My final video: Simplicity

So this is my final video for concept development. My overall concept to the video is simplicity. I wanted to convey the idea that less is more and can lead to a happier life with the little effort it takes. I got me thinking about the things I do and what type of life style I want to live by. I choose to interview 3 of my closes friends. When I ask them these questions, they came up with their own ideas of what simplicity was to them. One of them did say it got her thinking of the things she was doing and how she can change some of her habits. These ideas take little to no effort and I believe can make a difference to our environment if we all apply it.
Overall, I am happy how the video came out and how I convey my ideas into a small film. It's a concept I hope to explore and apply to my life in the future.


Enjoy my video!

Successful Business

On Monday's class, we began to talk about businesses and companies. We then briefly discuss apple as a company. Jimmy, my professor, asked us why Apple could get away with everything they have done this far. As far as releasing a new iPhone every 6 months, a new version of mac books and desktops, and new constant designs for ipods and ipads. Apple can charge crazy amounts for their products, even though they can be flawed, and customers will still pay for the item. 

It got me thinking of why this was, how a company could be successful based off shiny products that appeal to the mass. I've been a loyal apple fan since I first got a ipod back in 2005 followed by a desktop computer the following year. I always stuck to apple products because of the simplicity in the style.It's simple smart phone that does what it does and that's that. To me, it's a basic function smart phone that help me through out my day. Also the fact that all my products can be sync into each other making it that much easier for myself. I guess apple appeals to people like me, who enjoy the simplicity in a product. Apple products do have minor flaws but nothing that taking care of your stuff couldn't fix. I can't tell you how many people complained about breaking their phone when they have this flimsy case to hold it. Or people complaining about the battery usage when their on their phones 24/7 and have them charge all night. I always believe the saying, "you get what you pay for" and this applies to the Apple company.

Apple definitely has a lifestyle built within the company. It appeals to the simplistic modern person living in the city. The music they promote, the choice of their commercials, and their overall clean crisp look that is timeless is what sells to the mass. 

This lead me into thinking about selling any of my work. To me, a successful business creates an image and philosophy that makes it apart of a lifestyle. I see businesses and design/art work as a philosophy, if you truly believe in what you are trying to sell, you'll apply it to your everyday life. It's like this blogger I have been following for quite some time now. She is a fashion blogger who is interested in the idea of minimalism. The basic simple functions of a wardrobe, like a plain white tee, translucent heels and your basic levi pant. As I started to look beyond her fashion expertise, I seen she was interested in designing. She design a calendar with just a few black lines on white paper that said "get shit done," a closet rack made from pipelines and a coffee table made out of translucent glass. I began to see her apply her love for minimalism to her everyday life. Even the tattoos on her body were a mere black line outline from the side of her arm to her elbow. Then I understood why she was becoming more successful because she stuck to her beliefs and create and designed the most beautiful and simple products. 

I believe this is one of the most memorable thing I have learn this far. That to go anywhere with design work, you have to believe in it more than anyone in the entire world. You have to make a connection between your work, your belief system and to relate to people. At the end of the day, it all has to tie into each other. 

Wednesday 3.06.13

Wednesday's class was mainly focus on our progress towards our final project. For our final, we have to make a 2 to 3 minute video that shows sustainability in our environment.
We drew up a creative map to where we want to go with our final project. We all sketched out the slides we are going to have in our videos. Only once have I done this prior to this project. I find it helpful in some ways and in other ways I feel like the project could eventually take a mind of its own. I say this because accidents and mistakes happen while making the project, which can lead to unintentional work. Sometimes you can create something great this way. I wouldn't bet on that happening which is why I still believe it is a good idea to draw out your projects.
What I am doing is having a overall concept of "what simple living means in your environment."
I plan on interviewing some of my friends for this project, asking them that question. So I'm showing through out the video that simple things can make an impact in the world. Things include, donating and shopping at thrift stores, growing your own food, using public and alternative transportation more, enjoying nature for reduced energy usage etc. etc. My overall tone for this video is for self reflection in people. People should think about themselves and see if they contribute to a "simple lifestyle."
This generation has an excessive need to indulge in things that are unnecessary such as watching massive amount of television, internet usage, fast foods, shopping at huge corporations etc. etc. I want to convey the idea that less is more and the simple things in life can do good for the environment and lead to a happier life.
Jimmy explained that some of us might not be into this project but to find some passion within the project and create something we enjoy. For a while, I've latched on to idea of simplicity and minimalism. My main concept came from this, wanting to explore this idea more. I was able to find something I enjoyed that was is school assigned project!

