Blog 5

My most significant accomplishment in this class was figuring out how to use the pen tool and how to make my own brush on my own for my final project.  I utilized online tutorials and just played around on Photoshop to achieve the effect that I really wanted.  A picture of my final project follows.  I used the pen tool for most of the curved lines in the image and I used my own brush to create the filmstrip.

The most challenging thing for me in Photoshop (at least initially) was the skill of using layer masks.  I experimented on the first day we learned the technique and achieved the following effect:

It looks decent but not very convincing.  The blending looks poor and the windows do not look crisp.  Also, you can still see some of the edges of the house.  For my midterm project, I really wanted to improve my layer masking abilities.  I wanted to replace the sky with a wormhole/clock.  I put the picture in the background and utilized masking layers to achieve the desired effect.  I was much happier with the end result that time.  The sky looked realistic and the edges were crisp (but not too crisp!) in addition to blending well with the colors of the original photograph.  An image of my midterm is below--it is probably too small to really see the details, but you get the general idea.

I also developed my meaning-making abilities throughout the quarter.  A good example of this can be seen by comparing my second quiz with my final project.  For the second quiz, I more or less just created a beach scene with no further meaning behind it.  On the other hand, almost everything I did for the final had some kind of idea behind it that I was trying to convey or at least leave open to interpretation.  Making meaning is not hard; it just takes a deliberate thought process.  Throughout the quarter I realized that the cognitive process required to make meaning out of artwork was something that I already possessed--I just further developed the skill of tapping into my mind and thinking about how to depict an idea that I wanted to show in my work.  Below are pictures of my second quiz and final for comparison. It is easy to tell that my final has a much deeper meaning than my second quiz.

Overall, I really enjoyed the Photoshop class.  I learned some cool techniques that I can take with me for later use both on a personal and a professional level (I already created a Photoshop document for my marketing class!).  Also, I further developed my interpretation and meaning-making skills throughout the quarter.  I will continue to explore and enjoy Photoshop long after this quarter is over!

Blog 4

My Big Idea for the final project explores emotions.  I want to create a series of pieces that display various emotions.  I will be incorporating color schemes and various pictures to convey these emotions--specifically, I plan to use green to show tranquility, blue to depict sadness, red to convey anger, and yellow to communicate happiness.  The pictures I select will fit in with the emotion in the particular piece.  Additionally, I will incorporate motion through the use of a filmstrip and light effects (the techniques I will incorporate, see below).  This is to show how emotions are unstable and fleeting and they can change in the blink of an eye.  I can envision my work as decorative art--it is a colorful series so it would be fun to use somewhere.  It could also be used as album art.

I drew on several sources of inspiration for my idea.  The filmstrip idea came from Apple's iLife packaging, seen below:

My inspiration for playing with colors in a series came from Andy Warhol's famous silkscreen work with Marilyn Monroe.  A part of that series follows:

The last inspiration from my work comes from a collection of looks by designer Mondo Guerra.  He uses colors and shapes very artfully to communicate his point of view as a designer.  I also intend to use colors and shapes to make my point of view clear.  A sample of his looks:

I plan to use 2 new techniques that will from a majority of the project.  I will create a helix and using the pen tool and the warp tool as well as masking, gradients, and shapes to achieve the effect of a filmstrip.  The tutorial can be seen here:

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/photo-strip-photoshop-tutorial

The second technique I plan to experiment with for my final project deals with glow and lighting that I plan to use behind the filmstrip.  I will once again use gradients, the pen tool, and overlay methods to achieve this effect.  The tutorial that I plan to use is this one:

http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials-effects/advanced-glow-effects/

I am excited to begin working on the project and experimenting with the tutorials.  Hopefully my project transfers well from my head to photoshop!  =)

Today, I leafed through several photographers' and digital artists' work to find a few that inspired me.  The first that I really enjoyed was the work by Stephen Carroll.  A few of my favorite images follow, and his photostream on Flickr can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/scarroll99/

I really liked Stephen's work because I think each picture tells a story.  The lighting in his photos and the filters he uses are also very interesting and add a lot of depth to his pictures.  I also enjoy his work because I identify with his Big Idea, which I believe to be emotions.  Each of his photographs evokes some sort of emotion.  In the 3 images of his work that I have provided, I think the first displays happiness, the second shows desire, and the third depicts sadness.  He is a master at capturing emotion, which I find truly inspiring.  After looking at his work, I am curious to learn more about the stories behind each image and from where he derives his inspiration.

Stephen's work is very inspirational for my final project.  I would love to be able to evoke such a strong sense of emotion from my own work.  Stylistically, I would like to try to incorporate a larger usage of filters and saturations into my final project, because I think these strongly help to deliver a higher sense of emotion in Stephen's work.  Stephen is a very talented photographer who has mastered the art of conveying emotions.

