Saturday, August 22, 2009

Semiotics

As we started the second day of class,
we came across the word semiotics...
Semiotics, Semiotics, Semiotics....hm
What does that mean?
Well it was actually quite simple really.
Semiotics means the study of meaning of things.
Otherwise, studying of signs.

Then we learned more words that will become useful
like denote and connote.
Denote means to signify directly.
Connote is to suggest or imply in addition to literal meaning.
Examples would be:
A red light denotes to stop.
Hesitation of a leader connotes weakness.

Then we got to Ferdinand de Saussure...
he came up with dyadic signs, meaning 2 parts,
Signifier+Signified
Signifier is the thing that is representing, the form
Signified is the concept that is represented, the meaning

After learning some key terms we got to see some materials
we will need for this semester like brushes, ink, and pens.

Finally we came to doodling...
Professor Babcock asked the class to draw an eye...
I thought which one did he mean??
An eye or an "I"
so I went with the eye instead.
When we stopped he looked around and saw many
had drawn an eye that was detailed, me being one of them...
It was what we were taught to do in our earlier art classes,
But he showed us just making a dot is an eye too, he wanted simplicity.
Plus the dot is universal.


















So then we tried an Exercise
we were supposed to show a positive consumer experience
using the concept of simplicity.









It didn't matter if the doodle did not look good
as long as the concept was known.
Like in my above picture I guess someone would think
I'm happy and I got a free burger which I loved
but someone might think of something else of the picture.
I learned to use shapes not lines to convey
the meaning of the picture.

My college plans

I have gone through my Art survival guide a year ago
and I wrote down a schedual of every semester in a
little black sketch book I had kept around the house.
I recently just opened it again and found that my plans are
a little flawed like this semester I'm supposed to be taking two other
art classes Design III and Figure Construction other than Intro to Graphic Design and Illustration and Art History I.
However, Design III was closed when I was registering and I wanted to take
a literature class and get some general educations done so I could focus next semester on my major classes.
I plan to take Painting I, Typography, Intro to Printmaking, Art History II, and possibly Design III and Figure Construction if I can find a good time for it. I hope to get back on schedual during my Sophomore year.
Then by my junior year, I can take Illustraion Techniques, Drawing 3, Watercolor, Illustration Concepts, Painting 2, Sculpture, and Concept Art and Design spread in two semesters.
For possibly my last year, I think I'll be taking Adv. Illustration I, Logo and Trademark Design, Fibers, Adv. Illustration II, Studio Seminar, 20th century Art and Architecture, ICAP Artists in Contemporary Society, and maybe one more art class.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Test Post

This is a test post.