Week 15: Visual Techniques

Shadow of the Colossus

Visual Techniques most prevalent: Asymmetrical, Juxtaposition, Contrast, Exaggeration, Simplicity

Portal

Visual Techniques most prevalent: Simplicity, Economy, Activeness, Flatness

How they work

The first cover, from the game: Shadow of the Colossus, aims to have a cover that is striking and shocking. The point of the game is, as a tiny human, you must conquer and defeat gigantic creatures known as colossi in a desolate landscape. This promotion shot, by utilizing an imbalanced juxtaposed picture really gives you a sense of how large the in-game bosses are and give you a sense of epic wonder. Meanwhile, another famous game: Portal, also uses a simplistic approach, but this time much more simplistic than Shadow of the Colossus. Portal is a game about using portals to teleport between two places and solve puzzles to escape a science lab. The game uses minimalist design choices and let's the game play shine through with a brilliant story. It doesn't rely on fancy graphics to have an incredibly fun game, and the promotional art reflects that. Just looking at it, you can see how it emulates symbols in modern day to explain what the basic premise of the game is about. Both don't rely on incredible uses of color or extremely fancy graphics, but use art to help explain what the game is about and give a sense of wonder. 

Week 14: Contrast - Club Flyers

 Good Example: Ruby Skye feat. Fischerspooner

Here we have a club flyer featuring Warren Fischer at the San Francisco Club, Ruby Skye. Here the ad features prominent use of color as contrast to the black and white photo of Fischerspooner.  Color is overlaid transparently against the heavily contrasted face of the DJ but gives a unique appearance, almost like a mask. His face is contrast with tone against the plain black background, then the colorful adds another dimension of contrast of color (along with tone). These overlays   Another interested aspect of the "color-mask" is the red gives the male DJ the appearance of wearing Lipstick. It adds an interesting dimension of male vs. female, challenging the social norms. I find this to be an excellent club flyer that utilizes both Tone and Color contrast to give an air of mysteriousness.  

Bad Example: Illamasqua feat. Not Dreaming of a White Christmas

For this (terrible) example, we have a flyer featuring a Christmas-type themed party for the club Illamasqua. Similar to the one above, it "attempts" to have tonal contrast along with color contrast on the face. I understand they were trying to convey against a "White Christmas" but with this approach, you end up with an overly racist flyer. Known as "Black-Face," this stylizing of the Caucasian woman to appear that she is of African descent (which I'm sure isn't the original intent but that's how it ended up) was a horrible attempt at contrasting against the usual "White Christmas". To fix this, they could have chosen any number of colors besides black, or have chosen to not color the model's face black while leaving her lips pink. This flyer isn't challenging you to think differently, but it does succeed in getting noticed... negatively. Also tonal range and contrast isn't as apparent as compared to the good example. 

Week 13 (week 5): Success and Failure of Video Game Covers

Successful Cover: "Journey"

Journey is an indie video game developed by Thatgamecompany for the Playstation 3. It was released on March 13, 2012, via the Playstation Network. In Journey, the player controls a robed figure in a vast desert, traveling towards a mountain in the distance. Much like the stylistic choices of the game, the cover also represents the vast simpleness that is compelling to look at. The cover utilizes leveling that evokes a peaceful, yet mysterious like scenery. The game does utilize with a tiny bit of stress with the character cloaked in the non-muted color of red. You almost feel like you're in his place among the vast earthern desert. Also evident is a strong vertical axis. Your eye is guided from the star on top down to the robed character on the bottom. Along the way, your eye witnessed the title of the game: "Journey". Simple, clean, this is an excellent example of a game cover. 

Failure Cover: "Batman: Arkham City" 

Despite winning numerous awards, Batman: Arkham City, was lauded for having one of the worst video game covers ever conceived for their "Game of the Year Edition". This is an example of Stress gone horribly wrong. Despite the fact that at first view, the game looks like it's titled "10 out of 10", the game also uses a quote from Gamepro (which no longer exists). All the quotes that "promote" the game actually highly detract from the subject matter of the game. There is no specific grouping; quotes are thrown about everything so you eye has to travel everywhere to read them all. Also Batman, who arguably, should be the subject matter, is reduced down to too much negative space, so you eye only focuses on the full quotes themselves. Ironically, game of the year also earns worst game cover of the year too. 

