Week 11

Thur, Nov 20 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-20

Wed, Nov 19 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-19

Tues, Nov 18 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-18

Mon, Nov 17  HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-18

Week 10

Thur, Nov 13 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-13

Today, I finished my luminary project by glueing the base onto the panels. I put far too much glue and it started to drip everywhere, including onto the paper of the panels. Fortunately, the wood section blocked most of the dripping glue. I also snapped one of the cables of the bridge shape in panel 1, unfortunately, but that did not have a big effect either.

after glueing the base on with the clamps on and waiting for it to dry

pictures of the finished luminary with the light in it

Thur, Nov 11 CW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-13

In class, I trimmed the edges of the panels and glued them together. I cut off the excess paper on the back of the panel using an exacto knife, and even though some of the cuts were a little bit rough, I was still able to take the paper off the joints. Gluing the four panels together involved applying glue to the joints and using the rubber bands the hold them together while they dried. This process went very well, since the frames of my panels were strong enough for the full five rubber bands without bending or warping. The final step in completing the luminary project will be to glue the base on and attach the light.

after trimming

after glueing

Tue, Nov 11 HW part 2 – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-11

I came in on Sunday to cut out my last luminary project panel and glue it to the paper. I ran into many difficulties as I tried to cut out the panel. First, I forgot to change the settings of the laser cutter, and second, I forgot to delete the extra throughcut lines of the panel layout, resulting in my first cutout being ruined. However, I later had time to make the panel up. After I cut out the panel, I did the same process of applying glue to the back and pasting the panel to the paper. With these steps having been taken, I should be able to use the next class period to assemble the panels and complete the project.

Bad panel

last panel drying after glueing

Tue, Nov 11 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-11

Completed Google Slide with full AI Art History Project on it (not polished, but has everything together, can zoom in to read all the text). I think it is easier than finding all the different parts on the various blog pages.

Week 9

Thur, Nov 6 CW – image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-6

AI Image Comparative Analysis

Cubism:

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907

“Generate an oil on canvas full length portrait of a group of people in the analytical cubist style of Pablo Picasso, with a monochromatic palette and fragmented geometric shapes.”

ChatGPT

Analysis: ChatGPT did a much better job compared to Adobe Firefly of matching the visual characteristics of analytical cubism, but the composition is limited by the language of the prompt. ChatGPT imitated the fragmented and geometric shapes of early cubist art, using shapes with shaper lines, like triangles and trapezoids, similar to the shapes in the example Picasso painting. The imitation of the style, though, is quite superficial. The shapes in the AI artwork are extremely uniform and lack the dynamism of the Picasso painting. The triangles are mostly the same size and fit together neatly, with clearly dividing lines, while in Picasso’s painting the shapes are often irregular. He uses lines and shapes to break up the image and create new perspective and depth, while the image generator attempts to maintain a coherent image at the expense of variation. The issue lies in the fact that the image generator seems to have drawn the lines that divide the image as an afterthought. The image generator’s goal, it seemed, was to successfully represent the subject (“group of people”) and add the specified “style” (cubism) as a secondary consideration, as opposed to the process of cubist artists, who aimed at analyzing reality in a new way by portraying the world through the lens of the analytical cubist style rather than focusing only on the surface level presence of geometric shapes in cubist artwork. Compared to the artist’s priority of breaking down reality using geometric shapes as a technique to achieve that, AI falls short because it considers geometric shapes the end result, defeating the purpose of such a technique.

Pop Art:

Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1962 (selection of five cans)

“Generate an array of synthetic polymer on canvas paintings that feature a single commercial product prominently, in the pop art style of Andy Warhol, with reference to popular culture in the late 60s/early 70s and consumerist/materialistic values, that does not copy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans”

