Final Submission

Part 2 final

I will try and make one more cut to finalize it. I had wish I was able to make one short skit, but I will do so in the future. The theme song could use more work as I just did this in GarageBand.

M6 CP

Animation (Part 2, Stage 3)

Toxic TV

 Here it is  little more finished. Needs final tweeking and sound. Some music, sound effects and some character voices.  Sound will make a big difference.
Please check it out full screen








Here are some works in progress. It has been a struggle learning Adobe Animate, as Ive never used this or Flash before, but Im really starting to enjoy it.
I have 2 slightly different versions. I plan on adding audio, extending the scene as some parts are too fast or not enough rest time. Please check it out full screen.



With Characters at end.

I do plan on animating some of the characters and backgrounds. But probably only simple movements.

Animation

 Test

This is a test animation I am doing using adobe Animate. Starting simple.
It was from a drawing of one of my old professors from SUNY New Paltz who recently passed away.







To the City

I was going through some of my old videos/files and dug this up.
Back in 1993, I did some stop motion animation of a guy driving. This part is him going to the City, there is another part when hes actually in the city. I used cut out paper and drawing.
I added some free to download music and also added a title to it in WIndows Movie MAker

This is not my submission for the assignment as i want to submit something using Adobe Animate.

M5 CP - Animation (Part 1, Stage 1)

Toxic TV


This will need some introduction. Way back, in the early 90s I received a grant for Video art. I created a program called Toxic TV. It was a strange puppet type show about a town that was called Toxic town.  I ran it on public access. It was funny when when my friends and I made it but after viewing it to on tv, I think a lot of people were confused by it. Regardless, was fun to do.
I always wanted to incorporate it with animation. Animation and cartooning was something I wanted to do before I went to art college, but being a fine artist this was Something I never really got around to.

This is my storyboard for the logo and opening sequence. 

I will probably go further and create a short skit, but I figured I would at least make an opening sequence. Here is the concept sketches. I created using adobe sketch. I will take into photoshop and Illustratot further. To animate I would be using Adobe Animate.

M4 Design Competition Part 2

International Compost Awareness Week Poster Design

 

 

Modified version.

 

Brochure Layout

Done mostly in Indesign but some elements were done in Photoshop and Illustrator. It ended being alot more complicated than I thought because of the fold compensation. I made 6 pages(dividing 3 pages from 1 actual letter size page using measurements found on UniversalPrinting.com on their template page) then formatting 3 pages together, creating registeration marks and slug notes where the folds are. 

 

 

Here is my final design. I traced the city image and repainted it, a little more stylized. I learned about saving selections, which I hadn't known before which was a huge time saver for me. I also created a selection mask for the middle plant. I decided to go with a sketchy hand drawn version of Compost, I just couldn't find anything that had the feel I was going for. I decided to a misty air around the swirl. I played alot with levels. then working back and forth into illustrator, was amazing when I reworked the file in Photoshop and saved it , then went back to illustrator it would update it. 

For own sake, I am now putting together a brochure in INDesign and will have that ready in a day or 2





 

M4 Design Competition part 1

            My workup so far. Will tweek the Lettering in Illustrator

The competition I am going for is:

International Compost Awareness Week Poster Contest

Presented and offered by the Research & Education Foundation (CCREF) 

https://graphiccompetitions.com/multiple-disciplines/compost-awareness-week-poster-contest-2019

Deadline is November 5,2018

After I chose the competition I was applying for I had to come up with a game plan.

The fist thing I did was reasearch previous contest winners 

I looked at the various styles, techniques and the caliber level of what they are looking for. Some of the previous winners had an amazing design, so I knew I was up to the challenge.

I wrote some notes and sort of mind mapped what I was going to do.

Then I did some thumbnails, looking at some concepts as well general layout and basic design.

Lastly, I picked a concept to develop further. I still have a way to go but will start taking it to the next step. I will probably do the background graphic in photoshop and the typeface and additional wording in illustrator.

I then plan to take this image and apply it into a brochure layout using INDesign.

M3 CD Design

 Cover.

 I revised the cover and changed out the font to be the same as the title

I also changed the layout and used shear tool to put them in perspective on the floor

 

I had to take out the watermark from the image I got by using  clone stamp and brush.

I was looking for Hand written fonts to give a edgy bespoke look. 

Page 1 (Track1)

 Using the transform tool to go along with the wall was tricky but afterall I got it. I tried 

to add some ink splatters

                           

       Page 2  (Track2)

Every page I tried to use a different font, for this one I used an effect tool to roughen it.

Added ink splotches. In Photoshop I added the headphones on the ground..

