Editor in Chief

I decided to put this project into my portfolio because magazines are some of my favorite things. I can always enjoy a good magazine that deals with various topics. I used the idea of Botany because I took this picture of this flower at a conference center, and I could not fiigure out what to use it for. I figured that this magazine idea would put the flower to good use. The mood is very light and beautiful. The pink and yellow add vibrancy and brilliance of color. For this project I used layers, text, and font colors and sizes. With the fonts, the technique that I learned in the Vanity Plate section helped me for this project to creat a 3D view of the title of the magazine. This project was ery fun. Once I learned how to make a magazine cover it came much easier as I tried out different ideas.

Sevonna Brown. Bloom. April 2010.

Idiom Catching Some Zzz's

The idiom that I chose to illustrate for the original project was was the saying "Jump the Gun". In the project I included a photo of a hand that has shaped itself into a gun, and another photo of a girl jumping in the air. I placed the jumping girl over the "Handgun" to literally symbolize "jumping the gun". I used the eraser to take away any extra parts that would interfere with the layers. I created a later between the two layers, and the top layer of the photo is the text. I edited the text, changing the font type and font size. Another tool that I used was opacity to show the jumping girl.
Although that this photograph shows the literal explanation of the saying, it is a figure of speech. To jump the gun means to go or to do something before it is time. It is a metaphor for stirring things up or getting things started before they are prepared or ready. An example of jumping the gun would be to start a race before the gun has been shot that signals the starting point. If the runner moves before it is time to go, they will be penalized. That explanation includes a literal and figurative understanding of the saying. I believe that that example is where the saying originated. Other ways to think of it are to go before the whistle is blown, making assumptions and taking actions based on those actions.
The difference between what the idiom says and what it actually means is that in order for the saying to be applicable, neither jumping nor a gun must be present or involved. They are literal terms that signify a larger metaphor and meaning.

The idiom that I chose for the final portfolio is the phrase to Catch Some Zzzz's. That phrase simply means to catch up on sleep, or to go to sleep. I used a picture of my nephew holding out his hands to my niece, cropped the letter Zzz's from a google image and pasted it on a new layer with the original photograph. I put this in my portfolio because it adds to the playful nature that proves to be a motif in my final project. Idioms as images bring things into persective, and make it easier to see how the sayings could be true or literal.


Sevonna Brown. Magic Trick. May 2010.

Unknown. Zzzz's. [Online] http://eatdrinkdatelaughpray.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/zzz.gif, January 2011.

My Message was "Baby on Board". I chose this message because it is always the first thing that I think of when I think of "saying" on cars. It's a cute little saying that always brings caution to other drivers.

I chose New York because it is a very busy state. For the message "baby on Board" is correlates with New York because many people in NY do not drive, but if you have a baby and need a car seat you will drive your own car rather than walk or ride in a taxi.

On the original project I did not give the letters a 3D effect. This time I gave them a yellow background to make them pop out more.

Unknown. New York License Plates [Online source] http://www.15q.net/us4/ny69.jpg. January 2.

Another Composite Project

Sevonna Brown. Friends. July 2010.

Sevonna Brown. Brian. July 2010.

Sevonna Brown. Boat and Pond. May 2010.

I made this composite project because I believe all of the pictures evoke the same mood. I thought it was been interesting to have the characters be very small. The boat is originally so large, so I channeled the movie "The Borrowers" and made the subjects small. In this case, the boat is the subject, it is what I want the viewers to see as most important. I want the most attention to go the boat, and not the human subjects. I wanted to include this in my portfolio because it is not like anything else that I have ever created. I think that it is interesting and unique. The way that the subjects interact together is unique. I used the crop tool, eraser, multiple layers and transparency for this project.

Beautiful Building

Unknown. House. [Online] Available Building http://www.blackstonedaily.com/History&Heritage/bl-, January 2011.

I chose a simpler beautiful building for this project. The last building that I did had a lot of intricate windows and walls and I could not do what I thought the photography deserved. The simpler building was much easierto manage and create from. for this project I used the crop tool, the bucket full, and lines. For each of those tools I had a different layer. This project reminds me a lot of the avatar project. Many of the same tools are needed. The mood is very sad and lonely. The dark colors plus the grey help to establish this mood. This also adds to the simplicity of the subject.

Different Point of View

The first photo is a straight on photo of the large house and the subjects in the front of the house. The shot is very straightforward and close-up. It gives a pretty clear focus of the subjects sitting on the lawn, leaving out a large portion of the house. The second photo is a photograph from below with the camera tilted up towards the house. This angle reveals the balcony and another subject that was not seen before. This photo is also pretty close-up, but it reveals portions of the house that were left out of the first photograph. The third and final photo is a far away angle of the house with the camera tilted slightly to the side. The picture is taken from the side rather than straight in front of the house. This image exposes the house as a whole as well as the students. The viewer is able to see all of the components of the residence. This image also shows the lawn and it's length. The angle is not only from the side but it is from the bottom (similar to the first picture). I took the picture from the bottom of the hill closest to the street/sidewalk, and further away from the house. The angle makes the house appear very large and wide as well as making the subjects appear smaller.
These photos are all original photos that I took. for the portfolio, I changed the project by compiling all of the images together, emphasizing focus on the photo in the lower right.

Sevonna Brown. Angles, September 19, 2010.

