Title: "Twiga"
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Exhibition Text
For this art piece I chose to focus on one of my interests, which is graphic design. My design represents the foundation that helps the Giraffes in Africa to survive. My meaning/ purpose is to bring awareness to the decreasing population of these tall creatures. My inspiration for this piece is the foundation itself and their own logo. |
Planning
The first thing I did was to use my imagination and creative thinking to create the best logo for this foundation. My first sketch was to draw the head of the giraffe without any great detail and outlining Africa, with adding the giraffes spots in the outline or not adding them at all. The second sketch was to draw a circle and inside of the circle have the initials of the foundation which are G.C.F.as well as have the neck of the giraffe. The third sketch is the one I choose for the logo design. I outlined Africa, next to it are the initials of the foundation and inside are the legs of a giraffe as if he was walking on this continent.
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Process
The first thing I had to do was pick out the best photo of giraffes I had taken when I was in Africa. Then I edited the photo in lightroom, focusing on adjusting the light and exposure. After touching up the photo in lightroom I started to make my design in photoshop. I watched a couple videos before hand so I could learn how to use certain techniques in photoshop, to help out with this project. The first thing I did was make an orange circle and later adjusting the opacity to a lower lever so the circle seems to be transparent. I also wanted to change the sky of this photo, because it was too dark for my liking. I took another image that had a lovely blue sky and added that sky to replace the original sky by going to the window setting and choosing the setting, arrange tile all vertically. That setting allowed me to drag the sky photo to my original photo, combining them both together, resulting in more layers. Then I started choose different fonts for my text and also the style I wanted the text to present itself by choosing the wrap text setting. I also painted a giraffe's head in the photoshop painting setting then I placed that into the photos below the giraffe's. The second part of my project was to create a logo, I used the painting technique in photoshop to make it. I painted the legs of the giraffe first then outlined Africa, making it seem as if the giraffe is walking on top of it. Then I put the initials of the foundation which are G.C.F next to the continent.
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Experimentations
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The first experimentation that I did was to decide upon which colour tone would best suit the circle that was going to be the major key point of my design. I decided to go with a darker orange colour and then making it transparent so it wouldn't dominate the whole photo. The second thing was to pick the right brush, when painting my logo. I tried smaller brushes that had different strokes, until I found the best one that suited me which was the 36 brush. Lastly I was playing around with the different types of fonts to see which one fit better.
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Meaning
My meaning throughout this project was to bring awareness of the decline in the population of giraffes in the world. In the 1980s the estimated total giraffe population in Africa was 153,000. The current numbers show a drastic drop in the estimated population of giraffes located in Africa. They number dropped almost 40%, leaving approximately 100,000 giraffes left. Currently two subspecies of giraffes are listed as endangered which are the West African giraffe and Rothschild's giraffe. For most of the giraffe subspecies their population size is decreasing due to; habitat loss, poaching, human population growth, habitat degradation and habitat fragmentation. The word "twiga" comes from the Swahili language, it means giraffe.
Inspiration
Reflection
Overall I enjoyed working on this project, because graphic design is one of my interests and I would like to pursue this interest more in college. At first I decided to just go ahead without looking at tutorials since Photoshop is still a bit new to me. However, I soon realized it would be better to watch some tutorials first so I could learn new techniques. The most difficult part was painting the giraffes head and legs. It required me to hold down the stylus pen which was very difficult because I was working on a small surface (track pad). It would have been more precise if I had a bigger working surface area.
ACT Questions
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
My inspiration effected my work by setting an example as well as guiding my creative process in order to create my own design.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Through this project my aim was to talk about this foundation's goals, which are to focus on the plight of the giraffes and work to providing them with a future.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching my inspiration I learned more about giraffes as a species and their subspecies, as well as the statistics about their endangerment. I learned about the dangerous situation they are in and the need to protect the dwindling population.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to try for the first time to create something like graphic design in photoshop, because it is one of my interests that I would like to explore during collage.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I learned more about giraffes and their species as well as how their populations is decreasing in a rapid rate. Hopefully people start realizing this and changes will happen.
My inspiration effected my work by setting an example as well as guiding my creative process in order to create my own design.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Through this project my aim was to talk about this foundation's goals, which are to focus on the plight of the giraffes and work to providing them with a future.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching my inspiration I learned more about giraffes as a species and their subspecies, as well as the statistics about their endangerment. I learned about the dangerous situation they are in and the need to protect the dwindling population.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted to try for the first time to create something like graphic design in photoshop, because it is one of my interests that I would like to explore during collage.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I learned more about giraffes and their species as well as how their populations is decreasing in a rapid rate. Hopefully people start realizing this and changes will happen.