Webpage critiques

http://twildman.willyworld.org/

-The Good

The paint tubes at the top of the page is a clever and unique graphic element that is both visually stimulating and works well with the theme (i.e. Art Club).

The title is both visually stimulating and informative. The lumpy, paint-like texture goes very well with the title and the highlights give a very nice three diminutional effect.

The heading under "USI Art Club" is very brief yet very informative. It gets straight to the point of most viewers concerns regarding entry fees.

The heading under the body text "Join us Wednesdays at 9 p.m" very briefly gives the information that needs to be given to the viewer that quickly glances over the webpage.

The pencils and pens to either side of the body text are a clever way to block the readers eyes from moving away from the text. Though the artist could have used a box to serve the same purpose, it would not be nearly as esthetically pleasing and would not visually link to the theme. It is this critics opinion that the pens and pencils are the most clever visual element used on the page.

-The Bad

The paint tubes and paint used to write the title are not supported by an equally stimulating background. If the background perhaps had a texture such as a painters pallet or an easel then it would offset the visual information given by the paint and tubes.

The white text is straining on this critics eyes. I find it hard to stay focused on the text with such a harsh contrast. If the background were white and the text were black then this would not be a problem but such as it is, the text is fatiguing.

http://mtravis.willyworld.org/

-The Good

The body text(s) are simple and straight to the point. All the most necessary information is provided and is easy to read.

The graphic elements on the notebook and notebook paper relate to the theme (i.e. Art Club) and look hand-rendered, adding to the gritty feel of hand drawn art.

-The Bad

The title is difficult to distinguish from the corn kernels. If the title were a color farther away from the yellow tint of the corn kernels then it would be easier to read assuming that the hand rendered letters were less sporadic and more evenly kerned with each other.

Though this critic understands how the corn relates to the theme, it should be assumed that the casual page viewer knows nothing of Art Club. As such, the corn seems out-of-place as it is not relevant to, and not mentioned in, any of the body text. The corn detracts from the muted tones of the notebook and the background with its comparably vivid colors.

http://www.kyletieken.com/

-The Good

The information provided by the body text in the would-be bullet points ( -- ) make skimming over the page easy.

The title is very easy to distinguish from the background and body text.

The visual elements relate to the theme (i.e. Art Club)

-The Bad

The body text is spaced too far apart to sustain this critics attention. I found my eyes aimlessly wandering around the page and focusing on the background texture as apposed to the text.

The body text is not bold enough to adequately contrast with the harsh white middleground of the notebook. If the notebook were given a low opacity texture and the text were vertical,given one color, and a bolder font, then the body would be easier to distinguish and would stand out from the middleground in this critics opinion.

The visual elements are not very prominent in the webpage and are overpowered by the solid white middleground.

The pencil does not mesh well with the flat, two dimensional motif of the page.

Censorship and an Art movement in the making

It's been a very productive day for The Keep. I completed 2 new works and found 2 more scribbled down on notebook paper that had been shoved into the drawer with all of the other Keep poems that didn't meet my expectations. I think I've come up with a direction to take the series.
In other news,
In response to the redundant shit-storm raining down on us that somehow passes as art these days, I've decided to spark a new art movement. It's a daunting task but I really feel up to it. There has go to be a new direction to take art that doesn't involve manga or painting with blood, or (God forbid) using your own fecal matter as a medium (Yes, it HAS happened). I think that if people had something new to do, then they'd eagerly move away from the cliches that they've trapped themselves into. Okay, so maybe smearing shit on a canvas isn't exactly mainstream "art" but I don't think we're too far away from seeing that happening.
To take art to another level, I believe we should look to the past and examine the elements used by the masters. Picasso, Van Gogh, Warhol, De Vinci, etc. These artists were ahead of their time, yeah? So why not study them and integrate their techniques into your own?
Explore the process of making art.
Reflect societies views back on them.
Break expectations.
I know it isn't politically correct to say so, but a lot of the crap posted on DA really shouldn't be considered art. I hate censorship as much as every other passionate artist, but I don't believe that spraying blue silly string on your girlfriends vagina should be considered art. Using "You're just trying to censor me" as an excuse is just that, an excuse.
I'm not endorsing censorship but I do think that it should be placed where it really needs to be. That is to say, at the idiots that take pictures of vulgar materiel just for the sake of being vulgar, people who color other peoples work and give themselves props for doing so, and/or people who insist on using cliche subject matter.
Censorship isn't going away and there's really not a whole lot we can do about it. What we can do however is try to redirect it to where it really belongs.