ChatGPT

Analysis: ChatGPT successfully imitated the style and format of Warhol’s work by including everyday commercial objects in its art, with bright, high contrast colors that evoke the style of art used in media like comic books that were prevalent in the 60s and 70s. However, issues in the graphics and the conflicting elements in the art make the imitation flawed. ChatGPT’s colors appear oversaturated and seem to exaggerate the Pop Art style, while Warhol’s work is more subtle and pays greater attention to detail. In addition, the order of the arrangement of the products is incoherent. While the prompt suggested only a single commercial item, the image generator, likely confused by the amount of detail in the prompt, simply generated images of a variety of products in its oversaturated style, without any apparent link between the items except that they were all commercial products that I had asked for. In addition, while the prompt stated that the artwork should not copy “Campbell’s Soup Cans”, the mention of the concept in itself probably increased the likelihood of the soup can being created anyways. I had added this detail in the prompt because the first result I got without it was a direct copy of Warhol’s work. With this detail, however, ChatGPT added other elements into the image. The main issue with this AI generated image is not really the style but the limitations of the image generator in following instructions and creating something that has some element of originality. While AI cannot be truly creative, it can sometimes offer images that remix and combine existing ones in an interesting way, which is an ability that might make it suitable for imitating the Pop Art movement, which was about portraying and interpreting everyday objects in creative ways. In this case, ChatGPT fell short and was not successful in its imitation.

Though AI fell short in imitating Pop Art, AI art in and of itself can be considered a form of Pop Art. AI images and art make us question our society’s belief in the power of technology, and how AI can misrepresent and shape reality. Like the art of Pop Artists, AI images and art are relatable and prompt reflection on our societal values and how we view the world.

Thur, Nov 6 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-6

AI Image Comparative Analysis

Surrealism:

Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

“An oil painting of a surrealist landscape in the style of Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory that incorporates images of the unconscious mind to oppose traditional ideas of art and the dominance of rationalism.”

Adobe Firefly

Analysis: Adobe Firefly was unsuccessful in its imitation of surrealist art, relying on narrow definitions of style while failing to achieve greater symbolism that characterizes surreal art. Though the prompt expressly mentioned the style of Dalí’s “The Persistence of Memory” as a reference, the styles of the two images differ wildly. While Dalí’s image is made up of mostly dull colors, the image generator used vibrant colors in a “brushstroke” pattern that more closely resembled a painting like Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”, with its circular shapes and curved strokes, rather than the painting by Dalí. This discrepancy is likely a result of Firefly’s lack of quality training data, which leads it to misinterpret the characteristics of surrealist art. While surrealist artists generally depict their subjects in a relatively realist style to emphasize a surreal aspect (there are differences between the styles of artists, however), Firefly’s training leads it to see the surrealist style as almost psychedelic and post-impressionistic rather than grounded in the reality that surrealist artists sought to reinterpret and transform. On the other hand, the failure of Firefly to utilize greater symbolism and achieve deeper meaning is an inherent limitation of image generators. Though it may not be fair to criticize the artwork for “flaws in the system”, it is useful to point out that the main reason Firefly fails to capture the characteristics of the Surrealist movement is because it is divorced from the context in which the art was composed and in which we view it. We are able to find meaning in “The Persistence” because we can recognize it as a response to the immense impact that the First World War had on the collective memory of the generations that lived through it. We explore the potential symbolism of the melting clocks in this context. AI cannot situate art within a specific context because it can only remix and reuse images that have already been created, and thus cannot add anything new to its training data to adapt it to current events. This demonstrates that the defining feature of surrealism, rather than being style or subject, is rather the philosophy of anti-rationalism and the revision of reality that AI finds difficult to replicate.

Work in progress: rough Google Slides presentation with all the parts of the project on it

Tue, Nov 4 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-4

In this class, I started by gluing the luminary panels before moving on to the AI art generation. I started using ChatGPT instead of Adobe Firefly starting from the homework for today, and the results were a lot better and more closely resembled what I had prompted. I will keep the Adobe Firefly image as it is, though. It will be inconvenient to redo it, and I can even compare the different generated artworks to evaluate the quality of the two different models in addition to the comparison between the human artwork and the AI images.

For the AI image generation, I wanted to make the artwork as close as possible to the original artwork so that I could better compare the two images. Therefore, I always prompted with very specific subjects for the art so that the two artworks would hopefully depict the same thing. This will allow me to better see the similarities and differences compared to if I had prompted the model to generate art that depicts different things.

“Generate an array of synthetic polymer on canvas paintings that feature a single commercial product prominently, in the pop art style of Andy Warhol, with reference to popular culture in the late 60s/early 70s and consumerist/materialistic values, that does not copy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans”

ChatGPT

Tue, Nov 4 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-4

I switched to ChatGPT for homework and found that its images were a lot more accurate than Firefly’s. Out of the different image generating softwares I tried to use (including Gemini, which didn’t work for me), ChatGPT worked the best and was easiest to use (I just had to log in). However, I ran out of free image generation before I could replace all the images I had generated using Firefly.

