14 December 2012

Today is our last class of 3D.  I really enjoyed getting to create more structural elements.  I have never made any complex 3D designs or installation before, though I used to have a passion for modulo origami.  I have learned a lot this semester about how to make these structures interactive installations.  I enjoyed creating the Waterfall installation and combining both video and the unpredictable movement of the flowing fabrics.  In the future, I hope to expand on this concept and create other nature-inspired installations, such as a larger waterfall or even a river next semester.  I would also love to rediscover my passion for origami and other arts and crafts type elements in order to create more complex designs of my own creation.

10 December 2012

Because of the hurricane, we were unable to get models into class for several weeks, so this was our first week with a model in a long time.  I wanted to try to really incorporate the entire scene instead of just the model, and think I included the most important parts.  I like her body position, but wish I had more time to shade her better and also fix her hands.  The one on the right I actually really like.  I often prefer to use pencil to charcoal because I feel like charcoal can be so dark and heavy.  Pencil I can control more easily and like the lightness of this drawing.  I also like how her face can convey both boredom and a sort of wickedness, as if she is up to something.

7 December 2012

Today was the end of semester exhibition for the Art and Technology Department.  By draping scrim and thin sheets over the balcony, Rita and I created our own Waterfall.  We projected real footage of a waterfall as well as a virtual one we modeled in Autodesk Maya.

For my Interactive Installations class I used an Arduino to create a wirelessly controlled robot.  Robby, the robot, is entirely dependent on human direction and if left unattended, he will continue to roll along until told to stop.  He has full 360 degree range of motion for his head as well as both of his arms.  He can roll forward, backward, left, and right.

26 November 2012

Today we worked on Still Life again, but this time we used crepas, which were a lot of fun to work with.  At first, I started illustrating the entire scene, and realized I was making everything too small in order to effectively color with the crepas.  I really like the colors of the one on the right and would like to continue working on it in order to add in the eggs, onion, fabric, and vase.

22 October 2012

Today we had the same model as last time, who is a lot of fun to work with.  She placed sticks in her hair and tried to emulate some kind of bipedal deer.  She found the paintbrush and decided to make the deer an artist painting the leaves.  I really liked this entire scene.  I think her body positioning is pretty accurate, but the proportions are a little off.  I kind of like this though because I think it adds to her elongated, deer-like form.

This was the second pose of the day, which I actually liked a lot.  I really like the way er body came out and would have liked to have had more time to finish.

9 October 2012

The model we had today is very quirky and creative.  It is always fun to work with her because she tries to use the space and the props around her.  In this particular pose, she decided to go for a more toned down and timid look, holding the plant close to her body.  It took a while to get the proportion of her legs.  It is still not perfect, but it is something to work on.

9 November 2012

Walter Benjamin's Age of Mechanical Reproduction

My favorite point that Benjamin makes is that the depiction of art is not enough to make it art.  He states that people, "not supply the production apparatus without, within the limits of the possible, changing that apparatus in the direction of socialism."  In other words, as much as possible, an artist should not display his or her work to the world unless it creates some form of social interactions.  He believes that the message that a piece of artwork conveys and the actions that result from it are far more important than the piece itself.  Adding meaning to art is what makes the piece important to viewers.  Art can be considered to be essentially anything that triggers an emotional response from a viewer.  "What we must demand from the photographer is the ability to put such a caption beneath his picture as will rescue it from the ravages of modishness and confer upon it a revolutionary use value," Benjamin writes.

Benjamin connects this idea to the vast capabilities that come with weaving of Art and Technology.  By utilizing technology to mass produce and publicize art, the message behind the art is further communicated with the world.  This new ability does need to be kept in check, however, so as not to lose sight of the artwork itself.  Benjamin mentions, "By the absolute emphasis on its exhibition value as opposed to an ahistorical cult value, the work of art becomes a creations with entirely new functions, among which the one we are conscious of, the artistic function, later may be recognized as incidental."  Politics, while they play an important role in the study of art, should not consume the original intent of the artist.

26 October 2012

Frank Gerhys
Chiat Day Mojo Advertising Agency

The Binoculars Building, also know as the Chiat/Day Building , was designed by Frank Gerhy as an office building in Los Angeles, CA.  The most striking feature of this building is its large pair of binoculars on Main Street, which act as both a pedestrian and car entrance.  The building has changed tenants a few times, and the most recent leaser is Google.