Monday 3.4.13

The majority of monday's class consisted of going over our homework assignment. We had to collect 3 magazine photos that told a story without words. We all put our assignments on the board and went through everyone's story. Other people had to guess the story without hearing what the original story was intended on. Some were vague, that lead to a lot of possible story ideas. Some didn't make much sense that made a lot of people confused.
I chose a story of someone on drugs. The first magazine photo was a photo of pills. The second shot was a girl just about to drop a cough drop into her mouth. The last shot was a young teen who looked very unhappy. Her arms drooped a the way down to the ground. The story was intended to be someone who took a lot of drugs and felt really relaxed to the point where her arms were really relaxed.
This assignment was tough because of the types of photos that were in the magazine. Either they had too much writing on them or were just ad campaigns for whatever they were selling. It was also hard to come up with a story in only 3 photographs because it was only 3 photographs.
At the end, Jimmy made us rearrange some of the photographs to make a really good story. It's still unclear to me what a really good story could be in 3 photographs. Would it make you feel happy? or sad? or is it suppose to only give one response to the audience? or does a good story had multiple meanings to it?

We were told to work on our final project which is to make a 2 to 3 minute video about sustainability in our world. I have a few ideas, they just need to be explored!

Aliens coming to earth... maybe.

On Wednesday's class, we started off by having to tell a story in 3 drawings. We couldn't use words and  at the end we would vote on whose was the best. Each drawing had to be clear of what our story was. So we go into groups of three and had 30 minutes to come up with a concept and actually drawing the story out. I got paired up with Susie and Carrie, my classmates.
We began to develop a story of aliens going to earth from their mystery planet. The aliens come to earth and see our planet full of the things we hated. We started to brain storm ideas of things we didn't like: naming celebrities, political issues, entertainment junk etc. etc. It was hard to portray these without using words or even to draw a celebrity that everyone in our class could recognizable. So we just stuck to using logos, which can be very recognizable to everyone. We stuck to using McDonald's logo. So when the aliens are close enough to see earth, in the last frame, you see the aliens taking off back to their planet.
After our timers went off in class, we than judged each other's drawings. There was 8 set of drawings on the board. Some were okay, some weren't very clear. The group that won, was a drawing of a couple sitting on the bench with a love sign in between. The next shot shows the same couple pregnant sitting on the bench. The last shot shows the couple holding the baby on the same bench. It was an okay depiction but I feel like it won because of the love depicted in the drawings. It got to peoples emotions and I believe that most people tend to choose things based on their feelings. I choose a set on drawings that showed a girl tripping and her breaking her phone. The drawings were good, it's mainly why I choose it.
In the end Jimmy, my professor, ended up saying ours was the best concept and was depicted very clearly. I thought so as well because ours was very simple and clear cut. He explained that the winners story was a boring, not that well drawn drawing.

The second half of the class we were introduced our final project which is a 2-3 minute video due at the end of the quarter. It's week 8 here at CSULA and the quarter ends at week 10 with a finals week following that. Don't understand where time went. Any ways, we suppose to make a video that explains our environment, the people and issues. Basically, it's how we live on this earth. We were showed a video of an example, not really anything he wanted. I think Jimmy does this because he wants people to be real creative and not influenced by any examples people have done in the past. It's kinda of tougher this way to think of an idea but I guess it does leave a clear mind for us to develop a concept. I have one, maybe two at the most ideas of what I want to do. I wonder how this project for myself is going to turn out. We shall see.


-Leslie


btw, here's a picture of our project!

Games & Creative briefs

In today's first class of the week, we did the most confusing group activity we have ever done in 220,  concept development, this far. I'm going to try to explain the game without confusing you, but be aware you'll probably be confused. We started off by sitting in a circle and were to develop better listening skills. Jimmy would ask someone to the left of him, saying, "this is a who?" the person replies with "a who?" Jimmy says with confidences "a who." Then it continues throughout the whole circle. People changed the name of the objects and we were also thrown a second object into the circle. At one point of this exercise, the objects meet in the middle and these people would have to be able to turn to the left and right and remember what tone or question the person was asking them.
As a class, we finished the first round without stopping. To be honest I thought someone would mess up, mainly because I was confused at what we were doing from the beginning. Once the game began, it got clear. I'm more of a person that needs to see examples rather than be told the instructions. My mind is easily prone to trail off. I figured that someone would be confused just like I was. We got through the exercise once but messed up a few times towards the end when two different objects were going around the circle. I think as a class we've gotten use to these group exercises and that we have gotten pretty good at them.

