Number 19

19. The Ancients called this the ‘Number of Surrender’ for your life needs to link up with the Universal Life.

The number 19 is an endurance vibration.  It brings everything into focus, winds up old accounts and starts off anew.  People influenced by the number 19 can be completely self absorbed, are usually extroverts and are often egotistical.  They can also become dependent on others and will find that there are many obstacles in their path until they work forward, balancing their needs with the needs of others. (http://numerology-thenumbersandtheirmeanings.blogspot.com/2011/05/number-19.html)

So here we are at the end of the quarter and the last entry on this blog. What better way to end it than to delve into a little Numerology as we wind up old accounts and bring everything into focus.

This has definitely been a challenging quarter for me and I would attribute it to doing too much and dealing with family and health issues, which might have allowed me to become dependent on others who were generous with their time in helping me to clear obstacles in my path. But within that struggle, I discovered many others were facing roadblocks as well and I observed the entire class help each other at one time or another. I never heard anyone say "I can't help you," without trying to solve the dilemma first. That is a generous quality.

One of my struggles this quarter was getting the hair to work on my cat that I created in 3D Modeling. This cat looked like it had been doused with gasoline and set on fire. It looked terrible. So my solution was to watch a tutorial on making believable hair and giving my sad little cat a new lease on his virtual 9 lives. 

This is where you may watch the Lightwave Hair System Tutorial (http://vimeo.com/30132850) and here in this blog is where you can compare the old and new versions of my cat.

 This poor cat... after applying the details outlined in the tutorial, the cat crashed my computer so I had to systematically remove bits and pieces of the tutorial elements until my cat looked a little like a puff ball. Also, I could not render in HD because it was going to take 72 hours to render one frame. I have no idea how Mr. Vaughan managed to render the caveman.

4 days later, I am putting this one away and moving on.

Spring is a sign of beginnings and many of us will move on to new starts. I am excited about the personal and professional connections I have made this quarter and am eager to see what is next as I move forward... beyond the number 19.

Thank you to Brian Martin for providing an excellent learning environment and to a classroom full of helpers, you are awesome! I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

 

The Eighteenth Element

The Atomic number 18 on the Periodic Table is Argon. The name Argon is from a Greek word meaning lazy or inactive. Argon's existence was suspected in 1785 but not confirmed until a century later in 1894 when two Lords had nothing to do so they removed the oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and nitrogen from a sample of clean air and instead of finding nothing... lo and behold there was Argon: chemically inert, colorless, odorless and nontoxic as a solid, liquid and gas. It sounds like nothing to me, but I am not a scientist nor a Lord with nothing better to do than figure out what is left when you remove all the known gasses from air. (Thank you Wikipedia. Remember this may or may not be true... but it's out there like a whole lot of Argon.) 

Thankfully, I am an artist and this week's assignment was like old-school graphic design. Make an Art Deco poster out of nothing... which, to Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsey, is impossible... because if there is nothing it's probably loaded with Argon. But like Argon, Art may seem like nothing when it is in the form of an idea. (Ar-t like Ar-gon. It's amazing how these things line up in the universe.)

I love the Art Deco style. I decided to stick with my strength and incorporated people into my design.

When people dance the Tango well, they can sometimes suck the air out of the room but what is really happening is that they are sucking oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and nitrogen out of the room. 

And what's left? Did you guess?

Nothing. Because, unless you've got skills like old English Lords, you are not going to be able to leave the 18th Element behind.

Assignment 18: The Art Deco Poster

Seventeen for the Road

I didn't get my driver's license until I was a senior in high school in Pasco, Washington... and I was 17. Across the state, in Bellevue, my future Husband also waited until he was 17 to get his driver's license. A match made in heaven.

So, when our oldest daughter was up for driving, we didn't see the need for her to get her license earlier than we did, so a trend began.

All of our children have not gotten their licenses until after they were 17 years old. I like this plan because that means, they were all a bit more mature when we sent them out on the road to be teenage drivers. (With my kids, this rated right up there with being the only kids not watching Friends. They thought this made them Freaks. I am sure it made them smarter.)

http://clinedesignart.wordpress.com

And here we are at Assignment 17. The cute little slice-em-up web page. I like this assignment because I often create web pages that have elements that just wont work in a div tag type layout. Being able to cut up the pieces is a great way to allow more organic elements to a site. I like this process.

One more note about driving, my son is now 17. After our three girls all followed in their parents footsteps regarding driving, my son appears to be breaking the mold again (the first time was him being our fourth child and a boy.) He has still not gotten his drivers license and he is halfway through his 17th year. (His future kids, if he chooses to have any, might just want to invest in bus passes.)

