Launching the Imagination – Aspects and Elements of Time

        Chapter thirteen of the book goes into depth about the elements of time. It explains that time can be used for an assortment of different things. Time can also be used in a verity of different ways. The chapter said that time especially relates to photographers, videographers, book artists, and filmmakers because they each have to rely on time for a certain aspect of their career. Photographers rely on time for pictures. When the sun (light) is in the right place for a photograph, or when submitting a photograph to an employer, customer, or art gallery at the right time. Videographers can also be on a schedule, but they also have to rely on time because of frames, scenes, the movie as a whole. They have to worry about close up shots, long shots, different kinds of relationships between scenes, crosscutting, different kinds of transitions, etc. and the amount of time each of these different elements should be. Filmmakers also have to deal with all of these elements, but also the duration of the movie, not only the movie as a whole, but the duration of time the plot should take. They also have to worry about the tempo of the story, the soundtrack, the intensity of each, the scope and setting, props, costumes, actors, the chronology of the story, and other sounds that the movie might need. When all of these things are added together the movie comes out so much better and becomes more enjoyable for viewers to watch. Can you imagine a movie without any sounds except the voices of the actors? Can you imagine a movie that is full with purely close up shots of the actors? The viewer would have a harder time trying to figure out the plot of the story. Putting all these elements together can make for great cinematic creations. The example the book used was the movie Schindler's List because of the content and composition that the filmmakers used made the movie great. The movie used all the elements listed in the chapter and even though it probably made the editing process take a long time, in the end adding all the elements made the movie great. 

Launching the Imagination – Constructing Meaning

        In chapter eight of Launching the Imagination, the title, "Constructing Meaning" kind of threw me. I wasn't quite sure how someone could go about constructing meaning and all the different ways one can do it. At the beginning of the chapter the author talked about iconography and how using it can create a variety of different meanings in a piece of art. One thing that I never really thought of was an audience. For things that I have created in the past, I never thought about what kind of audience my piece of art was for. I could relate, though, to the part about visual communication because I remember hearing in class about what messages a piece of art can give off to an audience, I just never really thought about the audience before creating the piece; it was always just an afterthought. Before reading this chapter I was familiar with the terms stereotype and clichés, but when reading about them in the book it was interesting how they related to art. Personally I am not a big fan of stereotypes and I only like clichés when they a funny, but I really liked that the book talked about how a shift in these things can cause upsets in our expectations. I liked that they can be used to challenge ourselves and the audience. In pervious art classes I have heard and learned about the purpose or intent of a piece, as well as, its context and the connections it can have, but learning how all these things form together was interesting. Along with clichés, I also like metaphors, especially when they are funny. Lastly, the chapter talks about postmodernism, which I thought was interesting to see how we went from modernism to postmodernism and how dynamic it is. At this point in my life, I guess I would describe myself as a postmodernist, but learning more about it and gaining more experience will only help me really define  where I am going.

Launching the Imagination – Developing Critical Thinking

    In chapter seven of Launching the Imagination Mary Stewart starts by talking about critiques; how do go about participating in one and how many different kinds there are. Many of the things she said about critiques I have already learned from going through the critiques that we do in class, but what I didn’t know was that there are different kinds of critiques that are supposed to get different outcomes. Stewart listed description, cause and effect, compare and contrast and greatest strength/unrealized potential as all the different kinds of critiques. As she described them, they all seemed to be helpful, not only to the artist getting critiques from others, but also when giving critiques to the artist. The rest of the chapter talks about pushing your project to reach its potential. She listed and described different ways to do that. Through adding and subtracting different elements of the piece, by transformation parts or the whole of a piece, by reorganizing parts or the whole piece, by creating different variations of the piece, and by ultimately accepting responsibility and taking credit for your own piece and your own ideas. I thought it was interesting how she broke each of those down to explain different ways of going about pushing the piece to its potential. I am always thinking to myself, ‘how can I make this piece better?’ but the way Stewart laid the foundation for taking action to do something about it made it a whole lot easier to push my pieces to their potential.

Launching the Imagination – Cultivating Creativity

        In chapter six of Launching the Imagination, the author, Mary Stewart, talks about the seven characteristics of creative thinking, which include, receptivity, curiosity, a wide range of interests, attentiveness, connection seeking, conviction, and complexity. She explains that having all these characteristics can help a person correctly cultivate their creative side. Having an open mind to others around you can be difficult for some people, but learning how to take others’ knowledge to transform it into your own will benefit you in so many ways. Another she talks about is being curious about your surroundings.  Being curious about a wide range of topics while being attentive will also help you in the creative process. Other things Stewart talks about is setting goals for yourself and learning how to manage your time wisely. When you learn to challenge yourself in the work that you do, the work you produce can only get stronger. Throughout the chapter Stewart talks about all of these individual things that I agree are very important when learning how to bring out ones creative side, but another important thing that she does explain how when all of these things are connected, or brought together to use simultaneously, they not only work to your advantage, but also make you better at what you do, thus making you client base grow immensely. The last thing Stewart mentions is making all of these things habits because once they become habits, it won’t seem like you have to try as hard to do them. They will eventually become tasks that you won’t even have to think about doing, it will all come naturally.

