Week 12: Activity- Algorithmic Art

For my algorithmic art, I chose to do a drawing of Mickey’s face. The reason I chose to draw Mickey was because I love drawing cartoon characters and Mickey is a big part of my life. I work at the Disney Store so Disney Characters are a huge part of my job! I love Disneyland and Disney as a whole so why not do something to represent a piece of me! Any level of drawing is okay for trying to sketch Mickey! The steps are easy and his features are very simple.

How to draw Mickey Mouse’s face:

1. Get a sheet of paper and a PENCIL(for mistakes of course)

2. Start out by getting a picture of Mickey to look at if you aren’t so great at drawing by memory

3. Draw the nose and Mickey’s smile

4. Next draw the curved line above Mickey’s nose and draw these eyes on that line

5. Draw the outline of Mickey’s face

6. Draw Mickey’s ears!

7. Go over Mickey drawing for any mistakes and/or exaggerations of the features

8. Outline Mickey and fill in with a black marker

Overall this isn’t my best work of Mickey Mouse, in the past I’ve drawn way better than this I promise! But my point was to prove that drawing a character like Mickey is very simple. It is one of the more simple cartoon characters to draw because the facial features aren’t so intricate. I can draw characters like goofy, spongebob, nemo and many others. Drawing cartoon characters isn’t that hard, it just takes a little bit of practice! So if you just practice matching shapes, you’ll learn how to draw characters well too!

Week 12: Interview with an Artist

PIET EPPINGA

I was really excited to know that this week the galleries featured sculpture art. I’m really fascinated by the work people are able to do with their hands to create these intricate and detailed pieces. The work that caught my eye this week was Piet Eppinga. His pieces that signify human life and human interaction show a lot of hard work and thought.

One of the pieces I really liked was the female fertility statue. I love how two people viewed the piece in different ways. One person said that the statue showed how woman are the center of the universe, while another said that the fertility ball in the statue meant that a woman was meant to bear a child. I really liked how Eppinga accepted both of those thoughts and presented them to us.

I also enjoyed the “Father and Son” statue. I liked it because I understood what it was supposed to represent before Eppinga took the time to explain it to me. I could see how the son laid on the father to show the relationship. It was meant to show that sons don’t know affections from the father. Eppinga had many other pieces that were noteworthy due to their in depth meaning. The Christian crystallized piece was very nice as well. I loved how Eppinga mentioned his childhood and wrote about his siblings playing with clay. Who knew that something he did as a kid would train him so well for an art form he practices today? I really enjoyed Eppinga’s work and all the time and effort he put into showing our class which each individual piece meant!

Week 12: Interview with a Classmate

This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Howard. First thing I noticed about Michelle is that she had great style! I loved her shoes and her floral top, I definitely would wear them both if I could! Michelle is a freshman at Cal State Long Beach. Michelle also grew up in Cerritos and went to Cerritos high school there. She lives at home with her family currently.

Michelle is currently majoring in liberal arts. She wants to be a teacher in the future. The program here is meant for grades kindergarten through sixth grade. Michelle said she would actually prefer teaching older students like those in high school so she is going to figure out how she can switch to older kids. She has three siblings, two sisters and a brother.  Michelle also has a french bulldog chihuahua.

On Michelle’s spare time, she loves to do videos on youtube. Her youtube video’s involve makeup tutorials. I loved her makeup so I could tell she’s pretty good at it. She also loves to watch Netflix. She told me she ran out of shows so she watches a show called Drop Dead Diva. She told me it’s terrible though so I should avoid it! But I’ll probably watch it when I run out of shows as well! Overall it was great talking to Michelle and I haoe she’s enjoyed herself at Long Beach so far.

Week 11: Interview with an Artist

GABRIEL GARCIA

I liked this wall, it made the biggest statement and is the very first thing you see.

This week I really liked Gabriel Garcia’s work. When I first walked in I saw a huge statement on the wall that said “Don’t be a pussy” and I knew this gallery was going to be controversial! Garcia had many different sayings and photo’s on the wall and they related to one message. That message was that we have a problem with how masculinity is defined in our current culture. I feel like his art states a very strong message that people fail to really pay attention to and it brings to light another side of stereotypes.

