New version!
Process:
Four years ago, I took a semester-long graphic design course with a teacher who knew nothing about Photoshop or Illustrator herself. We did things exactly from the book, and experimented ourselves through trial-and-error, since she was of no help. By the end of the course, most of the students were moderately experienced in the basic tools of Photoshop and Illustrator. Experimentation and trial-and-error were fundamental to learning in the class. However it was limiting, as without guidance, we often did not delve into the more complex creative elements of either program.
Loosely guided experimentation was fundamental in this project. Studio time in class consisted of constant work. When I hit a road block, however, I did not have to rely on ambiguous youtube videos or unclear instructional sites. It helped to have someone circulating the room seeing if we needed help. It also helped to be surrounded by opinionated, creative peers who could give an honest critique of my work.
I started out with a vision of what I wanted. Not all of the details were in focus, but I knew, to an extent, how I wanted my final project to appear. Throughout the whole process, however, I gradually became receptive to the fact that not everything was going to work exactly how I had imagined. However, this did not mean that the element I had created did not work in any capacity. Just as with another studio art, some elements of a work will turn out differently then expected, but this does not always mean that the elements did not work. I had to become more accommodating and more able to take a step back and objectify my work.
It was very important for me to be able to step back from my project, to take a walk around or work on other projects, and then go back to the original work with fresh eyes. When studying an image for a while, one becomes adjusted to the slight changes and nuances and, in a sense, loses touch with the work as a whole. I often find that I will become fixated on a particular detail and will work to make the detail appear “right” or “correct” in relation to the rest of the work without taking a break to really consider the project as a whole.
When I began this project, I struggled with this fixation, I know that I have improved greatly by the end. While I improved greatly, one thing that I need to improve on is working on an appreciation for distance. I find that I get too involved in the small picture, rather then the large, and in the long run it can really mess me up. Regardless, with consistent work and effort, the image came to fruition eventually. It is difficult, when immersed in a project, to force oneself to take a break and come back to it. I find that I have to think of it as mixing oil paint. Sometimes the more you work the medium, the muddier and grayer it becomes.
For this particular project, I focused completely on perspective. I found that I really had to push myself to consider new ways to show perspective. Even in the past few days, I changed my approach. I added further elements to the water, such as the lighthouse, and many more to the sand, such as the turtle and rocks. I started with many more elements, but found that the image looked far too busy and so scaled back.
Finished Project:
The final image certainly has its strengths and weaknesses. I think the image as a whole comes together pretty well, with the exception of the lighthouse, which I find to be somewhat awkward, perhaps because of the color. I managed to add depth and perspective to the waves and sky through hue of the waves and sky and size of the waves, boats, and clouds. The concept of my work was inspired by the illustrations of Eric Carle. I wanted the viewer to recognize that it was created from everyday objects. It was to be surreal and childlike, with the twisted element of depth and perspective. I think that this objective was achieved. This particular idea was an interesting question to deal with while in the process of creating the image. While I wanted the image to remain childish and simple, I had to add perspective, which added a certain element of sophistication to the image, taking away from what I wanted the original feel to be. It was a fine line to walk and it was difficult to balance each texture to make sure that one did not appear too real, or real in a way that threw the rest of the image off. As a piece overall, each texture works together to communicate the idea as whole. It is when the viewer looks closer that they realize that each individual element is something unrelated in any way. I think it presents an interesting metaphor about life.
All of the elements of the work are cohesive, in that each element as an idea comes together to create a scene. Stylistically though it was not as cohesive as it could have been. One of the problems I struggled with in this project since the very beginning was the texture and coloring of the sand. I had the texture the way I wanted it in the beginning of the project, but after trying to add a gradient for perspective purposes, it lost its grainy feeling. I attempted to fix it to look more natural, by adding elements such as darkness along the water (to represent where the waves had washed up) and another layer with the original texture, but I am not sure it helped in the way that I wanted. The darkening of the sand to appear wet worked to create more believable scene, however, and I later added another layer with a texture of real sand blended in. While it was one of my most frustrating problems, I managed to fix it by the end of the time we had to work.
I became very familiar with the different Photoshop tools during this project. I worked with many different layers and adjusted each layer to fit the picture’s visual needs overall. I blended many layers together to create elements such as the moon, the sky, and the sand by using opacity and layer style. The moon and the sky are a combination of three different images each. I used four or five different textures for the waves and adjusted the color through layer style in order to make sure that the progression of hue worked for the perspective. I used drop shadow and global lighting to get a cohesive shadow in the image. I used the vector mask tool, quick selection and marquee to make and select the shapes that I created for the image. These shapes included each layer of waves, the moon, the clouds, the boat, the mast, the sail, the turtle and the turtle’s eggs. I used the vector mask tool the most often for free form selection purposes as I had a lot more freedom and control with the shape. I used the burn tool to add depth to the turtle’s nest and I made the lighthouse out of a pen and some paper, playing with the shadows and erasing nonessential lines to make it look more believable.
Communication with an Audience:
A flannel shirt, textured cardboard, lotion, layered paper, a wrinkled inner tube, a rubber band ball, pen and a marker drawing are things that one would encounter and take advantage of seeing in everyday life. A seascape is something fairly common and identifiable, even to those that have never been in person. When a night seascape is made of every objects such as those mentioned above, however, it plays the part of stopping the viewer and forcing them to consider the object or texture in a different way then it would be found in normal life. Fading clouds, shrinking waves, different sized boats and a small lighthouse help to add perspective. That was the purpose of this work and I think that this combination of images and textures does just that.
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