For the last part of the class we reviewed creative briefs. It was actually my first time being introduce to a creative briefs. It makes perfect senses to make something written that has every details of your project. Before some projects, not all of them, I would just scribble on a page of certain things I was trying to convey within a project. This is a more structure way rather than me writing down things like "don't forget to add this color!"I thought these creative briefs are very vital to a project. I think of it like guidelines to the future work you are about to do that you've discuss with your client and/or partners and yourself. This can prevent you from getting off track from what you originally intended on.
We briefly talked about art and design, what the main differences were between each other. Art is more subjective, based on personal interest and emotions. Design is objective, based on ration. Both art and design cross paths, but are two separate subjects. I do see a structured rational person in me and at the same time this creative whimsical being dreaming of the most lucid dreams, day and night.

Presenting myself

Since the last class, all we've done is present our game concepts to the class. The class explained that there is this show called shark tank, which I've never seen, in which a group of investors were pitched ideas and they pick on what they want to invest their money into. Jimmy, my professor, explained that the presentations were like the show shark tank. We were to ask questions on how their games worked and to critic their presentation. 

I had presented last week so I got the chance to just pay attention to the presentations and the game concepts. A lot of them were very interesting game concepts but didn't know how to present them well. I was one of those people. I started to think about presentation skills. Communication skills are beyond important, yet I lack these skills. Finding a way to communicate in a way that best presents myself is something I'm trying to work at. 

Presenting yourself in a way that best reflects yourself is something that need a lot of work. I know what I'm capable of doing, what my intentions are in project, the reasons behind the work and overall how it best reflects myself. Yet when it comes to words and explaining myself it seems to get tough. I always been one to be very quite and when I feel something is need to be said I will say it. I always had a fear of saying the wrong thing or saying it a way that wasn't to be intended. I've always be envious of people who were able to give these incredible speeches and communicate well with their audience. I wonder though, if they were naturally like these or if it took practice. I know in my case, I need to practice. For example, in my Letterform class which is also taught by Jimmy, the first project I presented I practice a few times the night before even timing myself. For the second project I didn't have the chance to practice like I did before. The second presentation I totally blanked out on what I was going to say and ended up with a short and not a very good presentation. It was proof that I really needed to practice on what I was going to say and how I wanted to reflect myself as a designer. 

I want to be seen as this confident artist/designer/visionary who can communicate well with the people around her. I want my reasons to make sense, be relatable to people and yet still be unique with a style that is a fresh of breathe air. I realize that a lot of people out there feel the same way and that there is a lot of work to be done on myself as a person and my work. My philosophy is to be honest with yourself and what you want from life. To understand and come to terms with that were all on this earth trying to make sense of the life around us. I'm documenting my human experiences and the things i've learned this far. I'm taking these human moments and making them into momentous and extraordinary moments. I'll convey these moments with the hues of the somberness of life itself to the enigma of the human existents and the eeriness of my subconscious minds.

A message for everyone!

-Leslie

Game concept presentation

First class of the week our final drawings and rules of our concepts to original board games. I went through a good 10 to 15 ideas of board games before finding something that was worth pursing. My game was called arranged your words. My game consist of 120 different square word pieces with words ranging from nouns to adjectives to verbs to pronouns. The premise is to be the first to arrange the word pieces into grammatically correct sentences. 3 pieces must be put down each turn, if you don't have a piece you collect a new word piece. You're able to rearrange the words on the table but at all the times 3 pieces and a grammatically correct sentences. 

During my presentation I got really nervous, to where my voice started shaking. It's one of those moments I think back to and it makes me cringe. I feel like I need to learn to communicate with people and communicate in a way that represents my style. This is important mainly because communication I'm a visual communicator. As much as I need to communicate with my work, my words are just as important. I say "to represented my style" because when I present, I feel like I'm not presenting myself in a way where I'm putting myself on display. I'm usually a quite person always thinking yet if I have something to say, I want it to be heard. When I present I feel like I'm not letting myself be heard. 

Besides my need for better presentation skills, my concept needed work when I got ask questions. Actually I didn't have anyone to see if I had any flaws in my concept so I did have blinds spots. One of my classmates mention my choice of colors for the game pieces. I choose to use to primary colors: red, yellow and blue. I choose these colors for simplicity, didn't want to resemble Rummikub as much. During the presentation, I said, "There was no specific reason why I choose these colors," which was a big mistake. I did chose it for simplicity not for a random reason. But I now I see I could of use to colors for a concept in the game. I could of choose to name nouns as blue, verbs as blue and adjectives as yellow. 

I feel like if I did this, the player will intentionally pick out the colors to win the game. You'd definitely need a variety of pieces, so maybe the color aspect of the game can probably work. 

Another thing my classmates mention was if punctuation was going to be apart of the game. I hadn't thought about this, although I did us the word grammatically correct. To learn grammar, you'd need punctuation. Maybe more pieces would be need. This reason would be because I want a large variety of words to make the combinations of words be greater. 

