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
Thur, Nov 13 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-13
I realized after printing one panel of mandala that some of the segments were definitely too thin (especially in the top two layers). I fixed the top layer by changing the width of the stroke from 6 to 10 around the border. I also made sure everything was aligned — some of the borders didn’t actually match.
I’m done with everything else.
Tue, Nov 11 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-11
Finished AI art history project
Also printed 1 panel for my mandalas project.
Tue, Nov 11 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-11
Worked on the AI art history project
- Finally generated a suitable cubist painting… although it isn’t perfect it’s significantly better than any of the previous ones. I experimented with different AIs, trying Gemini, the Photoshop AI, and finally using ChatGPT which surprisingly yielded the best results — for the other two movements, Gemini worked the best
- I was able to force it to adhere to the prompt and use multiple perspectives after constant reminders, although I thought it was still a bit lacking.
- Did the comparative analysis of the two cubist artworks
Week 9
Thur, Nov 6 CW – image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-6
Today I worked on the AI art history project. I finished writing my descriptions for all three art movements and generated images I thought were quite accurate for the Renaissance and Impressionism.
I spent the last few minutes of class also working on cubism. The AI is not very good at listening to instructions, even after I emphasized the use of different perspectives, the results remained the same.
Prompts:
- generate a renaissance painting in the style of Titian with a realistic focus on humans and nature
- using very distinguishable brushstrokes throughout the painting, generate an impressionist painting of sunrise at a harbor in the style of monet, using light, hazy colors, avoiding blacks and grays
- using multiple perspectives, using muted colors, and modifying objects to be broken geometric shapes, and using generate a cubist painting of a violin in the style of Georges Braque
Thur, Nov 6 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-6
For homework I ensured that every layer was ready to print. A lot of the pieces, even though when the layer were put together, looked connected, were actually separate. I also had to make sure everything was attached to the outer square box.
Tue, Nov 4 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-11-4
Today I:
- Cut off the excess paper from my last two panels
- Put the four panels together — clamped, glued, rubber-band-ed them + glued in the bottom plate
- Finalized designs for the Mandalas project, just need to make sure everything is connected before printing next class.
Tue, Nov 4 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-11-4
For homework, I worked on the final AI art history project. After doing some more in-depth research for the three movements, I selected three paintings from each art movement I thought most represented the movement’s characteristics. For example, Impression, Sunrise by Monet was the originator of the term “impressionism” after a critic called it nothing but an “impression” of a scene. I also wrote out the brief paragraphs introducing the Renaissance and Impressionism.
Week 8
Fri, Oct 31 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-31
- I started class by painting my last panel. I also re-painted the fish’s colors on the second panel because, after drying, the color wasn’t as vibrant as I wanted it to be. It was much more colorful after 2 layers of painting, so I did that on the fourth panel as well.
- I also glued the paper onto both panels. I can assemble next class.
- I started the final AI art history project.
- I chose to write and generate designs surrounding art from the Renaissance, Impressionism, and Cubism. After reading briefly about all of the options online, I thought these three caught my attention the most. They also seem to be the most pivotal in art history.
- I started writing and doing my research for Renaissance art.
Fri, Oct 31 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-31
For homework I continued working on the Mandalas project.
- Reworked the center (again — thought the 2nd revision felt out-of-place) into a pattern that resonated with the other patterns (main floral design)
- Currently experimenting with adding black in the second layer
- Added more heavy black (solid) on the outsides of the petals, just to accent those parts more (felt it was lacking before)
- Started on filling the empty space a bit (albeit very lightly) by adding a new layer and experimenting with a pattern
Wed, Oct 29 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-29
I re-printed my last panel. To account for the printer’s problems, I increased the power to 80% and decreased the speed to 30%. This helped a lot — the darker colors were much darker, which I was pretty happy with. However, some parts ended up being too dark. I used the sander on the flower petals to make the values lighter (especially since I’ll be painting it).
As I was waiting for my panel to be printed, I worked on the Mandalas project. I added details, changed the center design (I didn’t like the previous one), and played around with the colors to see what worked best.
Wed, Oct 29 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-29
For homework, I worked on my mandalas project. I worked on details in the top layer (where I’m hoping to add a lot of small patterns) in the petals and the leaves of the flower. Some parts of the outside look too blank though, so I’ll need to fill those in next. I also want to make sure that it’s not all covered in detail — there needs to be contrast and negative space, so I started adjusting the background the make the details less obvious (eg. upping/decreasing the grayscale value).