The second artist whose work I really enjoyed is named Jeannette Woitzik.  She is a very talented digital artist.  Her work can be found on the following website:  http://schnettepics.de/index.php?x=browse

Jeannette's work appealed to me because I appreciate the dream-like quality of her artwork and the innocence and warmth of her work.  I think her Big Idea revolves around this perfect, dream-like state.  I find the simplicity of her work very inspiring--each picture has a very obvious focal point, yet her work is still beautifully intricate and her talent with photoshop is very obvious.  Once again, I am curious to see where she finds her inspiration.  I also noticed the recurring heart balloon in her work, and I am wondering what the specific significance of the balloon is.

I will definitely try to incorporate some elements from Jeannette's work into my final project.  Her work inspires me to use only one or two things as a focal point in my final project, but to use intricate and beautiful backdrops to frame this object impeccably.  I will try to narrow my focus to make my own work stronger.  I also like her use of a vignette in her pictures to make it seem more dream-like.  Seemingly small details like this can add a lot to a work of art, and I will try to keep an eye out for such opportunities in my work.

Overall, I enjoyed thumbing through various artists to get inspiration for my final project.  Both Stephen and Jeannette used interesting techniques that I will keep in mind as I work on my final project.

Makeup in Photoshop

I love playing with my makeup, so I decided to hone my Photoshop makeup skills by trying out the following tutorial: http://effects.worth1000.com/tutorials/161629/make-up

I started with the following picture, where I tried to emulate the angle of Scarlett Johansson's face in the tutorial:

I then followed the blog's instructions on how to perfect the skin by pressing Q and using the paintbrush tool to select the skin area and then feathering it and adding a Gaussian blur.  A few times I had to reselect an area because it was hard to do it on my laptop with the trackpad rather than a mouse.  I reduced the opacity of the background copy layer a little bit, but I didn't think the blur and feathering made a large enough difference that I needed to make this layer really opaque.  I also cropped the image in this step.  The results are as follows.

The next step was adding eye and lip makeup.  This step was fun--I first added black eyeliner and then I selected a dark grey for my eyelid crease area and a green for my lid and under-eye color.  I then chose a berry color for my lips and added "lipliner" a shade darker.  I was pleased that the eye makeup did not cover over my eyelashes or make them look funny.  I had this problem in class, and for some reason it did not happen this time.  That was a relief because I did not want to use the pen tool to draw in individual lashes!  For all of the makeup steps I used a Gaussian blur and changed the opacity to make it look as natural as possible while still maintaining the fun makeup look.

Next I did face definition.  This step really did remind me of real makeup.  I used the brush tool with white on Soft Light and highlighted the T-zone along with the tops of the cheeks.  I then contoured the cheekbones by using the brush tool colored black on Soft Light.  Both layers were then Blurred and the opacity was reduced to make them look more natural.  I also learned the importance of ensuring that it was on soft light...  at first I forgot and the cheekbone contouring looked a little too Halloween-like!

Finally, I sharpened the eyes, nose, and mouth area to add more definition to the picture.  I then adjusted the blue/cyan levels in the picture (just slightly--too much looks weird) and called it a day.

Overall, I was pleased with the effects.  The only thing I might change is adding some highlights to the collar bone as well (and maybe not having a shower curtain as the background and the poor bathroom lighting next time).  I am looking forward to using the techniques and tools that I experimented with today in future projects!

I found some lovely artwork by digital artist Gale Franey.  She resides in Vancouver, Canada, and uses Photoshop, Flash animation, digital photography, After Effects, and Final Cut Pro for her works.  The first piece of hers that really struck me was the following:

It is entitled "Friends and Acquaintances".  This piece's denotation shows a girl toddler who holds a stuffed rabbit standing in a garden with a fence.  There appears to be a fairy of sorts peering down on the girl from above.  There are 2 dragons on the fence and a butterfly on a flower.  There is also lightning in the background and some bubble-like items in the scene.  It is very colorful and ethereal.  The connotation I draw from the image is the innocence and imagination of childhood.  The girl is in a beautiful, almost dream-like garden.  Dragons and fairies are common children's tale lore, which adds to the connotation of child-like imagination (the title also supports this interpretation).  The bright colors and the appearance of the girl (hair, clothes, and facial expression) all remind me of the innocence of childhood.

The next piece that I particularly enjoyed follows:


This image is known as "Lily."  It is comprised of over 70 layers in Photoshop.  The denotations of the image depict a pretty woman in a purple dress watering lilies with a purple can.  She also holds a small sparrow in her left palm and she appears to be in a forest clearing.  This image has a connotation of peace and fragility.  The beautiful light colors, the softness of the woman's features, and the fact that she is holding a small bird and taking care of flowers suggest the delicacy of the scene.  Life is also apparent, as there are trees, flowers, and wildlife in this surreal scene.  The setting and actions of the woman really conveys a message of oneness with nature.

I really enjoyed Gale's work.  She can do amazing things with her computer!

Sources:

My attention was drawn to Gale by looking at this blog post:
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/30-deviant-digital-artists-painters-illustrators-worth-to-watch/

Pictures and information found on the following:
http://www.thegraphicgroove.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/galefraney/
http://galefra.deviantart.com/