Final Illustrations

Food Illustrations

Project Proposal

The Mexican Culture (Music/Dance and Cuisine)

For my Senior Project, I will be creating an interface design that will communicate the history of Mexico’s music/dance and cuisine. Being of Mexican heritage, I have experienced a lot of encounters with other people who are not familiar with the Mexican culture and will confuse certain types of music and food with other Latin American countries. Going off of that, my goal is to bring awareness of the authenticity of music/dance and food that Mexico should be known for.

The topics I will be covering are:

Traditional Music and Dance

Their History of Origin, Instrumentation, Performance, Attire, and the dance style

Mariachi

Banda

Norteño

Rancheras

Corridos

Cumbia

I would like to include my own personal graphic design for each genre, a musical example, and the dancing type. This would be through interface design, by having either links or buttons that would lead to a song recording or a video.

Cuisine

Barbacoa

Pozole

Menudo

Tamales

Carnitas

Flautas

Enchiladas

I will include a brief description of what they are, my own digital illustration of them, and the ingredients used. I will also include the history origin and influences of each cuisine dish. The idea is to familiarize the audience with authentic Mexican dishes as opposed to other Latin American dishes and “Americanized” Mexican dishes.

The design aspect of this project will include the interface design itself, which will be a website, only I have a different style of outline in mind. Rather than the typical outline, I was hoping to experiment with placement and transitions. I will also be including my own digital illustration for each topic. Voice over recordings was also something in mind to include in my interface design. I would record my voice explaining what each music or dish brings to the Mexican culture, rather than having the viewer read a long paragraph of text. A 5x5 scale is what I had in mind, but for printing, I would consider doing a larger scale around an 8x8. Because they would be around 14-15 illustrations, I think the scale would not exceed an 8x8.

The presentation of prints would be set up to where the information is typed out, and the prints would be placed next to them. I would then include the link to my interface design on each posted image/text.

Project Ideas!

Project Ideas for Senior Project

Idea 1

Create a series of compositions for Women in Music. The history of women in music has been dug up more and more over the years, but women were never really recognized for their achievements during their lifetime. To bring awareness of the great female composers and performers in music history, I will pick a few different genres that were male dominant and introduce women that were not recognized for their ability to compose and perform just as great. The compositions will be digitally illustrated, and have text of their music works and years they were involved in music. Here is an idea of what I had in mind. This portrait was done by Favianna Rodriguez. Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican-American singer/songwriter for Cumbia music. She was shot and killed by the president of her fan club at the age of 23. 

 

Idea 2

To create a series of graphics that focus on Mexican culture including: food, music, dance, and apparel. The traditions of Mexican culture evolve and vary from different places all over the country, and many seem to generalize the culture with other Latin American countries. The idea is to demonstrate, with my series, the difference between Mexico and other Latin American cultures.

Some examples: 

 Music and Dance                                                       Food

Idea 3

I felt it would be interesting to hit the topic of gender stereotypes. It has always interesting to see how the media portrays woman in male dominant positions, or the idea of men taking roles that are stereotypically supposed to be for women. I was thinking of creating a series of comparisons to how society would think of women in certain positions, and how they would look in reality. Here are some examples:

Inspiration

http://www.favianna.com/

 Favianna Rodriguez is a Chicana woman who has used her works to bring awareness of social issues in the areas of immigration, education, and gender inequalities. She has been a true inspiration to me and my works.

Introduction

My name is Corina Gonzalez, and I am a Digital Arts major at the University of Oregon. 

I was told by a great female artist that the best way to experiment with self-portraits is to let go of any insecurities and just show your true colors. Here are a few self-portraits I came up with. 

 Here are a series of photos where I positioned myself in ways that make it look like they were unexpected shots. This was my way of mocking the silly photos people will post on their profile pages when its obvious who really took them. Here I reveal that it was indeed a self-taken photo.

I have always been self conscious of my side shot. I avoid them completely when having my picture taken. In order to face that problem, I decided to create an outline of my profile shot.                  

Music and lyrics have always touched me in a very powerful way. I am extremely sensitive when it comes to strong lyrics and tunes. This self-portrait was made to demonstrate the way the lyrics "between the lines of fear and blame" make me feel.

Student Activism

I have been affiliated with the University of Oregon's MEChA student union for three years now. It is a Chicano student movement group on campus that strives for immigration and education rights. This image was created to show the two women helping each other prepare for a rally to promote higher education for all and equal human rights.
"It is our duty to fight, it is our duty to win, we must love each other, and respect each other, we have nothing to lose but our chains." -Assata Shakur