City of the Gods: Forgotten (Volume 1) (Paperback) | Fiction Books

City of the Gods: Forgotten (Volume 1) (Paperback) Fiction Books

Team 1 Crit 5 Dec 3rd

1) What is the Visual Content of this image?
This is a very retro-looking piece with 2 figures dressed in 1930's style clothing in an empty room. There's a window that doesn't reveal what is outside and a exit that leads to a blank hallway. Maybe it moving day and this was the childrens bedroom? Who knows.. that's haldf the fun.

2) Name 3 Design Elements
TONE: The whole piece seems to be in a similar tonal faded range. Nothing is too dark or too light. very pastel.
COLOR: like the Tones the colors here are muted Earth tones, pale green and light brown - faded.
SIZE: the different sizes of the two figures are important to this piece. In fact, the size of the foreground figure seems somehow "off" from what it ought to be - an interesting effect.

3) What Color Scheme is used?
For one thing the color choice here fits perfectly with the era that the photo is portraying. Pale greean and muted brown along with the off white. Only the girls blue dress stands out, though even that is a muted blue. The colros are used very effectively here.

4) What could be improved?
It's a little too washed out. I think more contrast and lighting might heighten the mood. Also i am still not sure if the boy is really in that picture or not. There is something wrong about the perspective and I'm not sure if that is on purpose or an accident.

5) What wins on this page?
I see the boy first, as he is the largest thing in the picture. Then I see the little girl. What is their relationship? Why are they there? Where are they? It bring up many interesting questions. So it does draw me in.

6) you like this image?
Yes I do like it! anything that has so many unanswered questions is always a good piece. It tells a story - I'm just not sure of all the stories details and i like the mystery.

TEAM 1 Crit 4

What is the Visual Content of this image?
The visual content of this image is positive and negative or black and white image. I believe that it is more positive and negative because the two girls in the image both have different facial expressions. One is frowning and one is smiling. The two girls are the primary contributors to the space. Because the are twins and they are wearing similar dresses, they offer some symetery to the image against the blank background.

Name 3 Design elements that are prevalent
For me the main design elements consist of -
TONE: Lots of high contrast black and white in this photo
SHAPE: The shape of the 2 girls repeat and merges almost like a rorscauch test.
DIRECTION: The direction here is very vertical for the most part and runs down the page to collect on the bottom.

Name 3 Design principals in this image
BALANCE is an obvious one - though its interesting that the ground being off balance give it a sort of creepy feeling.
EMPHASIS: The emphasis is totally on the 2 girls in the foreground. Both exact except for their expressions.
UNITY is evident in the clothing, the merging of the two girls and the centering of the picture.

What type of color scheme is used?
Realtively few shades of gray are used here. But they are used effectively.
There are of course no colors.

What could be improved in this image to make it more visually effective?
As the others have mentioned, perhaps better centering. and a little more white space at the top. I have no problem with the bottom o f the picture though.

What wins on this page, draws you in, catches your eye?
The shape of the 2 girls sort of merged together draws me in. At fisrt look I thought they were siamese twins! Then the different expressions they have. It's amazing how much different the same face can look with just a slight change of the moutn or the eyes.

Project 4 Foil Package

So I've made good progress on project 4 and am now trying to get the art finished up for the foil package that the cards go into. My main task will be learning HOW to account for the foil layer and where it bleeds through or is partially covered by the ink. This will be the tricky part, since i can't really see what it's going to look like. But we'll see how it comes out...

I've also been working on the cards and trying to make progress on them as well. I have close to 20 of them done - so only 46 more to go! Don't know if I'll actually get them all done by the end of class. With luck I'll have more cards, the foil packaging and some of the poster/maps done.

OK that's it for this episode...

Picture 3 Comments

1. What is the Visual Content of the Image?
The FACE at the top. THE ARM at the bottom. The Hand, lending support. The TWIGS growing form his arm and the indistinct blue BACKGROUND behind him.

2. Name 3 design elements...
The crooked LINEs of the twigs. The COLOR of the background and the SHAPE of the face and arm all add to the overall look of the piece. There is almost no depth to the piece as the background is hard to fathom. Is it near or far? Who can tell...

3. Name 3 design principals
I think this has an asymmetrical BALANCE to it, with the face at the top and the arms at the bottom bracketing the central area.

For me, the twigs growing out of the man's arm are the main EMPHASISof the piece. THe face is looking at them and thearm at the bottom stops your gaze like an imaginary horizon.

The UNITY of the color and mood of the various elements really work together here to give this piece a similar "feel" The somber face, the pale blue background and the unearthly "twigs"

4. What color sceme is used?
The colors here are somber. THey inspire thoughts of winter, night time and isolation, very effective.

5. What could be improved in the image
I have to agree with another poster. It would really add to the mood if the glass behind him were a rainy window and we could see more of where he is to get better context of what is happening. Is he in a hospital in the city? The future? or is he at home? Of course half the fun is perhaps not knowing those answers...

6. What wins on this page
I see the face at the top of the image, which is of course where one naturally reads a page. Then the arm and the strange "twigs growing form his arm. Finally the background - where is he? When is he?...

7. Do you like this image?
I like it because it is unnatural and i enjoy art that is unnatural. Although it is not something that I would choose to frame and hang in my dining room to stare at while I eat.

The Making of a Background

In the first cards (shown in earlier posts) I chose a background from a Nasa photos of a galaxy. That was pretty easy as I just looked for the right photo and color adjusted it. For the next background the designers asked me to create a sort of hypnotic swirl. I really couldn't find anything online, so I just made it from scratch. So I here is the process I went through..

No 1: I created a black pointed "spoke" that a replicated and started to arrange on a central point.
No.2: I got the spokes all arranged and started to adjust the color. They wanted something that was comic book like.
No3: I copied one set of spokes and layered it on top, then rotated it. I used colors that were reminiscent of a circus tent.
No 4: I then used the distort tool to "twist" the rays in a circle. I played around with the lighting effects, but found it was easier and quicker in this case to just use the airbrush tool with a really big brush. I then imported it into the card template and added the text and images for the card.

Creation of an icon

So I thought it might be interesting to break down how I come up with the icon designs.
I have to design 66 icons for use in this card game and have been looking at clip art, books and online image searches for ideas. Sometimes the idea for a card is obvious and I just sketch it up, ink it, scan it and start coloring it and adding effects.

Here are two examples where i "found" the idea. Its very obvious these inspired me to create the card image. The moon icon is very close to my finished design in many ways though there are differences in the face, shape, size of the star and the color "blue moon" So my question for the rest of you is, is my version a "steal' or is it 'inspired" by the jewely photo? I'd love to know what you think...

The other image is a little less obvious, but the photo of the 4 hands pointing in different directions obviously inspired me to create the confusion image. I wanted it to be a little more "creepy, so I added the eyes and the tentacles to create a sort of strange 'compass".

Its a real challenge coming up with 66 images, but I am making progress. I have about 10 done so far 9though not all have been approved by the games designers yet. Only 56 more to go...