Could someone please pass the gestalt?

Gestalt Psychology puts forth that a person's brain tends toward ordering things in a logical, organized way (this is termed "pragnanz"--seeing things in a concise way). This comes into play in illustrations because, for example, a person's brain will tend to connect lines that aren't actually drawn connected or see warmly colored things standing out and coolly colored things receding into the background. People also feel a sense of accomplishment when they are able to pick up on visual clues or puzzles (like brainteasers or optical illusions) and then solve them. Gestalt Psychology says that the whole (which is the puzzle that has been solved--the image that a person's brain picks up on) is greater than it's parts (three simple black lines can form the image and ideas in a person's brain that the lines are the Loch Ness Monster bobbing up and down in the murky Scottish waters).
Parts of Gestalt Psychology:
1. Emergence-Brain puts together dashes or dots or shapes to form them into a recognizable image (dog picture).
2. Reification- The negative space of shapes can create a whole "new" shape between them (triangle pics).
3. Multistability-Optical illusions. The eye goes back and forth between seeing 2 different things (the cube, the vase illos).
4. Invariance-The brain can recognize the same shape from many angles and POVs.
Laws:
Closure- Brain fills in breaks between lines.
Similarity-Mind groups like things together into groups or patterns.
Proximity- How close things are placed together. The mind will group closely-placed things together as a group.
Symmetry- Figure ground relation. Brain will put symmetrical objects o the same plane.
Continuity- The mind continues patterns already shown.
Common Fate- Elements going in the same direction are perceived as a group.
Summary: It is important to keep all of the above elements in mind when creating an illlustration. How the viewer sees the finished piece and how it is perceived are very very important. The illustrator must make sure that the "parts" of the piece add up to whole. If elements in the piece are not done well or correctly, it may trip up the viewer's perception, and therefore the intended meaning (and as we said before, the meaning is vital to why an illustration is even created).

SEMIOTICS (class day 2)

Semiotics is the study of meaning. de Saussure is the "father of semiotics." To DENOTE something is to give it direct meaning. To CONNOTE something is to give it a symbolized meaning. Structuralism is finding meaning in the parts of a whole. Semantics is different meanings for something to different people. ("Well...it's a matter of semantics. Let's just agree to disagree!")
Personally, as an illustrator, semiotics and the above are all extremely, extremely important. An illustrator has to be constantly thinking of how people are going to view the finished illustration and if they are going to get the intended meaning of it. I always think in my head as I'm working on a piece, "OK, if I saw this in a newspaper, what would be my first reaction to it? Would it give the article that it is accompanying the correct meaning, tone, point, etc.?" An illustrator has to work as simply and straightforwardly as possible to get the correct intended meaning for their finished artwork. And like we said in class, the simpler and more direct a piece is, the stronger the meaning will be (and there will be far less questions about it since it will be understood by a larger group of people...hopefully everyone.)
Semiotics is the study of meaning--and meaning is the most basic part of an illustration.

MUSEUM...trip to NYC

Future Plans...the final frontier

It's strange to say, but this class (Intro the Graphic Design and Illustration) is the last class I need to fulfill my requirements for the Commercial part of my double BFA in Studio and Commercial Art. I finished my Studio classes a couple years ago or so and kept on taking classes, mainly because I was always interested in illustration. I'm a big comics and children's books fan. After a while, I decided that I might as well just go for a Commercial Art degree too. My Illustration classes were great--our little group (Ed, Kyle, Dave, Kristen, Seffy, Christine, Marcus, Megan) was very very talented I believe--and I took one with Josh Cotter, two back-to-back with Mr. Lynch and finished with one by Chris Willey. (I still can't keep all of the Illo class names straight...Concepts, Illo 1, Illo 2, uhm, uh...) Overall, one of my main goals in my Illo classes was to bring my Studio Art-Painting skills (thanks, Louder!) to my illos and incorporate my loose painting style and bright colors. For the heck of it, I started using India Ink in my illos, and I still like the way that that has worked out (like drawing and painting and painting and drawing at the same time). In the future, I'd like to get a children's book published, write a novel, teach at a community college, and/or be a stay-at-home Dad to my future children, Forrest, Denard, and Barbara Jr.

The second day of class

India ink is good. Brushes are good. Another good place for buying supplies is Dick Blick. They have a good website and catalog. They have good sales every so often.

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