G.E.V.

Graphics
Learning Graphic Design Through the Eyes of a Student
Grant E. Vargas

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

Scott Adams
Cartoonist

Hello There
H
Introduction
ello, I am Grant Vargas, a sophomore communications major at Saint Xavier University. My principle interests are in videography, photography, and creative writing. However, the classes needed to more fully develop these skills and interests are not offered here, so I will be transferring to Columbia College next fall. I will miss the small community environment of SXU, but practicality comes first. I am a writer for the student newspaper, The Xavierite, student DJ at WXAV 88.3FM, and a writing tutor at the Learning Center. Photos: (left) An on-set photo from my most recent film project with friends at Northwestern University The Mail Room. That was a cold and windy day to shoot a bike chase. [photo by Chirstopher Romero] (right) This is me filming a scene for a dont-text-and-drive video. It was a mock car crash in front of my high school complete with firefighters, jawsof-life, and grieving parents. [photo by Sarah Swinford]

(bottom) I have developed an interest in High Dynamic Range photography, which creates surreal looking environments like this beach.

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Learning Curve

introduction

his week I was introduced to stylist drawing in Adobe Illustrator, and it was quiet fun. The idea behind writing your signature repeatedly is to develop the fine motor skills required for using the table pen and that there is nothing more familiar to a new user than their signature, thus the user could focus on how they are writing it rather than what they are writing. The pen was weird to work with because my line of sight is not where the physical pens tip lands.Getting used to looking at the computer screen when drawing with the pen will take some time, but Im adapting pretty well. Controlling the strokes of the pen is a completely different issue.

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Horizontal Madness
Getting to know Illistrator 100 strokes at a time.
Line Drawings

his line drawing is a teapot, no esoteric meaning behind it, however there is a greating crafting concept to it. Rather than drawing an object based on its edges, I had to draw it in a progressive layer formation. A similar process to that of 3-D printing. Construction an image in this manner forces the artist to be more aware of the true shape of the object.

Concept

orizontal and diagonal lines made by the brush tool (1 point stroke, 2pt. oval brush definition, and uniform width profile) are used to create the shape of the object, but none of the surface details are seen. However, I noticed the drawings tended to become flat in orientation, despite being observed at an angle. This is most likely due to my brain rendering the image in the simplest way for my hand to emulate. While I could visualize nice straight horizontal lines, my hand made very long curving lines with a high tail at the end. The tail at the end is the result of my handwriting style because, when I was first learning how to write, my teacher told us to put a curving tail on the end of our letters which was meant to help us transition into cursive. Practice will make better (not perfect). I did finish the drawing with some vertical lines on the right side because the jagged edges of the horizontal lines were bugging me.

Craft

he eye starts off at the spout because it is an asymmetrical object in relation to the rest of the pot and the diagonal lines are also an oddity to the rest of the pot. Then the eye goes horizontal to the the lid ridge and up to the handle because of the heavier collection of dark lines. And finally the gaze drops down to the body and base of the pot because it plain and uninteresting, but none the less it exists.

Composition

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Pompous Pitcher

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Line Drawings

Bloated Bottle

Tea Twins

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Klunky Kettle

Curved Chalice

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Illusion of Depth
Tricking the eye to see three dimesions by using psychology and color value.
Color Value

he Human brain renders its 3-D understanding of the world around it by processing the million of clues in the environment that help it precieve depth such as shading. Different patterns of light tell us where light is coming from, what direction the object is facing, and spacial distance. Here I practice the technique of using a combination of lighter and darker color values to trick the mind in to seeing the 2-D image as a 3-D object.

Concept

he base layer of the drawing was that of the horizontal skeletal structure from last week, which took all of 10 minutes to make. Following the skeleton, I painted an even shade of middle grey over the entire drawing. This undercoat serves as neutral light, where the light values are equal, and from there the darks or lights can be built up. I decided to work backwards from the middle of the cup where the values begin to go towards opposite ends of the spectrum, the value equator if you will. The layers would be +/- one value shade the neighboring layer. The distance between the layers is roughly equal to make the values have a more natural transition. After all my layers had been completed I did the final touch-ups of shadow were there was a tiny lip, which also gives the image a more realistic aesthetic because every object has those little surface details. If those details are missing, our brain picks up on it before our conscious mind can.

Craft

here was no real intention on manipulating the viewers eye because this was an exercise not an expressive artwork, but the value still none the less controls the viewer. The eye start immediately jumps to the top left corner because that is how we are taught to read and the greatest amount of value detail is located there. Next the eye moves down following the darkest value to the bottom of the cup where there is a small dark value that represents a small ridge on the bottom of the cup. Then the eye moves up the cup following the lighter value layers. Once the eye reaches the top of the cup where the value highlights are, the eye is caught again by the dark value lines and follow them back to the top left corner. Essentially the viewer see the cup in a counterclockwise motion.