This building is vastly different from Gehry's typical works, most of which were very abstract, with free-flowing lines and shapes.  This, however, is a simple, clean, and almost boxy design.  The giant binoculars clearly resemble a real pair and there is no room for guessing in this design.  In his other structures, Gehry allows the viewer to decide for him/herself what the structure represents.  This building is very concrete and straightforward.  Despite it's uniqueness among other Gehry buildings, the Binoculars Building still falls under Gehry's usual "Post-Modern" style.

19 October 2012

On Andy Warhol:

Andy Warhol truly defined the movement of Pop Art.  He managed to turn the superficial world of pop culture into slight abstractions, playing up this colorful culture in his works.  I like his almost comic depictions of celebrities and his use of vibrant, solid colors.  This vivacity epitomizes the 50s and 60s for which most of Warhol's work represents.  I personally love the 50s and 60s eras and anything retro.  Warhol's works all have the same "throwback" feel of what is old is new again.  He manages to take old, seemingly unimportant icons and celebrities and revitalize them by mixing mediums and playing up certain colors.  His personality clearly shines through his works.  He was a very dynamic, open person who loved to just enjoy life.  His art clearly reflects this vibrant attitude, which is exactly the kind of style I like.

5 October 2012

Today I created my blog for both art classes, so I don't have much to show for today except all of this!

1 October 2012

Today we worked with a new model and were able to use middle tone paper.  I still would like more practice with the Quick Poses, but I really enjoyed drawing the longer pose.  This week the model was able to use a more open space as opposed to just a chair, and I was able to turn the page lengthwise.  I also liked using the blue because I thought it made the portrait more unique and my use of white charcoal was really able to stand out.

28 September 2012

This week we used materials such as wire, rope, branches, and wire mesh, and whatever else we could find to create some small installations.  I decided to make a kind of mobile which we hung from the ceiling.  I liked using this exposed part of the ceiling because I think it adds to the mechanical, metallic aspect of the mobile, but the ropes and branches still set it apart as being more organic.

24 September 2012

This week we had the same model from our first time.  We also tried to do some Quick Poses.  I would like to experiment with this more because I know it will help me understand the human body's positioning better and I need the practice.

21 September 2012

This week we continued to work on the projections from last week.  I finished the animation Rita and I started so we played with that a lot.

17 September 2012

This week we didn't have a model so we drew still life.  I chose a small section of it instead of drawing the whole scene because I wanted to focus on shading and I liked the way the pot looked through the vase.

14 September 2012

We began working with projectors to create unique installations.  Here, Rita Jackson and I created an animation in After Effects using an image (found on Google), which we projected on a mirror.

10 September 2012

This was our first class drawing a live model.  It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but blocking in the position of the figure helped a lot.  I used a China pencil which made the shading a little harder to create.  I wish I had used a normal Charcoal stick.

7 September 2012

We made more boxes this week.  This time I tried to add an optical illusion type design.

31 August 2012

For our first class we had to create a 3D structure using our own "box" template.  I love to bake, especially cakes and pies, so I made a little pie holder.  Inside I placed some recipes :)

27 August 2012

For our first day of class, we had to draw a portrait of the student across from us.  The eyes came out much bigger than they should have for the proportion of the face, but I kind of like the cartoonish-ness of the portrait and the way the shading of and around the eyes came out.

Me

My name is Emily Rautenberg and I am a Computer Science and Art and Technology double major at Stevens Institute of Technology.  I always enjoyed drawing and creating art when I was younger, but never did it much in high school.  When I reached college and decided I wanted to pursue some form of Graphic Design education, I began drawing again.

I first became interested in pursuing some kind of Art degree when I saw the Lord of the Rings movies.  My family and I are big fans of the books and seeing them come to life in theaters amazed me.  I have always always liked working on computers and wanted to combine my two passions.  My dream is to one day work for a special effects company like Weta Workshop/Weta Digital in New Zealand.  They are the ones who brought books like the Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia to life in films.

This blog is dedicated to the work I create in a few of my art classes, such as Principles of 3D Form and Design and Figurative Drawing.  I am just getting back into drawing and still have a lot to learn.  I really enjoy doing more three-dimensional work such as modeling and animation and hope to work on more computer graphics in the future.