 Page 3 (Track3)

  I hand drew the Title on the wall, then used shear and transform tools for the lyrics. I also added some sort of glyph thing that is on the window

Page 4 (Track4)

I tried to tweak individual words and letters to give a more hand written look. 

In Photoshop I added the guitar.

  Page 5 (Track5)

 Same process as before, Used some other colors.

Added microphone in Photoshop

 Page 6 (Track6)

  Page 7(Track7)

 Page 8(Track8)

 I added their pictures in the picture frames in this photo. I also grunged it up because it was 

looking way too clean. Positioning the text within the limited space was difficult

 Back

   A little cliche with stage curtains but had to be done

M3 CD Design PART 1 (Preliminary)

        When I first started thinking about songs , they were from the 90's or early 2000's. Mostly alternative hard rock. One of my favorite artists is Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave, so naturally I had one of his songs listed. Then it hit me hard, his death and then that of Chester Benningtons death. I decided to make some sort of tribute cd to them both. I started watching videos of people playing tribute to them and it was heartbreaking and I have to admit the tears did floweth. 
Some of my initial sketches were dark and somber. I wanted some ray of hope and that hope is of course the legacies they both left behind

        One of the ideas I started focusing on was  an empty house. A house full of character. Each room unique and detailed, filled with light or some semblance of life goes on.
The lyrics would be scribbled on the walls of the rooms. Using different styles for each room. I would research and find interesting rooms and tweek them a bit in photoshop, maybe adding different wallpapers or details. Using illustrator for the typefaces and some additional graphics and then using INdesign for the overall layout.

Album Covers

Frank Sinatra, The Voice of  1946

This album was from 1946.  I had done alot of research of album covers from different time periods. In the 40s and 50s most albums are simple in nature. Mostly depicting the artist or band in a closeup shot with a legible simple and sometimes fun typeface. What I liked most about this album is its use of design especially for that time period.

The overall layout is fun and exciting. The words are jumbled in a way yet frames the face of Sinatra which creates a sense of visual harmony There's also play in color with the use of reds and yellows popping out from the blue. It almost looks like a piece of Calder art, as the forms are balancing around. Your eye wonders from the portrait and around the wording then back to the small print. With some words and icons to draw your attention by using Colors like red and yellow. Franks name is on a black background shape to create deep contrast

 

Grateful Dead, Aoxomoxoa 1969

 Starting in the mid 60s we have the psychadelic era of album covers and much use of storytelling and layered imagery. The Grateful Dead were very aware of their followers and most of their covers were visual delights. They use alot of Iconography and symbols and even some hidden meanings. I love this kind of art because it makes you really dig in. CAN YOU DIG IT!

The use of the circle in the center pushes out to the main focus of the skull which brings your eyes around back again up the circle to see the seeds springing up these plants. Like an endless cycle. The use of red is strong to really draw your initial attention but the cool blues bring you in deeper.

 

Bad Brains I Against I  1986

 I have to say but this is one of my favorite albums. Bad Brains are Rasta Hardcore. 

I have so many favorites and I really didnt want to bring any of them in here.

I chose this one because of its simplicity. It reminds me of the classic Doors album with a closeup of Morrison and his band faded back. 

The album is quite literal with I against I. Its so confronting. 

The words at a slant and the font they are in create a certain tension yet harmonize the piece where they are composed. The way the musicians are cut off also brings in a sense of closeness. Hr the singer(to the right) is the one directly staring at you while Dr.Know(guitarist) could be sidelong glancing and rifting on his guitar.

UPDATED M2 CP - Identity Design & Branding (Part 2)

REVISED 

took out stroke, drop shadow. I also changed some leading to tighten it up.

Here I changed out the colorful Logo to more subdued..
Instead of adding another silhouette I did a wood grain texture.
 I also changed the coloring and changed the font to a bold. 

Changed out fill of the main font to be lighter value, matching the bottom edge.
 Made the typeface slightly larger. Removed all heavy strokes.
Made the managers name bigger and added additional address.

M2 CP - Identity Design & Branding (Part 2)

Hudson Valley INN.

This is to be the main logo

I started with finding the right typeface, selected no fill and stroke 2pt. I then found an image and used Place image, selected the text and ticked draw inside mode, moved image to back and moved around to I felt it looked good. I created the top border by freehand pen tool, its supposed to be treeline silhouette. 

Business Card I used the same motif. This card is to be cut out in that shape to make more unique. I added a map because most hotels have that, especially if your foreign and drunk and trying to find your way back.  ITS VERY HELPFUL  

The Restaurant and Bar are simplified versions of the typeface I used. The bar I found some Jpegs and placed inside and Object>Image trace.