Composition

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Caution Hot

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Color value

Open Wide

Grand Arch Pour

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Tea Time

Pumpkin Kettle

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The

Laughing Onion

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Fun With Colors

Chroma Study

was given the option of drawing either food or shoes; I went with food because they were more readily available to me. I would rather draw something with a physical presence that I can examine and manipulate than a picture off of the Internet. Learning to utilize complimentary or contrasting chromas was the key to the assignment, but I felt more comfortable with using complimentary chromas (although I did try an abstract contrasting combination in one attempt, but it literally looked like a piece of shit). Since I had already drew the mono-chromatic and tri-chromatic assignment, this one had to be the penta-chromatic. I went with more earth tones to reflect the actual characteristics of the onion while still remaining abstract.

Concept

T
Exploring how to render objects with a range of chromas and horizolines.

he very first layer of the image is the red gradient, which I manually applied (other wise the values would much smoother). Next I placed an onion on my desk with the lamp shining directly on it and began constructing the horizontal skeleton. I connected all the edges with a curving line to ensure I kept a semicircular structure (perfect circles are literally impossible for the human hand to draw). After the main body of the onion took shape, I added the twisting peel at the top and root knob at the bottom. The chromas selected were from the CYMK wheel, radiating two chromas +/- solid yellow, and very saturated. To get all the values of the selected chromas, I manually created a new swatch for every 15% increased black in the CYMK value slider. Each chroma had its own color group, so I could easily line up their value progression. With the shape and background in place I began my value layering technique from last week. Brush strokes varied 1-3 stroke weight and 2-point oval brush definition. The yellow chroma was the base layer for the onion, followed by the orange-red to simulated exposed root, then the solid green as the veins, and finally the green-yellow as the shadow.

Craft

fter the first two drawing, which had a plain horizon line, I wanted to make a slightly more abstract background. I wanted the eye to be drawn for the traditional manner of top left to bottom right, so I put the lightest value in the left hand corner. The brighter red values on the upper right hand corner indicates that a light source is over there somewhere out of frame, thus creating a world beyond The bright orange and yellow in the center of the frame draws the eye immediately to them (instead of the red gradient background), The twisting peel is the next thing that attracts attention because its oddity compared to the other objects. Once done with the twisting peel, the viewer travels down the green veins to see the little root at the bottom. From there the dark green shadow draws the eye off to the left then up to the top left corner with the bright red chroma; and back down to the onion.

Composition

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Chroma Study

A little Slice

Plumpy Pear

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Dagger Tower
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Shape Shifting
Building shapes

When the subject of architecture was assigned, my mind raced through all the years of science-fiction and alien environments that I laid waste to. I noticed that most of the xeno-landscapes had a number of organic elements such as earth tones and curvature. Sometimes the richer colors of purple are seen to separate their environments from humans because we (more so Americans) do not use purple and it complimentary colors. For the most part xeno-landscape utilize large scale objects, as a symbol of their culture (which is to emulate human philosophy in architecture). I also wanted to have all of the frames I created to be tied together in someway or another, so the vehicle and mountain range are incorporated. The Dagger Tower was the culmination of these ideas.

Concept

Constructing a world from the mind's eye and armed with a pen.

Separating the work into layers was key to development, so I arranged the tower into four primary layers: foreground, sky, mountains, and tower. The pen tool was my primary weapon during this project because none of the structures have the human fetish of right angle. I did use the hexagonal and elliptical tool for the door at the base of the tower and the energy-tethers rings. The gradient tool was very important to creating the illusion of light direction, time of day, and the energy-tether. I did not like this gradient tool for about three-quarters of the time during construction because of the gradient swatches being confusing, eventually I figured it out.

Craft

The tower dominates the skyline, as any proper tower should. Where the left edge of the tower and the purple sky meet creates a strong contrast that draws the eye there first (the black stroke also helps). The diagonal slope of tower takes the eye up to the top of the tower where a scaled down version of the vehicle in the bottom section of the frame is seen and the viewer also sees the start of the energy-tether. Ride the tether down to the base of the tower and move across to the left side of the frame to see the mountain peeks. Finally drop down to the foreground to see the second vehicle and journey up the road to the tower to start again.

Composition

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Building shapes

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Coming in for a Landing

Shattered slate

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then and now

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Delicious Delights:

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A Time Honored Tradition

Tracing reality to render an accurate abstraction.
Photo tracing

Original photo

First iteration Trace

t is a milkshake on a green table under yellow lights, so that is why the colors seem a tad strange (in neutral lighting it should be white). Choosing the subject matter was the hard part because I wanted something with a simple composition and to have less recognizable objects, so later distortion would be easier for the lack of better words. I honestly do not like this picture, but I thought I dd when I started working on it. The foreground and background are both really abstract in their original form, so I do not know what distortion I would really add on to it.

