Crowd Sourcing Project: Part 1

The Johnny Cash Project

While I had a lot of fun with the Johnny Cash Project I also got incredibly frustrated.  I have never been very good at using any sort of drawing/ painting  program on a computer but I thought this might be a way for me to practice and get better associated with it.  Along with not being good with these programs, I also always seem to need to make my art look as real as possible, a trait that added to my frustration.  I started in on my first attempt, which was an image of a man walking through a field.  I restarted this one three times and never saved any of them.  Then I decided to choose a close up of his face. Again I kept restarting without saving because I though they were just to horrific to keep.  Finally I realized I needed to stop pushing for a very realistic piece.  For the one I finally contributed, I found color blocks and shapes within the face and colored those in as a way to create shadows.

            I like how my final piece came out, and was glad I was able to figure out how to use the program.  Of all the crowd sourcing projects, this one was my favorite.  The final video that is created by individual persons works is just amazing.

Stephen Colbert Portrait

After checking out the other crowd-sourcing projects, I decided to look for a different one to use for our second requirement.  From this I found Stephan Colbert’s portrait project, in which he asked artists to recreate his fireplace portrait. The idea started after several famous guest artists were on his show and each time they would re-stylize the portrait to represent their work. 

            I tried several different ways of doing the portrait, but in the end I came up with this final piece.  The two figures standing on either side of Colbert are from a drawing that I did earlier in the semester.  I scanned and edited them on my computer, and then created the background by messing around with different techniques in Photoshop.  I really like how the final piece turned out and am really glad I chose this project because I had a lot of fun and creative freedom with it.

Crowd-Sourcing Project: Part 2

MASTERpiece  is a crowd-sourcing site that takes the most notorious and recognizable paintings throughout history and has the user recreate/ interpret a small section of each piece.  The sections will be compiled together to create a modern, mosaic-like take on these timeless works of art.  Every two weeks a new painting will be uploaded for people to collaborate on.  During the two weeks the painting is up, it will keep restarting every time it is fully filled. The painting that is posted will be pre sectioned by pixel amount. People can click on an unfilled section of the painting where they will be sent to a site that lets them edit the area.  

Chapter 5 Questions

1. In chapter 5 Lovejoy discusses Aristotle and Plato's theories on what art is. Which one do you think is a stronger way of looking at and judging digitally and/or simulated art?

2.  Lovejoy states that, " in order to understand the basics of a new media 'object,' it is important to understand the dynamics of information aesthetics." Do you think art created by new medias could still be appreciated without this understanding?