Expanding my Horizons

So I made my very own website! Check it out! It was not very difficult except for how I wanted to set it up. I think it turned out pretty well. It is basically a showcase for the works I have done in one of my classes, but they go together really well, and I am proud of it! The link to it is right here:

Find Me in the Forest

Typography Images!

Okay, so basically this week I experimented with making pictures out of words! How cool is that. Actually, it is more like I took a picture and then turned it into words...if that makes any sense. I used a lot of different programs, but my favorite was a program called Tagxedo. Here is my favorite image that I created!

Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. If you want to see more of the kinds of images that I was working with, here is a link to my Google Photos file with them all in it! Enjoy!!

https://goo.gl/photos/6mW19VEaghRfiMNPA

So, that's how a computer works!

So basically, a computer is just information being taken in, processed, and spit back out again! You enter information in through the keyboard and the selection of things, the computer processes everything, and then spits it all back out again visually on either the screen or onto paper through a printer. Pretty nifty!

Subject: Typological Photography!

Okay guys. Here is my mash up audio with video clips now. I think it is pretty cool!

Mash Up

So. For class this week we had to make our own beat and then use it to create a mash up song! So, for your pleasure, this is my first (and probably one and only) attempt at a mash up!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5eQKSHVbSUORFFVczZYUUg0OEk/view?usp=sharing

Fun with Photo Editing

So, I started playing around with some different photo editing. I started normal, with the images from my last post, then I switched it up a bit. I had some fun with animals! Hope you like it!

So first we have Goritten!!!!

Next up we have Palf!!!!

Lastly, we have the Owger!!!

I think they turned out pretty cool! It was actually really fun to play with editing and photoshopping images together. Though, remember, I was not using photoshop, I was using an online program called PIXLR. Well. That's all for now!

PIXLR

So there is this website called PIXLR. It is kind of like photoshop, but it is different and is an online application that you can either create your own image in or upload your photos to edit.
As an assignment, I had to do a face-swap image. In order to do this the photos have to be kind of the same size in order to fit together. So I took two different pictures of two people and kind of just combined them into one. So the top picture is the face-swapped picture. And the bottom two are the originals. It's more like a whole head swap...but yeah. They are super similar to begin with, but I think, other than a little bending on the background, it came out looking pretty good.

Electronic "Flames"

Online applications can do so many different things. Because technology is changing and advancing all the time, art is also changing and advancing. This particular website allows you to draw with flames! It is actually really cool. I started playing with it, and I just couldn't stop.You can alter and change the image and colors that you use.

I was actually only planning on uploading one image, but I like all of them so I thought I would share them with you!

Electronic Art-2

So. There are a couple more programs online that you can "draw" on to create your own electronic versions of art. ScribblerToo and YouiDraw. These are both better versions of the original Scribbler. You can actually save the image you create instead of having to screen shot it. So. For these two, you can actually upload images to sketch over or use for reference. So, I basically just took an image and tried to duplicate it...roughly. I think I like abstract images instead of trying to actually draw something, especially in an electronic form.

 So, you can probably tell which ones are the electronic scribbled versions. The top panther one was done on YouiDraw, and the bottom wolf one was done on ScribblerToo. YouiDraw actually has a bunch of cool utensil options. There's stuff like fur, sketch, web, and a bunch of others. Well, I mean, I guess there's a kind of likeness to the originals...right???

Electronic Art

There's this website called "Scribbler" where you "draw" a few lines and the website turns it into a sketch-like image. It is actually pretty cool. I did a few different images, and I'm not really sure how I feel about them...but it is cool to watch the website turn your lines into a sketch. You can even tell the website how sketchy you want it to look. It is pretty amazing how we can do things like this electronically, now. Art is all around you and is ever changing, what with technology constantly evolving. But anyways, here are a couple of the scribbles I made. You should try it!

Enjoy your Wildlife

Recently (this past summer, so not super recent but recent enough) I went on a road trip to Kentucky!!!  Not that exciting, I know, but on the way back home, I got to stop at Cincinnati's Zoo and Botanical Gardens with my amazing boyfriend, Kevin!!! 

Anyways. If you've never been, I would highly suggest visiting. The enclosures were way more open than what I'm used to in a zoo. It was a super cool experience,and I had a lot of fun. Go Cincinnati!!! 