“Generate an oil on canvas full length portrait of a group of people in the analytical cubist style of Pablo Picasso, with a monochromatic palette and fragmented geometric shapes.”

ChatGPT

Week 8

Fri, Oct 31 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-31

Pop Art was an art movement that originated in Britain and the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Like surrealism, it was inspired heavily by the iconoclastic Dada movement in its challenging of artistic assumptions, and especially by artists like Marcel Duchamp, who integrated everyday objects into his art in an attempt to bridge the gap between what people see in everyday life and what art portrays. Pop Art inherited this use of popular images and objects. Influential artists in the movement, including Andy Warhol in the United States and the Independent Group in Britain, made distinctive use of popular culture and images of modern commodities. Pop art, like surrealism, did not have a set style or a specific set of subjects. Artists adopted different stylistic features and depicted the objects around them in diverse ways, connected by a shared desire to respond to the materialistic desires and attitudes that surrounded them by making more universal, relatable art that depicted reality more objectively.

Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1962 (selection of five cans)

“An oil painting of a surrealist landscape in the style of Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory that incorporates images of the unconscious mind to oppose traditional ideas of art and the dominance of rationalism.”

Adobe Firefly

Fri, Oct 31 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-31

I chose surrealism, pop art, and cubism as my three genres to start off.

Surrealism was an art movement that originated in Europe during the period between the World Wars. The movement was heavily inspired by the earlier Dada movement, which emphasized creating art that challenged traditional assumptions about what art was. The Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud also influenced the movement by introducing the idea of the unconscious mind as a source of human imagination. Artists like Salvador Dalí and Paul Delvaux built upon these ideas to combine conscious perception with unconscious imagination while also challenging the dominance of rationalism that they saw as the cause of the destruction and violence of World War One. The content of surrealist art was extremely diverse, but the movement as a whole promoted free and open expression of one’s own reality.

Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

Cubism originated in the beginning of the 20th century, before the First World War, in Paris. The most important creators of the movement, artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, developed the distinctive two-dimensional and fragmented style that would characterize Cubist art. One of the first major cubist pieces, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), saw Picasso take inspiration from African mask art as well as earlier artists like the Spanish painter El Greco to create a uniquely harsh and fragmented image. Cubist art turned away from the traditional artistic theory of realism, or the idea that art should represent reality meant that cubist art pivoted from traditional artistic ideas about concepts such as perspective and color. Cubist artists often used monochromatic colors in their artwork, and used differences between hues to show perspective and space. This allowed artists to radically revisit and analyze reality through a different perspective, by breaking objects down and presenting them in a new, compelling way.

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907

Wed, Oct 29 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-29

In class, I used the laser cutter to cut out my third panel of the luminary project. Since it was a short class, I was only able to do one of the two remaining panels. However, while using the machine for the first time, I used a piece of wood that was too narrow, so the vector throughcuts that should have been at the edge went outside of the wood and onto the metal grating. This mistake cost me a large chunk of time and I had to restart with a correctly sized piece of wood. This, combined with the shorter class time made it so that I was only able to cut out one panel rather than the two that I had hoped for. Overall, however, the process went smoothly. I had all the settings on correctly, and the text came out very well. I would have liked some more contrast in the raster, but the vector etching creates a lot of division already. Since I have to wait for the laser cutter for the mandala and the luminary projects, I will work on the AI art project for the next few sessions.

Wed, Oct 29 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-29

Since I have already finished my mandala, I decided to experiment for homework by copying my layers and applying the Gaussian blur effect to the copies. This was a suggestion that I was interested by when I first saw the tutorial. I first tried this exactly according to the instructions, by setting the original patterns to white and applying blur to the black background copy before trying the same thing with the colored layers. I found both times that the effect helped in creating a lot more depth between the layers, especially when I turned the background off. This effect also allowed me to preview what the laser cutouts might look like, with the increased depth and more pronounced shadows. I think that I will save these experimental version of this mandala in addition to the one I’m going to cut out (I made a copy of the original file to experiment with) so that I might compare it with the final product.

Week 7

Thur, Oct 23 CW – image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-23

In class, I finished the mandala project. To do so, I outlined the stroke of the shapes and used pathfinder to eliminate any overlaps. This way, the laser cutter would be able to print it out correctly. I also spent a lot of time experimenting with different color combinations before settling with the orange/red colors on a blue background. I found that having a cool color serve as the background created a better contrast than the other way around. I also discovered that having a wider range of colors was helpful in increasing the amount of depth in the mandala. Therefore, I chose quite a wide range of colors in the end. A final trick I found was that putting the darkest shade in the middle layer was also helpful in creating depth. The lightest shade represents the area most exposed to light, the middle is darker, and the final layer is almost a shadow of the previous two layers. This is the effect I used in my final version.