Week 7
Thur, Oct 23 CW – image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-23
Today I started by printing the 4th panel of my luminary project. The laser printer wasn’t very powerful, which messed with my results. The dark parts weren’t super dark and it seemed tinted a gray-ish colors instead of the more brown-ish color in the previous panels. I’ll reprint it since I want the panels to remain consistent across all four. My settings were 50%, 70%, but I’ll change the speed to lower and power higher next time (maybe do some test prints).
I also cut off the excess paper on the two panels that had the paper. While my panel was printing, I added the vines on the two sides that were missing before and started experimenting with what details to add on the 4th layer.
Thur, Oct 23 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-23
Just realized I forgot to save my blog-page yesterday night, but here’s my screenshot from yesterday night:
I ended up finishing the top layer and corrected some imbalances with the bottom and middle layers because the flower was slightly off center which messed with the harmony between layers (this took way longer than expected since I’m definitely a perfectionist and I had to adjust all of the shapes).
Tue, Oct 21 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-21
I started class by gluing the white paper onto the my first two panels. I’ll wait for them to dry and see them next class.
I then worked on my layered mandalas project, particularly the last layer, I might experiment with not just keeping the border as a square (eg. making it a squiggly vine with the corners as rectangles). I also might change the order of my layers, like by making the middle layer to the top.
Tue, Oct 21 HW – image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-21
For homework I started working on the top (third) layer. I’m doing some experimentation with making leaves/vines or flowers on the edges. It’s hard to balance the color of the leaves, since right now it seems really dull against the white background, but I think the actual background won’t be white so hopefully it works.
I ended up re-doing the leaves a couple of times, since my first few tries look uncanny, but I’m happy with where it is now. During class today I’ll keep adding details.
Week 6
Fri, Oct 17 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-17
Missed class for debate tournament
Fri, Oct 17 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-17
For homework I worked on my Mandalas Project. I made a lot of progress adding details to the back and middle layers following the composition I had outlined in class. I ended up switching the colors of the back and middle layer since I wanted the middle layer (with the main flower pattern) to pop out more. However, I want to further emphasize the floral-patterns, maybe by making the lines in the back less straight and more curvy. For the top layer, I was thinking of adding some leaf patterns around the edge with some flow. I referenced the layered mandalas tutorial video while making this design, making sure that everything was connected to the edges.
Wed, Oct 15 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-15
I unfortunately wasn’t able to use the printer today (someone else was using it) to print my fourth panel, so instead I spent the entire class period working on the Mandalas Project. I started making the back and middle layer. I think I want to lean into the floral/snowflake aspect of the mandalas more, so I might change the back layer to reflect that.
I also noticed that the paint on the fish’s tail dried weirdly/unevenly for my Luminary project. I’ll probably repaint some parts of it once I print out my fourth panel.
Wed, Oct 15 HW – Image and description of completed homework- HWDueDate 2025-10-15
For homework I completed the tutorial for the Mandalas Snowflake project. I started with a similar composition as the tutorial, but ended up adding some of my own designs onto it. I wanted to experiment with what patterns looked good to use on my final pattern. For example, I used the pen tool to create a flower-looking shape that I liked a lot, and might use in my final design.
The tutorial was really helpful since I got to learn about new tools like the scissor tool, which made my life a lot easier when cutting off unnecessary parts of my design. I also didn’t know about the reflection tool, which helped making my design perfectly symmetrical.
Mon, Oct 13 CW – Image and description of completed homework- CWDueDate 2025-10-13
During class I finished painting the first three panels of my luminary project. I’m only missing the fourth panel, which I’ll print and paint next class. I had some small slip-ups in the painting process, but I think it came out pretty well. I was debating whether or not to paint the fish (especially since in my test paints, the colors didn’t come up very well against dark wood), but I turned out better than I thought it would.
For example, on the first panel I used the wrong color for the bottom one, but it still turned out fine. I think that the amount of water I used when painting was perfect (only a light wash).
Mon, Oct 13 HW – Image and description of completed homework- HWDueDate 2025-10-13
Started on the Mandala project, brainstorming some ideas of what to do and created my illustrator file.
Final touch-ups on the luminary project, choosing what colors to use and where.
Week 5
Thur, Oct 9 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-9
Today I mainly worked on my painting my test prints. My first one is all the way to the left. When I started, I didn’t except the paint to be so strong. I also added some white, which I thought would make the paint lighter but actually just covered up the wood texture. I wanted to maintain the “natural”-ness of the wood panel, so I instead tried using minimal paint and lots of water. This worked a lot better. I got a light tint on some parts of the lotus pad/flower, without the color appearing too dark or eye-catching.
