Tyler Turchin
Project 1 - WIP
Over the course of this semester I will be creating an interactive website to showcase my work in a creative way. On my website, I plan on incorporating different digital art elements such as, animations, videos, photos, and much more. My initial idea is to create a sketchbook themed website that will serve as a portfolio, resume, sketchbook, and archive for all of my artistic creations. I plan on adding something new to the site for every project we do this semester. For this first project period, I have begun working on an animated character that will essentially serve as a mascot or a guide for the site. This animated character will help viewers navigate through the page as well as give important information about the work being displayed. So far I have a few sketches of this character in some different poses and I have started adding some color to the character.
Project 2 - WIP
For my last project, I designed a homepage for my website. I decided to draw a desk containing different objects that represent different pages within the site. Initially, I planned on animating a character for the site, but I thought it would make more sense to design the homepage first. For this second project I will be continuing to develop the website. I have included some notes on what I will be adding as well as the button layout below. I have also begun animating one of the pictures on the back wall to add an extra dimension to the background. My next step will be to implement the button layout onto a functioning website. I extended the original image, adding corners to the desk and some length to the wall in order to better fit the dimensions of a traditional webpage. I tried to insert the background image on a website editor, but I had some issues with the formatting of the image. I think I will need to bring the image into illustrator to reformat it and touch it up a bit.
WIP - Project 3
For my third project I have decided to abandon the idea of building a website. After struggling to execute my vision in my last project, I realized that website engineering is much more complex than I had imagined. While I did see some success in creating my website, to continue with my plan would take computing skills that I am not yet capable of. Instead, I have decided to do a series of digital paintings regarding the psychological effects that masks have on society. Recently I came across some studies discussing how wearing masks can have a psychological impact on kids. One study talked about how masks can cause people to feel claustrophobic which can lead to anxiety. This same study also talks about how masking facial expressions can make kids less connected and have problems with developing empathic connections. For this project I want to address this issue by creating a series of digital paintings of people both with and without masks. I think it will be interesting to show what’s behind the mask and see how people interpret this message. I'm not sure what my subject matter will be yet, but I have been playing around with a few self portraits as well as a more cartoonish illustration.
Project 4 - WIP
For my fourth and final project, I want to do something similar to my last project in which I digitally painted a portrait of a teddy bear. I had a lot of fun making my last piece and I learned a lot in the process, so for this piece I am going to do another digital painting. I also want to continue with a similar concept, having to do with the psychological impacts of wearing masks in public. Since the start of the pandemic, nearly every person we see has their face covered, with the exception of family members and close friends. The only other people we see without masks are celebrities and models on TV and on social media. I think that this could definitely have an impact on many people's self esteem and mental health. If the only people you see maskless are actors and influencers your idea of what normal people look like will start to change. That is why in this project I am going to paint a series of digital portraits featuring utterly average Americans. My idea is to expose the beauty within the unique “flaws” of everyday people that we don’t get to see very much of anymore.