A (not so) brief rant

I'm having writers block. Worse yet, I've written myself into a corner. I need to take the story in a new direction, but I'm not sure where to take it. I've already established my key characters and was in the middle of introducing a new one when I read over my work and saw a few cliches. When I saw these cliches, I was disgusted.
I highly value uniqueness and I am repulsed by the repetition of mainstream cliches so much that I work on my appearance to be unique, making a statement against mainstream cliches. To do something just because everyone else is doing so is, in my opinion, the epitome of non-creative thinking. Imitation has its place but not to the extent that its been taken by mainstream society. For example, there has been a dramatic surge of young artists that have taken up the eastern "manga" style of drawing. I do believe in diversity and expanding ones horizons, and this normally wouldn't really bother me but the sheer number of people that use this drawing style is mind-numbing. I've tried to find diversity in the drawings done in this manga style but there are an alarming amount of similarities to all of them; so much so that they all look alike. The people drawn in this style either have biologically impossible hairstyles, ridiculously disproportionate bodies (females with breasts larger than their hips and males with shoulders that extent past their hips), or both of these. They almost always carry some sort of bladed weapon with dragon or demon decorations. I wouldn't mind if there were just a few drawings like this but their are thousands. I don't intend to slander the artists too much. Indeed, there is a knack to this style and most of the drawings are very well done but there are just so many of them that they tend to lose their beauty and unique quality because the manga style is overused. It's a fairly easy style to work with and ranges in detail and quality as with every other style but the variations tend to be small.
The point I'm trying to make is that while all art is beautiful in its own way, it tends to lose its beauty when thousands of other artists do the same kind of work. What truly worries me is that even though there are thousands of these works, as I've stated before, thousands more are still being made. I can appreciate that it's hard to let a good thing go, especially when you've been doing it for a while, but I can't understand the appeal of doing the same thing that thousands, nay millions, of others are doing.

I can sort of agree with Andy Warhol and the statement he made with his work. Industrialization and streamlinProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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g designs and ideas has stabbed creativity and made it harder for artists to come up with new designs because they're being bombarded by the same thing over and over again. It's getting harder to come up with new ideas when certain ideas are being thrust upon you and you're told to accept them as "what you should do" or "how you should be". It's sad to see that this has influenced art and even sadder than I'm beginning to feel it's effect.

Project 1 Art Club Layout: Finalized

What I wanted to do,What I did, Why I did it, and What I could have done

1. What I wanted to do

In keeping with the majority of my previous works, I wanted to this composition to have a professional appearance. In the past I've created such an appearance by keeping my designs sterile and simple, using minimalism on my images of simple subject matter, imposing strong horizontals, and using what I have designated as "traditional colors" (Red yellow and blue).

The main feature of this design is the strong horizontal lines and shapes.

• The text acts as the strongest horizontal and it is supported by the title and upper right image. In order to keep the viewer focused on the text, a powerful vertical barrier (image on the left) combines with the title and upper left image to frame the text.

• To keep the title interesting I placed an image under the “A” in Art for no other reason than improving aesthetic value. Because the text needs to be the “first read” of this composition, I gave it highlights to make it unique from the rest of the visual elements

• The background image makes the negative space interesting and unites the rest of the images with a common theme.

If I wasn't concerned with a professional appearance as my main goal, the project would look like this.

Assignment 1: Step 3

Still don't have the book for the class. I may have to improvise.

Project 1: Update - Horizontal

Merged 2 of the concepts in Photoshop. The result came out clean with a strong horizontal emphasis that supports the body text. Horizontal emphasis is important in this design since the body text is the "meat" of the design. The viewer reads from left to right, horizontally, so it makes sense that the images should do the same.

Project 1: Concepts

Drew another concept.
I'm thinking about merging two of the 3 concepts I've drawn so far.
The images I've selected from my art gallery are too busy. The images should probably be minimalistic so as to support the body text and not draw attention.