Friday, June 10, 2011

Moosh

Ah. I see I need to expand on what I think of as "moosh". I fear that my use of that word sounded judgmental. I understand. It is my own word and does sound a little negative. But that is not how I mean it.

It is not about representational vs. non-representational. It is not about "neat and tidy."  It is not about good and bad. I think it is about resolution as much as anything. About crisp edges or blurred edges and depth or flatness. Transparency and opacity. Definitely about contrast. Apples and oranges, not better or best. And just to be clear, again, I like it all,and what intrigues me the most when solving my own problems, is more toward the crisp and clear and graphic as opposed to the mooshy and complex. But what I make is not entirely without a bit of moosh.

To demonstrate I did some little samples in Photoshop. Simple stuff, not for real. Here is extreme crisp and graphic, sans moosh:


For those who crave a bit more texture, less structure, more moosh:


And even more:


See? The first design has gotten mooshed around, hopefully in a good way, and becomes something altogether different.

I hope that clears that up. Probably it doesn't.

6 comments:

  1. And I like all three!! LOL

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  2. Me too, but totally tend toward Mooshy #3....probably because I am squishy, but so totally not mooshy in a sentimental kind of way...just got a thing about layers graphically, not embellishly (okay that is completely a made up word).

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  3. Gerrie, my point is that I LIKE all three as well. What I make is probably closer to the second one and I'd say what you make is closer to the third one.

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  4. It's clear as "moosh!"

    I wish I could be like #1 (I admire that in others), but alas, it will never be. My art is somewhere between you and Gerrie, which, is actually a pretty nice place to be!

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  5. It's clear as moosh. (Someone beat me to the punchline). You always seem well articulated.

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  6. Wow, great explanation of Illustrator! I had played with it years ago and got totally 'under' the learning curve with no way out so abandoned it in frustration. You totally deserve that new studio, how fabulous will that be! Can't wait for the next step to appear.

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