I also tried to paint the tail of the fish, but am still unsure about whether I want to use colors or not. I’ll probably use a red (but the red turned a bit purple/pink for some reason on the wood).
At the end of class I started the Mandela project + looked at the guidlines on the website.
Thur, Oct 9 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-9
I stopped by consult on Wednesday to give my test prints to Mr. Brodie for painting. For homework I considered what parts of the artwork I wanted to paint. I think that I made the body of the fish for the second panel too dark (not sure if painting would work unless I used lots of layers), which is why I’m decreasing the grayscale values for my 4th panel just in case.
I filled in some colors I could use on Illustrator as a plan, using my original colored generated image for reference. I’m not a very good painter so I’ll focus on using solid blocks of color (pink for the lotus flowers, green for the leaves). I’ll paint the highlights of the fish red if I can, but I tried experimenting with it and I didn’t really like the effect.
Tue, Oct 7 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-7
After noticing the problem in my last test print — didn’t outline a part of the artwork — I checked my last two panels and discovered that some parts were in the wrong layers and I also didn’t outline the upper-most flower on the last panel. I started class by fixing these issues. I took some notes from my first two panels, namely what grayscale values looked like printed. I made some edits to my fish on the last panel, decreasing the grayscale value to 20% for the main body. Next class I think I’ll try to paint some of my test prints to see what it looks like.
I printed my third panel after making edits.
Tue, Oct 7 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-7
Over the weekend, I came in on Sunday and printed two of panels after doing some last touches. I was pretty pleased with them, but I unfortunately forgot to do the throughcut for a lotus pod on the first panel so the flow between panels was a bit disrupted.
Week 4
Sat, Oct 4 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-4
During today’s short class I separated my artboard into four. All panels should be ready to print. I also realized that I forgot to do some of the vector etch for the last panel, which I started working on. At the end of class I did a test print for the first panel. Since the other laser printer was taken, I ended up using the newer one (I used the older one last time), and I might need to turn the power up higher for this one because the patterns came out more faded than I expected (I put the power on 70%). I think that I might stick to using the older printer going forward because that’s what I adjusted my grayscale values to best suit. Other than that I was pretty happy with it.
Sat, Oct 4 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-4
For homework I finished up applying Mr. Brodie’s recommendations from last class, although I think I could work some more on the composition of the last panel. Specifically, I added some stems to increase the connectivity between panels while matching the “flow” of the main fish. I also shifted the arrangement of the leaves. This took a while since I had to redo a lot of my vector through cut line work.
Apart from the composition, I added more contrast to my artwork after my test prints from last class. I realized that I should use more white, which I was avoiding before (probably because the background is white, but that doesn’t matter when it’s printed). Using white can increase the contrast of the piece.
Wed, Oct 1 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-10-1
After doing some more vector line work, I asked Mr. Brodie what I could do to improve my design and learned that I could improve my composition — make the shape/diagonal of the fish flow across the design by modifying where I placed my flowers. I started doing this on the bottom of my second panel, where I deleted a lotus pad that was blocking the flow of the fish. I also started connecting the stems of the flowers across the panels.
I also printed 2 test prints today. On the first one (fish’s tail), I realized that I still needed to increase the contrast despite already heavily increasing it. My grayscale values were 0%, 25%, 60%, and 90%, but the 60% and 90% had around the same look after being printed. I’ll try modifying it to 0%, 15%, 40%, 80% next time. I was happy to see the scales come out well.
Wed, Oct 1 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-10-1
I further simplified the vector line work on the first two panels by deleting overlapping outlines and making sure they aligned correctly. I also added the vector linework on the third and fourth panels, which was tough because lots of my lotus flowers/pads have a “scratchy” texture that I had to first simplify to get less complex line work. The first two panels should be ready to print now.
Mon, Sept 29 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-29
Today I started by finishing up tweaking the contrast with some minor edits. I spent most of my time adding the vector line work (blue) on the first two panels. I’m also thinking of adding some more details to the line work. Doing the test print put into perspective how big each panel is, so I think I could add more detail.
I also realized I forgot to upload a picture of my test print from last class. As you can see, the contrast is pretty low even though it looks really high on Illustrator. I noted down the what each grayscale value was (eg. the main body of the fish was 40%, the dark parts 70%) but now I’ve turned it to 25% and 70% to increase contrast. I think doing the vector line work will also help accentuate some details.
