Yesterday: Make Crazy Goals

If I found out the world was going to end in 30 days… the only thing I would do is travel. Maybe that makes me pathetic because I wouldn’t spend it with my family or friends but its true. I would travel. So traveling has a whole category of Goals by its self…

Traveling Goals:

Travel to Edinburgh

Travel to Andorra

Travel and Study in New Zealand

Backpack across Europe

Visit all 50 states

Leave the country by the end of 2010.

Other Goals:

Finish a Novel by my 15th birthday

Do you see how disproportionate the lists are? Story of my life, Eyes are disproportionate to my head, boobs disproportionate to my body, thoughts disproportionate to my actions.

Today: decorate sugar cookies

This is a response to my last post on St. Peter’s where I mentioned the use of large proportions to create a look to the basilica that made it seem smaller than it actually is. Two of those ways are evident in these two pictures below (I feel my art historian coming out).

This first picture is of a baby cupid what was in a niche off of the central nave. According to our TA, the little cupid is about the same size, even possibly bigger than the average person. Yet the cupid doesn’t seem that big, because you are significantly below it.

This second picture is of Bernini’s central altar piece. I had studied it in my Italian Baroque art class, so I had seen many pictures of if and was SO excited to see it for the first time up close. I couldn’t believe how big it actually is. The posts that I include in my picture are 5 times the thickness I thought they would be.

The combination of these big objects all over are proportional to each other to give the overall impression that the space is much smaller than one believes it is.

Barbie– the monstrously popular doll of the 20th century!

As a child I owned a cabinet-full of them, but I could never really fall in love with her and I actually preferred to play with my animal toys.  Barbie was too… plastic, she didn’t have enough detail or value.  She’s preteen “corporate,” she’s “american,” barbie is “the woman.”

BJDs, on the other hand, are quickly becoming the new, modern beautiful doll in trend… and I must say that they are frankly a hundred times more stunning and well-made than Barbie ever was.  That, and they cost 25 times as much.  =/  Ball-jointed dolls are customizable, posable, more life-like, and larger.  They are also made by hundreds of artisans in all kinds of different molds!   Maybe I should add that they are Asian – and Asians are known for pushing achievements to the next level.

So out of curiosity, I’ve decided to do a bit of research to compare Barbie proportions with BJD proportions and normal people.  Barbies are approximately on a 1/6 scale, and the standard ball-jointed doll is about 1/3 the size of a real person. Using those proportions, here’s the estimated measurements in inches if the dolls were to be real:

BJD vs. Barbie proportions

“avg american” data taken from this site

Pretty interesting, huh?  I see that Barbie’s chest-waist ratio is more extreme than a BJD’s; though the newer generation is still not exactly realistic in size.

Thoughts?  Introspection on culture, trends?

Sewing a Barbie Pattern to a BJD

This is something I’ve been waiting to do since BEFORE I acquired Senna! =)  My generous grandmother bought me Barbie clothes patterns back in July, and now I’m undertaking the transformation of pattern scaling to make Senna her first real girl clothes.   The blue dress she had before is now too big for her.

Simplicity 4719: these patterns are so small, they could not fit all of the text onto the pieces! XD

Scaling -  I found that Senna’s measurements are approximately twice as big as Barbie’s, so I remade the dress pattern.  The really cool thing about doll clothes is they’re so simple; it is intellectually refreshing to see shapes and curves reduced into basic pieces that are very easy to understand how to fit together. And, the pattern doesn’t even call for lining or a zipper :O

Okay, so I ended up doing a lot more modifications to the pattern than “2x” to make it fit her– partially because I was lazy about getting accurate measurements, seam allowance, etc.  I also ended up lining the bodice with fleece to tone down the NHO, and added fabric in the skirting for modesty with this slightly transparent calico fabric. =)

Although I threw this together too quickly and didn’t even add a fastener in the back, Senna was SO happy to finally have a real dress…..

That she was willing to STAND ON ONE LEG for me for a full ten minutes!! BJD owners out there know that this is incredibly tough for their dolls to perform.

Actually, my original plan with this fabric  was to make a life size dress of similar style.

So… audience participation time! What’s an appropriate price for a custom-made dress of this pattern? I have received feedback that my prices should change – any suggestions on this? I will take what you give me on this one! 

*For some really interesting facts about Barbie’s history, I’d recommend checking out her wikipedia article.

edit: I have received ~5 comments on this, and not one price suggestion for this dress! =/

My current garage studio is getting tight… I need to E X P A  N   D . Why not do it towards nature. Out.

I have a simple question about a Mathematics related topic that you may have first heard of in Elementary or Middle School called CROSS MULTIPLICATION. 