Week 11 Blog Exercise: Motion/Movement

Fire Emblem

Matthew's Sprite Set

Here is a character named Matthew from the Strategy RPG: Fire Emblem. Matthew is a thief, known for quick and agile attacks. To illustrate this with art of pixel video game sprites, motion is implied through a blurring of motion lines. These "Blurred lines" is especially noticeable in the 5th, 9th and 16th frames of the animation. Instead of animating a detailed portrait of him flying through the air, the frame is giving implied motion of extending his actions through a blur. The direction he's moving in gives a sense of the Thief lunging forward, and we are expected to see him end at a position where he stabs an enemy. Pixel artists help reduce memory needed (by storing less sprites) by animating a frame that provides expectation, direction and blurring. So because of the 5th frame, you're able to tell he lunges forward (direction/expectation). From the 9th frame, you're able to tell he quickly turns around (expectation). In the 16th frame, you witness Matthew jumping back after finishing an attack (direction/expectation). The 16th frame is particularly special because only his legs are blurred as compared to the rest of his body showing a jumping back motion. Here is the fully animated sprite in action:

Matthew's Attack Animation

Lyn's Sprite Set

Another character from Fire Emblem is a character named Lyn. She also serves as an incredibly fast character, but her motion is implied differently than Matthew's attack listed earlier. Here the animator has decided for her to be so fast, that she literally disappears and strikes with her sword, the only visual cue you have is the blade streaking across the screen before she reappears again. While Matthew's attack relied mostly on motion blur, Lyn's attack relies incredibly on direction. This is most prevalent during the sword slashes, with it's jagged edges aiming towards a point in a certain direction. You can see where she originally attacks and how she slashes across. The same can be seen upon her return to visibility with the dust kick up of her sliding back. The frames strongly utilize diagonals, directions and variations in scale to show she can almost attack from any direction unseen. The slashes serve as Mathematical Function Curves despite it being a physically impossible attack to pull off in real life. Here is the attack in action:

Lyn's Attack Animation

Week 9 / Assignment 11: Basic Elements - Tone and Color

Space Nebulae  

        Above is a recent re-take of a famous photo taken by the Hubble Telescope known as "The Pillars of Creation." The original (right), was taken back in 1995. It displays interstellar gas and dust in the process of creating new stars. The original photo was taken by Hubble using four cameras to compile 32 separate images to get the famous image you see here. The retake was taken in 2011 at the Herschel Space Observatory by capturing far-infrared wavelengths, which allowed use of greater detail. Because the way these images were compiled, it allows for good explanation on why color and tone play an important role.

How Tone is Operating: 

To capture these photos, the light must enter the camera, but unlike on earth where we can see the majority of things just through just the visible light spectrum, space encompasses the entire spectrum. Through the human eye, space may appear as a giant gas cloud, or even invisible because our eyes are not developed to see ultra-violet or infrared light. Because unique cameras are used to capture those invisible lights, it helps give shape and form to various gas clouds. Lines and edges are established and helps us understand the hierarchy of gasses and particles in space and in nebulae. 

How Tone is Interacting with Color:

As with the case with most space photos, tone and color work together to create beautiful pictures that can be easily interpreted by scientists and observers alike. Tone sets up the edges so you can determine the various shapes the clouds and nebulae make up, while color helps you easily differentiate different gasses at work. Together, both tone and color, help create an image that allow for aesthetically pleasing pictures and allow for easier understanding of the complex, mysterious universe outside of Earth. 

How Color is Operating:

The original photograph was made with light emitted by different elements in the cloud and appears as a different color in the composite image: green for hydrogen, red for singly ionized sulfur and blue for double-ionized oxygen atoms. Because different cameras were used to capture the basic color elements of RGB, you are able to see different gasses and can identify them from one another. Space is composed of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and for us to visually understand them, differentiation is needed.

How Color is interacting with Tone:

Tone provides dimension and depth to the photo while color provides detail and information. The two work together to help you recognize different gasses and dust from one another, and realize the depth of the picture. With the newer image captured by the Herschel Space Observatory, since far-infrared was used, scientists were able to see inside the pillars and discover the forces at work within the pillars.