Overall, I could of done a lot better with this project. I think I got so distracted by the fact that to think of an originally game concept was very difficult. I also wish I would of gotten something else opinion so they could possibly notice my errors of lack of ideas in certain areas. I did enjoy the concept because it was simple and that is was mainly a strategy game.

Wednesday - 2.13.13

Continuing from the last post the main assignment of the week was to develop concepts for games. All 9 concepts had to be original ideas. This was probably one of the hardest assignments I had to do. It got me thinking of one of my favorite shows where one of the characters was so good at games that the group told him run game nights. Eventually he made up his own game that contain all of the best game into one game. I had never thought of designing games until I had to do it.
It was so tough because it was hard to be original without having something similar to a game that's out there already. I came up with some questions to help myself come up with some ideas but all I could think of was games I already knew.

One of ideas I had was called college. It was a board game with a premise to earn a 4 year degree the fastest. One of the main ideas was that it would take a lot longer than 4 years due to the government raising tuition, the university cutting classes you need to graduate or the unexpected life expense that will effect you graduating. It was a simple idea that reference how the education system was working at this time.

The second idea I had was called Las Vegas trip. Basically there is a story of you going to vegas and getting super drunk. The premise is to make it back to your hotel room before anyone else does. Things like getting lost, throwing up, getting lured by 2 for 1 shots, and gambling can happen to you on your way back. It was just a true story that had happen to me but I didn't see enough potential in the game itself. Also I didn't pick it because the idea made me sound like an alcoholic.

The final decision I had came up with is called Arrange your words. There 120 word pieces that range from adjective, to nouns, to verbs and so on. Be the first to arrange 16 word pieces into grammatically correct sentences. You can rearrange the word piece into different sentence but at all times the sentence must contain at least 3 pieces and be grammatically correct. This game can help kids with grammar and think of many different strategies but also be fun for adults. Maybe there can be a child version and an adult version.
I think my game concept works because it's a simple idea that can help the brain develop. The many different combination of words can make the game want to be played a lot whereas other games you can easily get bored with it. At first it was super hard to think of original game concepts yet I still came up with decent ideas for games. With a lot of thought and test runs of each game I believe they can possibly become a real game.

Monday - 2.11.13

Monday the 11th was also known as game day. Jimmy asked us to bring at least two games. Anything from board games to cards.
I bought a game called Rummikub. Describing your game in one to two sentences was part of our assignment. The premise of rummikub was to place down 3 tiles each turn. The sets must be either consecutive numbers in the same color or the same number in different colors. Numbers range from 1-13 and are either red, black, blue and orange.
This by far is my favorite game. It requires thinking of different strategies in order to win. It's a simple premise which makes it enjoyable for many different people.
One of design problems I noticed in this game was the coloring. The red and orange tiles are very similar which makes it hard to see in certain lights. It wasn't just me being a designer to notice this problem, it happened when my friends and I were playing the game and we all had trouble identify the colors on the table. Other than that it's the only problem I have with the game.
Another game I played was CandyLand. It's actually been a while since I've last played this game. Trying to remember how the game was played was kinda difficult. On the box of candyland was stated that the game required no reading. It's meant for the kids to play without having to think much. I did notice the graphics of the character has changed a lot. I notice the princess looked a lot like those bratz dolls little girls enjoy so much. I personally enjoyed the older graphics way better but maybe that's because it simulates my past.
I forgot how fun games can be and how much it takes your mind off everything else. I also notice the range of games and how they can be help your brain develop. Then there's games like CandyLand which isn't meant for much besides if your bored or a 6 year old child.
Jimmy assigned us to develop 9 different concepts of original games.
This, was possibly the hardest assignment I had to do.
to be continued...

COMING SOON ON THE NEXT BLOG POST:
-Why it was so hard to come up with ideas
-My 10 crappy ideas and the 1 that stood out the most
-also, I will try and not be so cheesy on the next post


-Leslie

Concept journals

During the last class of the week, we were ask to portray the seven deadly sins with whatever media we preferred.
As I am learning about this class, the most important thing is figure out why you drew or picked out what you did. Hence the name concept development. [I apologize if I sound super redundant, it's barely clicking to me]. And these ideas for projects are things we know and experienced. So to make sure that you are adding your style making sure the reader can understand what you are making. There has to be a fine balance between creating something unique and unusual and creating something that is understandable and relatable to the mass of people.

We were ask to make a creative map to the following topics: aliens in your bed, if you won the lotto, or trading places with any famous of any era.