When do you use cross multiplication?

Can you explain and/or define cross multiplication? 

Do you know of any published resources or online links that explain cross muliplication?

Let us know!

Avery (Edu.  Consultant & Trainer)

This week we drew a group of pumpkins in a basket. The first 2 sketches are very basic and the proportions are not correct. The teacher pointed out my problem was with the depth of the basket. Even with after measuring the proportions as we were taught I overestimated the depth of the basket. This made the pumpkins incorrect as I had drawn the basket first. The third sketch I started with a pumpkin and did the basket at the end.The fourth sketch is one I did at home of a pumpkin and some peppers .

(Tiré des travaux d’Alan Flusser, auteur de “Dressing the Man”)

LA POCHETTE

Trouver une photo sur laquelle le Duc de Windsor, Fred Astaire où n’importe quel élégant des années 30 n’arbore pas, quelle que soit sa tenue, une pochette, est quasiment impossible.

Le dernier politicien américain à être considéré comme réellement élégant – le président JFK – ne sortait jamais de la Maison Blanche en costume sans pochette.

Bien que la plupart des hommes d’aujourd’hui soient quelque peu intimidés à l’idée de porter au quotidien cet accessoire leur semblant faire partie d’une autre époque, aucun d’entre eux ne pourra se considérer comme un élégant cultivé sans savoir comment “finir” une mise avec une simple pochette blanche.

En termes de proportions (puisque c’est le sujet de cette série), l’une des façons d’assurer un effet “naturel” de la pochette consiste à orienter l’extrémité extérieure de celle-ci vers l’épaule et de bien prendre garde à ce que la pliure de l’accessoire soit irrégulière.

Quand elle est bien portée, la pochette – véritable signe distinctif de raffinement sartorial – apporte bien plus qu’une “simple” élégance : en faisant “écho” à l’inclinaison du revers de la veste, elle améliore l’impression  de largeur de la poitrine – et donc de tout le haut du corps – de celui qui la porte.

Cheers, HUGO

click to enlarge

How cute is this person?!  I was minding my own business, enjoying the perfect Chicago fall day, when I caught sight of this very fun and creative outfit.  This look is all about balance.  I’m a big fan of how Ayn (a first year from San Diego) mixes the two kinds of stripes of her shirt and shorts.  The blend of wide and thin stripes keeps things under control and gives an intriguing depth to the look.  I also like how she keeps much of the proportions of her outfits trim and small- the vest,  the shorts, the shoes- but balances them with her socks and long sleeved shirt.  I regrettably didn’t  get a close-up of her really cool pendant or her cute bag, but they really added to the eclectic look of the style as a whole.

Ayn: red and blue striped sweater (Forever 21), white v-neck shirt (H&M), white and blue striped shorts (Buffalo Exchange in Chicago), black vest (H&M), knee socks (H&M), plaid Converse style shoes (Wet Seal).

Step 1.  Drag the ‘chest’ slider to the maximum setting.

Step 2.  Done.

That seems to be the standard strategy for many people when they create their characters, especially female avatars.

For everyone else, I found a nice guide someone put together (Joumana Medlej at cedarseed.com) that provides a one page overview of how to draw a body.  The information about proportions can be really helpful when playing around with the detailed character creation tools provided by many games (Champions Online, Aion, Age of Conan, The Sims, etc.)

We have a new teacher now. This looks to be a permanent change. I can only assume this change is because of the dissatisfaction expressed by some last week with the direction  of the class. Why this required a change in the teacher I’m not sure. It does mean that the first two weeks of the course were, not a waste exactly, but somewhat of a false start. While nothing was said it looks like we are no longer doing the a project but will concentrate on drawing skills.

The teacher started with issues with drawing an object. In this case we had a jug in front of use.

The main issue is that we don’t draw what we see but what we remember. We look at the object, look away and draw. The problem is that we are not remembering the specific object, jug, we saw but our internal image/representation  of a jug that we have built up from all the jugs and similar objects we have seen in our lives. So we are not learning to draw so much as learning to see.

Firstly we had a go at drawing the jug.

I can’t remember if this was done before or after learning how to measure the proportions of the image. I think it was after. To measure the proportions we held our pencils out at arms length, at full arms length so it is the same every time, and compared the width/height of the object. By selecting an object in a scene as the basis for measuring the proportions of the scene we are drawing the drawing will be more accurate.

The next technique was to draw the object in a box of the correct proportion. This was used of the jug on the left.

Thirdly was the concept of negative space. To focus not on the object itself but the space around it. These negative spaces are not objects we have seen before so we can focus on them with our brain cluttered with similar examples. The sketch in the left is done using a box and drawing the negative spaces. It seems cleaner when I look at it but is very similar to the previous sketch, the jug mostly being a big rectangle.

