My COMM-222 Portfolio

November 01, 2020

My COMM-222 Portfolio

Bella Gonzalez COMM-222 Portfolio

Welcome

This here is my Portfolio of work that I have completed throughout my time in COMM-222. This work ranges in different mediums and different ideas. Featured with my works are my descriptions and inspiration behind the piece I created. My work has been created using the following mediums: colored pencils, Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Illustrator.

Unit 4- Visual Elements

I decided to draw some fruit, but I wanted it to be abstract. I did this by separating the stems from the fruits. I also drew the seeds or leaves in different ways than they actually would be. I used colored pencils and a sharpie to create this piece. I really like the composition and how the colors complement each other. While green and yellow aren’t complementary colors, they do blend well together. I do like how the difference in the sizes and shapes of the fruit makes your eye move throughout the piece.

Unit 5- Motif

My composition is 4 different circles which were inspired by the phases moon (which can be seen through the two crescent shapes on the left side). My motif was the variety shapes the shapes that I used throughout. I wanted to focus on using the same 4 shapes in multiple ways to create a different pattern in each circle. I also used a coloring technique that utilized analogous colors. This is why there are only three colors in each circle.

Unit 6- Conceptual Photography

“Don’t Forget; Do Your Part”

The photo features the side of my desk where I keep all my necessities when leaving my room to go out for my day. The side of my desk features my backpack, my keys, but most importantly my masks. There’s also a sticky note by my masks that reads “don’t forget” because I tend to be forgetful sometimes. I wanted to express how important the masks are by adding the magenta lines that come out from it. Masks are important in this current situation in the world. They’re so simple yet so beneficial. This idea came into my head after I received news that one of my best friends from Ohio was diagnosed with COVID-19. He had always worn a mask, was careful when leaving his dorm, took all social distancing precautions, and did all he could to protect himself. Everyone should be like my friend. People shouldn’t disregard what is going on. People need to do their part and wear a mask. Not only for themselves but for the sake of others. I believe people need to take this more seriously because it is real and it is affecting people. I want this photo to be a sign for people to realize that they need to do their part and wear a mask. For my photo, it was shot on my iPhone, edited in Lightroom, and lastly, the writing was added in on Photoshop.

Unit 7- Self Portrait

My name is Bella Gonzalez, and I hate talking about myself. But, I'm 18 years old (19 on Tuesday). I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio, but Orlando, Florida feels more like home to me. I come from a small family of 5 with two brothers. I have an older brother who is 27, Mikey, and a younger brother who just turned 17, Spencer. My brothers and I are fairly close. That has changed over the years because we all grew up to do our own things. Growing up, my brothers and I were all about sports. It was always going to whatever game there was that weekend. My brothers and I loved to play games. As I got older, I found music which is really important to me. I had stopped sports after an injury and began to focus more on music. I was already playing cello for school, but I started to teach myself guitar in 8th grade. That then turned into me teaching myself bass and ukulele. I've tried to teach myself piano, but it's really hard to learn as a lefty. Yes, I'm left-handed, but I don't play lefty guitar. Music has been really important to me and it helps me get through a lot of things but that's not it. Over the past few years, I've become a cinephile. The connotation isn't great, but it just means I love movies. Movies have become very important to me. My grandparents began to expose me to the Turner Classic Movie channel about 4 years ago. Now I can't get enough. They are always giving me different suggestions and I'm filling them in on what is playing and when it is playing. We always catch up and talk about what we have been watching. I love all of the aspects of the film, but mostly the scores. As a kid, I kid you not, I wanted to be a film score composer. I have always had a love for music in films. Music and film go together like bread and butter. Which is how music and me or me and film go together. Both are great on their own, but when combined together it is magic. I have always been captured by music and by the film which is why I'd. love to work in the industry one day. I can spend all day playing guitar or watching movies (which I have). They are some of the most important aspects of my life which is why I chose to portray them in my self-portraits. I wanted to capture the happiness I find in my guitar and in film. I'm sitting at my desk with my guitar in hand as I watch my favorite film of all time (which some say is the greatest film ever made), Casablanca (1942). I will spare you all of the details of why I love this film, but this film means a lot to me. I have seen it at least 10 times this year. I cannot stop watching or thinking about this film. I wanted Casablanca to be the film on my laptop screen because it's my favorite film. The photo also features my reflection in my mirror, because I personally am not a fan of having my picture taken. My smile is due to my finding a really nice chord on the guitar, but also Humphrey Bogart being a phenomenal actor. As for lighting, I had my LED lights on which are the purple lights in the background, but that made the photo come out too dark originally. I then turned on my desk light and got this picture. As for editing, I used VSCO and followed what I normally do when editing pictures, which is bringing out the cooler tones, because I love cooler tones. This was shot on my iPhone. My photo takes inspiration from a few shots in When Harry Met Sally (1989) where Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) are talking on the phone, but they're both watching Casablanca. The screen of the film is split to show both characters watching the film at the same part from each of their homes. I had thought of that scene and decided to take inspiration from that.

Final Project Works:

Pictured below are my film posters which I designed myself. These posters are from movies that are best picture winners at the Academy Awards. For more details on each poster see the next post for an in-depth explanation of what I am trying to achieve. These were all created on Adobe Illustrator.