A Biographical-Toy

        For the last project, “a biographical-toy,” I chose to make Connect-4, a game where there is two players who have to try and get their chips four in a row, whether its in a line or diagonal.  When I was younger, I would play games like this instead of playing with dolls or other toys.   I liked games where you had to think and strategize to win, and I specifically remember one game that I really enjoyed playing, which was Connect-4.  So I decided to make a replica of that game.  I have been collecting bottle caps so that worked perfectly as the chips you use.  And I had an old book and cardboard that I used, along with 4 water bottles.  The most difficult part was cutting the little squares in the hard cover book, but after I finished that it was pretty easy.  The rest of the project consisted of measuring the dimensions of the chips to make them able to fit well, and painting and hot gluing.   Overall, I think the outcome looks very much like the real game, with just a little bit of abstract added to it.  I was happy that you could actually play this game and also that it was very durable, so it would be hard to break.  I am pleased with the end product of this assignment.

The polyhedral projects were a little difficult for me.   Working with Bristol board to make different shapes out of it was a little tricky.  For the Phase 1 of the project, I had a cloth that I really wanted to use in the mask, so I thought of the idea to make a veil-like mask.   I used three polyhedral’s to transform them into a mask.  The color scheme I used was black, purple, and teals.  The polyhedral’s worked together because the star on top fit into the other polyhedral and it made the veil flow down.   I believe the three polyhedrals worked well together to make this mask.  For the Phase 2 part of the project, we had to make a package design.  I used two polyhedral’s to form a wine “vino” holder.   The shape of the base was not just straight down, but bended into a different shape around the bottle.  The colors I used were teal, forest green, and silver.  I think the colors worked well together because it made it a little more sophisticated than it would of looked with brighter colors.   

Serial Plane Reaction Paper

            In the Serial Planes project, we had to complete two phases.  The first phase was to transform a book into art.  The goal was to make the book into an appealing 3D form.  The second phase was similar, but instead of using a book to make a 3D shape, we used white foam board.  With the second project, you had to make the outcome be 12”x12”x12”, which I believe was one of the hardest parts about this project. These two phases were similar because you had to make a simple object into a completely different creation.

            To get my idea for the book project, I had 2 books that I was playing around with to see what I could do to make the most interesting look.  The two most popular ways to change the book was to fold the pages or cut them.  I used a folding method to make the paper look springy then glued it down in the book that was cut into.  Even though this project was very repetitive, I enjoyed this project because the outcome was an abstract looking form.

            The foam board project I had a little harder time coming up with an idea.  At first I just played around with cutting the board to see how it came out but wasn’t too sure of how I would create this project meeting the necessary measurements.  So I was just searching on Google when I came across a model of a structural design it seemed.  It looked like it was going to be large and it really caught my attention, so I did something similar to it.   I really liked the outcome because I thought every angle you looked at was attention grabbing and different.

            In both phases, I learned that every angle of a project could be unique and different.  I also saw that art could be made out of any material.   For phase one of this project, I thought the most difficult part of my project was using a hardcover book.  A soft cover would have been easier to make something out of it, but I used to hardcover to my advantage and think I did a decent job.  For phase two of this project, one difficult task was meeting all of the height, width, and length requirements.  Another complicated part of my project was when making the foam board thinner as the height increased.  It was hard to make sure the foam didn’t crease and bend.  But I really liked both phases of this project.  For both, you could either make them completely different or challenge yourself to make them look alike.

Serial Planes Studies (Phase B)

Serial Planes Studies (Phase A)

Just for fun: Project 2

Cardboard Project

Joseph Pierce once said, “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”  I completely agree with this quote and got inspiration from it.  I used to really enjoy art classes but always got nervous when people looked at my work and critiqued it.  I did not like talking about it, only enjoyed making it.  Then I learned that to be a good artist, you need to be confident while making art and while other people examine it.  I’ve also discovered how to be helpful with other flourishing artists.  I know now that I need to listen to what others say to me to help me improve along with give advice to them as well.

I believe that creativity is being able to come up with new, original ideas with little help from others.  I learned early in my life that I was full of inspiration and creativity when it came to artwork.  This is why I decided to pursue a career in a field of art.

The first assignment we had for the Spring Semester was “anything but a box.”  We had to use a cardboard box to create a three dimensional form that completely changed from a structure of a box to something new.  I struggled with looking for an image to make a box out of.  I knew we had to make sure the box no longer looked like a box, so tried to stay away from any object that seemed box-like.  You also had to use just about the entire box so I had to think of how to approach the image I was going to choose. I was looking around my room then saw my hands and thought that could be pretty interesting.  I began by measuring my left hand and fingers to make the image look life-size.  I then thought of the idea to make layer after layer so that I would use the whole box and my figure would be thick.  After I got all my concepts down, I started cutting and hot gluing. 

From this project, I learned how to sketch and write down ideas to go over all the things you need to accomplish.  For instance, I knew we had to use the whole box, so instead of making the hand extremely large, I decided to layer the cardboard.  This make have been more time-consuming, but it was worth it.   And I also understood that art is not a quick process.  It could take a long time and be tedious, but everything will come out better in the end.