Week 14 Blog Exercise - Visual Techniques

“Untitled” by Judy Chu

The image above is a picture of my niece, which I created, based off of a photograph of her and was given to her family as a Christmas present. The visual techniques that it’s move evident of are:

Depth/Flatness

Sharpness/Diffusion

Neutrality/Accent

Consistency/Variation

“Asian sunset – commission” by bw-inc

Link to Image 

 

The above image is another style of art, which I admire because of its simplicity and use of bright colors. To me, I thought it resembled pop-art due to the use of some abstract shapes to create a beautiful piece of artwork. Some visual techniques used in this image are:

Flatness/Depth

Accent/Neutrality

Sharpness/Diffusion

Boldness/Subtlety

Variation/Consistency

I included the opposites of each technique but bolded what I thought was most represented in the image. The first image contains more depth, making it look more realistic while the second image was more flat due to having less variation in its colors, causing it look more impractical. At the same time, the first image also contained some flatness, shown in the ladybug outfit and the background due to the use of single colors versus the face and arms, which had multiple hues of color. Both images have sharp lines, separating one color from the next, creating a crispy-clean feeling. However, in the first image, diffusion is present where the shadows hit the face and the arm, creating blurred lines between the colors. It also generates the image to look more realistic while looking from afar, unlike the second image where the viewer, no matter how far they are from the image, will always see it as unrealistic. Both images embody a visual technique opposite of each other, neutrality and accent. The first image contains more neutral colors, creating consistency where if the viewer saw one section of the image, will be able to predict the how the rest of the image will look like. On the other hand, the second image is accent due to its variations of color from burgundy to bright yellow. The bold colors “jump” out at the viewer, causing them to not know what will come next. With these bright colors, the overall tone or mood of the image projects an energetic feeling despite it being stasis.

Week 13 Blog Exercise - CONTRAST

Example 1: Effective use of Contrast

“The Couch 2” by molotov-arts

 (Link Here)

I chose this image because it really resembled the image with a couch out in the open after a disaster struck, which was discussed in class. The elements within this image contributed to the success of the contrast theme because of the colors, the texture, and the objects themselves. The couch, as well as the guitar, literally provides a color contrast with the wall and the floor because these two objects are orange while the background is blue, making them complementary colors. Not only that, but the viewer would least expect to find a clean and stylish couch sitting in a dark, old and creepy alley or street or an abandoned building. The texture of the walls and the ground are old and rusty and aged-looking while the couch and the guitar are clean and smooth. The orange electrical cords stand out just as much to the point it balances out the overall image because without these cords, the image would have too much negative space.

 

Example 2: Ineffective use of Contrast.

"Good or Bad Typography" by Naom.lin

(Link Here)

The image above is an example of bad contrast because the viewer has no idea where to start looking. The image is rather “loud” because a lot of things seem to be happening all at once; there are the large letters that can barely be made out, the small text at the top left corner, the medium text at the bottom left corner and the crazy texture all around. The colors are too similar to one another (perhaps the artist wanted to incorporate one or two colors only) causing the overall image to be confusing. There is too much positive space and not enough negative space and the texture adds onto the confusion because it causes the image to look “flat,” contrast to the previous image. The light orange “S” almost seems as though it’s disappearing from the image as a whole because it almost blends in with the background. The text in the middle, “carson,” was barely comprehensible and although it is quite busy, it will not catch the viewer’s attention.