I chose the aliens in your bed because I can't help have a massive curiosity of aliens. It is actually funny that it was a choice for a creative map and thought I could use my random/crazy ideas to ad to the map. I had this thought that aliens weren't necessarily different looking but someone who can use there entire brain power [I believe the usage of brain power is %10]. I then thought of a story of going on a graduation trip to Egypt. The person/people who go decide to take DMT which a drug that basically takes you away from reality. Lots talk of connect to aliens is possible by taking DMT. So on their trip, they enter the pyramids only to realize aliens live inside. I thought this would be an interesting story line. 

One of the things that don't do as often as I should is to write down my ideas. Having a specific notebook or journal to document the ideas that happen throughout my day. It's always been that if I had a good idea it would stick with me. I would define a lot of the idea in my head letting it trail off into whatever came next. I guess I've always been the person to change my mind a lot. My ideas jump around so much that I never get to stick to one plan and make it the best. I feel like with a little change every time it'll grow into a great concept. 

I now see that planning where you want to go with a concept can be an amazing thing for you. Visual communication with yourself is super important. As redundant as that sounds, it's something that can be forgotten a lot. For example, I know with one drawing, if I wanted to get it to where I want it to be it is going to take me a least 50 drawings. I need to see my work and my progress. So I think it is a very vital aspect to visually see what you are trying to create. Without it, you can never really get anywhere.

All in all, I now believe in needing a idea journal and writing down whatever comes to me. Even if it's not that well of an idea, I believe later on it can turn into a fully involved idea. It's like the thousands of drawings/paintings I have in my room sitting there collecting dust. Almost all of those are unfinished mainly because I thought the idea was trash once I began it. Now more than 6 months later I seen a painting I did and was like, "woah, I did this?" It's a pretty good feeling to have that happen. So with an idea journal and time, concepts can develop over time.  

2015 competencies

In class we discuss in groups the designer of 2015 competencies. It talked about the expectations place upon designers in the future. Up until this class, I was oblivious to how much work besides the actual design work took place in a designers life. Obviously, it wasn't like I expected to get work right off the back just by the designs. It's that I never got the chance to really understand competencies and realized that any person with a career has to have certain abilities outside of their work.
I'm glad that i've been exposed to these such important aspects. If I entered an professional setting prior of this knowledge, I would of been crying in the corner already.

The fact that there is so much to consider within a career, and at that, not necessarily graphic design has a pretty overwhelming feeling at times. For example, something fairly easy like a simple drawing due for my class; concept development. What is your context ? what are you conveying ? why? what am I trying to get out of this? clarity? color? aesthetic? originality? and so much can be add to this list.
It's different when drawing, painting, photographing, designing use to be for fun. Or when I was on another creative level. It came natural and the work flowed out of me. Now, I suppose I put a lot more pressure on myself to be the best I can be. And I looked back at this all and realized what a difference it was and has been in my design career this far. Not to mention, this is barely the beginning of it all. I have so much to learn still and even that keeps me up at night.

Back to the competencies, a vital aspect to design is generally solving communication problems. Sadly, it is something I barely understood up until a couple weeks ago. But hey, better late than never right ?
This quarter, on top of my art classes, I am taking sociology 330: urban settings in cities. Basically we're are learning about the formations and reasons for cities. Which lead me to my daily commutes to work and school. I start to wonder during traffic about the designing aspect of cities. Why there's a freeway here? Why is there so much traffic right now? why isn't there an exit here? or why isn't dam freeway finished (yes i'm talking about you, 710) It got me thinking about the history and that these solutions now fitted the people living in different era. Now, there's many problems within the cities due the increase in population and the advancement in technology.
So the main question is how can I make a solution to these problems with in a city. I then started to daydream about building my own city from the ground up. Even down to the graphics of each department in the city. Then I thought of how much work that would be and said "hmp, maybe later on."
All in all, it's a lot of work being a creative being whether your a fine artist, designer, photographer, or even a musician.
Understanding fundamentals is overall the most important aspect.

A c r e a t i v e p r o c e s s

          Wednesday's class was us spit into two groups talking about the 4 questions we were ask to talk about in our blog (see post right below.) We all shared our fears of being a creative being and our creative process. The biggest difference we all had was how we work. Some of us said we love working to music and or visuals and the other half said that music was really distracting. 

These questions had me thinking about the work I do outside of school. Whatever I learn from my art classes, I always apply everything I learn to my work. Like coming up with a good process to working. Having a plan, researching, asking yourself a few basic questions are a few of the things I've learn this far at CSULA. 

I've mention that I have taken photographs since I was about 16 years old. And looking back, I have grown as an "artist" (feels very strange saying artist.) I now know that having a creative plan and objective is an important process in designing your work. 

I'm going to talk about some of my work and how I eventually got to the final decisions and product.

