Blog 5: Self-evaluation of my progression in this photoshop class

I really have learned a lot about photoshop this quarter. I used to fear photoshop and look at it as this sophisticated software that only professionals work with. I even had to learn easier softwares (photo-brush, paint) to edit basics in my images. I thought it would be a great challenge for me to try to break this fear and make something of it. and I would like to think that I have succeeded :)

 The most significant accomplishment that I've done in this class is making meaning of an image. It wasn't really my focus at first, and I thought digital editing is just a showcase of skills, but it turned out that meaning is the most important part of an art and I feel like I have accomplished that clearly in my midterm project (posted in the previous blog).

The most challenging learning experience is using the liquify tool (performed in blog 2). This was challenging mostly because we haven't done it in class. instead, I had to go through a self-learning experience to master it.

Blog 4: Motivation for the final project

this is how far I'm in the big idea project:

The Big Idea in this artwork is that time passes no matter where we are, or no matter what we feel. The meaning-making of this work is that even if you are living the time of your life, there's always another part of this world that is suffering. This was implied by using a diptych that represents the two different sides of the story.  The two sides are represented as paintings in museum. The left painting shows war in some part of the world. Distraction all over the place. The right painting shows simple love. A bride and a groom looking forward to a new happy life. Both paintings include this tree that has all seasonal leafs. This tree is the constant between the two images and it represents time.

These two artworks include different ways of representing time. They inspired me to represent time in a different way for the final project.


I will try to use the liquefy tool in this project to re-size or adjust parts of the image to fit the whole project artistically.

Blog 3: Two artists related to my Big Idea

I searched the internet to find two digital artists that will help me develop my big idea. Here, I will talk about their art work and what I like about it.


for the first artist, Ilan Lichtnayer, I found these two artwork that I really like.

 This artist tries to express the big picture of life in simple actions. The birth and death. Our love and all. The big idea in their work is that whether you like or not time never stops and the clock will always keep ticking. in the other work the artist tries to show that love results in attaching yourself to somebody else.
I find the simplicity and the presentation of humans as figures makes this artwork special. The first work inspired me by presenting a key on the bottom right of the image that represents a tool to make use of time and that a human has the choice to use this tool. I may use this work to help me develop a new approach to represent time in my final project. The artist's approach of using small details to represent his ideas can help me in developing the final project by trying to include more smaller details to clarify the big idea in the project.
artist's website: http://findigart.com/


Here is some work from the second artist, Rich McLean

This artist is very creative and unique. His ideas are very wide but well defined. Both of the artworks posted talk about the same big idea. They involve consumerism and trouble, isolation and prohibition all together. Many aspects inspire me in this artwork. The difference within each piece, the fact that each part complements the others, and the main idea that is presented overall. The second part of the first image really speaks of itself. It shows a person riding the swing on a resistor (part of an electrical circuit). This really shows that we cannot live without electronics and gadgets anymore!
I can use this art in developing other similar ideas that would complement my Big Idea. I can use smaller pieces put together to represent a much stronger idea.
from http://richmclean.carbonmade.com/

Bubble Apple!

This is a tutorial for creating a bubble apple using Photoshop. The idea was borrowed from this tutorial:
http://www.worth1000.com/tutorials/162092/how-i-created-bubble-berry


This is the start photo I began with:

and the final image is:

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Below I will explain step by step how I reached this final image:

1. I copied this bubble and placed it on top of the apple and resized it to cover the whole apple. The opacity of the bubble layer was lowered so the edges of the apple are visible. 

2. The edges of the bubble were fitted to match the apple. This was done using the Liquefy tool.

3. The color of the bubble layer was then changed to black and white, then the layer was duplicated and the duplicate is set to overlay at 60% opacity. The result looks like this.

4. The apple was then erased from the background layer without erasing the leaf, then a white brush with different opacities was used at several places to make it more realistic and shiny!

5. The bubble effect was added using a source bubble picture and was fitted to the edges of the apple using the Liquefy tool (similar to step 2). The layer was then set to overlay at 60% opacity and set above all layers. 

6. Final retouching steps were performed to smooth the edges and the bubbly apple was placed in a cup

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Things I used differently from the original tutorial:

I used the brush tool instead of the eraser tool. I thought it would fit more with the image. 

Different levels of opacity were used for each layer to give the best results.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial :)

Connotations and Denotations

I found this website for the artist Michael Muller that is really amazing and has some wonderful images. 

These two images below caught my eyes and really made me think of the differences between connotations and denotations a single picture can send to our minds!

Denotations: 

As I look at the first image, I see a guy jogging in a roadway and his traced footsteps are on fire. He’s jogging in a deserted area with no sign of life around him. He seems to be just normally enjoying his run.

The other image shows the legs of an athlete who is wearing his running shoes and has scars all over his left knee. The background is dark and the image is in high contrast. The brand of the shoes is shown “Skydex” and there is a short paragraph written that talks about the fears people have about running and why it feels hard

Connotations:

Both images are advertisement for the running shoes company. As I look at the first image, I get the feeling that these shoes make you run much easier. It can be seen in the guy’s face as he is jogging so calmly but he seems to be going really fast by his fiery footstep. The running shoes are red as well and are good looking.

The other image also gives me the feeling that the running shoes would make me run faster. It’s shown that this person has hurt himself because of the speed he was running at. This is also complimented by the short paragraph. “In fact, if you’re running easy, odds are you’re not running at all.” Part of the paragraph says which motivates people to run harder by purchasing these shoes. 

Michael Muller's website is http://www.mullerphoto.com