Mon, Sep 29 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-29
For homework, I further increased the contrast of my artwork for the last two panels, especially after doing my test prints, where I noticed I needed the contrast much higher than expected. I also outlined all the negative space (in red) and began working on the vector line work.
Picture of contrast — before and after
Week 3
Thur, Sept 25 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-25
Today I made my image grayscale and increased the contrast of the first two panels. I also did 2 test prints of a 4x4in section of my design. I discovered that I really need to amp up the contrast, and adjusting the laser printer’s settings to 30% speed and 80% power also helped.
Thur, Sept 25 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-25
I finished generating the background lotus flowers/pads, which took some re-arranging (especially in the panels with the fish) to create a smooth composition that connected across panels. I generated the images using generative fill after outlining my sketch. I also started making the AI-images less complex and more realistic, for example with the lotus pods.
Tue, Sept 23 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-23
Note: I didn’t finish a larger sketch — had a conversation with Mr. Brodie, thumbnail sketch was detailed enough.
Today I had some trouble experimenting with AI generation since I wanted the image to fit the composition of my sketch. I tried multiple methods — Firefly, turning my sketch into vector outlines, and using generative fill, etc. but the AI kept generating fish incorrectly (like with 3 eyes). I ended up outlining my sketch by hand and then using the image generator.
Tue, Sept 23 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-23
For homework, I completed my thumbnail sketch and added more detail. I’m still considering how to integrate the four panels, since continuing the lotus background might overcrowd the panels with the fish. I’ll also try shifting the fish on the very right more to the left to allow its fins to continue into the previous panel.
Week 2
Sat, Sept 20 CW – Image and description of completed homework. – CWDueDate 2025-9-20
Missed class today for a debate competition — will make up work as homework for next class.
Sat, Sept 20 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-20
Luminary Theme Statement:
Betta fish are really symbolic and personal to me. I used to have two as pets when I lived in China, and despite living in the muddy, shallow waters of Southeast Asia, these fish have long and vibrant fins. They’re also known as “fighting fish.” This combination of hidden beauty and strength is something I want to embody across my four panels. Similar to betta fish, I plan to include a background of lotus flowers/leaves, which in Chinese culture also symbolize strength and rebirth. I’ll depict betta fish in different dynamic positions in two panels, with the other two focusing on the lotus pond scenery.
Thur, Sept 18 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-18
Today, I started by brainstorming ideas for the luminary project, keeping in mind continuity across my four panels, layering, and colors. I also wrote my preliminary theme statement on my paper. After that, I sketched some thumbnail sketches for each panel. I ended class by reprinting my cat artwork, which I thought turned out better.
Thur, Sept 18 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-18
I mostly completed my artwork last class after printing it and making the appropriate changes. For homework, I worked on the window frame by increasing its contrast and added line work to enhance it (I noticed the colors weren’t very separated in the test print). With some of my leftover time I began searching up possible reference images for the luminary project, and am currently thinking of basing mine on betta fish (I used to have 2) with layers in mind.
Mon, Sept 15 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-15
Today I learned how to use the laser printer (how to set it up and what settings to use for the raster etch, vector etch, and vector through cut). I started class by tidying up my line work, then I printed my image. After printing it, I realized that the contrast still wasn’t high enough. I fixed the contrast in Illustrator and also added some line work to the frame of the image. At the end of class I read the instructions for the Luminary Project, which I’m really excited for!
Mon, Sept 15 HW – Image and description of completed homework – HWDueDate 2025-9-15
For homework, I simplified the vector line work (shown in blue) to only include the parts I wanted to emphasize. This was difficult since there were a lot of overlapping, complex, and close outlines I had to delete to ensure the laser printer worked properly. I also finished outlining the negative space (red) and further increased the contrast of the image by manually combining shapes and adding darker colors (you can see the before, re-generation, and after below).
Week 1
Thur, Sept 11 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-11
I started by re-generating my image from last class to have more shading/highlighting to work off of. My main focus today was on increasing the contrast of the image so that the final product comes out more clearly and cleanly. I also made the image less detailed. At the end of class I began outlining the negative space and started the vector line work.
Thur, Sept 11 HW – Image and description of completed homework- HWDueDate 2025-9-11
Tue, Sept 9 CW – Image and description of completed homework – CWDueDate 2025-9-9
Today I learned how to use the text-to-image generator on Illustrator, and also practiced with the pen tool to outline the negative space. It took experimentation with changing the prompt to get a photo I liked. I started cleaning up the vector image and increasing the contrast, something I’ll keep working on.
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