Reflection

1. I think my most significant accomplishment was creating a meaningful idea for my final.  I chose the Bid Idea of technology because I felt it was an idea that everyone could relate to including myself because our generation as grown up through the development of technology.  I remember my parents first cell phones and it's amazing how far cell phones have come compared to today's popular iPhone which is included in my final piece. I wanted people to step back and really think about how much we use technology and what our lives would be without it.  I wanted to reveal to them that it is our "drug" we need to have it, although we survived before with books and the typewriter as the left side presents. I think it was easy for others to recognize my idea.  In my final I felt a lot more confident with basic Photoshop techniques which helped me further explain my Big Idea visually.


2.  The most challenging tool for me was the liquify tool.  I remember first learning the tool for the Retouching quiz.  During the lesson I tried many times to slim someone's nose and face but I could never get it to look natural.  For the retouching quiz, I chose an image of a female with a larger nose because I really wanted to improve my skills with this tool.  It took me many tries but I finally got the nose to look smaller without looking fake.  This gave me a lot more confidence with this tool and I even used it in various portions of my final as well.



Before



After

3.  I want to compare my midterm and final.  While both had meaning, I think my midterm achieved a more hidden connection as opposed to my final which had a more obvious meaning.  My midterm left a lot more room for interpretation than my final.  The faces were unrecognizable and there were a lot more shadows and dark spaces for the viewer to fill in.  I used a lot more opacity in my midterm and hardly at all in my final.  Although both dealt with human beings I think my midterm as much more vague while my final with the technology and recognizable iPhone app buttons led the viewer to a more obvious connection.  Sometimes in art, I think it's good to lead the viewer but I also think it's important to leave room for their own interpretation without much guidance at all.
 

Midterm




Final

Change

I decided to change my Big Idea for the final. I chose technology rather than desire. I could relate easier to technology because as I have grown and adapted so has it. It seemed more interesting than my previous idea!

Final Project Brainstorming

I decided to change my Big Idea to technology. I wanted to represent that the world is addicted to technology. It is our drug. On one side of my diptych I have a pill bottle in the form of an iPhone with pills spilling out with the common technologies we use everyday. The other side is more of the past when we before we had technological advances. I feel that this topic was something more that I could relate to because I have grown up experiencing the changes in technology from cds to dvds, to labtops.

Final Project Brainstorming

I chose the big idea of Desire. I wanted to specifically focus on the desire of visual imagery which leads to truth often tied with an emotional bond.  The bet way I could relate this idea is through the medical technology of ultrasounds.  Ultrasounds use sound waves to produce an image.  When a pregnant woman gets an ultrasound the sound waves don't mean much to her but when these waves produce an image of the fetus, an immediate bond forms.  An image or photograph for most human beings presents a sense of truth or reality of higher value than sound waves for instance.  For my diptych I wanted to portray this idea.  On the left side, I created a more scientific feel with images of sound waves, text, and most significantly sound waves.  These ideas create much less desire and attachment than what I present on the right side. On the right I have placed a 3D ultrasound image in a camera lens.
(I'm not entirely sure how or where my work could be used, perhaps a hospital brochure)

My references include images of sound waves, 3D imaging and medical illustrator Craig Foster.  I knew the ultrasound produced images but I didn't really know it was by sound waves. I started questioning the point of creating the image when doctors had all they needed with the sound waves. I realized humans thrive for the desire of a recognizable image. The image is their truth, something they understand. The visual is always around us.  I began research on medical illustrators to see how sound waves were illustrated as well as other medical processes. I came across Craig Foster. I was inspired by his techniques in Photoshop and other computer programs.
http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/CraigFoster/view

I really want to utilize Layer Masks in this project. It was my most challenging quiz and I want to try and use it for this project to improve.

Inspiring Artists

 1. Bansky

 

When thinking of artists with "Big Ideas" Banksy immediately came to mind. Banksy is a well-known street noticed who ironically isn't known at all. He has managed to hide his identity from the public eye, working masked and at odd hours of the night. I am inspired by Banksy's work because with it comes much political and social controversy. Often his images hold individuals of discrimination such as blacks, homeless, and gays.  I think his works are visually appealing and definitely carry with them a sort of social impact often hard to find in artwork.

 http://www.streetartutopia.com/?p=720

 http://mccallumsurfboards.com/content/?attachment_id=884

http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/horizontal_1.htm

http://cetodalari.info/?p=1573

I appreciate Banksy's realistic figures as well as his limited use of color. I think He uses color in just the right places and the correct amount to reach viewers. You couldn't walk by these images on the street without some thought toward them, whether it be positive or negative. 

2.Sarah Beeston


I really enjoy the work of Sarah Beeston. She is a illustrator specializing in fashion and pop culture. Her medium is usually mixed media with layering done in Photoshop. I'm attracted to her work because of the colors and freedom of her lines. It has a feel similar to Banksy. There are many unique individual depicted with using vivid colors and splattered. It releases a feeling of chaos. We are not quite sure where to look but we know we want to look. I question if she knows the individuals she creates or if they come from her inner thoughts and desires. The meanings or Beeston's images are not as easy to discover as Banksy's were, although both artists use text. I think Banksy's images are appealing do to context, while Beeston's are appealing due to content.

 http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/SarahBeetson/all

 http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/SarahBeetson/all

http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists/SarahBeetson/all

Tutorial

Photo Before

http://kastroud.blogspot.com/2011/03/reading-response-10.html

 The photo started to change after applying the Gauassian Blurr Effect.

I got a little nervous after I adjusted the Brightness and Contrast because of how unrealistic the effects became after making the changes.

It was really important after I adjusted the Hue/Saturation to move it ahead of the Brightness/Contrast step which I did after the adjustment of Saturation was made at -60

This step was the most fun for me. It was amazing how the eraser took away the layers underneath of the top merged layers. It was cool to see how the layers on top of each other all worked together when the erasing began. To produce my final image I changed what the directions told me. Instead of using the eraser tool and finding out what portions of the photo the light hits, I just simply adjusted my opacity which we use a lot in class. It made the lighting way more realistic!

Photo After

                      Tutorial Link: http://www.worth1000.com/tutorials/163028/lighting

I chose a beginner tutorial because I don't know anything about Photoshop but what we've learned in class and I don't have much confidence in what I'm doing just yet but the lighting lesson was really helpful in going over merging layers and making selections. The lesson was so helpful in going in-depth step by step. It was great for learning where some of the buttons are located in photoshop.  I recommend this website to anyone who is new with Photoshop. Great tutorials!

Tutorial