Thur, Oct 23 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-23

For homework, I finished up my original mandala. This was mostly making small changes and adding details to touch of the project. The first things that I did was add the star shapes in the corners. I did so by using the ellipse+option click pen tool trick demonstrated in the tutorial videos. I rotated the shapes, crossed them, and layered them to create that shape. After I did this, I focused on fine tuning the stroke of the lines connecting the central circle to the frame. I was dissatisfied with how thick the stroke was, so I decided to reduce the stroke weight for all three layers. This then necessitated the removal of the lines I had earlier, which was an awkward process, since I had to delete a lot of stuff before rotating the connecting lines around the center. The last thing I did was rotating the star shapes around. Before doing so, I tried to adjust the fill so that the gaps within the shape would not be too large. In general, though, subtracting stroke weight didn’t do all that much, and there are still very small gaps. On the other hand, the star shapes were quite successful at filling on some of the emptier space on the artboard. Putting one in each corner and one overlayed across the center helped balance to piece better. I think that my next steps are outlining the stroke and figuring out how to create the vector throughcuts. I’m not sure how to do these steps yet, so I will ask about it in class.

Tue, Oct 21 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-21

Today, I simplified my design even further before layering it in a different way than what I had before. I started by deleting the half-petal shapes and adjusting the length of the lines. I did this using the menus for each line segment, make the lengths more uniform. I think that the completed design is a lot cleaner than what I had before. Next, I tried to layer the colors in a different way than was taught in the tutorial. Instead of just increasing the stroke so that the darker colors would appear behind either side of a lighter color, I made the stroke all the same for all three colors before displacing two of the layers by moving them diagonally towards the center using the menu. This is similar to the method I used for the center circle. For that, I created the depth by rotating the lines by 1-2 degrees for each layer so that the effect would be more unique. To continue with this project, I think that I will have to wrap things up soon. I want to try to make the image a little bit less busy by deleting some of the lines on the center circle, because I think the gaps in the middle are too small. I think that I will also add some designs on the outside, like the leaf shape I have right now in the bottom right corner. A final change I could make is to add more layered circles over the linework, which would further enhance the layered effect.

Tue, Oct 21 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-21

For today’s homework, I worked on my mandala project. I decided to pivot on the original design I had and simplify the design a bit more. To do this, I deleted the squares and most of the petal shapes, focusing instead on the linework that originally connected the two elements. Currently, I have good linework for one layer that I want to layer to create a better effect. I have tried this layering and it complements the center design quite well. However, There are some outstanding issues with the plan. First, the linework is not completely aligned and is slightly asymmetrical. To fix this, I plan to use the align menus the better adjust the positions of the lines and shapes so that the intersection area where it forms the nine squares will have squares of the same size. In addition, I also need to be aware that I keep some line overlap that occurs when I start adding layers. When I initially tested this idea out, the lines of the second and third layers would not connect. I could use the join tool for this or simply adjust the endpoints. One key takeaway from today’s work was that I should try to figure out what I want for a single quadrant before I duplicate it everywhere. Although it looks cooler, it is more bothersome to fix things if everything is all over the place.

Week 6

Fri, Oct 17 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-17

In class, I printed out two of my panels for the luminary project. I set the speed of the vector throughcut for the first panel too fast, so the panel was not entirely cut out, but I was able to use the knife to finish the job. I was pleasantly surprised when the very thin shapes that formed the bridge cables did not burn through. Though the connections was tenuous, they did not break. The second panel was much more straightforward. After I learned how to print to artboards and layers separately with the correct settings, I got the second one done quickly. In all, the process was quite quick and successful, and I am satisfied with how the colors turned out. They were a little on the lighter side, but there was not too much charring, which is good. Picture will be uploaded as soon as I am able to.

