Artist Statements
SEMESTER I
For a lot of my projects I drew inspiration from things I had seen before and liked a lot. A lot of what inspired me was out of my ability, so I adapted what exactly I liked and tried to apply it to my own work. I spent time in Los Angeles this semester, and a lot of what I saw there inspired me. I decided upon my final products by paying specific attention to the perspectives and tones of my pictures. I ultimately chose photos that reflected my own taste. At the beginning of the semester I feel like I forced a lot of what happened in my pictures, and now I let my pictures be what they are. Photoshop was extremely helpful in achieving my ideas. I applied my ideas in plausible ways in order to make my ideas happen. My works as an artist give the impression of a beginner. My more recent projects illustrate me as more of a bystander to preexisting art rather than a crearor of art..
SEMESTER II
For many of my projects, I drew inspiration from pieces of design that I’d seen before and liked a lot. I initially wasn’t very familiar with graphic design as a form of art. Of course I’d had exposure to logos and more formal practices of graphic design, but the artistic aspects of these typical graphic designs were never apparent to me. I was very inspired by the exposure I gained in class of the artistic and more creative side of graphic design. This allowed me to look at graphic design in a more creative and artistic way. When beginning a project, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted the final product to look like. I didn’t always have a clear image, but I had in mind different elements that I knew I wanted to incorporate. After putting these elements into a sketch, I was able to see what worked together and revise from there. I drew a lot of inspiration from street artists I had seen before. Shepard Fairy, Banksy, and Retna seemed to always come to mind when I was thinking about what I wanted to do with a project. I definitely didn’t have the ability to create projects that were visibly influenced by such artists, but they gave me great inspiration. Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, were super helpful in achieving my visions this semester. I utilized multiple programs to achieve exactly what I wanted for any single project. My abilities drastically improved throughout this semester, and my projects reflect this. I think I began the semester trying to translate sketches into graphic designs that just didn’t work well graphically. By the end of this semester, I feel that I’ve embraced the graphic nature of graphic design much more fully, and utilized its benefits to create great projects.