Week 11: More Card Game Designs

Craft: For craft, once again I utilized Adobe Illustrator to create these illustrations. Within Illustrator, I used the pen tool, ellipse tool and the color palette tool. 

Composition: For composition, since these are my initial drawings and I will pick the design I want later, I chose to keep all the illustrations in the middle of the canvas but they will probably end up that way for the finalized version since they will be converted into actual cards.

Concept: The concept of these illustrations would be they are for our assignment where we have to create a deck of cards and I based my card game on Exploding Kittens. I chose to base my card game on Exploding Kittens because it was visually appealing and different than say your average poker deck.

Week 10: Three Card Game Designs

Craft: For craft, once again I utilized Adobe Illustrator to create these illustrations. Within Illustrator, I used the pen tool, ellipse tool and the color palette tool. We also used a tablet in class to freehand draw the drawings but I chose to stick with a mouse in Illustrator as that is what i prefer.

Composition: For composition, since these are my initial drawings and I will pick the design I want later, I chose to keep all the illustrations in the middle of the canvas but they will probably end up that way for the finalized version since they will be converted into actual cards.

Concept: The concept of these illustrations would have to be they are illustrations created for a card game that exists, Exploding Kittens. I created 3 different designs that I wanted to use in my card game and I came up with 3 different variations of that design. So in total I have 9 cards as of now but we are only to choose one design and I am leaning towards the concept of a zombie bunny card game in the format of the card game, Exploding Kittens. 

Week 9: Card Game Idea

Image Source

Craft: My card game idea will utilize Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign. I made some rough sketches in my sketchbook beforehand. These sketches will then be turned into illustrations using the pen tool, grid, color palette, rectangle tool, ellipse tool and much more. 

Composition: The artwork on the cards will mostly take over the entire 2.5 x 3.5 inch canvas. Some images will be centered more while others will be off-centered. 

Concept: The concept for this assignment is to have a minimum of 52 playing cards. These cards can be based off a game that already exists, thus the game Exploding Kittens, but it needs to be altered into our own. We need to have at least 12 different card game designs within our playing cards. I am basing my game off of Exploding Kittens but instead of the same crude kittens that are used for this game, I will be using bunnies. I am not particularly sure what to call it as I don't know if I want to continue the level of inappropriateness that Exploding Kittens has or make mine more PG friendly. For now I know I will be illustrating bunnies instead of kittens and it will be much more simpler.

Special Addition: Kyle Baker Gallery

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On January 18, 2017, I had the liberty to attend a gallery at SXU. Kyle Baker was the artist that showcased many of his prints that included silkscreens of band posters. Each poster in the show was intricate with very fine details. As a class, we were able to walk around the gallery and get up close and personal with each piece. I noticed many of his pieces, when upon closer inspection, had a glittery tint to them in the paint that was used within the silkscreen poster. I found that very unique because I haven't seen that before and I admire the fact that these small details would only have been noticed if you got very close to the work.

A couple of my favorite pieces in the show would have to be 2,3,4 and 5. I found these pieces to be my absolute favorites because each of them were very interesting in the way that the artist utilized the female form within the design. #2 had an open airiness added to the piece with a woman laying down in a field of grass and the lightness of the grass contrasted with her hair and made her really stand out. #3 included a frontal view of a woman's head and within her head she had many different designs and colors used. This poster grabbed my attention because there were so many colors. #4 is probably the best of the best for me because it feels very serene and calm from the use of colors in the poster. The figure's relaxed composure also adds to the serenity of the entire piece. I also like how the text to the poster is only showcased on the left side of the figure and thus, the figure takes up a majority of the canvas. #5 is a poster that really grabs the viewers' attention because of the holographic vibe coming off the canvas. It makes for an ideal poster because everyone is attracted to colors and the shine given off. 

A couple of posters that I liked but weren't my favorite would have to be #1, #6, #7, #8 and #9. I admire the amount of work put into these silkscreens but I don't particularly like them like the others because I feel that they are too busy. I think there's too much going on within each poster and my eyes never can focus on one thing but I have to look section to section in order to see everything. I like viewing a piece in its entirety and not having to break it down to enjoy a piece of art. Overall, I still adore these silkscreens but I found a couple of better pieces that really grabbed my attention. 

Week 8: RJEA Logo Design

Craft: The tools I used to accomplish these 9 logos would have to be Adobe Illustrator. Within Illustrator, I used the pen tool, the color swatches, ellipse tool, rounded rectangle tool, brushes and the type tool. The first set of three logos started out from the black & white format, then moved onto a little bit of color and the last logo in the set used colors such as blue and a salmon color as I thought they went together nicely. The second set of logos started off with the simple design and a basic font that had a stroke in the type but no fill. The second logo in the set used a font off of a website that lets users use the fonts for personal use. I wanted the type in this logo to be a little crazier and out there and used different shades of blue. The third logo in this set was created with a brush tool for the outer border, a unique font and colorful letters. The third set of logos were created to represent each of the items within the title of RJEA; race, justice, education and action. I just wanted to use simple colors for the last two logos within the set because I thought it looked better simplified than extravagant.

Composition: The first set of logos were created with the ellipse tool and within the circle was another circle so that the main component of the logo was centered in the middle. The second set of logos were created with a pen tool within the shape of a triangle so that everything fit within the triangle and the viewer's eye went directly to the inside of the triangle. The third set of logos were created using the rounded rectangle tool and this time, each illustration was squared off into its own designated area within the larger rectangle. I wanted the images to be isolated because I wanted the viewer to look around the logo at each individual square instead of the whole image as one, that way they notice each illustration.

Concept: The concept behind all the logos was that we had to use the words "RJEA," which stand for race, justice, education and action. Then we were to use different fonts for each logo within a set. There were to be three different variations and within the three variations, all three versions had to be different. So I used different shapes for each variation, different fonts and colors for each versions as well. In total, we were to have 9 logos based around the concept of "RJEA."