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November 08, 2005

Nita Leland

I've checked out Nita Leland's "The Creative Artist: A Fine Artist's Guide to Expanding Your Creativity" from my local library.

The book is packed with interesting exercises to expand your boundaries. Using both her own art, as well as that of other artists, she's selected numerous illustrations as examples for the points she makes. I'm rereading the chapter on design. She discusses elements and principles of design and suggests keeping a list of these handy to remind you of options to consider when you first develop your design roadmap.

elements	principles
line	unity
shape	harmony
value	contrast
color	rhythm
movement	repetition
size	pattern
	dominance

She's currently working on a new edition of this book (the original was published in 1990), so I will wait till next year to buy my own copy.

Posted by lorigrace at 09:22 PM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2005

Aquatic

Click for full size image.

I didn't look at anyone else's entry yet. His Vitruvian man drawing has become a much used symbol in art and advertising.

In my first version of working with this idea I was trying to do something with concentric circles of blue around the man using Corel Painter. I didn't like the result and decided to go back to incorporating the full drawing.

I drew an outline of the man using the trace feature, filled it with water, then used a layer mask to remove the water from the head.

I wanted to use a handwriting font for the quote. I discoverd there is a daVinci font out there, but it wasn't a free download. Instead I used something I already had called Chiller and applied a Photoshop default style to it. I like the ability to move back and forth between Painter and Photoshop.

There is a wonderful book by Michael J. Gelb, called How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day. He elaborates on the seven principles he categorized: Curiosita (an insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning), Dimostrazione A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes), Sensazione (The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience), Sfumato (literally "Going up in smoke"--A willingness to embrace abiguity, p=aradox, and uncertainty), Art/Scienze (The development of the balance between sicence and art, logic and imagination. "Whole-brain" thinking.), Corporalita (The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise", Connessione (A recognition of all things and phenomena. Systems thinking).

Posted by lorigrace at 07:17 AM | Comments (0)