A Fresh Start!

Hey everyone!
    Initially this was a blog that I started for a class project from my good old college days. My intense love for all things ratty carried through into my assignments a lot, but now that I'm not in school anymore and still have that love for rats I've decided to resurrect my blog into something fun! :) Don't let the name fool you, this blog is for all rat lovers. I will post pictures and updates of our current furry family as well as links to other interesting / helpful blogs and even the arts and crafts rats. So hold tight while I redesign, re-post and revive Artsy Rats.

Achromatic Ratticus

Achromatic rat! Many people refer to this as black and white, or grayscale, which is correct but we will refer to Jared's picture as achromatic because it has no distinctive hues. 

Anticipated Movement & Contour

Tis the season! In this particularly festive picture the viewer can see the movement. Even though this is an image that is not actually moving, you can see from the rat's (Demetri's) position that he was in the middle of climbing down and running away with a small pumpkin! Before I grabbed it from him of course. Demetri's body actually has a nice curved line from his tail to his nose and his little feet are sprawled out to support him in motion. The contour of his body really stands out among the black background.

Accent & Implied Line

This picture is just so odd and cute, it had  to be used for something. So this is a perfect example of an accent!  It's hard to focus solely on one thing because the rat is draped over the dinosaurs head and the dinosaur is so large and bright. But the rat is so bright because she's hairless that you focus on her as well.  In this photo the rat is the accent because she is the secondary focal point with less emphasis than the dinosaur. The direction that the rat's head is pointed it creates a strong diagonal and an implied line down to the bottom right.

Worm's Eye View & Balance

Worm's eye view! Now to get a worm's eye view of a rat you have to be pretty low to the ground to begin with, but this wasn't too hard. Giving Jared a 'yogi' was the best way to get him to sit still so that I could get on the ground and take this shot. It's still stretching it a little bit because it's not too dramatic of a view. Although, because he is sitting in a "rounded" position and is smack in the center of the image, this comes across as a symmetrical piece. The background is dark and the foreground is simple enough and white that the plump rat in the middle makes it a very balanced piece.

Complementary Contrast, Contrast, Contrast!

The two sisters themselves, Belle and Luna are contrasting each other to begin with, I really wanted to push it forward with one of our favorite stuffed animals and my Interface Design binder! Belle is a gray, dumbo female rat, and Luna is a hairless, female rat. Luna's light skin color is almost in complete contrast to Belle's dark smooth fur, as is the Cheshire cat's pink color to the lime green binder I use. 

The way these two little girl rats look, expresses each of their personalities too. Belle is docile and loving, but Luna (short for Lunatic) is constantly running and moving! It's only fitting that they look the opposite as well.

Holy Repeated Figure, Ratman

This is an image out of a book called "RATS! The good, the bad and the ugly" it's a illustrative history of them.  I love this picture and I have it as my background on my computer currently! This is repeated figure, or repetition because of, obviously, the many rat bodies cuddled together and moving.