Google Slide

So. Once again I had an assignment due for my fundamentals in digital media. We were again working with images and making a kind of slide show. This time, though, we were to do it in Google slides. That was different; I hadn't ever used that program before. For this presentation, unlike the last, we were to add comments to the images to make them work together to form a bigger picture, so I decided to make my images into a story!  Hope you enjoy. Here is a link to my slide show!!! 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tdWZw3i_MRXtFOuYsdaOrWPDjtVQqD_fXF0zWWb1J28/edit?usp=sharing

Combining Images with Sound

Here is a finalized edit of my images combined with the audio file I shared with you. I think it turned out really cool. It is kind of creepy, but I am definitely like creepy and weird. It makes me proud! The sound goes really well with the images that I chose and edited. When you watch it, it is almost like it is a deserted area. Like humans came into the area, took it over, then disappeared. Hope it strikes your fancy!
Also, here's a link to the actual video:
https://animoto.com/play/WqBvthsoxlbJpWNR9cuzCw

Playing with Audio Files

Well, here is another one of my assignments. We are learning/practicing using the "Audacity" program to edit sounds that we have recorded with our phones. This may sound cool, but I personally think it is really complicated. Noise is so much more difficult to edit than images are. At least I think so.
For my sound, I basically rolled down my window while I was driving and recorded the sounds of cars driving by me. Then I played with the file in Audacity. I changed the pitch and the tempo. I added an echo to it. I did a bunch of stuff just to test and see what did what and to get an idea of which tools in Audacity were useful and which ones weren't. What I ended up with is a jumble of noise, honestly. It is weird, though. It's kind of cool because it reminds me of Star Wars!! The sound just reminds me of space and spaceships. Here is another visual: imagine you are in a space suit on the moon, and you are hopping from one spot to the other. Every time you land you can feel the thud, but the sound of your feet hitting solid material is muted and dulled because of the helmet over your ears. That is what it sounds like to me. To think, this sound started out as the rush of cars passing by my open window. So voila! Here it is, hope it doesn't make your ears bleed!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5eQKSHVbSUOQzNHMHZUUFJ3XzQ

Urban Scan

So, back in my introduction post, I mentioned that I am a college student. I'm in a Digital Media class, just for fun, and part of our assignment this week is taking a montage of photos under the topic "Urban Scan". Now, if you're like me you may be thinking "What the hell does that mean?!?!"

I am hoping, since this is an art class, that this topic is open for interpretation. For my photos, I've been concentrating on capturing images that show how urban areas interact with the world. Nature, wildlife, is still holding on there, and in certain Urban areas it is only holding on by a thread. Human life is taking over and making places that were once beautiful and vibrant into dull, dirty places. But if you look close enough, you can see the beauty in how human creation and the natural world mingle.
Here are some examples of the images I took for this Urban Scan Album. Please keep in mind that these photos have not been edited yet, so they may seem a little rough around the edges. Enjoy!

Playing with Colors

The Original

The End Result

The Old Orchard

Other Blogs to Check Out

Okay, so here are some of my favorite blogs to look at and keep up to date with, just in case you were looking for some other creative and imaginative content to fill your time with.

1) Rather Be Reading
http://ratherbereadingblog.com/
This blog is focused on books, both reading and writing them. The author occasionally gives suggestions on must read books and what she thought was worth the time. She also tells of her experience with writing and offers suggestions for would-be writers who need help starting out.
2) Read. Breath. Relax.
http://www.readbreatherelax.com/
This is also a blog about books. Which ones to read, which ones not to read, and the ones in between. It may be redundant to follow multiple different blogs about the same thing, but I find that different people have different opinions, and there are so many books to go around that one blogger could not possibly cover them all.
3) Adventurous Kate's solo female travel blog
http://www.adventurouskate.com/
I like browsing through this blog because it features many places around the world that I myself would like to visit one day. It is interesting to read about different places, different foods to try while there, and different sites to see.
4) Wild View
http://blog.wcs.org/photo/
This blog is mostly just photos of different animals and wildlife. I have always loved animals, and inspiration can come in many different forms, especially something taken out of nature. Plus, sometimes I just like looking at the animals.
5) Colossal
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/
This blog is made up of photos of different artists' works. It includes things like drawings, paintings, photography, and even embroidery and homemade jewelry. It is just cool to keep up on what other artists are doing, and some of their works are really super cool.

Well, I hope I have given you some new reading material, some new blogs to visit and scroll through. Like I said, some of the pictures and photos are really cool, and if you are someone who does not want to read through someone's life story, some of these will be perfect! If you are a reader, check out the blogs about books! They include quite a variety.

Introducing...Me

Hello, and good day to everyone! This is just a short introduction about myself and my new blog. My name is Alex, and here is a few things about myself: I am a college student majoring in criminal justice and minoring in Psychology. I live at home with my dad and my brother, and I commute to school every day. I have two cats and a dog. I absolutely love reading! I am also a member of an archery club and have shot archery since I was six years old.

I'm hoping to center this blog on anything and everything creative! Art, novels, poetry, new ideas, thoughts, and beliefs. The digital world is changing so many things that were once considered creative and imaginative. Books, for example, are now being made into e-books, where one reads them off of a screen instead of paper. Art, as in drawings and paintings, can now be shared all over the world by simply uploading a copy of it to the internet. New ideas and beliefs can be posted and talked about among many different countries with many different cultures.
So, let's get our creativity flowing! Let's get ourselves out there and in the world where so many things are possible if you only put your mind to it!