Creating a Smoke Fading Effect

Made with the tutorial http://10steps.sg/photoshop/creating-a-smoke-fading-effect/

Starbucks Frappuccino Blended Remix Contest

This is my entry for a cup design for the contest. I titled it, Summer's Treasure.

Rift Contest Entry - Water Colossus

DeviantArt is having a character design contest for the game Rift. This is my first digital painting and my fisrt contest. I used PhotoShop CS5.

http://browse.deviantart.com/contests/2011/rift/

Facebook Revenge

Kinda got it working on youtube. Not the best picture quality, so I will work on that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udIuCohy94I


I was inspired by Animator vs. Animation by Alan Becker to make my own type of vs. animation. I used Adobe Flash Professional CS5. Lynda.com tutorials help me understand the program and I built my character along with a tutorial. Some of my animations have frame by frame movement but the majority is classic tweened. Tweening is short for in between, which means you have a start point and end point with an object and it calculates all the frames in the middle. This was very useful in speeding up the process which has taken six weeks to finish this animation. I took tons of screen shots to build the background and friends and family helped out with the Facebook posts. A screen shot of my own Facebook profile page was used then I erased everything except for the structure. Photoshop helped me combine all the elements to create a realistic fake profile page. I used photos and sounds clips from various free websites. Music was appropriated from youtube and my own library. Adobe Soundbooth CS5 helped editing the sounds.
http://www.alanbecker.net/
http://www.lynda.com%3c/div>

Sources:
Photos
Facebook
Scooby hollywoodjesus.com
Porsche vintagecarsandsuch.com
Dell pink-laptop-computer.com
http://www.sxc.hu/
Sounds
Mario elevator http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbIaYZEUF1M
http://www.soungle.com/
http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/
http://music-for-video.com/
http://www.freesound.org/
Voice provided by Josephine Wisler

:/

Flash is EXHAUSTING! Three weeks and I only have 30 seconds of animation!

Rroject 3 – Embracing the Digital Aesthetic - Steampunk Fractals

Gears

Steampunk Underwater

Royalty

Caged

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; in other words, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne or real technologies like the computer but developed earlier in an alternate history. (Wikipedia)

Wild Wild West

I chose Fractals for project 3 – Embracing the Digital Aesthetic and my theme is Steampunk. I really like this style of mixing mechanical with feminine Victorian touches. Steampunk style has made its way into popular culture with movies such as The Golden Compass, Wild Wild West and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I used fractal software called Apophysis and used the same color gradient to unify the compositions. I think that the Fractals that I created in shape and form unified by color represent the Steampunk culture.

Golden Compass

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Process: Basic Julian Fractal

Clear Flame

Add Variables

Change Gradient






Render

 





Final Fractal

Sources:

Apophysis software http://apophysis.org/

Julian Tutorial http://clairejones.deviantart.com/art/Julia-Uncovered-v-2-2-49167519

SteampunkLogo http://www.thedarkpower.com/php/steampunk.php
WWW http://www.fashiondoyenne.com/
GC http://www.newline.com/
LEG http://www.listal.com

Chapter 2 Response: Digital technologies as a medium

We live in a digital world and we interact with digital technologies on a daily basis. Artists have been right alongside the grand visions of technicians since the invention of computer technologies in the 1960’s.

 I believe that digital technology in art applications are divided into two separate categories. One is that digital technology is a tool, just like a paintbrush or pencil. It is not the tool that produces art but the artists vision. Digital technology is also a medium; it is a platform from which the artist can communicate to the viewer. As an artist I see digital technology as a medium the same way I see a blank canvas a piece of art that has yet to be created. I like how Merriam Webster Online defines medium: “as a means of effecting or conveying something: as a channel or system of communication, information, or entertainment also a mode of artistic expression.”

            A digital medium that has always been fascinating to me is fractal art. Before making a fractal for myself, I had the perception that fractal software was purely mechanical and that the operator did not have much choice with the design. I found this to be much different when I learned the software for myself. The thought that you could turn mathematics into detailed and colorful pieces of art amazed me. I am not a fan of math and it has always been such a struggle for me. I thought that you would have to understand mathematical algorithms to create fractal art but have found it to be much easier than I thought and much more creative.

The history of fractals is very interesting; a mathematician named Benoit Mandelbrot calculated a mathematical formula called the Mandelbrot set (Z = Z² + C) that generates a two dimensional fractal shape. He also coined the phrase fractal in the 1970’s from that Latin word fractus. A fractal is a broken geometric shape which is subdivided into parts. Before the invention of computers fractals were only a theory because the calculations were so complex. The key to producing a fractal is inputting the different variables of a formula in a computer software program.

There are many fractals found in nature such as the formation of ice crystals in a snow flake or the detail spiral on shells. As computer technology has advanced so has the beauty and realism of computer generated fractals. Newer technology is bringing life to fractals which make it a very effective medium in the digital world.