The Psychology of Color

This week we've been studying the psychology of color in class and I must admit it's been fascinating. We learned all sorts of interesting information including various color philosophies and common uses.
Did you know we don't usually eat "gray" foods?
That pink (specifically Baker-Miller) is used to calm inmates in prisons?
Or that in a group of colored objects, you'll usually see the yellow object first?

While colors can be associated with many common ideas or factors, personal preferences, mood and experiences can affect a persons view of color as well.
I'm not sure what mood I was in while creating last week's assignment on complementary and split-complementary harmonies...

As a designer it's interesting to look back over my own work and wonder what was it that made me select "that" color or "this" one. I may not be able to understand the past, but having learned so much about color and it's psychological meanings, I've no doubt it will play a big role in noticing how I use it in the future.

Back to School

Yes... it's back to school this week as the spring semester begins at AAU. It's hard to believe it's been a year since I returned to college for my degree in Art Education. There's a little change in the weather this semester though as I'm moving into a new major ~ what for it.... Graphic Design!

I know, I know... it's really a no brainer. While working on my classes last semester I realized I was able to immediately utilize the skills I was learning ~ an invaluable quality for this 'starving artist'. So with a little in-depth thought, after all teaching is near and dear to my heart, I decided this would be the best avenue to take.

I do hope to have more opportunities to post about some of my assignments this semester, I know alot of you enjoy seeing the assignments we work on and as long as they're not too technical (= boring) I'll be sure to share.

So here's wishing all my fellow students a very happy and successful semester!

Enjoy~

Sharing Some Homework

I thought it was about time I share some of the projects I've been working on with my classes. It's not that I've neglected sharing this part of my life, it's simply a matter of not wanting to bore you all. While this semester's classes are interesting ~ Graphic Arts 102 and Illustration 133, in truth they've been extremely heady and quite technical.

Much of our time has been spent learning the ins-and-outs of using a digital camera and InDesign, a powerhouse of a program that's mostly used for publishing and print work. And so I've mostly been drowning in a whirlpool of technical jargon and techniques ~ blech! But just this week we moved into Photoshop and Illustrator and finally got to work on some fun projects.

The first is the image above and the project was to clone ourselves in Photoshop. This was SO much fun!! That isn't the image I turned in for my project since I discovered I needed a facelift and a diet in that one, but I was was thrilled when the instructor said that he couldn't tell which was the original image and which was the insert!

The second project was to create a collage portrait in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo. We were given a selection of black & white image sheets to use which included old mechanical devises, food, and other miscellaneous items. I decided to to give a try at recreating an image of Marlene Dietrich and although it was super tedious I really like the way it came out.

Even though I work with Photoshop everyday, because I'm self taught I'm learning tons of new tools and shortcuts which will not only help me work faster but leave me with a whole new world of tools to use on my customer's projects, whoot! So I hope you've enjoyed a little peak into my current studies and hopefully I'll have more fun projects to show you in the near future.

Enjoy~

Back to School

Well it's finally back-to-school time around here and this year's a little different ~ not only are my son and I returning to school but my hubby is too! Yep, he caught the school bug over the summer and has returned to college for his degree in business. He hopes to teach business ethics some day and I think he'll be great at it! I'm a bit envious of his scheduling though ~ he's on a trimester schedule so he moves through his classes much faster than me.

Still it's great to back at AAU and I'm super excited about my classes this semester ~ turns out they're related to what I do ~ Digital Illustration and Digital Tools, what a hoot! Although I know alot about the programs I use, there's always so much more to learn and one day I hope to create digital magazines like this one by House of Fifty ~ isn't it fabulous!?!

I'm also really excited because I get this amazing student discount so the required copy of Adobe Creative Suite CS5 will be dirt cheap! Me wanting this suite of programs is about the same as my hubby drooling over that new Camero he covets, so I couldn't be happier and I'll tell you ~ if I'd known school would be so economical I would have gone back years ago!

So off to school we go... our son is now in his final two years of high school and we're off too~ that much closer to our futures. What are your back to school plans? Are you sending your babes off for the first time or returning yourself? Perhaps you've decided to take one of those fabulous art classes offered by Willowing & Friends. Whatever the case you're never too young or old to learn something new so I hope your September plans bring you loads of smiles!

Enjoy~