In for a Penny, In for 16 Ounces

Ah, the Card Dance. I do love a good slide show and the Card Dance is pretty darn awesome. (I only used 8 pictures though, not 16. It couldn't be helped... this is me trying not to "make the universe when I was asked to make a ball.")

I didn't need a "pound" of flesh for this one although I had many stops before the start. I did find that the AfterEffects program on my laptop was not in compliance and refused to show any motion. This created much drama in my household... it truly rivaled my math meltdowns which really just consist of a lot of whining.

Once I came to the lab, the problems magically removed themselves and it left me wondering if I had imagined the whole thing. "No," my family says.

Here lies the Card Dance. 

Soon, I will be "pounding the pavement" looking for that perfect job. Hopefully, when they see my Card Dance of 8 pictures twice, they will understand the power of Assignment 16 and hire me on the spot.

My Dad used to say wish in one hand and ..... well, we wont go there today.

Fifteen and Pregnant

This week was a study in rolling with the punches. It is no secret I have been struggling with my schedule organizing time to study for four, 5 credit classes, managing work, getting sick, keeping track of my 17 year old son, trying not to ignore my sister who was visiting from Virginia and waiting for a new addition to the family.

My niece was having a baby and this was the week. She called and said "my water broke." Right on schedule.

This is a good thing, although, it took time away from my homework. I have very little time to spare these days, but we all know, the baby wont wait for me to get it all done. I knew a little rearranging was in order because my niece wanted me there. I couldn't say no.

She is not 15. she is 32. But this assignment is number fifteen. See the connection? There is also a Lifetime movie "Fifteen and Pregnant" starring Kirsten Dunst. Remember "After School Specials?" Yes, it was like that.

This assignment was interesting because I have tried to understand WordPress and it seemed a little confusing. But like most things, it was made better by repetition. I had to go through four different themes in order to find one I could change enough to fulfill requirements. This was a good project for me because I feel like I will use this resource quite a bit and practicing with all the widgets and trying to finesse the code is a good way to learn the skills I need to be able to do this for a client.

By the way, Hollis Katrine and her mommy are doing well. Hollis is quite adorable and pretty tiny too at almost 6lbs.

Fourteen Psychopaths

It's only Seven Psychopaths and it is a movie I want to see, mainly because of Christopher Walken, but I needed a fourteen connection and the psychopath connection was a valid one this week because I could feel my sanity slipping away, wondering how I might get everything that I had to do, finished. Add work, family, stress... multiply 7x2 equals Darcy going a little crazy.

An then I watched the tutorial at 3am and realized, I could do this. The Edge animate was the breather I needed. It was very easy to follow and I was quite relieved.

However, this would not be Darcy's blog without making note of some kind of glitch. Today, my fail was that I didn't bring my artwork to school to turn it in. I left my pretty flowers around the word "GROW" on my desktop at home. So the only thing to do was to quickly create another. I was happy this assignment was easy to do because I had time to finish but not time to work out glitches. Oh, well, such is the way of this quarter. 

See the results below.

Before...

After...

The Missing Link.

13 Coins

Way back in the day of Sting's Glory days, there was a restaurant called 13 Coins. This seems like a bit of foreshadowing to me because 13 coins went bankrupt in the '90s and closed, restructured, then opened again.

Maybe like lightening, bad luck doesn't strike in the same place twice.

This week's assignment, as usual has a very thin thread that leads to my intro. The number 13, although bad luck for the restaurant, good luck for game-making aficionados everywhere.

I was happy to have been able to use the tutorial for the Construct2 game. I followed the steps, and I do love a few good steps. Maybe that makes me a follower. I am okay with that because the world would be in big trouble if we all wanted to be leaders. Like the family members in Family Feud, I am good help.

I found the most difficult point of the assignment was coming up with a theme for the game. I can do graphics very well, but making a decision about who did what to whom was a real challenge. I finally took a reality check and remembered that that was not the most important part of the task.

I did learn how to put together a game in Construct2 and more importantly, I know where to find the information I need to make more games in the future. Lookout! THIS WILL BE EPIC!

The Dirty Dozen

This is the blog post for Assignment 12. The web page redo.

I really liked the idea of not reinventing the wheel. Re-purposing a web template was really quite easy and I will explore this more in depth.

Oceans Eleven

Yep, Ocean's Eleven has a lot of really cool people in it. I swear I am going to watch the franchise someday. For now, though, I will think of how amazing they are and move on to my next assignment.

Here lies the logo I created for the requirements described on our assignments list. There were some glitches in getting this assignment out, but that seems to feel like a theme for me.