Launching the Imagination – Problem Seeking and Problem Solving

        In chapter five of Launching the Imagination the author, Mary Stewart, does a great job to describe how design can be used at a verb and a noun. I have never thought of it as a noun before, but how she says that it’s a plan, pattern, layout, arrangement of lines, shapes, colors, and textures really made me stop and think about it. Because design is deliberate, Stewart explains the problem seeking and solving process. Just like in a story, there is always a problem that needs to be solved when it comes to a piece of art. When dealing with a piece of art in the past, I always had the problem of what to draw or what to make or paint, but never thought of the problem as a way to make the piece of art better. I always thought that the problem was just something that got in the way of the design process. Stewart describes different ways of inspiration and different ways to thinking when trying to tackle a piece of art. I feel like using convergent thinking and divergent thinking can both be helpful, but I think that one may be better than the other depending on the type of art you are working on and the message you want it to reveal. She talks about ways of brainstorming and doing research before starting a piece of work, but I always thought that those were things that you did before writing a paper, not trying to produce a piece of art. I think that doing research can only expand you knowledge which can only make all the art you produce can even better. 

Launching the Imagination – Illusion of Space, Illusion of Motion

        The chapter four of Launching the Imagination creating an illusion of space and motion is described in a variety of different ways. With all kinds of perspective creating illusion become a lot easier. I think that creating the illusion of motion is harder than creating the illusion of space. Space can be layered, amplified, overlapped, change location, change in size variation, change in color, and can be changed with perspective. I think that because there are so many different ways to create the illusion of space it can be easier to create multiple different outcomes. To create the illusion of motion would be harder because the artist would have to make a piece of art the is normally stationary seem like it is in motion without it actually being in motion. I really liked figure 4.25 in the textbook that they used for an example for multiplication. I liked the one image was repeated but from different angles to make it look like different pictures. 

Launching the Imagination – Principles of Two-Dimensional Design

        In chapter three of Launching the Imagination I learned that there are multiple different ways to create a two-dinemsional design. By using methods like grouping, containment, repetition, proximity, continuity, closure two-dimenaional design can have a variety of different outcomes. I think my favorite  way to create two-dinensional design is when the artist uses patterns and grids. I really like the way they can come across to the audience. Another important factor I like of the grids and patterns is balance. In the section under balance, the author talks about different types of weight. Between visual, symmetrical, and asymmetrical I like visual the best. I like that the artist can manipulate size, value, type of shape, texture, location and orientation to achieve visual balance. I feel like with visual balance there are a lot more possible outcomes that can be produce. Another thing that I think would be fun to manipulate is proportion and scale of pictures, words and all the other elements within an image. I especially liked figure 3.37 in the textbook because of how much the words and lack of color and images created a completely new image that still gives off a bold message.

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How Images Think By: Ron Burnett–Chapter One

        Ron Burnett, author of How Images Think begins chapter one with space and time. He says, "...images are mediators between all the different layers of what are increasingly complex image-worlds." Because  there are so many different forms of media in the world today it can be difficult to differentiate between all the versions. Images are a way to combine all these forms of media so they are more easily understood. There are images all around us, in movies, television, commercials, video games, billboards, and advertisements. Images have us navigate through life on a level that everyone can understand. Images are the same in every language, culture, and society even though they may not always mean the same thing. A big chunk of the chapter is about vantage points and how they interact with technology. When he talks about vantage point he is talking about this concept that is, "closely related to perspective and attitude"meaning that different elements of an image need to be visible. Things like position, placement, who one is and why one form of analysis was chosen over another are all important. When these elements are changed it can change the image in so many different ways. Using the vantage point in technology make things a whole lot easier because technology now gives us instruments and tools that are digital, making the process of change much easier. Technology makes it so that images can be altered, copied, cropped, etc. to ultimately make the image better, this making our lives so much easier.

Launching the Imagination: A Comprehensive Guide To Basic Design–Chapter Two

        Chapter two, titled 'The Element of Color', basically started with a review of what color is, what it is used for, the different forms, and the different colors. I had learned, from previous art classes, about all these things including color theory, the primary, secondary and tertiary colors, how color affects and is affected by light, and how to mix certain colors together to get other colors. Last semester I learned about hue, tints, tone, value, and shade, but the book went more into depth explaining that hue is a color and when you mix that color with white you get a tint, when mixed with gray you get a tone, and when mixed with black you get a shade. These would all fall under the category of value of a color which refers to how light or dark the color is. Some new things I learned about were monochromatic color schemes and analogous color schemes. I had her the terms before, but never knew that they had to do with color. I also didn't know how many color schemes there were including monochromatic, analogous, complementary, split complementary, triadic, chromatic grays, and earth colors. The part of the chapter I liked most was the very end when it explained the emotion and expression that can come out of a piece of art using color. Color keys, the dominant color, isn't something I have ever thought about before, but I really liked the exampled used in the book; Image 2.54 Sandy Skoglund, Radioactive Cats, 1980. This section of the chapter also talked about the power of color and how it can be symbolic when used the wright way. "Well used, color is one of the most expressive elements of art and design". There are so many different uses for color that I didn't even imagine before reading this chapter, but I like how the book showed that color can do so many things when used the right way.