Fri, Oct 17 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-17

Today for homework, I decided to simplify the work I had before by deleting the outside ring. I was having too much trouble figuring out the paths. I also deleted the top layer of the center wheel by accident, a change that I decided in the end to keep, because the simpler two layer pattern was less busy and better, in my opinion. Following this, I created the square frame of the mandala and attached the center elements to it. This way, everything will be in one piece when the mandala is cut out. The last thing I did today was filling the corners of the mandala with lighter colored shapes to form a contrast to the much darker central element. My plan for the remaining parcels of negative space is to create patterns that use dark grey on the outside and light grey on the inside. This way, the patterns will form a good contrast with both the corners and the circle in the middle. I also want to fix the orientation of the shapes. When you rotate, the orientation of the corners and sides rotates too, which is something I want to avoid. I will have to keep that in mind for the future.

Wed, Oct 15 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-15

During class, I tried to add another circular pattern to my mandala. This one was not as successful as the previous one because I had trouble adjusting the endpoints to make them connect to the inner circle and also adjusting the amount of negative space. I was worried about the negative space that was between every gap of the mandala. Moving forward, I have to find a way to make sure that the negative space is big enough to cut out completely. Something I could do to solve these problems is to work with more geometric shapes. For homework, I might consider restarting the second ring and add some shapes that are easier to manipulate. Straight lines and shapes like rectangles or ellipses will be much easier to work with than the freehand shapes that I have right now.

Wed, Oct 15 HW – Image and description of completed homework- HWDueDate 2025-10-15

For homework, I did some more work on the mandala that I had started in last class. Among the additions I made were new lines in the middle layers to create a sense of continuity and connectivity with the top layer lines, forming grilles and bridges. Also, I added some elements for the bottom layer. For example, I created the infinity symbol by joining together two ellipses after I had modified the shapes with the pen tool to make one point sharp. I also create a shape that looked like the Greek letter Lambda, which is equivalent to L in the Latin alphabet. Therefore, I put the letter L next to Lambda on the mandala. The final element that you can see are the triangles. I also used the rotate+command D trick to put these in all corners of the mandala. My purpose in creating so many disparate shapes was to form a contrast against the more ordered example shown in the video. I am inspired by the fact that although many things in the world appear chaotic at first, there are underlying patterns that can dictate where things go and why. Next class, I may start making my own mandala.

Mon, Oct 13 CW – Image and description of completed homework- CWDueDate 2025-10-13

In class, I made a lot of progress on the ornate mandala tutorial after I had finished the first one. For this exercise, I learned to use a variety of new skills, including aligning the stroke, using layers to create a layered effect, and joining paths. With these tools and shortcuts, I was able to first build out the middle of the design, which was more straightforward, and copy that design over to other layers and increasing the stroke each time. This, combined with the different swatches, helps create more detail. Following this, I used the pen tool to create connections to the border and other shapes on the outside. I used the direct selection tool a lot to help me fix the endpoints. Next class, I want to add more detail to the mandala and create some of my own details on the other layers and develop the design further. I could also try to copy the raster effect the tutorial uses to create a sense of depth even without the laser cutter.

Mon, Oct 13 HW – Image and description of completed homework- HWDueDate 2025-10-13

For homework, I finished up the mandala tutorial by adding some additional elements to the design. Specifically, I added to three outermost concentric circles as well as the spirals and ellipses on the outside. I also have “carpe diem” in a wingdings style font in the four corners. To accomplish this, I learned how to isolate paths with the pen tool to add additional paths without changing preexisting ones. I also learned more about Pathfinder and was able to make use of it more effectively to create the cutout on one of the circles. I also used the reflection tool to reflect the text across the guides. The tutorial was really helpful for learning tips to make better use of the software. I thought the process was also very enjoyable because I was able to experiment with some of the features, like the spiral tool. Next class, I will start on the next tutorial.

Week 5

Thur, Oct 9 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-9

Since I could not print today, I started on the mandala tutorial instead. I did not finish the whole tutorial, but I am close to the end. My goal is to finish it during homework time and start the next tutorial as well. Overall, the process was interesting and easy to follow. I learned how to use tools like the scissors and also learned a lot of shortcuts to speed up my workflow, which will definitely be useful in the future.

Thur, Oct 9 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-9

For homework, I finished the 3rd panel by drawing out the negative space and organizing all the layers. The organization of the layers took much longer than the negative space, but because I had more experience organizing the artwork into the vector throughtcut, the vector etching, and raster etching, I was better able to get through the process quickly. This time, instead of putting things in the different layers first, which made editing things very awkward and time consuming, I didn’t split the panel into different layers at the start this time. Keeping everything in one layer was much more helpful as I was making major adjustments to the shapes, even as some things were a bit harder to find. I still think that organizing the layers like this by panel really helps to keep my work organized. This organization also makes it much easier to later organize the artwork by type (vector throughcut, vector etching, raster etching) by simply putting everything into a bigger layer, whereas if I had thrown everything into layers with a lot of stuff at the start, things would be much more disorganized and time consuming. As I said in the last description, I need to get test cuts of my artwork and might need to make adjustments in tomorrow’s class.