I actually love all these projects. I love design and keeping busy doing them is really just joy for me.

The Email Newsletter screen shot resides below. I like the way the brown theme turned out. I will have to see where I can use it again sometime.  Each time I complete an assignment in Dreamweaver, I feel more confident about the program. It will be one of those things that needs lots of practice until I will feel like I know the program as well as I should. I find that I like writing in the coding a bit more than I used to. In the past, code was undecipherable but now I actually prefer the split screen. Amazing.

We are winding down to the end of the quarter and it has felt like a mad rush to the end. It has been very busy and full of some of my favorite assignments.

I would like to see more work like this.

10

Ten seconds, ten photos, ten locations! Yes, you are here for the unveiling of 10 of the most amazing photos you will ever see on this blog. I kid you not.

You will laugh, you'll cry, you will tear your hair out. Watch at your own risk. Slide shows like this have CHANGED LIVES FOREVER. Proceed with caution!

Working in the Galleria template was pretty easy and it has been a while since I have been in Dreamweaver, but it became more familiar as I proceeded through the assignment. I actually enjoyed moving the code around. Enjoy... once I figure out how to post it in the blog...


And you thought this was going to be about Bo Derek and Dudley Moore.

Number Nine

I was fascinated by the Beatle's White Album track, Number 9. I remember listening to it quite often. I was trying to figure out what it meant, but also, I liked the idea that it was a song that didn't sound like a song. It was like a news reel and the audio from Futureworld blended together.

If I could have used Number 9 as my background music for my animation, I would have. Unfortunately, I didn't obtain the rights to it, so instead I will be using a lovely melody by Royalty Free Instrumentals - 168 Tracks!

 
I didn't have enough time... this feels like a common theme. I kept it simple in order to get it in on time. So, I like the flower, but it would have been way cooler with Number 9 as the sound.

Pieces of Eight

The Font Finale!

Working on the font was like finding buried treasure as each new glyph is revealed.

I found it easier to make the lower case fonts because I already had a design which made working out the elements go faster.

I like the way everything turned out.

See the results below.

Seventh Heaven

Hail to the animated 3D Pop-Up Photo Gallery. I get to show something off! I mean, I get to show some skills in Adobe After Effects!

My theme is Painting. I would like to say seven images but that isn't what is required. Eight to Ten images is the requirement, so eight to ten it is. I included my favorite paintings that I created during my time here at Pierce College.

Working in After Effects is a challenge for me. To be very proficient, I must use it every day. I have this vision that when I finish school, I will have time to study.

I do like the effects I can get with the animation and lighting. The ability to control the spotlights was a fun feature.



In retrospect, I would give my slide show more time, but it is finished and that is always a good thing.

See the results by clicking on the white triangle in the middle of the video screen.

Six of One, Half-a-Dozen of the Other

Numbers are fun as long as I don't have to math them together. I even enjoyed writing out mathematical problems because I could line up the numbers and add little swirls to the descenders. I like their shapes and curves. Numbers can be the more creative additions of a font set. I like the shape of the numbers in Baskerville Old Face. They are elegant and fine. This post has nothing to do with numbers, but everything to do with fonts.

I love fonts and was excited to finally be making a font of my own. I enjoyed tweaking all the curves. I have been wanting to learn how to make fonts and find a program that would be easy to use so I could pursue font-making in the future. I liked Font Creator 4 for it's ease of use but what I found frustrating was the way it made the font a little messy and didn't hold the detail. I am a detail oriented person and like my results to show it. 

Overall, I was happy with this contribution to the portfolio and I can't wait to get started on the next font... maybe something with some cracks in it...?

Drum roll please.... Introducing Bead It! (Six letters in Bead It, in case you were wondering.)

High Fivin' White Guys

Does anyone actually remember Almost Live? (Besides Brian Martin) These guys ran around Seattle giving each other over-exaggerated high fives for the most ridiculous achievements. Sometimes they would do a high-five and a belly bump. Fun times.

This was not the feeling I was having this week.

I love to draw and can do this very well. I have thought, on occasion, that I would love to use a drawing pad and stylus to create amazing digital interpretations of the wildly creative thoughts in my head.

Not so much.

This week, I experienced a series of setbacks in almost every one of my assignments, including but not exclusive to the Drawing Pad Assignment. I didn't really take to the stylus and it's quirky ways. I drew a line to the left and it would veer off to the right. Straight line in my head? Reinterpreted as wobbly line of questionable origins. Adding to my frustration was the knowledge that this assignment could be rendered in real life, the old fashioned way, in a matter of minutes. Lets jump ahead, shall we?

