2023 Portfolio-Arts102_Kyela Yarbrough

Front Cover

TABLE of

CONTENTS

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4

Letter Of Intent

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Designing A Start

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Project 2

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Project 4

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Project 5

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Project 6

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I N T R O 4

Letter of

INTENT

“...designers tend to expect the rest of the world to be as visually sophisticated as they are, and [are] disappointed when they aren’t.” ~ Michael Bierut

As a person oriented around the world of Literature and Art, its the tiny details and intricate strokes within a piece that ignites the imagination and brings me to a thoughtful and colorful pause.

Hello, my name is Kyela Yarbrough. I am an Art Studio major, considering transferring to a Graphic Design major. Fine Arts has always been a point of reference in how my life is dictated and my actions are influenced. From the very beginning, my fascination for art originated from my first cognitive encounter with the medium—movies. The very first movie I watched was “How To Train Your Dragon” and from that year of 2010 I would continue to draw the movie’s main dragon, Toothless the Night Fury, until late in my ninth-grade year; when I was asked by an exasperated peer if he was all I drew.

As disheartening as the moment initially was, it was a sobering wake-up call that eventually proved beneficial for my overall pursuit in design. My perception of the world tends to clash with my peers and the people who do not harbor this fixation with me.

The intensity of my passion can be intimidating and I find it rare that people nurture the same fire as I do, leaving me feeling dejected and isolated sometimes. While reality can disappointing, over the recent years I’ve learned to grow with; expanding my horizons and braving new components of Fine Arts, such as poetry, storyboarding, animation,— but most importantly, Graphic Design.

My interest in Graphic Design ironically started in ninth grade, the same year I was forced to reevaluate my use of art and drawing. From there, I enrolled in my high school’s art class and became accustomed to Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign—predominantly the former. From the first year of high school to my last, I considered where my place lied with art in an adult setting. My mother warn that art could be finicky, advising me to stick to a high-demand job like nursing or psychology. I realized I wouldn’t be happy in a setting like that. I want to spend my time learning about art and its craft, getting familiar with each element, every bit and piece.

I marvel at concept art books and attempt to replicate the careful artistry of the minds who conceive these spectacles. Within the realm of a pen and my imagination, I feel as if my calling is rooted in the field of art. I want to learn, to explore, to expand, to share art with the world. With Arts 102: Design And Technology, my ambition towards this sentiment has only solidified. For those reason, I believe I am ready to take my abilities to the next step within the university and its programs.

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1

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Designing A

START

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Project 1 SIX WORD MEMOIR For my first lesson in “Design Technology and Concepts,” I was not expecting to run into artificial intelligence so soon. With the subject being so controversial, I had my reservations about the program. I suppose I find myself threatened by the possible adverse advancements that come with the development of AI in business.

The assignment tasked students with creating two “Six Word Memoirs’’ that represent them as people, using Craiyon to generate a visual representation for each one. While fascinating as an advancement, the AI had many setbacks. When enlarged, the quality of the resolution decreased, and the images lost the appealing touch present in the original thumbnails. Both of my generations were affected by this. However, the low quality is made more apparent with my first image (top right), as the details are more distinguishable than my second one (bottom right), which is more abstract and less clean.

Craiyon is also a sensitive program.

To get the best results, prompts must be detailed and complex. If you want something similar to paint strokes, the program won’t let you get away with simply stating, “Make something about existence using paint strokes.” It will be more beneficial to get descriptive, distinguishing what kind of paint strokes: watercolors, oils, gouache, etc.

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EXISTING HERE EXISTING THERE EXISTING NOWHERE

What The Font?!

My poems go hand in hand with one another, basically describing the same concept with a different connotation: depicting the mindset that comes with excessive daydreaming and how I cope with it. For the final draft of my first image, I decided to make the most of the colors as opposed to one solid color, using the brighter saturation within the image to depict daydreaming with a lighter tone. Multiple fonts were used to mirror the way my brain inconsistently works. My second image clashed with the majority of my chosen fonts and colors; the results were either hard to read or the text looked out of place. To help with eligibility, I duplicated the text “run,” recoloring it with an added effect to make a subtle outline below.

“The Paint Heals, The Sketchbook Runs.”

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THE ABSTRACT TYPE OF

TECHNOLOGY 11

“Type is like silly putty: endless possibilities and lovely to play with.” ~ Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich

Project 2 Typographic Abstraction The second project for my “Design Technology and Concepts” required me to dip my toes back into Illustrator to complete a collaborative typographic abstraction. The assignment tasked us with manipulating letterforms, where we were set to work under four rules: use one color (black), one typeface, and one weight and size.We were free to use whatever letters we desired to compose our project, with ideas ranging from our names to a piece of literature or simply a random assortment of letters we fancied. As long as we abided by the rules, had three abstractions, and had 12

5x5-sized frames, the criteria would be satisfied. My original impulse was to find a typeface that matched my personality and work from there; ultimately, the idea was rejected in favor of another alternative.