Usually people point out the many stereotypes that woman are expected to live up to. The expectations to be pretty, skinny, elegant and classy at all times while maintaining a nurturing, mother like presence. But many of us fail to see the male stereotypes as well. Men are expected to be strong, straight and be capable to protect at all times. What I saw in this art piece was that people must confront these stereotypes of men and change them.

I really liked seeing Garcia’s work. I love controversial art that makes you address problems in society. It’s always the best way to really make people see another side of things without having to say anything because they can interpret what they see in their own way. Garcia’s art really made a bold statement and I he stated that in one of the art pictures that said “Don’t (cry, run, hit) like a girl” pointed out that some sayings about men, are actually demeaning to woman. Overall I enjoyed Garcia’s work and believed it was very insightful. It’s always refreshing to see an artist confront problems in our society!

Week 11: Interview with a Classmate

This week I had the pleasure of talking to Sarah Schneider. Sarah is currently a sophomore at Long Beach State. She has not yet declared her major yet but is really thinking about becoming a health care science major. She said that with that major, she hopes to become a radiologist which I thought was pretty cool. I great in science so its always cool to hear about people who understand and want to dedicate their life to it.

Sarah does not live on campus and probably won’t because she currently lives in Stein Bridge which is only about 15 minutes away from the school.Sarah and I got to talking about jobs and she said she is looking for one but currently doesn’t have one. She used to work at a bowling alley for awhile but she stopped working there because they don’t give her enough hours. We both have that in common with our jobs! She has a younger brother who is a freshman.

She also has a dog that is a yorkie and she’s 9 years old. She said she’s still tiny. Some of Sarah’s hobbies include going to the gym, which is something we have in common. She also likes to watch Netflix! She’s currently watching Supernatural, which was a show I started but couldn’t finish because there was way too many seasons! But I do agree with Sarah that it is a really great show.

Week 10: Artist Interview

Dawn Ertl

This week, Dawn Ertl came to speak with us in class so I was interested in seeing what she had to show for her art pieces. When I walked in, my first thought was “this looks amazing, but this must have taken forever” and I wasn’t wrong. Ertl said her 2 weaving projects took a year to complete! I was interested in how she used different items to weave as well. From afar, it all looked like she used different sizes of yarn but up close I was suprised to see how many different weavings she used for her work. Ertl said she used 12 weavings and I could see it was a combination of yarn, platic bags, and different sizes of thick fabric.

I really liked the “One Nation Under God” piece that she created. The art had so much thought put into it and it made me appreciate her work. She talked about how the 12 weavings represent the red, white and blue of this country but it has influxs or “bursts” of color throughout the piece. I loved her weaving process and it looked extremely intricate. I also enjoyed how the music represented different stages of love.

I also enjoyed her piece on climate change. When I first saw the layers of the yarn, i thought they looked similar to colors of the rainbow. I thought it was amazing how she took climate data and used it to yarn bomb. She took information that is looked at as complicated and made it into art. Overall I enjoyed Ertl’s pieces. Her work was very colorful and I could see the amount of time and effort she put into her work to make it stand out.

Week 10: Classmate Interview

This week I interviewed my friend Alayna Grapel. I actually met Alayna a couple semesters ago through a mutual friends birthday party. When we first went to the galleries, we recognized each other and got to talking. Although I’d say me and Alayna are friends now, I really didn’t no much about her except things that come up casually in every day conversation; like how she’s a second year and in a sorority.

When I got to speaking with Alayna, I learned that she was born and raised in Green Valley, Ca. I learned that Alayna was once a dance major who changed her major to liberal studies. She told me that she loved dance, she just didn’t see much of a future with it and she also saw limited job options as well. She changed her major to Liberal studies because she wants to be either and elementary school teacher or a special ed teacher. I also learned that she has one older brother who currently lives in New York.

She loves the outdoors and is a big fan of hiking and going to the beach. She has been out of the country during an 8 hour trip to Canada but she wants to travel a lot more. One of her dreams is to travel all around the world. She also wants a family. We got to talking about how many kids we wanted and she said she wanted two. Overall, it was fun getting to know Alayna on a more personal level. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Alayna this semester and I hope the rest of her time at CSULB is fun!