Criterion E- Evaluation

making the product.

my final product

these were some of the photos that i had to show my product.

Criterion A-

For criterion A, we had to investigate to problem, state the main Areas of Interactions related with the interdisciplinary project. We also had to design questions that would guide through my investigation. I also had to develop my design briefly, including the necessary design specifications with some of the design specifications that I actually wanted. Furthermore, I had to research a bit using both online and primary sources. So we had to give definitions and facts about portraits. In art class, we had to research a portrait artist to further gain knowledge of portraits, which is the main idea of this project. Then, we had to give a bibliography of the research. Then, we had to give a method to evaluate our final work.

So, I did investigate the problem by stating what the project was, how it related to society, and how it could help me later with the future life. Then, I gave the main Areas of Interatction that I thought might have been related with the project, and they were Human Ingenuity and Approaches To Learning. Then, I gave an explanation for why I thought those areas of interactions were related with this particular project. Then, I wrote 5 questions that would guide me through the investigation. Then, I wrote down the necessary design specifications that Mrs. Wilson presented to the class and wrote some design specifications of my own. Then, extracting the base from the art lectures and IT classes of different portraits along with online sources that I looked up, I defined what a portrait is, what it contains, and its characteristics along with other things.

I think that this can be improved in several ways. One way is to have a larger research that will increase the understanding of the project.This can be improved also by having a more specific design specifications and needs.

Critierion B-
For criterion B, we had to generate few designs that we might use to create the actual artwork. The minimum number of design requirements was 5. We also had to evaluate each design with the design specifications. We also had to record chortly what we did and how we came up with the design. Furthermore, we had to state which one you were going to use for the creation process and include the reasons for the choice (justify the choice.)

I did the things that was required in this criteria. I generated 5 designs using various graphic software programs. I explained the process of creating them for each design. I compared all of my designs to the design specifications of criterion A. Some of them met my design specifications, but there was only one that actually met it to the full extent. So I chose the one that met all the design specifications and justified the choice.

To improve this criteria, I could design more designs, with giving even further explanations. Also, I could have created another design that met all the desing specifications and compare it with each other and choose one.

Criterion D-
For criterion D, we had to do several things. One of them was to elaborate the process of the creation. What you did, why you did it, things that went wrong, things that you changed, the source of inspiration. We had to follow our initial plan to the best. An appropriate quality of a creation must have been produced.

I think i mostly met the requirements for criterion D. I elaborate to a great extent of the process of my creation. I explained the reasons, dates, methods, materials, and pretty much everything. I followed my inital plan ver closely, but I eventually had to make some changes and I did elaborate why i did so. An appropriate quality of a creation was produced that was justified by Ms. Sudra.

I think that i could've taken a bit more care of my artwork: accidentally, a part of my work ripped. Even though it was unnoticeable, it is something that i could definitely improve on. Also, i could become more familiar with different art techniques that will improve the quality of my work.

Overall, I think that my results were successful. Here are the rest results. Names are anonymous due to privacy:

person 1)
For your hair, you used octopus ink, because your hair is black and it makes a nice texture like kyu’s hair. For the face, when you put Korean writing on it you meant to show that you are Korean, you like to read Korean literature. Your glasses and mouth are white and black, because you have different sides of yourself. The other face has food on it, because you love food. The background is blue because the ocean is blue and you have different continents to show where you were and where you want to go. The sesame seeds show that you like sesame seeds and the rice represents that your Korean and u also like rice.

person 2)
You pasted magazine cut-outs which were all pictures of food, so I am thinking that you are a food lover. The rice on the border of you hair tells me that you like to eat rice, which Koreans all do. Octopus ink tells me that you are a marine life lover, or you like things like fish. The color of the glasses and mouth tells me that you have faces or 2 people IN you telling you what to do, like devil and god. The two faces show that you want a twin.

person 3)
I think black and white is showing your devil mind and angel mind. But the black side is kind of higher than white so your devil side is more than kindness maybe. And between two twin there are Africa and America which is telling u r half America and u lived in Africa or half Africa. And i can see u love eating and rice is your favourite. Also I notice from your angel face that u like to read Korean books.

person 4)
Octopus ink is because I really don’t know what that is so I can’t think of a reason why u chose it. The rice because your Asian and you like to eat rice. The different food is because you like eating. The map symbolizes your likeness of MUN and other countries. Korean books you like literature.