Image Above: A simple first design using the letters of my name with the font, Party LET Plain. The outcome was considered too complicated and was scrapped from the final three submissions.

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The

RIGHT TYPE

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Shift By Shift The first image takes the title of one of my favorite songs, “Face Myself,”

by Ethan Bence and White Gold. Primarily, I played with the placement, attempting to be clever and connect the two words “face” and “myself.” Originally, angling the “E” in “Face” resembled an “M” in a way I really liked; however, this draft did not meet the criteria of abstraction as legibility did not matter in this situation, calling for a revision. The second attempt suffered from the same problem, but after adjusting the length of the letters and utilizing the “Trim View” tool, I was able to obtain more obscurity in my third revision. For my next artboard, I based the project off of lyrics from another song I listened to, “I Love You Hoe”

by Odetari. The title is a bit explicit, but the song has a bumpy beat, and the sound of a song usually attracts me more than the lyrics do. I wanted to incorporate how Odetari’s refrain correlated with the beat, focusing on the repeated lyric, “It’s you.” However, the first attempt (center left) still lacked the abstract adjective of the project, and I had to take a new approach, individually shifting the letters around into certain formations until I got the final result (bottom left).

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One Of Many For my third project, my professor challenged me with limitations: use three letters max, no repetition, and all the letters must strictly be the same size. I came up with multiple alternatives, starting with the rather lame first attempt (see top image using the “S,” “M,” and “L”). Of the seven I designed, I decided to use go with the image on the left, as I originally saw a Narwal sitting on a platform, the “X” being said platform with the “I” as the nose and the left end of the flipped “S” being its tail, minus the fin. If I were to resubmit the project, I would’ve included the “PSC” abstraction (bottom right of top image) since the letters of the “SXI” image are still legible.

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TO DESIGN A

POSTER 19

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Project 3 The Great Ideas Poster For our third project in Design Technology and Concepts, we were tasked with designing a poster that reflected prior advertisements of the non-partisan era, specifically on topics of voting. The poster would be an 11x17 frame with our design based on one of the quotes listed in the instructions. I chose the quote by Martin Luther King Jr: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

When designing a cover, whether it’s for a book or a banner, the intention is to have readable text and an aesthetically pleasing design. If a cover’s design isn’t appealing, there is a high chance the idea will remain disregarded, which is considered a regression in design when the overall goal is to garner an audience and motivate them to take action.

Topics such as voting are not typically my forte. Developing concepts based on the given lists of quotes was a complicated process but I considered MLK’s quote to be the easiest to work with and began sketching out ideas, sticking with small thumbnails as my professor suggested to save time.

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Sketching It’s A Process I went through many ideas for my sketches (bottom left), starting with a book having its pages torn out to a dying sun collapsing. My final design was established from the original two drawings I narrowed down from the sketches: the flatline and the VHS TV powering off. I continued with more iterations of the two to determine which one I favored more (bottom right), but I still couldn’t choose.

A classmate suggested combining the two, detailing how a heart monitor could utilize the flatline and fit the shape of the VHS TV. With a rough idea in mind, I outlined a bigger sketch of a heart monitor and exported it to Procreate.

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Down With The Opacity To emphasize the impact and severity, a texture page from Lucas Peinador pack was added. Additionally, I applied a screen effect to darken the design and give the frame a layer of static.

The opacity was lowered to 62% to maintain its visibility.

It’s In The Style The symmetry tool was used to make the lines chiefly smooth and even on both sides. I used my custom pen to outline and add further emphasis to details with smaller, black strokes. The design primarily utilized a vintage color palette called “On The Telly” (found on Looka.com) in order to somewhat maintain that classic style. The gouache brush and watercolor brush were used to shade the monitor with additional purchased brushes from Lucas Peinador used to add finer details such as the cross-hatching and comic-book dots seen in the design. The quote was kept on the screen of the monitor to be arranged in a way that resembled the information typically displayed on an actual monitor screen.

However, I believed it would be more engaging to have the quote repeat off the screen, cycling much like the rhythmic beeping of the monitor (which I conveyed by highlighting “silent” in a different color). The outcome gave an eerie feel that I believed fit the intended severity of MLK’s tone.

Opacity: 100%

Opacity: 62%

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MAKE IT BRAND

NEW

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Project 4 Character Logo + Mark

GUMBALL

The fourth project for “Design Technology and Concepts” handled logo design. Students were required to use two characters from one property. The logo would include both text and a mark, complimenting the character of their choice. Two sets of logos had to be designed, one in flat colors and the other as a grayscale; there could be no gradients and each logo could not have more than 4 colors (not including black and white). Students would then use InDesign to draft and format an 11x17 template to create a concept statement

for both characters, following the layout: “1 sentence describing the character, 1 sentence explaining formal choices and gestalt principles used, 1 sentence explaining why the typeface was chosen, and 1 sentence to articulate reasoning for color choices.” Our professor encouraged us to pick recognizable characters to help with comprehension within the audience, that being our classmates. I decided to choose one of my favorite animated series, “The Amazing World Of Gumball”; a show that is also considered one of Cartoon Network’s most popular series.