N°1

This was a series I had done for a 2D 

class at CSULA. I named it "Things

aren't what they seem to be." It was an interactive book that allowed the reader to rotated the photos by a handle on the side of each photo. It was also a series within another series of 'rotated' photos. This was definitely a more planned out photo shoot. I wanted to convey images that seem surreal, strange and that made you think twice at what you were looking for. This is a prime example of me actually sitting down and doing exactly what I intended to do. 

N°2

I never planned for this photo. I was shooting photos for a couple of friends for their ep release. While they were talking about what they wanted, I seen this and shot it right away. I didn't plan for the placement of the clouds or that helicopter in the photo. I know that some work is somethings unintentional which makes it an aesthetic to the unplanned concepts. 

N°3 

Combining my love for music, design and photography I began to design cover art for these playlist I was making monthly. The photo came from this one foggy december morning. I fixed the color, rotated it and added this large text on top. The photo wasn't really planned but from that came a planned idea. I decide to use it for the playlist making a perfect representation for the month of december.

I now understand that it is important to have some planned ideas but that also intentional things may happen in the middle of the process. There has been many times where someone has been like "oh I love that part," and in reality that was merely an accident. I believe that if you have an idea, no matter how developed it is, an intentional or something random might come from it. Also looking at your everyday life is a way of developing a concept. I know I strive to capture or create moments of the everyday life. 

I believe that the creative process varies for every person but if you strive on making things thats make you you, the ideas will flow out of our creative brains. 

Questions

Some "home-play" questions that Jimmy assigned for us to write on our blog. These are actually some things I've always had in the back of my mind. It was cool to see the TED talk from the writer of Eat, love, prey. She talked a lot about things that've been in my mind since I gotten serious about myself as a "creative being." and these questions are what she talking about.
I always knew there was a "creative demon" in me.



Questions:
Have you experienced your own or other people's fear-based reactions to your creative education and career choices?

To answer the question is simplest terms, hell yeah. There are so many discouragements I have came across as a
creative being in general. I've gotten so many looks when I would tell everyone what I was majoring in. Like they pity me for choosing such a awfully competitive industry or the less stable job. It was also things like coming up with a generation of Internet that made it harder to be recognize as an artist/photographer. Ive always had a strong feelings about what I'm doing and that I'm doing it for myself. I'm not basing decisions on whether I can become rich or if other people approve. There is a lot to fear in this industry. But then again there's a lot to fear in life to.

How have you successfully overcome these reactions?

I don't think it is possible to fully overcome all those big fears. I just think I've come to realize that the reason why I choose this lifestyle is so I could be happy.
When I was younger I always assumed that you were suppose to choose something that made you happy. That you were suppose to want to wake up and enjoy going to your job. I did realize that life isn't that simple when your bombarded with life and its problems. I'm lucky enough that I started at a young age and that nothing is stopping me to complete goals that I had at 16 years old.

What is your concept of your creative process?

I have yet to develop a strong process to my creative process. So far when I get a great idea it comes from my everyday life. Whether I'm driving to school, listening to a certain album for the millionth time, out with my friends or actually trying to inspire myself by other artist.
I do like to sit down for a couple minutes when I have an idea and write things that I want from the idea. If I have specific choice of color or what I'm trying to convey. For the most part, I learn the best from trial and error. I now see that it is important to put more thought and effort into developing a concept. I hope to find a way that works best for me and have a solid base for my ideas.

How do you approach creating, making?

When I approach the creating process it is most likely something I've been feeling that day or even month. If I've had a bad week, I'll go for a more somber feel in my work. If I've had a weird dream, I'll go for something more surreal and erie like.
Then I like to think about little aspects like colors to convey the emotion and the angle to show different perspective.
I like to keep my love for aesthetics of life in the back of my mind. I think this keeps me true to my meanings of why I'm doing art in the first place.

January 23rd, 2013

Being that Monday was a holiday, the class only met once this week. The usual had happen, Jimmy went off topic the first 20 minutes.. and this happen because he had coin in his hand and it just went from there. As it is useful information, we finally began the exercise of the day. And well I don't know the exact story that was read to us but it went along the lines of:

"Imagine a sunny morning and you get up wanting to take a walk. Your walking down your neighborhood and the houses are small and the trees are big. As you keep walking you start to get closer to the forest. You walk into the forest and you come across a clearing. The clearing is and edge of a cliff. The view is nothing but mountains. As this story is fantasy, a giant white bird flies over to you and tells you to get on it's back. You hop onto the bird and fly over the mountain. The bird takes you to a cave. You get off and go into the cave. You then see a door with your name on it. Draw what you'd see inside."

When I first heard the story, it felt very eerie to me. Maybe it was Jimmy's tone or maybe the mystical feel the story had. I drew a dark room with a single light bulb hanging dead center of the ceiling. Right beneath the light bulb is a Television with a DVD player. Tons of DVDs are scattered along the floor. Each DVD has a different title. These DVDs are your memories starting from the beginning of your life, your future, your dreams. A room where you can reminisce, see the most vivid and meaningful dreams you've ever had or see what is in store for your future.