Several days... and hours later, with two stops and three new starts in my experience folder, I had a promising picture... finally.

Don't forget to save!

And then, "the unthinkable..." or more likely "the predictable" happened: "Warning: The file can't be saved because there is not enough scratch disk space." (or something to that effect)

"What a week I'm having!" Okay. Uncle!

See my results here.

And because I am feeling shallow and petty, here is a link to my deviant art site... proof I can draw: www.designerdarcy.deviantart.com

Thank goodness a new week begins tomorrow.

Four Score... and its Vinyl

Vinyl is the material of the week. We learned how to cut decals using the Stika vinyl cutter, transfer the decals to make a three-color decal and master the challenge of finding a surface to adhere it onto without devaluing anything. I haven't managed that one yet, but my expectations are loaded and ready to soar at a moment's notice.

When I worked at Kinko's many years ago, I helped an older couple make a sticker of a giant "G." When I asked them what they were up to, they giggled and said they had always talked about putting a "G" on the Orilla Road exit sign near SeaTac. They made me promise not to tell, but every time I drive by that exit on I-5, I think of that couple and the fun they must have had breaking the law just a little.

I am not going to break the law to put up my decal. Just saying.

The set up and execution of using the cutter was all very easy. What I found challenging is that I had way too much detail in my design. The cutter scored the vinyl and shredded my logo. This was what my teacher was talking about, "... detail...blah blah... scoring... blade.... simple." Actually I do pay attention and he rarely ever says blah blah. He does sing sometimes, though.

I finally took Brian Martin's words to heart and went back to redesigning my sticker with a more economical design. It worked perfectly. No little missing pieces of vinyl this time around.

I hope you enjoy the results.... now, where to stick it?

Shhhhh! We are just going to ignore the misspelling for now.

UPDATE: Now to finish up on last details that may or may not have been overlooked.

This project needed a home and it was not the easiest thing to find a good home that would be a happy place for a sticker. I have not been a sticker fan for most of my life and I don't generally stick stuff on stuff.

The solution... our garage, which is on its last legs, being held up by the contents. Our garage is the next redo project. See the lovely sticker pasted on the garage side door... plexiglass window, no less. The perfect home.

Three Players

Yes, today's post is about games. My project this week was to create the playing cards for a game about: 1. A Wall, 2. The Destruction, and 3. The Reinforcement. Final card is the back cover design.

First things first... now that you are my captive audience, I will tell you about my family hobby. We love to make games. It works out quite well because my husband invents a game, we, as a family work out the kinks, then I create the artwork for the game and voila! A game is born. (However, we haven't figured out how to make any money off our creations.)

So this week's assignment was a fun project for me. I liked the challenge of coming up with three cards in a short amount of time. The pressure can be intimidating but overall, I enjoyed the project. I usually enjoy drawing projects created in Adobe Illustrator.

I can't wait to see the final card sets.

See below for my contributions to this assignment.

Two Clicks

Yes, that is all it takes to finish up this assignment. (At least it could be up to two clicks). See for yourself by clicking on this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/designerdarcy and be prepared to enjoy the first project from DDSGN 220. Don't forget to click on Assignment 1, Cracked.

... or you could employ the "One-Click" method and click the play button below. The downside for the One-Click is that you will miss my other YouTube videos.

Only you can decide. Enjoy.

If you are interested in the details of this assignment, read on....




I love making videos. Each time I do it, I get a little more comfortable with the interface of the programs. Cracked came about simply because I wanted to use the Alpaca pictures and I thought they were so cute in the rain.

I then proceeded to mess up their world using brushes. I feel very comfortable with the Photoshop tools so it was really a nice place for me to start. I surprised myself by how easy it really was getting back into Premiere Pro. Bully for me!

One New Thought

Yes, this is Darcy Cline's new Digital Design Blog.

I have always been artistic, coming from a family with varied creative talents. My father painted details on cars and also dabbled in pastels when he was young. My mother is a crafter, always working with her hands and her father came from a family of metal artists and writers. My sister is a poet and a painter. My husband is a special education teacher and creative game-maker. As a result of all this crazy creative energy floating around we have produced two artists and two teachers in our 4 children and all of them are very creative individuals.

I like that I have found ways to express myself through art and managed to pay it forward.

The true challenge in being an artist-for-hire, is being open to helping others express themselves .

I believe designing for others is what I was meant to do. I love taking their ideas and making art that expresses the essence of their business vision or helping come up with an idea for a project that fits so beautifully there are no words. It is exhilarating.

Within the pages of this blog, I hope to show my love for all things graphic, digital, and artistically designed for myself, my portfolio and my clients. 

Let the designing continue!