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GUMBALL

GUMBALL

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GUMBALL Gumball Watterson is the teenage protagonist from the Cartoon Network animated series “The Amazing World of Gumball,” known for his snarky and egotistical behavior.

Getting The Character As a character, Gumball’s appearance and name are the most prominent features of his design. My first sketches (top center + right) focused solely on matching his design and shape. With this approach, the mark didn’t offer anything original or truly authentic. Playing with the character’s name, I tried exploring a design that related to gumballs; additionally mixing his design with a TV, as he was a cartoon character, and a “G”. However, I still believed it best to include the shape of Gumball’s face so I designed a mark that resembled a gumball machine while simultaneously emphasizing his head in the shape of the machine’s bowl (center left). From there, I outlined multiple drafts in Procreate.

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Stick To The Source From Procreate, my final rough draft (top) was imported into Illustrator where adjustments were made accordingly. The machine’s body was broken into separate shapes to bring distinction to the design and highlight his more frivolous nature. Making the mark grayscale was a simple task however, finding the right color took a lot of work as I felt my first attempts left the design feeling awkward (bottom). Returning to the character’s origins, I used hex codes from the Cartoon Network anniversary logo to help establish Gumball and his relationship with the network. For the typeface, Bungee, was chosen to resemble bubblegum-like text (not too polished or formal) and play against Gumball’s playful yet mischievous personality.

GUMBALL

GUMBALL 31

Darwin Darwin Watterson is the fish deuteragonist from “The Amazing World of Gumball” series, noted for his optimism and his interesting origins as a pet fish who grew legs and became the brother of Gumball.

Hooked On A Design Just like his brother, Darwin is a fairly recognizable character, almost as equally popular as Gumball. Originally, most of my sketching process followed the approach of Gumball’s. I focused on utilizing Darwin’s recognizability to my advantage by incorporating his most notable features (shoes, eyes, smile, and fish relations) into a design. I predominantly focused on the shoes as a base but I also tested fish bowls, the letter “D”, and a ramen bowl (top left). The shoes appeared as the stronger and more obtainable option.

Through Procreate I outlined more designs (bottom right), playing with the shape and placement of certain details. My main focus was deciphering how to split sections of the mark into appealing compositions, keeping details like his fishtail aligned with the legs. I also had to determine if I wanted to keep the shape of the eye within the shoe’s circular pattern. Eventually, I decided to keep the final rough draft with clean lines and apparent separations between sections.

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Fishing For Color In Illustrator, I decided to revise the draft’s original lines, using the width tool to make thinner strokes for variation. While Darwin isn’t as reckless as Gumball, he occasionally has unorganized moments.

To show the variety in his personality, Brush Script Standard Medium was selected as its use of slants and curves captured the essence of Darwin more faithfully than the other alternative, Finesse (image above, bottom right). Darwin’s final design avoids sharper edges, maintaining a rounder outline to contrast with Gumball’s. For color, the logo utilizes Darwin’s canon colors of green and orange, as his original palette made due for good contrast. There were multiple alternative color patterns for the design; however, I decided against a black outline, keeping it so the design had an outline of the same colors with more contrast. Darwin’s logo was also moved from the right to under the design to keep his design more uniform and aligned with the project’s guidelines.

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SYNTAX! SYNTAX!!

SYNTAX!!!

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Project 5 Syntax Syntax Syntax!!!

The course’s fifth project covered Syntax and Semantics.

The assignment describes them as “ aspects of form such as shape, color, texture, and composition” and “the meaning something carries,” respectively. Students were tasked with choosing a subject matter that could be analyzed for Syntax and Semantics. Four objects must be analyzed with resolution and no backgrounds organized into the provided InDesign template. Analysis would share Syntax (visual elements & and relationships), Semantics: Denotation (specifics), Semantics: Connotation (associations), Semantics: Expression (feelings), and Presence (contextual). Shirts were chosen as my subject matter as they were in immense variety and I liked the idea of utilizing the graphic designs in my chosen shirts for analysis. Each shirt was chosen specifically for this project. I had previously bought products from the Rossdraws (top right) and Undrtd brands (top left), showcasing both shirts seemed like a good way to express myself and the designs I liked, while the other two shirts were derived from my professor, who believed comedy could be pulled from a project like this. The “Don’t Worry Be Happy” shirt was picked to shed light on a potential misinterpretation of the text, “Don’t Be Happy Worry”. The last shirt I found to be a humorous design in itself. For all shirts, my main analysis covered the designs and materials found in the shirts.

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Chapter

HEADING Typeface: Impact, 32 pt (Top), 81 p t (Bottom)

PROJECT INTRO HEADING Typeface: Myriad Pro Bold , 24 pt

SUB HEADING Typeface: Myriad Pro Bold, 11 pt

BODY Typeface: Minion Pro, 10 pt

The Grid

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Colophon Kyela Yarbrough ARTS 102 Daniel Machado University of South Carolina Summer 2023

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Back Cover