Concept

t all starts with selecting a photograph to work from, link said photo to the Ai file, and then trace over it with the tools. Tracing simple means following the color contours with the pen and steal the color with the eyedropper for the paths fill. I was told to reconstruct the image by making finer selections on the upper layers of color, however, whip-cream on top was very intricate and had minimal shading to tell depth, so I just made the selections on a case-by-case basis. I worked out a system of working right to left (I already worked on the cherry and surrounding whip-cream, so I decided to keep going that direction), in which I would make a detailed right side selection and a boxy left side selection. Once I had the path, I sent in underneath the previous path, thus leaving the detailed edge visible. On my second pass at the image, I decided to try making the edges smoother by converting them into gradients and rounded a number of the edges.

Craft

nlike the previous projects, this one does not have a clear path of visual attraction that takes allows the viewer to digest it all, but there is still rhyme and reason. The top of the frame is detailed with highlights, while the bottom has the darker values; in effect making the eye bounce between these two different regions at the pace of what the viewer finds more interest (most likely the highlights). The green table is unfamiliar and confusing, and I really cannot predict what effect that will have on viewer perception. Over all, I feel a lack of control on this piece both as the artist and observer.

Composition

Final Trace: Delicious Delight

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Charismatic Cherry- Make a really eyeball jolting cherry A Taste for Noir- Embody the warm and sexy feeling of film noir

Concept

What a Twist
Creating unique variations of one original image
Variations

Fun in the Sun- A radial explosion of shapes and color Icy Edges for Icy Lips- Bring down the temperature and give it a chunky texture Dining 2112-Play off the stereotypical idea of an abstract and monochromatic future Eat Here- Recreate a 1950s menu graphic Minty Green that Kicks Mean- Trigger a taste sensation with a combination of text and color

Charismatic Cherry- Convert everything to black and white except the cherry and separate composition into textual layers A Taste for Noir- Add drop shadow, Gaussian blur, and change layer type to burn Fun in the Sun- Warp all the paths to create a spikey look and throw in a radial orange halo glow behind it all Icy Edges for Icy Lips- Dark blue gradient between table and shake with a chalky brush definition with blue stroke applied to icing Dining 2112- Change the table and glass to highly contrasting gradients, but the food recognizable Eat Here- Construct a new slightly curving background with the pen and 3D warp the shake Minty Green that Kicks Mean- Fill all the glass and icing paths with a solid fill and floral brush definition with green/yellow gradient Living in the Shadow- Copy shake, resize the two shakes to new relationship, and add black and white gradient to simulate lighting

Craft

Living in the Shadow- We all have the past looming over our present

Charismatic Cherry- The three textual and color contrast brings the eye straight to the cherry A Taste for Noir- Smooth edges allow the eye to float around, but the warm values of the icing and cherry draw it towards the top Fun in the Sun- highly abstract edge throws the eye in every direction Icy Edges for Icy Lips- Color contrast of the icings fill and stroke hold the eye up top Dining 2112- The monochromatic gradient of the glass acts as a magnet, despite the intense colors surrounding it Eat Here- Lack of an anchoring background the warped edges and drop shadow layers let the eye run around Minty Green that Kicks Mean- Bright gradient at the bottom draws the eye and the colorful strokes lead it upwards Living in the Shadow- The giant silhouette dominates the small shake on the bottom and the background gradient creates a logical light source out of frame

Composition

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Variations

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Charistmatic Cherry

A Taste For Noir

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Variations

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Fun in the Sun

Icy Edges for Icy Lips

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Variations

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Dining 2112

Eat Here

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Variations

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Minty Green that Kicks Mean

Living in the Shadow

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MMXIII

All content and design in G.E.V. Graphics is by Grant E. Vargas, unless otherwise credited.

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Opening Introduction// featured images: portriat, Illustrator autograph, action pose, and beach photograph Line Drawings// featured images: Pompous Pitcher, Bloated Bottle, Tea Twins, Klunky Kettle, Curved Chalice Color Value// featured images: Caution Hot, Open Wide, Grand Arch Pour, Tea Time, Pumpkin Kettle Chroma Study// featured images: The Laughing Onion, A Little Slice, Plumpy Pear Building Shapes// featured images: Dagger Tower, Coming in for a Landing, Shattered Slate Tracing// featured images: original shake photo, first iterration trace, final trace: Delicious Delight Variations// featured images: Charistmatic Cherry, A Taste for Noir, Fun in the Sun, Icy Edges for Icy Lips, Dining 2112, Eat Here, Minty Green that Kicks Mean, Living in the Shadow Table of Contents

The eclipse of the mind will reveal the sun of the heart.