Balance: Digital Collage
Title:Balance
Size:91cm x 61cm Medium:Photoshop Completed:September Intentions:With this piece, I wanted to demonstrate to the audience my battle with finding a balance between femininity and masculinity, and how my upbringing played a part in that fight. I also wanted to compare and contrast my childhood, which, was very feminine, to my adolescence which, was masculine, using the artist Barbara Kruger and the Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang. Made or Found:Made |
The Process
Artist & Culture
Your Body is a Battleground by Barbara Kruger
"Untitled (Your Body Is A Battleground)." Society Swallowed Beauty. N.p., 21 May 2013. Web. 20 Sept. 2015. |
"Silhouette Design Store: Yin Yang Symbol." Silhouette Design Store. N.p., 10 Oct. 2009. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.
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I began with researching artists and cultures that I could connect to my theme of balance. I chose to apply Barbara Kruger's Your Body is a Battleground to my piece, in order to convey that sometimes I am battling between being masculine or feminine. Which, is where the Chinese philosophy of Yin Yang comes in to express how I am now working towards a balance, or mixture of both periods in my life and of both personalities. This is where you can see for every image on the left, there is an image of equal weight on the right. The Kruger-esc font of the word "balance" appears below my head to connect both the artist and the culture.
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Design & Outcome
I followed these steps to create my sketch and my piece on Photoshop.
1. Beginning with the background, on the left of the image I wanted to create a pattern of roses by manipulating a single image of a rose, to represent my childlike fascination with beautiful things. On the right I chose a camouflage background to represent when my father first began taking me out hunting.
2. I incorporated images from my childhood on the left; a pink battery powered Volkswagen (at the top), my mother and sister at Girl Scout camp (in the center), and a variety of makeups (at the bottom). I then added images from my teenage years on the right; the 1965 442 Oldsmobile I worked on (at the top), my father and I camping (in the center), and a dead possum (on the bottom) that I explored in the woods.
3. Lastly I added my face. The left side had makeup, heart earrings, and a pink scarf, while the right side had messy hair, no makeup, and and a tie. However one of my sides was not older than the other, because I wanted to represent how both sides create who I am today, at this age.
1. Beginning with the background, on the left of the image I wanted to create a pattern of roses by manipulating a single image of a rose, to represent my childlike fascination with beautiful things. On the right I chose a camouflage background to represent when my father first began taking me out hunting.
2. I incorporated images from my childhood on the left; a pink battery powered Volkswagen (at the top), my mother and sister at Girl Scout camp (in the center), and a variety of makeups (at the bottom). I then added images from my teenage years on the right; the 1965 442 Oldsmobile I worked on (at the top), my father and I camping (in the center), and a dead possum (on the bottom) that I explored in the woods.
3. Lastly I added my face. The left side had makeup, heart earrings, and a pink scarf, while the right side had messy hair, no makeup, and and a tie. However one of my sides was not older than the other, because I wanted to represent how both sides create who I am today, at this age.
Critique
A critique with Darrien Higgs, a fellow classmate, ended with the comment, "It looks too cluttered. There are many images crowded around your face making it hard to focus on it."
Solution: I played around with the opacity of the other images so they focus would be more on the central image because it appears more solid.
Solution: I played around with the opacity of the other images so they focus would be more on the central image because it appears more solid.
Using the Medium of Photoshop
Reflection:
I chose the medium of Photoshop, because it had a variety of tools to use so I could thoroughly manipulate multiple images to create the look that I wanted my piece to have. I have never used Photoshop prior to this project, but I feel as though I left with a proficient understanding of using the program to fit my needs. If I were to do this project again I would like to discover how to use more tools on photo shop so I could make my images more interesting. Tools Most Commonly Used: Free Transform- to adjust the size and angle of an image Copy and Paste- to move a selected image from one sheet or layer to another Eraser-to clean up the edges of an image Zoom/Magnifying Glass- to see the image in greater detail Feather- to make the fur of an animal more fur-like Opacity- to make the other images in the background standout less and give focus to the center image Quick Select- to select the part of the image I wanted to work with faster based off of tones and colors of the image Move Tool- to drag an image to a certain location on the layer or sheet Lasso-more control for image selection |
Tools I want to Learn to Use Next Time: Spot Healing Brush Eye Dropper Magic Wand Ideas for Next Time: The next time I will use photo shop would probably be to edit images from the process of my next piece. Another project that I could use Photoshop with would be creating a family tree that would begin with my great grandparents. Behind each family member I could Photoshop a map of the location from which they were born. This would help me explore my roots. Challenges: Many times the laptops the school provided malfunctioned resulting in the computer freezing, or not allowing me to save my work. I also had a difficult time using Photoshop to blend both halves of my face together. To solve this problem I ended up taking one photo where both of my halves were present, instead of two separate half photos. All in all I am satisfied with my piece. I have all the images that I wanted on my piece where I wanted them. I was able to connect it to a culture and an artist. I believe I conveyed to the viewer what I wanted to express. |