 

Preliminary work for Identity Design

After doing some research on logo branding. I researched other Inns and ideas and also the general feel of the area. Most of the images of Hudson valley came up with the mid Hudson bridge. So I decided to incorporate in some of my ideas. I did a series of thumbnails in my sketchbook, after which I scanned in and colored my favorites on my iPad because in order to show the feeling with colors.

M2 Exercise 2

 I had to try 3 words. Each one I tried a slightly different method. 

Sleep
 I simply looked up the best font that closely matched my drawing. I didnt want to do much to the font itself. Instead, for the "P"  I used the shear tool and laid it down in persepective. I changed the overall tracking and kerning a bit and added a drop shadow to give it a slight 3d appearance.

 Water
I imported the original hand sketch by using  place , I then used the trace image option to create a vector out of it. After that used expand. It was difficult navigating in there to find the right outline thickness and coloring. I tried gradient but didnt really feel exactly what I was going for. I will probably continue working on this

 Bumpy
I found  a "bubble like" font. Typed in the word then create outline. I isolated each letter, tweeked using the direct selection tool. For the bumps, I added ellipses. Then selected the letter and bumps and used the shape builder tool to merge the objects into each other. I then moved the letters up and down.

M2 Exercise 1: Hand-drawn Word Illustrations

 

After doing several pencil sketches decided to go with these layouts. This was a great exercise in creative brainstorming. 

  

 

 

Artist statement

Tom Lenz

For the past 25 years I have been a professional scenic artist and art director working in the theming industry. All over the world . I have spent these years helping to create environments and attractions  for people to experience and explore and enjoy. I’ve worked on projects with Disney, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers to name a few.  I am very passionate about my art and my job and also teaching and guiding others. I have led large groups of artists to carry out massive scale projects. I also enjoy designing environments and scenery, as this is where my ideas are sprouting to life.

In my own personal art, I want the viewer/audience to have an amazing experience when viewing it, similar to what they would see in my work at a themepark or in a movie I worked on. I like to use various mediums but my favorite is painting. In creating art I also want to have my own experience in the act of creating it. I feel like many times my art is similar to a fisherman. The deep waters of the mind and infinite space around us, connects, it is the art I pull from this connection, many times it is on a spiritual level. Making my own art is a progress of self reflection and meditation and grants me creative inspiration. As of lately I have been studying sacred geometry, which I feel is a universal language that connects us to the cosmos and each other. I am also obsessed with outer space and all the beautiful forms this infinite “sea” has to offer. A lot of my work revolves around dark and light and the ever ending dichotomy these 2 have with each other. I  have been using phosphorescent pigments so that in darkness the painting actually glows. Some of the techniques I like to use is airbrushing as well as traditional brush. I’m beginning to learn all about laser cutting and 3D printing and have started to incorporate that into my work.

Some of my latest artwork

 Triad(with phosphorescence)

Planetary 1(with phosphorescent pigment)

Planetary 2

M6 Home Page and Navigation System, Final Project (Part1)

For this module we created a website to showcase what we've learned and to create the site by using some of the design principals we learned.

For my webpage created on Wix.com I decided to use 4 categories:  Home, Digital design course, scenic art(as artist) and Art Direction(managing several artists)

https://tom3714.wixsite.com/mysite

 

My home page and menu bar I wanted to add a little zing. Theres an option to animate images, so I made my portrait "fly" in. Also the menu bar flies in as well.

The menu bar I wanted it to be readable (unlike what Ive seen in most sites) so I changed the coloring. for hovering and clicking so the the words pop.

I wanted to do slideshow type presentation in which I did in my Art Direction page.

M5 Avatar Final part 2

I added a background. Its actually a photo I took when we visited Orlando last year of Avatarland at Disney Orlando Animal Kingdom. I played around with the blur gallery function and used iris blur. I also duplicated the layer then used vivid light as the blending option. It really gave it a otherworld feel. There were some toursits in the background. I used the clone tool to take them out.
I also tweaked his nose a bit and brightened up the eyes. The hair is a bit frazzily but I like it, gave it some comicbook pop





Heres the photo

I really like the whole Avatar theme actually. Really looking forward to the movies. In fact I also created some figure stands last year  for some characters we bought there. Sorry Im a dork. haha.

M5 create Avatar Part 1

In this sketch, I would get or take a photo with some action pose, making sure the lighting is ok, hair pulled back. Would transform him into this eleven demon hunter using the photoshop techniques learned in this module.

I had created an avatar from my sons photo following utvids tutorial. I feel I could improve it a bit more: adding a background, enhance the nose, create pointy ears, more detail on the eyes

Before 

After.