Landmark Art: Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus is well-known in the gaming industry for its revolutionary artistic style and ability to pull players to put forth a lot of emotional investment into the game.

Fumito Ueda was directly inspired by Giorgio de Chirio and his piece Melancholy and Mystery of a Street down to the color scheme, looming buildings (direct analogy to the looming figures in Shadow of the Colossus), and one or two long characters (interestingly enough, there is usually only one or two characters in either game at any time.)

Fred Tomaselli Reaction

For me, artists have always been a special breed and Fred Tomaselli exemplifies that; his definitions and ideals are of his own, unique, but perfectly logical. It's actually quite interesting how he states that the more he got into art, the less he followed theory and its conventions. I always thought art had to follow its own theory, but art is always age, box, and thought-defying. Though Tomaselli may be a bit of a "bad boy" (like fashion designer McQueen or chef Voltaggio) in the sense that they do not follow conventions like most other in the industry do.

I actually really appreciated Fred; his diction and writing is gorgeous, and as a former biology major, I fully appreciate how he deconstructs and recreates the art, biologically. Just like cells, I can see the elements working in concerto to form the fully functional, organic drawing.

Fred, I wouldn't label you as a psychedelic artist. That adjective is reserved for split personalities and schizos for me.

Brooklyn Bridge

We chose the Brooklyn Bridge as our icon for its simple, elegant, and timeless designs.

Quiz 1

Goal: Demonstrate your knowledge of form, line and shape. This is a review of what we've covered so far, so you may use your books, notes, sketches, T-Square "Resources," or the course blog. DO NOT copy verbatim from any copyrighted source. Objective: Create ONE digital (computer-based) art/design composition based on the following steps: Step 1: Ground - Create a background for your composition. Step 2: Figure/Ground - Create at least two additional layers using imaging software and FOR EACH LAYER choose one of three relationships to demonstrate in your composition (obvious/stable, reversal, or ambiguous). Refer to pgs. 10-11 from "Principles of 2D Design" (i.e. interrelationships of forms) for ideas. Step 3: Add lines (layer) to create variety. Use techniques from "Visual Design on the Computer" (length, position, direction). Step 4: Add shapes (layer) to create harmony. Use techniques from "Visual Design on the Computer" (geometric, calligraphic, freehand). Step 5: Arrange your line and shape layers to emphasize AT LEAST ONE of the "principles of organization" (balance, proportion, dominance, movement, economy).

Because I wasn't sure what to do, and because it was the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival that past weekend, I ended up trying to incorporate elements of visual design into her story.

The legend, of both Chinese and Japanese origin, vary in plot. The Japanese tells the story of a moon princess that yearns to return to the moon, the Chinese tells the story of a woman who sacrificed herself in order to protest taxes. Her spirit rose to the moon.

I chose to do lines that focused the viewer on the princess, and the moon to balance out the lines in the stark background. There was ambiguous and reversal themes in the image; for example, the princess is standing on the ground but it is made of clouds, which fuses with oceanic waves in the sky. There was also calligraphic and freeform elements involved.

Form + Line

After a lot of research, the location I chose centered on the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building, which is the headquarters of my dream company, Square Enix. It is located in the busy district of Shinjuku, Yoyogi, Japan.

I traced the building first and then inked it on the board. The picture above shows some stubborn smudges of charcoal that will be fixed by next week.

I drew a combination of lines and will proceed to finish the Duralar layers in the upcoming days.

Eventually, I hope to work there :)

I actually changed the bottom layer to have lines only...so without further ado...









Since I was allowed one color, I naturally chose red because it is representative of Japan. The red circle in the middle is actually the red sun of Japan's place. If you look at the top right, they are actually buildings I tried to make 3D, and in the middle there is bent line I tried to also give a 3D effect. I varied the use of length and size of lines, directions, and placement of such lines to complement each other.

Exquisite Corpse

The original exquisite corpse, drawn by three different people.
The theme we chose was "Ancient Greence", and I drew the last third, with Medusa.

We were instructed to create a composition using our group work, as long as words or colors were not used, and that I followed my style card, which was Kourous. It worked quite beautifully for the piece.

Greek for young man, "kouros" refers to the standing nude male scultpures, representing ideal youth in full strength and beauty, from the archaic period of Greek art. These captivating aloof figures reflect their counterparts made by Egyptians, from whom the Greeks learned how to carve stone. The frontal pose (oriented entirely toward the front, with no twist or curving in the pose) of the kouroi is stiffish, arms straight down with hands drawn into fists, one straight leg placed somewhat forward. Nevertheless, compared to their Egyptian brothers, these have a more feel of flesh, of an organic being, as they began to incorporate the delight into human body that distinguishes Greek art. Originally expressionless, kouroi bore a peculiar and charming upturned "archaic smile" by the sixth century.

I tried to envision what I could of stone, by using lots of marks and gestures. The grey tones and texture help envision as well.

Explanation of parts of the piece-
Ancient Greece was dominated by mythology, and one of the most famous is the tale of Medusa and her legendary slaying by Perseus. Medusa was one of three Gorgons, vicious monsters born out of ancient sea deities, and her siblings included Stheno (commonly seen with red snakes), and a less-known Euryale.

Top left is Stheno, the most vicious and ferocious of the Gorgons, who killed more than her two other sisters combined.

Top right is Euryale, known for crying, particularly when Medusa was slayed.

So to speak, Medusa did not have a lot of say in what happened to her; she was raped by Poseidon, so Athena punished her by making her mortal. She is seen yearning, reaching out for her sisters, who were still immortal and forever out of her reach.

To envision Medusa's mortality, I created a semi-circle on the bottom could that be interpreted as a either a mirror or shield. Perseus killed Medusa with the use of a mirror, and then saved her head to use as the ultimate shield- presented as a gift for Athena. Whichever interpretation, Medusa is eternally cursed and surrounded by her mortality at the bottom of the picture. She led a very sad and unfortunate existence, one I hope I helped portray somewhat in my composition.