Tue, Oct 7 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-7

In class I started on the 3rd panel, so now I am very close to finishing the Adobe Illustrator portion of the luminary project. I decided to make this panel a bit different from the rest by adding the name of the bridge on the top. I think that I might want this panel to be the front panel when I assemble the lamp. It would form a nice contrast to the suspension cables of panel one, which I could put on the back. Moving forward, I just need to finish up panel three by filling out the negative space around the elements before I am ready to print. Though Mr. Brodie suggested that I should include more elements similar to the suspension cables to break up the background a little bit, I think that due to the constraints in time and the urgent need to get test cuts in that I will have to set that aside for now. I did, however, improve the balance of the artwork by adding the header on top. This, in my opinion, has a similar effect to including another panel with suspension cables in that it rounds out the panels in a good way. Next class, I should have no problem getting a test cut in, since I assume most people have already finished with their Illustrator and have already gone for tests, but I will have to make sure I am prepared heading into class. I am a little bit worried about the vector etching of the text, because I am not sure if the laser will be precise enough. This is in addition to my concern that the laser, cutting out the negative space between the suspension cables, could cause pieces in between to scorch or burn or light on fire, but we will have to see what happens later.

Tue, Oct 7 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-7

For homework, I finished the entirety of panel one, with all the vector and raster etching as well as the vector throughcuts completed. To do this, I began by creating the raster and vector images for the cables of the bridge. Once I had drawn out the image, I duplicated it to create a vector outline version with no fill and stroke as a raster version with fill but no stroke.

Next, I focused on establishing continuity within the panel as well as between panels. To accomplish this, worked on figuring out how to place the layers so that the raster etching wouldn’t cover up the vector detail, but also so that the vector linework would not cross over any raster drawings I created. If this happened, the laser cutter would etch unwanted lines onto the wood. As can be seen from the first panel, I took the step of separating the vector etching into two sublayers within the raster etching layer. This way, the vector etching that I want on the very top goes in front and the vector etching that I want in the background stays there. I may change how I organize my layers later, however. I think that separating the vector etching and raster etching would make it a lot clearer for me when it comes to using the laser cutter. I want the machine to differentiate between the vector and the raster, and putting them in the same layer might confuse the program.

The most important thing I did, however, was creating all the vector throughcuts. because I separated the panel into so many pieces by drawing all the bridge cables, I had to create a lot of different shapes to incorporate into the throughcut. If things go as planned, the gaps between the cables will be cut out, leaving thin connections and allowing light to pass through. I do have reservations about the throughcut, though. Because I drew the bridge cables so thin, I am worried that the high powered laser of the throughcut going on either side will either burn through the bridge cable or set in on fire. To remedy this, I moved the throughcut lines farther apart, but if I run into more problems in the test cuts, I will have to make even more changes, which I hope will not be the case.

Moving forward, I have only one more panel to finish before I am done with the design completely. I intend the panel to simply be a connection between panels 2 and 4, so I do not want to include anything new that would be time consuming to add. I will just move elements around and alter them as needed to establish continuity between panels. I have also made the decision to not make panels 1 and 4 continuous. The first reason for this is that I do not want to make any changes to panel 4 after I have already completed it, and the second reason is that the artwork would become a loop if I were to make the two ends connect, which is not what I want to go for in this project. For this project, I aim to have the scene shown on the lamp to be a snapshot of a section of the bridge, and have the viewer imagine the continuations that follow from either end.

Week 4

Sat, Oct 4 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-4

In this lesson, I tried to get a test cut of my first two panels, but there was not enough time for me to get the change two. Therefore, I began working on my first panel, with the cable support. I aim to establish continuity between the first panels and the panels that will be adjacent to it, panels 2 and 4. Therefore I may go back and edit those panels to fit the elements I put in the first. Again, I took the main elements from a previous panel and duplicated them before changing elements to make the panel unique. I will have to follow the same process as I did before to finish up panel 1.