Filters

For this project I decided to use filters. I took a photograph of a tree at a campsite. The owner of the campground decorated the nature, and put silly faces on a few trees. For this project I channeled the movie “Lord of the Rings” and designed a monster/villain similar to the talking trees in the movie. I used the crop tool to take the face off of the tree and copy/pasted it into a blank canvas. I duplicated this image 6 times. I used layers for each image so that I could use filters. The filters that I used included slur (which I used for the text), mosaic (which I used for the background), GIMPressionist (for one of the monsters), waves(also for one of the monsters), and a few others. The mood of this project is very scary and dark. This is appropriate because the product is a Movie Poster for a scary movie, which has the setting of a dark forest. I chose to do this because using filters was one of my favorite projects throughout the course.

The photograph I used was original:

Sevonna Brown. Afro. June 2010.

Composite Project

My favorite thing about this piece is the color. The colors are so vibrant and they set an excellent mood for the overall image. The original photo is a just a bubble, but I added the fish with layers. I used the crop tool to create the individual fish. I thought that would be a nice playful touch to add to the portfolio. I wanted a vibrant, bold piece in my portfolio and I thought this would be perfect. It is very child-like and I like that about it.


Sevonna Brown. Bubbles., May 2010.

Unknown. Fish Clip Art. [Online] Available quaker.gifhttp://www.goddidcreations.com/fish%20clip%20art.jpg, January 2011.

Abstract

This abstract piece uses bright shades of blue and green that pop on the canvas and contrast with a few splashes of black. The shapes of the piece are circular but also include more jagged edges. The circles bring in an element of comfort among the sharp angles and of the other elements. There is a small sense of balance between the left and right sides of the picture and the black element with the blue circle found in the middle centers the piece. Those two figures bring the work together. The small circles that are followed by larger circles show the expansion and the growth of the piece. The picture grows outward. The blue colors are cool and give balance to the deep,saturated black shapes of the art. The yellowish-green elements are warmer colors that bring comfort and calm the piece down. The sharp angles of the larger pieces contrast with the rounded edges of the others. The circles were created with the elliptical tool and the larger pieces were created with The Free Select Tool to make hand-drawn regions. To make give the shapes color I used the bucket fill. I used the undo button many times. I found that even with an abstract piece, as an artist there is a particular way you want to position and color specific portions of your work. I modeled this very similarly to my first abstract piece. This one includes much more color, and the frame is much wider.

Bear-llarina Hoax

Sevonna Brown. Dancer, December 2009.

Unknown. Bearhead. [Online] http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/burkhead/New%20Folder/Bear_head.jpg, Unknown.

This hoax using two contrasting subjects. In my past hoaxes I did not do them properly because I did not create a new species. This time I did that and I hope to regain what i lost from doing those assignments wrong. I wanted to juxtapose the delicate dancer with the dangerous bear. I created an advertisement for a musical that features bear/dancer-like creatures. I used the crop tool, layers, transparency and the paint to. I also used a text layer. The mood of this piece is very playful and humorous. I decided to put this in my portfolio because it using multiple techniques that we learned and shows my mastery of the tools of gimp.

Magazine Cover

Combining ink, paper, facts, perspective, honesty, accuracy and technique to create a brilliantly communicative world in journalism, freedom to express thought and information creatively for the betterment of my world is incentive enough. As a newspaper, yearbook and magazine editor I architect my school by influencing the student body with perspective and opinion. Journalism requires a well-rounded listener, reader and writer. My experiences with journalism and the subjects in sociology have inspired me to compile pieces of writing as well as artwork to inform a broader audience. The following pieces are articles, essays and creative writing that deal with ethnic, cultural, and societal issues and topics. Some of the text discusses the role of media and literature on our society, communities, gender, race and sexuality. This magazine targets the areas in our society in which we are facing the most problems. It is my hope that this magazine will bring attention to our major issues and highlight the areas in our world that are influencing our society the most.
My vision is to provide views that create a new perspective on sociological issues and concepts by exploring the ways these issues surface in literature, media, and our everyday lives. All of the work that you will see and read is my original work. Aside from writing, photography is also heavily featured. I hope that the photographs inspire you and allow you to look at the world the way I see it, through a new lens and frame of reference. The point of view that I chose for this magazine cover was bird’s eye. I wanted to emphasize “point of view”, so that it would be appropriate for the magazine title. I chose the title “Photography, Lens Impact & Optical Infusion” to give a clear introduction to what the magazine is about first of all. The second part “Lens Impact”, tells the reader that there will be deeper narratives included to give more insight on photography and the stories behind the photographs. The third part of the title, “Optical Infusion” tells the reader that something about lenses, photography, vision, and the whole work of photography infuses something into the thoughts of the reader. This gives the reader some interaction with the pieces and the way that it influences them. I placed the headline story teasers on the right side of the cover because I thought it would be unique from other magazines which usually place them on the left side. I also placed them there because it was the most appropriate space in reference and regards to the photograph on the cover. The teasers are relevant to the magazine because they are expansions of the title that I chose. They explain deeper endeavors of photography. The stories that I previewed on the cover are insightful and intellectual to the field of photography. I chose the photograph that I chose for my cover because it is my favorite picture that I have ever taken. Also, I believe it adds a positive outlook to the magazine. The subject is positive. As I mentioned before, the point of view does a lot for the meaning and contents of the publication. This has been my favorite project by far.

Sevonna Brown. Swimming in Peace, July 2010.