I think I thought of this because I'm fascinated with the idea that our subconscious has more knowledge than we can ever tap into. That we spend 1/3 of our lives dreaming. Or even though I hardly admit to this, I think the main reason I enjoy taking photographs is to remember the times I've had. I've spent a majority of my summer coming to that conclusion and sort of a thesis statement to my work. I strive to capture the ordinary to make it extraordinary. All with my inspiration for dream like fairy tales of life to the eerie-ness to my dreams.
I believe this exercise was for us to understand where our inspiration comes from. Whether it's from something you seen on your drive to school or something as cheesy as mine inspiration. I feel that if you pay close attention, you'll begin to see more ideas within yourself.

This exercise reminded me of an exercise I did back in high school english. My teacher had put on an instrumental song and told us to write what we thought what was going on in the song. No knowledge of why the song was written or who played it. It was merely the feelings we got from each song that helped us write what we thought what was going on in the song. I'n not quite sure why I remember this exercise so much but it stuck with me. It's these exercises that you get to do in class that can help you broaden your horizon for great ideas.

The second half of class we had went over our ideas for the previous assignment. Our assignment was to pick a magazine photo and come up with 10 different phrases for that one photo. Changing the meanings of the phrase gave the photo a different meaning each time.
It was a difficult assignment to me because I guess I'm not that good with putting words together in a clever way. Or maybe advertising just sucks, either way. But really, I give props to people who work in advertising because it is hard work.

So far this class is helping me understand the amount of ideas we are capable of. I've also never had a class that had to work together a lot. It's refreshing from any other class I've taken at CSULA so far. I am enjoy this class, just ask me if I'm enjoying this class in a couple weeks of homework piled to my shoulders. We'll see.


- Leslie

[ P.S Just a little motivational poster ---> ]

1.16.13

The second class of the week was based on film and discussion. The series TED talks has speeches of designers/artist. We watched Stefan Sagmeister talk about how he works for 6 years and takes 1 year sabbatical to refresh his ideas. He explained these years come from his retirement plan and spreads 5 years throughout his working years. This got me thinking about how good of idea this is and that I would love to be able to do this. As an creative being, there will always be rough patches in your life that you won't be able to produce any ideas. I believe the only way to get over these creative blocks are to step back from the work and redirect your thoughts. If you try and push through your creative blocks it might start to feel like a chore. Designing can be the most fun that a job can be, when it starts become something you dislike or feel tired by it, it would probably be time to step back. 

I've done this with my photographs and art. For the longest time, even now, you won't find me having a camera with me. This happen mainly because my camera is piece of shit but besides that initial let down I found myself trying so hard to produce something I was proud of. It wasn't happening for me. Work, school, friendships and life had gotten in the way of me wanting to produce art. Now I still look at my portfolio and I'm sure I can still produce photos that I really want to. I think when the time is right I'll get back into photographing my life. 

Now the second half of the class was about the 5 photographs we were ask to bring in. These cut outs from magazines were to be a person, place or thing. Jimmy only picked two for the class discussion (i'm pretty sure he thought the rest sucked.) He choose a close up of a coconut half open. All that was shown on a black background was the empty inside and a thin layer of the hard shell. We then were ask to put titles on the photograph. Many were said, "Insert lime here," "Wear a helmet," etc etc.  Each time a different title was said it would change the entire mood of the photograph. One of these sayings was made for happy hour or anything related to drinking and relaxing. The other totally changed from cheerful to dark and eerie, maybe used for drunk driving poster. The next photograph was a picture of a paint brush dipped in white paint. This time everyone had to say at least 3 different sayings for this photograph. Again many were said and he said a lot were terrible. 

It's a lot harder than I thought to come up with words that will say exactly what your trying to say or sell. Every saying has a different meaning and can change it drastically. These words will tell you how to feel, whether its somber, cheerful, hungry or the need to travel. A lot of work goes into advertisement, having so much pressure on just a few words. As apart of our homework is to pick a photograph and come up with 10 good sayings for the photograph. I know this is gonna be tough because a lot of them are going to suck. I think i'm gonna drink a glass of wine before I start this assignment. 