The test results are mostly accurate. Some people understood the symbolisms, while other didn't. However, they mostly got all of the symbolisms that inserted. The deeper symbols were not mentioned because I did not ask for them. Mostly, the people were accurate about my artwork. I think that the main reason people did not get the deeper symbolisms was that they do not know me very well because I have only been in school for 2 months now.

I think that this project and the final product will have a great impact in my life. Sometimes, i feel insecure about my identity and am perplexed frequently. However, by exploring myself, i know myself better now and I feel much secure about my personality. This will help me with my future, because i will look more confident and self-assured to the people. So i will not only produce work of higher quality, but i will also be more successful.

Criterion D- Process

Using the digital image that I chose in IT class, I started to trace the image using pencil and a huge piece of paper in IT class (approximately 15 Sep) . We had 2 stations to trace in the IT lab, but because it took too much time, many people (including me) didn't have the opportunity to trace. The next two days in art class, we did the same thing, but I still did not get the opportunity to trace. So, we were given another opportunity to trace in the IT class of the next week, but we had too much things to do in IT class, so, I had to trace the image in lunch on my own time, and I was able to finish it just in time. So in art class, I started to work on the art piece. I first decided the layout and the materials that I was going to use (these materials will be mentioned as I go through different parts of the artwork.) For my hair, I used a thin octopus ink brush to give texture for my hair, and it worked perfectly. Then, I painted the hair over with a very dilute black acrylic paint to give the color of my hair and it was just a prodigious work, done with perfection. Then, I used black sesame seeds and pasted them on the boundary of my hair (my right head) using super glue and it was able to give a clear boundary to my hair. Then, I stuck parts of articles of a magazine in Korean to symbolize my liking for reading. Then using dilute brown acrylic paint, I painted my face brown. Then, I painted my glasses, lips and teeth of my right head white using thick white acrylic paint. Then, I painted my clothes (of right head) white using the same material. Then, I painted the background light blue using dilute acrylic blue paint and using thick light green acrylic paint, I drew the map of the world, not considering the proper layout of the map. However, after receiving criticism from Ms. Sudra that the continents didn't look like themselves because they were in the wrong format, I had to take the artwork home, borrow blue, green, black, and white acrylic paint with brush and a palette. Then at my house, I repainted my background using thick sky-blue acrylic paint to cover my continents and then using a sketching pencil, I drew the layout of the continents to proper layout and painted it with thick dark green acrylic paint. Then, I painted my left head (the skin and the hair) using the same method I used for my right head. Then, I used the black acrylic paint to cover my glasses, lips, teeth and clothes of my left head. Then, I stuck rice on the hair boundaries of my left head because of a suggestion from Ms. Sudra that the two faces can create a balance like Ying and Yang. Working upon the suggestion, instead of doing it a Ying and Yang, I created a double balance. Each head has its balance within because the white parts balance with the black parts. Then, the two heads are complimentary except the skin and the hair, creating another balance. Then, I stuck images of food from magazines on my left to symbolize gluttony.
I couldn’t use many techniques for my artwork, especially techniques concerning brush and paint. However, I did try some. Using the octopus ink, I tried to demonstrate the technique of thick and thin strokes to give texture. It didn’t work out perfectly, but it demonstrated the effect that I wanted. Using dilute acrylic paint, I tried to create a slight shadow just on my face. My right head’s shadow worked, the neck part being a bit darker than the face, but my left head didn’t work out.
Here are all the materials that I used: rice, black sesame, acrylic paint, parts of an article, pictures of food, and octopus ink. The rice and black sesame beans represent my Asian aspect of me, while they also represent the balance (since they are white and black, respectively) within me. The acrylic paint symbolized the strong impression of me that I try to leave to everyone. Since acrylic paint is very thick and rich, I thought that it would suit to my “symbolism” of the impression people have on me. So that is why I used dilute acrylic paint instead of water colors throughout the art. The bits and pieces of articles represent my interest of reading, while the images of various foods represent my gluttony.
The meanings that I tried to insert was that I like to read and eat food. I also tried to symbolize the Asian aspect. I also triedto symbolize that I am a global person who lived and met with various people from various cultures. I also tried to represent the strong impression that I leave on people. I allso tried to symbolizer that I like myself very much. I also tried to symbolize the balance that I try to achieve everyday.
This whole piece took me an accumulative time of about 20 hours. We spent 5 hours approximately each week to work on this in both IT class and art class. We worked on it for about 2 to 3 weeks. Then, I took the piece home and worked on it for about 4 to 5 hours, so the accumulative sum comes out as 20 hours.
I really like my piece of art that I created. I think it clearly represents who I am. I also spent a lot of effort and time on this, and I think the product portrays it, so I am very satisfied. I also think that, in my opinion, my work of art stands out from everyone else’s because of its unique traits.
There were both hard and easy parts in this project. The easy part was painting as I planned, because I just had to follow the directions I gave myself. The hard part was coming up with ideas and materials for the art. Since this project was, in my opinion, creating a work of art from nothing but your own imagination, I found it difficult.
Ms. Sudra helped me with my artwork in various ways. Ms. Sudra gave me suggestions to improve my work, such as the map layout and the Ying and Yang idea, and I think that through those suggestions, my artwork improved. She also gave the class various explanations of various materials, which helped me a lot deciding the materials for the artwork. Her PowerPoint presentation of various portraits of mixed media artists also helped me to come up with few ideas.
In my artwork, I made a few changes. For example, instead of having a part where there are everyone’s signatures on there, I painted my clothes black and white for the purpose of creating the balance. I also could not do Paper Mache for the world map because the material would be heavy and once hung on the wall, it would fall off. I also did not use bread crumbs because they would rot.
To a person who didn’t see my artwork, I would explain it like this: There are two faces of “me” facing each other from the right side and the left side. My left head’s skin is brown and my hair is black, with a hair boundary of rice. Then on my skin, there are various images of food. My teeth, clothes, glasses, and my lips are all black. My right head’s skin and hair is the same as my left heads. However, the hair boundary is made by black sesame seeds. This time, my clothes, lips, teeth, and glasses are pure white. The faces cover 70% of the whole art. In the background, there is a world map of blue and green.
I wasn’t inspired by a particular artist. However, I did use the concept of sticking articles from Mrs. Wilson to symbolize the hobby of reading.

