. I guess over time the image and thoughts on my profile would change into something more sophisticated as I learn and approach new people at City Tech.

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Sound Visualization Mashup: Phase 1

Song: Nothing I’ve ever known (Instrumental Version)

For this project, I chose the song Nothing I’ve ever known by Bryan Adam, the instrumental version. The song has a variety, in which it would start of with the guitar playing giving a lonely feeling slowly building up and by minute 1:05 other instruments join in giving a sense that it’s no longer lonely but hopeful or the feeling of having someone with you. In the Begining, you can say it would have smooth steady lines with curves but as it goes on the line can become into two or more with more curves maybe even sharp turns. This to show the dramatic or dynamics of the song. Then as the song reach the end it can return to one line or shape and fading into the page.

I’m not completely sure if these observations affect my understanding of the music or intention of the Artist. This is due to the song being used in the movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and was only the instrumental version as the song does have lyrics to it. But while listening to the lyrics the meaning could be that the person has fallen in love and experience that feeling for the first time which becomes something they ‘have never known’ and wanting to be with them, however, the ending causes a confusion for me or a change that the person doesn’t know where this feeling will take them in the end.

Hours: 1 hour and 30 minutes

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Urban Artifacts: Phase 4

My thoughts on this project are that it was fun, I enjoyed and like the final look of what I’ve done for the project, yes it took different steps and a longer time period but it was a fun process. What I’ve learned would be the difference between ambiguous and stable drawing along with the elements it needs to be considered one or the other or any details that can be added to it. To the criticism I recieved on the project, making the lines a bit thicker would be best in changing of the artwork and something I would keep in mind for the next project and consider its effect it can have on what I do in future projects.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

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Ways of Seeing (Role 1)

In general, the video ‘John Berger / Ways of Seeing’  gives us different examples on how our views on anything, or on paintings in this case, are altered with the main cause being the use of the camera.  One of the points that interested me more was starting at minute 19:32 where John Berger states “The meaning of an image can be changed according to what you see beside it or what comes after it” and it shows how easily influenced one is when a different context is given to someone such as with the Goya painting the video uses as an example by first using a clip with women dancing and the upbeat music that once the image appears it feels like it has less of a serious meaning. However, once they show the next clip with no audio then the image it gives a deeper meaning and relating it to the clip, even more, based on the upsetting feeling the clip would give. Anything can alter the meaning of a painting it can move it away from what it means or bring it closer. To other maybe it won’t it could be due to prior knowledge of the painting that the meaning of the painting can just stick and stay the same even if there is a painting with a completely different meaning or maybe it can still influence in giving a different view  or bring out a different aspect of the painting giving another alteration to a painting and our way of seeing it.

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Culminate

Verb

“To reach the highest or a climactic or decisive point”- Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

The word was encounter in the reading of “Wind Sand and Stars” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in the last sentence of the first paragraph.

The sentence where the word was use is in “Have you ever thought, not only about the airplane but about whatever man builds, that all of man’s industrial efforts, all his computations and calculations, all the nights spent over working draughts and blueprints, invariably culminate in the production of a thing whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity?”

The sentence itself is long and it can seem easily distracting at first. At first not understanding the meaning of it however it becomes understandable that the sentence itself, after figuring out culminate, questions the efforts of man who spend time and time, effort and effort all piling up to reach a ‘decisive point’ in their own view but it turns out to be something simple within other people’s views.

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Urban Artifacts: Phase 3

For this part of the project, I had worked for around 1 hour and a half. I picked the ambiguous figure I had chosen in phase 2 along with changing it so it can also be a stable figure as shown in the first image. This would be the reason why I choose this image seeing as it was fun to manipulate the lines with no precise direction. Along with that, the images can show a start and an end of the lines that start of small being a stable figure but over time more cracks appear on the surface that it ends up creating an ambiguous figure.

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Urban Artifacts:Phase 2

This took me around 2 hours or a bit more. Within the first image, there are 11 thumbnail sketches choosing three out of them create one ambiguous figure and two stable.  The second shows an ambiguous figure due to the lines reaching towards the edges of the page. Along with having an unstable ground as the white parts of the image can also be a fous point.  The final two picture are stable as it shows clearly what the fous is along with having a larger bakground that supports that image.

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Urban Artifacts: Phase 1

It’s like everywhere you go to either step, spill, or trip on something. In the morning had accidentally stepped on a puddle of water now noticing the water slowly drying off on the sidewalk. Walking to class had tripped on part of the floor, seems like a tile had been removed for a good while, even dirt was evident on it, to top it off the coffee spill all over the floor just great.  What could I do? I had no paper and the nearest bathroom had been closed for cleaning.  Now I’ll be going through the day with less coffee and more guilt for leaving a mess. On the way back home felt slightly better, I had almost stepped on six newly dropped pieces of gum, and the garbage can is only a few feet away, continuing to walk I notice a leaf fall from the nearby tree but near the leaf showed a funny figure of what seemed like a person riding a Segway, that earned a laugh, that is until I notice what seemed like some yarn that must have fallen off someone’s sweater. However, it looked like a person sulking and dragging its feet making the mood drop.

All seemed figures in the pictures seem to be organic shapes, with the first three being Ambiguous figure due to there being no definitive image which mixes in with what could be the background or what would be the foreground. The bottom three stable figures because you can easily Identify the gum, the figure and the piece of fabric on the ground. This Along with placing myself in a someone else’s shoes to come up with the story and writing in first person point of view.

 

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