Sat, Oct 4 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-4

For homework, I finished touching up my 4th panel so be ready to print along with my 2nd panel. To do this, I worked on 2 things. First, I worked on altering the elements in the panel that I had initially copied from the 2nd panel. This helped me maintain some repetition while also making each panel unique in some way. I changed both the cloud and the mountains in this way, altering the shape while also being mindful of the continuity between the panels, making sure that when I was done with the odd numbered panels, the entire piece would not have gaps. My main difficulty for the homework came with the clouds, for which I had to try several strategies before I settled on something that worked for me. After I had finished this first order of business, I moved on to changing the vector throughcut area to reflect the changes I had made to the mountains and the clouds. This was a relatively smooth process, and there was some margin of error, since cutting a little bit too much of the wood wasn’t a huge problem. I was able to complete this quickly and efficiently. Once again, the negative space is filled with yellow for clarity. Moving forward, I think that I will try to do a test cut as quickly as possible next class and get started on other two panels, which will include the cable suspension pillars, which are a new element that I will have to create. However, I will also be more familiar with the process of creating the panels and the other panels should go more smoothly.

Wed, Oct 1 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-1

In class, I focused on creating the 4th panel of my design. I intend to make this panel similar to panel 2 to create some repetition within the design, but I also plan to make some changes to the elements. For example, I want to change the positions and shapes of the waves, the cloud, and the mountains as well as some of the fill colors to make it different from the 2nd panel that I have already finished. So far, I have focused on the waves and the bridge, and I also worked on resolving some issues with the layers. The vector etching for the bridge would show in front of the waves, so I edited them to ensure that the linework hugged the contours of the waves and would not cut into a different part of the design.

For homework, I plan to finish modifying the panel to my liking, including redrawing the negative space to fit around the new shapes.

Wed, Oct 1 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-1

For homework, I finished up the entirety of panel 2, including all the vector and raster etching and the vector throughcuts. In the image, the blue lines show the vector linework I am using, and the yellow shows the negative space that I am going to cut out.

To complete the panel, I started by breaking up the rougher outlines I started with into multiple shapes, so I could change the fill color of each one and thus create contrast and depth. This involved drawing new shapes and changing the shapes and sizes of old ones.

After this, I began work on the vector throughcuts. I outlined all the empty spaces and changed the stroke weight to one, compared to the 0.0001 stroke weight on the vector etching and the lack of stroke with the raster. highlighting the negative space was a great way to help me visualize the areas through which light would pass through, and I was glad to find that there was a visual balance between positive and negative space.

Throughout the process, I made sure to be extremely well organized within my layers. I would group the shapes that made up a single element into a sublayer and title it, as you can see in the image. This allowed me to quickly know where my work was and was very helpful in preventing inadvertant deletions or additions to the panel that would affect the final product. However, while organization was helpful in a lot of ways, it was also very tedious. To fix mistakes or fine tune, I would have to ungroup and regroup the part of the panel I was working on, which wasted a lot of my time. moving forward, I can make sure everything is where and how I want it to be before I group it.

In working on the luminary project so far, I’ve taken lessons from the previous laser cutter project and applied them here. First, I decided to make the colors lighter than in the other project, because when the fill was set to black, the wood charred a bit too much and the depth of the wood panel was uneven. This time, I want to both increase uniformity and see how a less extreme contrast between fill colors turns out. Second, I learned that organization is very important in the workspace. Last time, I had a shape that I forgot to remove in the middle of the piece, and I also didn’t have the correct order of layers. Therefore, some lines were cut into places I didn’t intend them to be cut.

In this project, I have also attempted to build my skills by not relying on AI to generate the artwork for me, so that I could have more control over the creation process. This forced me to learn how to create a varied and (relatively) complex design by myself, using the tools I know how to use. I found this process difficult but very rewarding when the panel was done.

Mon, Sep 29 CW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-29

In today’s lesson, I began working on my first and second panels in my luminary project after a preliminary sketch. Mostly, I worked on the shapes that would be raster etched and started on some of the vector linework. Though I did not get a lot done in this class, I have a clear plan moving forward. I plan to refine the vector linework by creating closed shapes rather than having freestanding lines, so that the image will be cleaner, and also adjust the contrast so that there is some variation within the positive space. I will also need to figure out the amount of negative space I need to keep in order to allow the light to pass through. If I do not have enough, I will have to change the size of some of the shapes to accommodate a 50/50 split of negative/positive space.