Criterion B

This is a photo that I altered using flauntr.com. First, I changed the picture into black and white. Then, I contrasted the right side of my face along with left side so that one part of the face cannot be seen, especially the expression that I am making. Comparing with my design specification, this is definitely a multi media product (because in i have used a media outside of brush and paint.) Also, this uses a phto-editing software. This is a phto of myself only, and it does express myself. It expresses myself because the dark side of my face symbolize that nobody except myself knows my real intention/understanding of everything. The visible face represent the face that I show to most people/strangers on how it is manipulated and may or may not be my actual intention/ understanding. However, I think that this image might be hard to interpret for many people because they do not know me very well and hence do not know my values which would stunt them in the comprehension of my image.#

I altered this image with picnik.com. I first cropped the image so that the empty space on the left was eliminated. Then, I used the saturation tool to give the image a much stronger impression. Then, I also used the contrast tool to darken the shadows in my face a little bit. Comparing it with my design specifications, I think this image matches with most of them. This is a multi-media work because it does not use traditional brush and paint, but rather a computer software which would cover both being a multi media product and using technology. It is also a photo of myself and also expresses myself. The way it expresses myself is that by using saturation, the image gives a stronger impression and it represents me becaise my personality/image is "someone unforgettable." Therefore, this expresses an aspect of my character/personality. However, this image does not meet the specifications of being something unique nor an image that I really like.