'til next time 

C o m m u n i c a t i o n

Throughout the class, we were ask to communicate between each other. First Jimmy, my professor for 220 concept development, ask us to sit in chronologically order of our birthday days. We all started to ask amongst each other when our birthdays were. This was fairly easy due to the fact that you only had to know what a small amount of information to communicate with. I only communicated with people near my birthday, may and July. Once we sat down, Jimmy ask us who thought we weren't sitting exactly in order. About half the class rose their hands. He ask why and we all thought that we weren't sitting correctly and we all said that there was bound to be one error due to a lack of communication. We eventually said our birthdays and turns that we were sitting correctly the whole time.
We then had to place our comics in the front of the class. Our comics consisted of a 4 panel story of how we ended up at CSULA. The previous class we drew them out and had to add color the next class. We were ask to place the drawings from the best to least best according to what we thought as a class. The timer was set at 20 minutes and we all began to trying to rank the 25 something comics. I had did my comic in bright sharpie colors. I choose to a use a color combinations of complementary colors to attract the eye. I think I was successful at this because my comic got pick up to go to the front of the line for best comic.
As a class we choose 4 different criteria for how we would rank them. Creativity, aesthetic appeal, color, and the clarity content of the comic. As the timer came to about 10 minutes we were still trying to decide how to rank them by being logically. In a panic we choose to have 5 Tally's each and we would mark the ones we liked the most. I chose the ones with clarity of content, most creative and the well colored comics. I knew mine was lacking creativity because it was a simple content.
At the end we all decided that we had picked the best comics because of the aesthetic appeal. Most of the class had said that they really didn't get the chance to read the comics. I think if we would of had more time, we could of properly rank the comics with all the criteria we had wrote on the board. In my opinion mine probably wouldn't of been pick second best if we would of had more time. I believe this because I was lacking 2 out of the 4 criteria.
I think Jimmy did this exercise for us to realize what kind of person we are during group communications. Are you someone who sits there and waits to be told what to do? Or are you someone who takes charge? I notice a lot of people taking charge and a lot of people who said nothing the entire class. I said what I need to say and nothing more. I think the reason for this was because there was already so many people who took charge. Usually, and if I had to, I would of said more input. I do think we all now know what communicating between a large group is pretty difficult.

Photographs

In our second day of class we were shown different photographs. We were ask to explain these photos like if were explaining these photos to someone on the phone. I saw it as dodging any previous knowledge or any sort of assumptions. It got me thinking about what people think or say of my photographs. 

For example this photograph:

Obviously, when I see this I think of the time my friend and I partied with this L.A based group of dj's/producers. Afterwards we went to this bar over on 7th street and this guy had one to many Arrogant Bastard's and this is what had happen. 

But if you didn't read this, what would you think?

Another hooligan tagging in the streets of downtown? a guy who has a crush on a girl tagging their names on the wall? 

Usually my intentions for a photograph is to remember the crazy moments or even the everyday moment in my life. 

I think this exercise was to point out the technical aspects of photograph (hues, contrast, rule of third etc. etc.) Anything other than that is just an assumption of what you think is happening in the photograph. Intentions don't always come clear to other people. If I've learned anything in my art career thus far, it's that when you make something it never really comes out as you planned. Most times it is the mistakes that people notice to be your intentions. 

Towards the end of class we were to draw a graphic novel of how we made it to CSULA in four panels. After we were finished Jimmy laid them out for everyone to view. As we looked through all of the comics, we came to a conclusion that it was harder to draw out the idea rather than the idea itself. As designers, we are expected to do both the idea and to make that idea come to life. I think I'm finally thinking like a designer and it's pretty exciting. 

First week back

First week back at school was brutal for me. I wasn't ready to go back but now that a week went by I'm like, "okay let's rock this." One of the main assignments for my class concept development was this apple. Jimmy Moss, aka my professor, gave us these apples and said do not touch them for the next 10 weeks. We are to render this apple everyday for the next 10 weeks. That is 70 different drawings/paintings of this exact apple. 

I suppose the main idea for this project is to begin to see this apple in a different light when all the tradition ideas are run out of. By tradition, I mean the techniques we already know so well and are use to. The purpose is to break out of these habits we're so use to by now. 

Up until this class I never really thought about how an idea is to be made up. Being a creative being, an idea was always something that came natural to me. Now I can see that to think of a great idea contains many ingredients. Great thought, many sketches, plans and schedules, lots of hard work, many more sketches, and most importantly finding an overall solution to the problem at hand. 

This blog is also something new. I've snap photographs for what seems like years now. So I've always had a photo blog, blogging about a series of photos I've been working on and so on. Being graded on a blog is a whole new game though. I feel it'll be effective for us designers by communicating and learning by the blogs. 

I actually have Jimmy as my professor for another class. Even though it's only been a week, I can see his style of teaching is everything but didactic. (do I get bonus points for using one of the words he used in class?) It is something I am very excited for. It's refreshing not to have a professor who is so set in certain way of teaching. Overall, by the end of the quarter, I hope I can begin to develop better, well thought ideas.