Color Theory

The lecture in Color Theory explained the importance of 

1. Value- light vs dark

2. Saturation- intense vs dull

3: Hue- red, yellow, green, blue, or purple

Lesson 5

Web Critique

www.ralphsteaman.com

Ralph Steadman’s official website displays a fascinating window to his wonderful world of creation. In it, the self proclaimed “Toon God” provides the user with a biography, information regarding his works, current exhibits, and projects. Plus, if you’ve got the cash, there’s a large range of artwork and accessories for purchase. From silk screens of literary icons such as Kurt Vonnegut and George Orwell to Hunter S. Thompson aprons, the website gives even the modest art collector a chance to own a piece of Mr. Steadman’s work.

User Centric Design

Ralph Steadman is a cartoonist, caricaturist, and author whose website provides the user with a large span of information regarding his life and work. This is what the user wants from the website and this is what the website provides. Most people who come to the website for the first time will probably only know of Ralph Steadman as the wacky illustrator of Hunter S. Thompson’s semi-autobiographical novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The website does a great job providing the user with the story behind what lead to these wonderful works of art but also manages to also manages to travel way beyond his collaboration with Dr. Thompson, giving us a full view of the artist. In a user friendly environment, appreciators of his art are treated to hundreds of images of his work, information regarding his famous collections, and current projects and exhibits. One thing that could be criticised is that the blocks of text are a little bit long and could be made into shorter paragraphs, however, It’s not the kind of website that I would personally just scan over anyway. 

 

Simplicity

From a design point of view, the website is quite simple and easy to follow. The artists signature is used as a logo and is spread across the top of the home page and is displayed clearly in smaller text on each additional page at the top right corner. There is a vertical navigation bar which uses large text to the right with four separate options for searching the site. Data is displayed using a single bar split between text and images that runs down the page. The background, which is quite plain, uses a lightly shaded design that doesn’t intrude on the information of the site. Most sections provide a learn more button for extended information on a subject and each page has a navigation bar which keeps you clicking further into the site with a home button to bring you back.

Layout

The layout of the sites home page uses one large block containing all the information running down the centre of the page. This block  is bordered from the background and split into two columns,  mainly image on the left of the block and text on the right. This large block takes up 70% of the pixels, leaving 45% on each side for the background. At the top of the page is the logo with the navigation bar running down the side in the artists ink splattered handwriting.  A link for contacting the website is replaced by a rather unnecessary hit counter on the main page, but is present on every other page on the site. Once browsing through the site the main navigation bar shifts location and becomes a horizontal bar at the top of the page, with a new vertical bar appearing on the left of the screen for filtering additional information. This is slightly confusing for a first time user but is necessary in achieving the less important design of the home page.

 White-Space

White-Space is used extensively throughout ralphsteadman.com giving it a crisp, refreshing look. As Ralph Steadman’s favoured medium is simply black ink on white paper, it is fitting that his website is designed in the same way. This creates a unifying balance between all aspects of the website.  Macro-white space is used in the background with light grayish sketching drawn around the screen. This acts as a frame for the main picture- the important data  in the center block of the page. In the center column, micro-white space is used generously behind the text and images, with only the navigation bar and a few articles displayed on a coloured background to add some contrast and warmth.

Digital Creativity Lesson 4

Today’s lesson had us changing the hue and saturation of Jerry Ryan’s face. I used the pen tool to create the slime from his mouth. I met him a few months ago at a blues gig in the city and this is not far from what he looked like by the end of the night, apart from the suspicious white clump hanging from his nostril. Get off the sauce Jerry, it doesn’t suit you!

Mr. Jerry Ryan

 Here I used some of the tools to show singer Robert Plant in an evil light. Half the work was done for me as he already look quite devilish in the original photo. 

This weeks assignment entitled Me, Myself, and I, had us incorporating our names into things we love and things we hate. I done most of this one the day after “Great Friday” while nursing a horrific hangover and eating my Easter Egg a day early…this brought about the sketch of my love of the sacred and holy Easter Egg.

                                       Me, Myself, and I

Me, Myself, and I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s two of my favorites…

 

 

Digital Creativity Lesson 3

In today’s class we used photoshop to portray Louis Walsh in an angelic light. Many of the same tools were used to select the image of Louis and isolate him from the original photo (Rectangular Marquee Tool, Polygonal Lasso, Magic Wand & Rubber. Some new tool were used in manipulating the image like layer style to give him an outer glow. The magic wand tool was used to help blend his wings into the background.

 

 

We were also given an assignment to do involving creating pass/do not pass truck signs depicting life and death situations. After a few sketches I picked some of my favorites and drew them on a larger scale and added some color and extra detail.

 

 

Digital Creativity Lesson 2

In lesson 2 the class were introduced to the Photoshop interface. Found it a bit tricky to grasp at first but I finally managed to get the hang of it by the end of the class. We were also introduced to using selection tools and commands when creating our vegetable men. Some of the tools used included: Rectangular Marquee, Lasso, Magnetic lasso, and Magic Wand. At this stage I was having a little trouble arranging the layers, hence the dodgy Picasso-esque eyes.

We were also given a the task of creating some graphics depicting different road signs. This was quite enjoyable as it got us all thinking creatively.