I altered this image using Adobe photoshop CS3. First, I cropped the image to eliminate the blank space Then, I saturated a picture just a little bit so that it will give a slightly stonger impression (the face.) Then, I copied (created a new layer of) my head using the lasso tool. Then, I smoothed out the edges a little bit and feathered it slightly. Then, I displaced my original head so that it gives a white boundary. Then, I used the thick paint/brush to give an artistic impression.
This image fits perfectly with my design specifications. It is a multi media product which is created by a graphic software of technology which is out of the traditional brush-and-paint. Also, This image represents myself very well. By outlining my head, I could represent that the head is the most important part of my body, representing that I am an academic than an athlete. Also, By inserting another head with the combination of the hand gesture, which looks like my head wants to kiss myself but the other me is rejecting it, I could represent that I like myself very much and that I am confident in myself that one part of me would like to kiss myself, but it also symbolizes my anti-narcisstic and anti-homosexual aspects of me. Therefore, this clearly represents my character and personality. It also has a unique aspect in that it has another "me" in the image. Also, I this this image is prodigious, so this image meets all the design specifications and that is why I chose this image.
I altered this image using Adobe Photoshop CS3.First, I took a picture from Facebook and saved it as a jgp. image. Then, using the clone stamp tool, I erased some pimples on my face. Then, I used liquifier to distort the shabby background that I had. Then, I used the clone stamp tool to copy and duplicate my eyes, but I increased the size of the brush and made 6 duplications in the background. This image met most of the desgin specifications. It first met the specification of being a multi-media, out of brush-paint. Also, this image is made out of a graphic software. Also, this was a phto of myself only, which met the design specifications. This does express my personality/character because by having many eyes around me, and all the eyes of myself, it conveys the notion that I try to think critically and be logical. The unique aspect about this particualr work is the eyes that look through. However, this does not meet the last design specification that I had planned because even though I think this portrays a great thought and personality, I didn't like it very much because in my point of view, does not have a sense of perfection.

This image was also altered using adobe photoshop CS3. I took the original image and used the "stamp" filter to give a black-and-white cartoonish-style look. Then using the clone stamp filter, i created an artificial sun on the upper left corner. This image met many of my design specifications. It was a multi media work using a graphic software of technology. It was a photo of myself only. This artwork does tell my personality. The gesture that I'm posing in combined with the sun was to express that i like to look at things positively and try to be optimistic all the time. However, this artwork did not meet the specification of being "unique" because it looks so normal, even though it's certainly eye-catching. Also, because it was so normal, I did not like this image and hence did not meet my design specifications.

I chose the third image as my final choice. The reason is that I think it shows the complexity of the process quite well and that it contains many aspects of my personality which cannot be easily shown. Another reason of choosing this particular image was because I thought it provoked the most interest and thought of the audience/viewers. This image, which is explained above, met all the design specifications that I have set, while it also met my desirable traits. Also, this was the image that took the most time and effort.

Critierion A (=15/sep/09)

Identify the problem
This project, as I understood it, was a combined project between art and Information technology creating a self-portrait using various media, including computer graphic software. This project is very important in my life because as a teenager, I sometimes feel unsure and insecure of my personal identity, but through this project, I believe it is an opportunity to explore myself and really see who I am from a standpoint that I did not have before. This project is also important in society because by understanding yourself, you can become confident in life, and when you join another community and meet new people, they will have a tendency to like you, because they know that you understand yourself. For example, when one is doing a job interview, or a college interview, the judges would naturally choose someone who is confident and somebody who knows him or herself.
The main Areas of Interaction in this project includes Approaches to Learning and Human Ingenuity. This project is closely linked with ATL because this project makes one learn who you are and gives a chance to explore yourself. It also explores the difficulties one might have in life and by exploring the inner side of oneself, it can help to get through the conflicts. Because this is a school project that is graded, this is a disciplinary activity and students may also collaborate to share ideas and suggestions, which are essential parts of ATL. Furthermore, this project would include information literacy because we would have to research various artists and paintings to get an idea of how a self-portrait is made. Finally, at the end, we would have to evaluate our work and reflect upon it, so the reflection part is included in the project. Human Ingenuity is also closely related to this project. Because we are creating a piece of art, this is included in the features of HI. We will identify why we created the piece of art and what it symbolizes to us. We will be involved as creators of the product. We will also celebrate our creation while also criticize and evaluate at the end. We will be questioning and peer-reviewing our product, so this project is mostly closely related to human Ingenuity.
The questions that will guide my investigations include:
- What materials will I use, and how will they symbolize me?
- What are the different ways I could present this product to the audience?
- How would I express my character efficiently so that people would understand my intention?
- What will my product look like?
- How will I make my product look artistic and pleasant to look at?