Using what we had learned we moved on to a sketch with multiple objects.

Same jug in the middle with a vase and bowl along side. We were seated around the object so all got different views to sketch. I positioned the jug first and then realised I didn’t have enough room to include the other 2 fully. Not that it is an issue but it wasn’t an artistic choice on my part. Just me misreading the proportions of the jug and the size of my sketching area. This is bound to get easier with practice.

We finished the lesson with a charcoal drawing of the same scene.

Next week we are doing tone.

I love oddly proportioned objects. Examples: Dollhouse furniture, needle art, over sized furniture. Philippe Starck used extreme size variations throughout his design of New York’s Hudson Hotel to create a very unique space.

Faustine Léo, Henri Lehmann

Now, I have two opposite reactions to this painting, and those responses shouldn’t really be seen as reflecting on each other.

The first is that her limpidness is a bit too exaggerated. Her head is really that size? Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m surprised that her head and her entire torso are the same size. An obvious explanation for this would be if she’s much younger than I’m thinking.

As for the rest of it — the sky looks like that? Man, how long did they have to wait for a perfectly clear day to pose her in front of?

And this is probably silly of me, but I can’t help thinking that the proportions of sky and land aren’t what I would expect. I guess it’s bugging me that the middle of the picture is virtually right at her waist, so you get a really strong visual divide without really any reason for it…. I mean, it’s not as though she changes at her waist and has a scaly tail or something.

The second thing probably appears to be very nearly a total contradiction of the first, but I don’t believe it really is: the young woman portrayed here bears a strong resemblance to one of my good friends (when she takes off her glasses). That doesn’t mean that any of the above criticisms could be made of my friend’s appearance, though; the similarity is despite the misporportionate head, etc., and so I kind of end up liking the painting. Plus, in a way, the painting itself does strike me as beautiful.

Overall, I dunno. The picture looks sweet and pretty, but some of those elements throw me off enough that I find it a little disconcerting. I think what I like best is the way the colors balance each other from top to bottom, and I like the vine curling in front of her skirt. Being a nice person (or so I like to think), I have trouble saying that I don’t like something unless I really don’t like it, so I’d probably end up giving this one a lukewarm nod.

Artist
Charles-Ernest-Rodolphe-Henri Lehmann (French, 1814–1882)

Title
Faustine Léo (1832–1865)

Date
1842

Medium
Oil on canvas

Dimensions
39 3/8 x 32 in. (100 x 81.3 cm)

Credit Line
Purchase, Wolfe Fund and Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Richardson Gift, 2004

Accession Number
2004.243

credit: www.metmuseum.org

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/all/faustine_leo_1832_1865_charles_ernest_rodolphe_henri_lehmann/objectview_enlarge.aspx?page=5079&sort=0&sortdir=asc&keyword=&fp=1&dd1=0&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=0&OID=110003445&vT=1

There are many examples found on the web on resizing images using PHP while maintaining aspect ratio. However most of them are based on a single maximum dimension i.e. should not exceed a certain size with on either height or width.

I have written the code below that will accept a desired height and width and downsize the source image without exceeding either $maxheight or $maxwidth but still maintain proportions.

Adjust your path to ImageMagick accordingly (/usr/bin/convert)

Go to the Source

(Tiré des travaux d’Alan Flusser, auteur de “Dressing the Man”)

LA CHEMISE

En matière de proportion, le col de la chemise est l’élément-clé qui structure le visage et attire l’attention vers celui-ci. Le choix d’une chemise devrait être guidé principalement par l’adéquation entre la forme de son col et la forme du visage de celui qui la porte. Considérez le visage comme une peinture et le col comme son cadre. Une peinture de petite dimension requiert un cadre de même échelle., tout comme un homme au visage fin a besoin d’un col de dimension réduite. A l’inverse, un visage plus large sera mieux “encadré” par un cadre (le col) de plus grande dimension.

LA CRAVATE

La largeur d’une cravate a toujours été déterminée par la largeur des revers de la veste. Un homme possédant de petites épaules possède également une petite poitrine et donc peu de place pour le revers de sa veste. Il choisira donc des revers étroits qui dicteront la largeur de sa cravate (étroite elle aussi). Inversement, un homme dont les épaules sont larges aura recours à des revers de veste généreux et donc à une cravate plus large. La largeur moyenne du revers à cran (notch lapel) d’un veste droite se situe entre 9 et 10,5 cm. Choisir une cravate dont le bas se situe dans cette moyenne vous immunisera contre les caprices de la mode.

Cheers, HUGO