Final Book Project-Poem Visualization

The poem that I chose for my final project is titled Cloony the Clown by Shel Silverstein. I chose this poem because I wanted to do a child's poem, but it also has a feeling of despair in it making it relative to all ages. I did all of the textual work and images in Illustrator, and the typeface I used is Chalkboard. I took a couple of the words in the poem and made them look the way they sound. For example, I took the words "green and blue", and made them green and blue. I took the word "tall" and stretched it, and I took the word "shook" and used the tools to make it wavy. I then took images from online and made them look like cartoon images. I created two ellipses on each page and cut out the center to put in the clown nose. I glued the clown nose, hair, bow-tie and arm to the back of the book so it is always showing when you look at each page. I drew the face on the cover with pencils and the same face on the back. I did the front and back cover in foam board and covered the hair with fabric. I was overall happy with the turnout of my project, and I am glad that I was able to finally understand Illustrator.

Cloony the Clown: Poem by Shel Silverstein

I'll tell you the story of Cloony the Clown
Who worked in a circus that came through town.
His shoes were too big and his hat was too small,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
He had a trombone to play loud silly tunes,
He had a green dog and a thousand balloons.
He was floppy and sloppy and skinny and tall,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
And every time he did a trick,
Everyone felt a little sick.
And every time he told a joke,
Folks sighed as if their hearts were broke.
And every time he lost a shoe,
Everyone looked awfully blue.
And every time he stood on his head,
Everyone screamed, "Go back to bed!"
And every time he made a leap,
Everybody fell asleep.
And every time he ate his tie,
Everyone began to cry.
And Cloony could not make any money
Simply because he was not funny.
One day he said, "I'll tell this town
How it feels to be an unfunny clown."
And he told them all why he looked so sad,
And he told them all why he felt so bad.
He told of Pain and Rain and Cold,
He told of Darkness in his soul,
And after he finished his tale of woe,
Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no,
They laughed until they shook the trees
With "Hah-Hah-Hahs" and "Hee-Hee-Hees."
They laughed with howls and yowls and shrieks,
They laughed all day, they laughed all week,
They laughed until they had a fit,
They laughed until their jackets split.
The laughter spread for miles around
To every city, every town,
Over mountains, 'cross the sea,
From Saint Tropez to Mun San Nee.
And soon the whole world rang with laughter,
Lasting till forever after,
While Cloony stood in the circus tent,
With his head drooped low and his shoulders bent.
And he said,"THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT -
I'M FUNNY JUST BY ACCIDENT."
And while the world laughed outside.
Cloony the Clown sat down and cried.

Typeface Project

Self-Visualization Project Write-up

After reading over the description of the project, it took me a while to figure out how to describe myself in so many words, let alone find a picture to begin with. I am still not exactly sure which direction I am going to take with this project, but after answering some o the questions I have a better idea of what approach to use. The one thing that I strive for is happiness and to be positive. I believe that there is always a positive side to every situation, no matter how troublesome it seems. Every day I remind myself of how lucky for numerous reasons. I was raised to look at the glass half full, and that is what I pride myself with every day. We only have one life to live, so why not be happy and make the most of it. Some things that I enjoy are being with my friends and family, listening to music, autumn, good food, reading, drawing and painting, and exercising. If I ever need to de-stress, I can turn to these to help me calm down. I am not always happy with my physical attributes and a day to day basis. Some days I am harsher on myself than others. When I catch myself comparing myself to others, I have to be reminded of the fact that everyone is different and everyone has their own strife’s. One physical aspect that is important is my smile, because I would not be myself without it. For the pictures I will try and combine all of these important attributes about myself and make an aesthetic project

Khalo-Sherman-Xiuwen Comparison

At first glance, I did not feel as much of a connection with Cui Xuiwen's works of art as I did with the other two female artists. Aesthetically to me her pieces are not as pleasing, yet I love the depth and hidden meaning that is put into all of her self-portraits or female portrayal works. She focuses on themes of sexuality and gender as well as the boundary between public and private. What I do appreciate about her works is that it focuses on women's issues and struggles they may have been through. In many of her pictures Cui is featured as pregnant, which shows her caring nature for women.

Cindy Sherman's artwork interests me more than Cui's piece's do. What really is captivating is how she uses herself in almost all of her works, yet they are definitaly not self-portraits. A quote that I found that truely defines her is "Through a number of different series of works, Sherman has raised challenging and important questions about the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art."

When I look at all of Frida Khalo's works of art, I feel a sense of loneliness and sadness. In most of her paintings she is viewed sitting down or face on with not much movement to the piece. She adds in certain elements of horror such as blood and body parts. These pictures, unlike Sherman's, tell the hardships of Khalo's past and the struggles she went through.

After viewing the artwork done by all three women artists, I was amazed by how much they actually have in common. Although they work in different medias (Cui with digital work, Cindy with photography, and Frida with painting) they all have similar underlying messages in their works of art. What I appreciate and hope to be able to replicate in my own self-portrait piece is the delicacy of how they render their hidden meanings in their pieces. The obvious goal in their art is to provoke thought and make the audience question why they are doing this.