Develop your Design Brief
Here’s my design specification:
-Something black for my hair.
- Something brown for my skin
- Something for my glasses
- Something for my teeth
- Something for my lips
- Something for my eyes
- Something for my clothes (not like pieces of cloth, but something that will express me)

What we did in class
In Sep 8 2009, our I.T. class was introduced to an interdisciplinary unit of art and I.T. It was a unit called "Self-Portrait: Who am I?" Our class looked at various aspects of portraits, and how it must contain various elements. A self-portrait must be created by yourself, and it must be something that expresses yourself, and explains yourself, such as explaining your personality, your background, what values you have, etc.
In Sep 9 2009, our I.T. class went outside to begin working on the project. We took pictures and we came back into class. We started to edit those pcitures using online photo-editing programs such as flauntr.com and picnik.com. I used mostly flauntr.com. However, at home, I also used photooshop CS3 to edit my photos because it was the software that i was most familiar with.
Research-
A portrait is a picture, illustration, or an artwork that shows an image of a person. It can be made by various media, while it can be also created by traditional brush and paint. A portrait should explain and contain the emotions of the subject. It should also portray the subject's personality and character. Artists such as Vik Muniz, Gabriel Zubilaga, Frida Kahlo are portrait artists. Portraits have been around histroy even back at the 4th century BC, but self-portraits have begun to appear shorlty after 1400 AD. The reason is because before self-portraits appeared, artists usually drew the nobles, kings, and the people who have great power in the society, but beginning from 1400s, which is close to the Renaissance Period, artists have begun to draw themselves too. Also, the decreased price of mirrors greatly contributed to the advent of self-portraits. Also, each artists have different styles and media they use for the self-portrait, so every self-portrait can be considered unique.
In art class, we had to research a portrait artist. I researched Gabriel Gonazaga and his piece "Daniel Corcuera Robbins." I found this piece very interesting because of the unique spacing and the composition. The artist used mostly warm colors, but he also balanced it well with some cool colors. I also found that the child was missing the lower half of the body and made me wonder if he was trying tp portray the idea that the child was legless due to an unfortunate event. I liked this piece on how it portrayed a normal 6-years old's life. The face expression of the child was so natural that I was quite amazed. I also liked the painting because it was in-motion rather than just sitting or staring the audience. However, I was curious what the scribbles meant or symbolized and I wanted to know its relation between the child and the artist.


bibliography-
Sudra, Anna. Art lecture. International School of Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia. 3 Sep. 2009.

Sudra, Anna. Portraiture Technology. Powerpoint presentation for MYP Visual Arts.
International School of Ulaanbaatar. Sep. 2009.

"Gabriel Corcuera Zubillaga." commissionaportrait. 7 Sep. 2009. <http://www.commissionaportrait.com/artistsportfolio.asp?id=199>


"Self-portrait." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Sep. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-portrait>

Wilson, Melanie. An Introduction to an Interdisciplinary Unit between Art and Information Technology. International School of Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia. 8 Sep. 2009.

Zubilaga, Gabriel C. "Daniel Corcuera-Robbins." commissionaportrait. 9 Sep.2009. <http://www.commissionaportrait.com/media_viewer.asp?id=3303&all=true>

Design Specifications
Essential characteristics-
- Multi media (many different forms are used, outside of traditional paint and brush)
- Technology (Photo-editing software)
- Photo of self and no one else, and something that expresses self
Desirable characteristics-
- An artwork that tells me my personality/characteristic
- A unique aspect/ something special
- A work that I really like
Testing my product-
I will project my product on the wall. Then, I will hand our a sheet of paper and ask 5 people to write a paragraph about who I am (what intentions I had for the portrait.) Then, I will discuss with everyone what my original intentions were orally. Then, I will use the sheet of paper to use it as my evaluation. By doing this, I would be able to know what they thought of my testing and receive feedback while I will also be able to clarify my intention of the artwork.