Mon, Sep 29 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-29

Week 3

Thur, Sept 25 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-25

Thur, Sept 25 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-25

Tue, Sept 23 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-23

Tue, Sept 23 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-23

Week 2

Sat, Sept 20 CW – Image and description of completed homework. – CWDueDate 2025-9-20

Sat, Sept 20 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-20

For the Luminary project, I decided on the subject of Chinese architecture. From there, I thought about two main themes: ancient Chinese palatial architecture and the modern skyline of Shenzhen. Ancient Chinese architecture has always been an area of curiosity for me, so I thought that it would be a good theme for the project at first, since the patterns and shapes used for the construction of a palace roof, for example, are very distinctive and already have their own unique aesthetic which would work well when printed on wood, considering that wood is used extensively in the Chinese architectural tradition. However, the other theme I came up with, which would base the project on the skyline of Shenzhen, a city in China where I lived for over eight years, appealed to me more personally.

By utilizing this theme in the Luminary project, I want to both remember and commemorate the experiences I had there that made me the person I am. The theme will serve as a reminder to the experiences I had in the past and bring comfort to me as well as help me reflect on them.

I think that for this theme, I would want to include one or two central elements that would serve as the focus of two of the panels as well as the project itself, and two or three simpler panels that would contrast with the elements in the other panels. For example, after deciding on a particular skyline I want to recreate in my project, I could find one or two distinctive buildings to build the scene around, and work surrounding buildings in on the other panels. I think a skyline would work well with the four panel format because the four sides would each provide a different section of the skyline, and viewing the four in succession would provide a unique viewing experience where the viewer can make connections across different panels, and recognize, for example, the other half of a building that was cut of in the previous panel. By offering some amount of continuity in this way, I can unify the scene while preserving the distinctive details of each panel.

Thur, Sept 18 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-18

In today’s lesson, I made changes to the negative space in preparation for the laser cutter. Specifically, I traced the outside of the frame to make sure that the image would be cut out from the wood and removed the fill of the negative space to make sure the machine would read it as a vector. However, when I was ready to print, I realized that I needed to cut out the frame from the wood and also to change the stroke to be the same as the other lines.

When it was time to print, there were no major issues except with the vector etching. As I had put the vector etching over the raster etching, the linework went over the window frame. Additionally, a square that I had missed in the document was printed onto the wood, resulting in some imperfections in the print. On the whole, however, I was satisfied with how the work came out. Moving forward, I can be sure to double check and get things done a bit more quickly so I have more time to troubleshoot.

Thur, Sept 18 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-18

For homework, I finished filling out the negative space and set the stroke weights to the correct amounts. For the vector throughcut, I set a heavier stroke weight of 1 compared to the etching and the raster image, which I set to 0.0001. The negative space I filled out is colored with yellow for clarity, but I turned it light gray after screenshotting to fit the grayscale color and to provide some contrast with both the black and the off white shades of the eagle image.

Mon, Sept 15 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-15

In class today I finished cleaning up the linework and the shapes of the image to simplify it, and worked a lot on the organization of the project and increasing the otrast of the colors in the artwork as well. I changed the different shads to gray to around three tones: black, white, and very light gray except for the eye, which I kept a little more detail in and that I might change later. I also cleaned up my layers and created ones for the vector etching, the raster image with the fills and colors, and the vector throughcut for the deeper lines. I also created separate layers for the windowframe and the negative space to keep things organized, and I moved the other images in the file onto a separate layer to help with that as well. With a little more time to fill in the negative space and make some final changes to the stroke and fill, I will be ready for the laser cutter.

Mon, Sept 15 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-15

For homework I continued the work I started in class and deleted linework that was too close together or too complicated, as having those kinds of lines would increase the likelihood of the laser cutting through the artwork too much. The linework is visible in red on top of the image.

Week 1

Thur, Sept 11 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-11

Thur, Sept 11 CW – Image and description of completed homework- CWDueDate 2025-9-11

Today in class I began to work on the linework for the image. Specifically this meant cleaning up some of the double lines and simplifying the the lines by deleting them with the selection tool.

Tue, Sept 9 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-9

Today in class we learned how to use the “generate fill” tool to create artwork and practiced using the pen tool to fill in negative space. We also began to set up the workspace for the project with steps like creating new layers and changing the positions of some of the tools.

Tue, Sept 9 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-9

Week 0

Sat, Aug 16 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-8-16

Sat, Aug 16 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-8-16

Sun, Aug 17 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-8-17

Sun, Aug 17 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-8-17