To kick off my first blog I thought that I would start with the basics; my dislikes and likes of other's blogs. However, I cannot take credit for this idea, as it is one of my first assignments for my new interior design grad program. As a school habit, I will start this blog on the more formal side, until I receive the green light from my professor that I am ok to go with a more informal and conversational tone. Also, you will have to bare with me as I change the overall appearance of the blog, as I am altogether new with both blogs and computer graphics. Right now it is really basic, but hopefully as my skills expand in complexity my blog with reflect my growth.
After navigating a few blogs to gain some inspiration and a small morsel of an idea of what I am/should be doing here I finally settled on reviewing the blog titled, "An Open Sketchbook" (www.anopensketchbook.com). I chose this blog over five others: Edgar Cabrera, Crack Skull Bob, Tommy Kane, Wagonized, and Andrea Joseph. While the other blogs were all unique and interesting, they focused on a narrow scope of topics. Each represented an individual style, but the blogs seemed to display a finished product, rather than the ideas, thoughts, and inspirations behind the finished work. On the other hand, An Open Sketchbook, displayed a wide variety artwork, including inspirational photos, informal sketches, and final compositions. The blogger posted images that created a cohesive digital collage. There is also a myriad of subject matter displayed, from cartoons, to portraits, quick gesture drawings, and even interior renderings. However, my favorite image is a sketch of a bunch of different cupcakes from a bakery the blogger happened to visit. Not only did the image make me want to run directly across the Key Bridge to brave the horribly long line at DC Cupcake, but it started a sort of chain reaction in my brain of all of the different ways the images of those cupcakes could be used. How would a single cupcake look at the front of a birthday card? Or, a pattern of all the different cupcakes embroidered onto a pillow, thrown onto a rocking chair in a little girl's nursery look? Or, even taken just as they are with the name of the cupcake shop at the bottom of an advertisement? I think all of these applications would be just as spectacular as the other.
I also enjoy the overall tone the blog takes on. The author is effective at explaining the images added to the blog and even though there is such a wide variety of images, the explanations seem to tie it all together. Some have personal significance, some are very obviously work related, others are just pretty doodles, but reading the excerpts attached to each and scrolling from the top to the bottom of the blog creates a single, cohesive blog. The images themselves are also stylistically similar; they are precise, clean, and colorful, yet manage to take on a playful casual twist. After scrolling from one image to the next it is becomes plain that the artist is the same through most of the images, and the images that are photographs are somehow complimentary to the drawings. Most importantly I think each image captures something beautiful. From a little girl on the beach, to a compilation of sketches of birdhouses, to those cupcakes I mentioned earlier, each image adds to the overall aesthetic appeal of the blog. The information and reasoning the blogger offers for each image posting is also concrete, reasonable, and easy to follow. The blogger does not follow up a simple image with something like, "I just thought this was pretty", but instead offers more complex statements such as, "One of the things I like best about our neighborhood is the diversity of houses in it. While all were built in the 1980s, the spectrum of styles and colors is quite broad." The statements are precise, relevant, and simple, a quality I hope to mirror in my blog in the months to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment