VISUAL ISSUES

by Matthew B. Lamont

I was thinking, planning, sketching and choosing colors, but did not feel comfortable with the outcome.  Breaking news was the terrorist attack in Mumbai India!  This struck a cord with me because I had to be evacuated from Saudi Arabia in May of 2003, because of a bombing in Riyadh.  I decided to go with terrorism as a topic. 

Here is a bubble chart:

I chose, Terrorism:  tension, shock, and devastation.

Tension:  is a feeling that terrorists struggle with, after all the sociological, psychological, political and religious problems that they lived with for years.  Many of their leaders were captured, many fighters were killed, many widows and orphans.  All this accumulated and forced them to find a solution.  So they planned and organized to relieve their anguish, looking for revenge and liberation of their leaders or money in exchange for the hostages. 

Shock:  is the feeling that all the people felt the moment the attack occurred. 

Devastation:  The attack produced anguish, pain, depression, suffering, destabilization, sadness, terror, loss, destruction and chaos.  The terrorists wanted to  make sure that the victims felt the same pain they had, so they might capture the attention of the world or maybe negotiate for some solution on their side. 

Here is a sketch about it:

I am planning to use these concepts to create a 2D series of three visual representations, using Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. 

This is my final idea and I kindly request approval, so I can start doing my final work. 

by: Matthew B. Lamont

I did research on World War II to see if I can get inspired, with a better concept that I can put it in a 2D form. I can say, that I refreshed a lot of history, so I arrived to a new concept.  This time it was “Nuclear Destruction” here is a bubble chart and the sketches (made in Adobe Illustrator).

This is only another idea, but it is not the final.  

Independent 2-D Project

Friday November 21, 2008

I presented my preliminary work about my final assignment. The topic I chose was

“Nuclear Testing” influenced by the movie, “Godzilla”, a character that portrays to be a consequence of the nuclear radiation, that causes mutations in flora and fauna. 

My bubble chart was too focused on the characters and I was advised by Ms. Gaskins to focus more on the concept.  Here is a bubble chart after the review. 

by Matthew B. Lamont

           The word “batik” is a combination of the Javanese words “amba” meaning “to write” and “titik” which means “to dot” or “point”.  Batiks date back between 1,500 to 2000 years ago.  The earliest examples of this ancient craft were found in the Middle East, Central Asia, India and Egypt.  The art spread from Asia to the islands of the Malay Archipelago, the Middle East and to the West.  In the 17^th century, the craft was introduced in Holland and in the early 20^th century, Europeans and Americans rediscovered this ancient process. 

            Now, art schools across America have batik courses as part of their textile curricula.  As an assignment in our Visual Issues class, I drew a design on a white a cotton cloth with a pencil and applied wax over the design in order to block the dye from being absorbed in these places.  I painted a sunflower with red dye and the background with blue and yellow.  The results were not the best, but I learned from my mistakes. In my second try, I made a composition of a Holly and cherries, with a ribbon and stars and I was very careful placing the wax.

             I learned that making batik, takes many steps, time, patience and discipline. 

My first try.

My second try.

by Matthew B. Lamont

Here are examples of the four types of texture. 

Abstract Texture

Actual Texture

Invented Texture

Simulated Texture