Week 8/ Exercise 10 Blog: the Basic Elements

Week 7: Visual Perspective

Week 6: Top-down Visual Processing

Face in Trees Illusion

Here we have an optical illusion created using Photoshop to replicate a human female face formed by tree branches and birds. The eye naturally travels to the middle of the picture because the effective use of contrast and dead-space to help guide the eye right to the center. As your eye adjusts to the picture, you look outside the "Face" and realize up close that the image is just composed of a forest and a face shouldn't be there, just branches. Once you see the face (it becomes easier as you look at it from a distance) then you can't ever NOT see it, which is the goal of a lot of various optical illusions. Essentially the short term goal is you see a face, the long term goal is you see a creepy forest with birds flying through. What's interesting is the short term goal overtakes the long term and establishes dominance in your mind of what this picture represents. 

Week 3: Meaning 2

Playing Card: The King of Clubs

Representational: The role this card represents is one of the Highest Ranking Cards (if not the highest, it is outdone by the Ace) in a standard 52 deck of playing cards. Usually cards are ranked (lowest to highest) from Ace (one) to Ten, then Jack, Queen, King. Depending on what card game you are playing, the King can have great impact, including Blackjack, Poker, and many other card games where it is desired to have a higher card than your opponent. Whenever someone sees this physical card, they know the connotation of it being the highest card due to its markings and designs. The "K" denotes a King, while the picture represents an interpretation of what a Medieval King would stereotypically look like: regal, decorative, and someone with power.

Abstract: The abstract design of it, why the image is mirrored upon itself is not just for decoration purposes, it also serves the purpose of being able to see what the card is on either side. A playing card company could have just wrote the word "KING" or "K" with a Clover/Clubs symbol underneath it, or even a picture of a real king. However, they decided to use a simplistic representation of a king. They break it down to just 4 colors: yellow, red, light blue and black. A special note of black: the Clubs symbol and the K are colored in black which helps denote this is a black-suited King. Various card games, such as Canasta, requires the use of colors to match off pairs. Abstractly this piece represents a Black Suited card of a King. 

Symbolically: Possibly the strongest on the three when you see this card, the King is noted as a very powerful card in play for many games. Many playing cards in the West use the French Symbols to denote what suit the card represents. These symbols include: Hearts, Spades (which take the form of a spade head), Diamonds and finally Clubs, which uses the symbol of a Clover (a symbol that is radically different looking than the aforementioned other symbols). Throughout the world and history, the clover symbol may have been replaced with another symbol, such as an Acorn, but the reasoning is this helps differentiate this playing card from the other three suits. 

How it all relates: When you look at this card, you can automatically determine various facts about this card: How it ranks compared the rest of the cards of the deck, what suit it is, what color it is, and depending on the game, the importance it represents. On a standard 2.5" to 3.5" inches of plastic and cardboard, the card combines all three: A representation picture of a King, the coloration of Black dominating the card, and the symbol of a Clubs suited card. Cards have been around for hundreds, even thousands of years, and the style and power the card represents has minimally changed throughout time. 

Week 1: Meaning: Home

Representational:

Here is epitome of a "Home". A well crafted house that was architecturally designed from the ground up to be lived in by people for some extended duration. Instantly if someone were to see this image, they will interpret it as a "house" or "home". A building with this many details (such as furniture and a pool) you can determine this is clearly an abode meant for living, not for an office or a gym or other building. It can be organized as a model, or modern home, something that is more expensive and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.


Abstraction: 

Here we have a natural rock formation transformed into a home. If from a distance you were to see this rock formation, you may think it's just a natural detail of some desert plain, however some historic people have literally carved into it their idea of a home. A home in essence is something to place your things, something to shelter you from the elements, a permanent place you can return to. This carved rock formation, which isn't seen as a traditional home, fulfills all these needs, so in an abstract way, this is a home.


Symbolic:

Finally we have a symbol for a home. When you use various internet browsers, you have to designate a "home page" something that, when you open the browser, it's the first page you see, or can return to. The icon developed takes on the appearance of a stereotypical suburban home: pointy roof, chimney, front entrance. These stereotypical homes gained popularity throughout the 1950's and 1960's when the idea of "the american dream" to have a home, two kids and a loving spouse. This symbol has remained prevalent throughout the years and has been implemented in today's digital age. 

Figure I'd start with uploading a photo of myself to kick off this blog.