Criterion A

In IT class and Art class, we started a new project called

This project was a combined unti of art and I.T to create our self portrait. We would first take our pictures, edit them through computer graphics programs, trace it with pencil on a large sheet of paper, and use mixed media(such as beans, octopus ink, etc) to create the artwork.

This assginment is a very valuable opportunirty for me because as a teenager, I sometimes feel my own identity and my existence insecure, but through this project, I felt that I could reconfirm who I am. Also, this assignment is important because it can help me be creative, which I have little opportunity to be, and also guide me on getting used to some softwares that I might be able to use later in the future.

According to Mrs. Wilson, a portrait is an artwork that includes a face of someone and expresses themselves in a unique way. So in IT class, she showed our class the whole portrait and it DID explain who Mrs. Wilson was. A portrait can be made of various medias, including beans and toy soldiers to paint and pencil. It is up to the artist to choose the media on which they want to use. A portrait has been drawn maybe even before the 4th century.

Today, we finished editing our photos in art class and we began to sketch our silouhette on the large sheet of paper. After I edited my photos, I had to write the journal on this blog in the spare time we had.

For my portrait, I am planning on using octopus ink and rice for my hair but I have not decided on what I should use for my skin. Something brown... Hmm... I am thinking about using some beans, or I may use some bread crums (the brown part.) The skin media needs to be rough since my skin isn't very smooth. I will have to contemplate, and I surely hope I find something. For my teeth, i was thinking about whiteout and magazines to symbolize that I like reading. For my lips- I think I should do a paper marche using lip-colored paper.

I will write more of critierion A and I will citemy bibliography later when i have finished.

Criterion A

Because I did not have Adobe Photoshop on my laptop, I was left with several websites mentioned in class such as flauntr,com, picnik,com, and fotoflexr.com to do my homework with.
First of all, the fotoflexr.com strangely did not open at all ,so I could not experience it.
The next website I went to was picnik.com. The website did not require a registration, which i personally found amusing, and it was pretty straightforward. However, since it was the first time I used a digital image editor other than the Adobe Photoshop series, everything was new to me. A strange thing that I noticed about picnik.com was that it only had a very few editing tools, such as cropping, coloring, resizing, etc, unlike Adobe photoshope CS3 that I normally use. In my opinion, I think they want to advertise it so people would subsribe for Premium version of picnik, which would dbviously have more applications. Therefore, I found the website a little disappointing.
THe next website that I visited was Flauntr.com. The loading was unbelievably slow and the website looked perplexing. It took me about 5 minutes to get to the real application and upload the image that I was going to edit. However, as I began to use it, it proved to be a much better use than picnik.com. The website had much more applications, even though a registration was needed, and the applications were easy to use, unlike picnik.com. However, the website still had less tools to use than Adobe Photoshop.
However, I still edited the photos experimentally and I might use some parts of it in my portrait.
Since I'm downloading Photoshop CS3 right now, if it works (hopefully,) I will just stick to the software instead of using other websites.

Criterion A

Today in I.T. class, we began another project: to make a portrait that would express yourself using computer technology. It was a combined project of I.T. and Art. So the topic was discussed in class, such as how people expressed themselves differently in the project of previous years, and gave us an idea of what was expected and what we needed to do. Since we had to have a digital image of ourselves, our class went outside the school building and began to take pictures. However, the problem was that there was only one camera while there were 15 classmates. That the girls in the I.T. class took a long time to take their pictures left the guys little time to take them.
After taking our pictures, we went back into class and Mrs. Wilson had our photos saved in the "Technology" folder. So we took individual pictures we liked and we deleted some that we were not content with.
The homework of the class was that we had to edit our photos online in websites including but not limited to picnik.com, flauntr.com, etc. I have not yet started on my homework due to an electrical shortage that have gone for two hours, but since it's back on, i should presume my work with haste, since the homework is due tomorrow.
I will publish another post after I've edited the photos.