Inspiration
I was inspired by Rene Magritte because of these two paintings : Son of Man and Man with a Bowler hat. What I found interesting about these two paintings is that the identity of the man is hidden. This evokes a sense of mystery and curiosity to who the man is. Also poses the question to why the mans identity is continually hidden. This is particularily meaningful because there is no other focus to these paintings besides the men. The portrait of the man is the only focus besides the obvious object that is blocking the face- which makes the obscuring object to be the focal point of the painting. I interpret these object as a symbol for how people perceive a or view a person. In other words, you may think you know a person but whether it be that persons past or inner self will prevent you from really discovering their true self and the apple and the dove are representing this. The apple and the dove can also be seen as symbols of life which further tie in to the meaning that life or the way a person lives can just be a mask to cover up their true selves, I wanted to have this symbol in my project so i was inspired to cover a portion of my face to evoke a sense of mystery about my raw innner emotions.
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Face of War and Distortion by Salvador Dali helped and influenced me to add certain elements to my painting. Dali’s painting Face of War gives off a very creepy vibe due to the dead/zombie like face the engulfs the majority of the canvas. The hollowed out eye sockets and mouth are filled with similar dead looking faces that appear to be screaming. And the wrinkles in the faces forehead symbolize worry or sadness. I was inspired by the emotion and theme of frustration in this painting and wanted to incorporate similar ones in my piece. I did this by incorporating the phrase : are you sure you want to restart? To signify the feeling of wanting to be done with ones current state and start over. The second piece of Dalis i was inspired by was a photography piece: distortion. It is taken in black and white and shows Dali’s angry appearing eyes flipped in a mirror image. To me this evokes an uneasy feeling and gives off an angry tone. I realized the black and white would be a good element for me to include to due the fact is lacks color and can be used to symbolize dull emotions. This photo also prompted me to use distortion in my piece. I took small sections of the top half of my face and copy and pasted them throughout the rest of my image.
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Process
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The first step in this process was taking a picture. I used my Canon T6i to do so. I made sure I had adequate lighting and took a picture of the top half of my face. I then imported the image into Photoshop then using the select tool, I erased the background and made it transparent. To emulate Dali, I added a black and white layer and merged the two layers. The next major element in this piece was the sense of distortion I needed to add. To do this I selected very thin elements of my face. Then these selections were copied and pasted multiple times in a descending order. After finishing a portion of area I wanted to expand/distort I selected another thin area and continued that process. This was done until I had filled the rest of the canvas. When this was done all the layers were merged so that the image could be changed in size or position as a whole. I then took a screenshot from my computer and began to edit it. I deleted the sections that had text and refilled those blank sections with the text color then replaced it with words I had typed out myself. I then added a dark blue border around the image.
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Experimentation
My experimentation process mainly consisted of what to do with the background of the image. I wanted the colors to be a shade of dark blue that would represent sadness. Therefore I decided making gradients would be the best option. I used the gradient tool and selected lighter hues of blue to be at the top and for that to fade into a darker shade of blue. I then dragged the arrow from the top of the image to the bottom and the gradient was formed. However the shades of blue that were made by this gradient didn't give off a dull tone like I was hoping or. They more or less added color to the image and made it look more lively. Therefore, I decided to continue the use of black and white. I went back to the gradient tool and selected a light gray then a darker gray and added them as my two gradient colors. After creating this new background I knew I needed to incorporate the dark blue somehow. To accomplish this, I increased the canvas size by an equal amount on each border of the image. I did this by going to the "Image" tab and clink on "Canvas Size". Using the fill tool, I filled the blank space with the dark blue shade.
Reflection
This piece is similar to those of Rene Magritte, and Salvador Dali. Dali's painting and photography techniques inspired me to use themes of distress as well as using black and white photography. His piece Distortion particularily inspired me to use manipulation. A difference between his work and mine is that my piece is digitally based. My second source of inspiration was Rene Magritte. The idea of having an object to hide the face or block identity is similar in my work. Our work differs due to the fact that in his pieces are paintings and contain more color. Overall, this piece represents a person in a state of confusion and chaos. I think I excelled in the process of my knowledge and understanding of Photoshop. Something I could have improved on was that I feel this piece lacked detail. I had difficulty brainstorming an idea for this project. To improve this in the future I think I will be more creative with the photography process. This way my success rate for manipulating images will increase. Despite this, I loved further experimenting in Photoshop and strengthening my skills at it.
ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.y first source of inspiration came from the style Dali used in his photographs. I used the techniques like using black and white imagery and using a portion of my face to manipulate. Secondly, I took inspiration from Rene Magritte. He used objects to hide his face and I carried this into my work.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I was inspired by Dali and Magritte's points of view. I was influenced by Dali because the meaning behind his work is very gloomy and dark and he uses his technique to reflect this. I also took inspiration from Magritte because of his imagery and the meaning behind it.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I learned that the themes behind the Surrealism movement are based around the expressing feelings and thoughts through abstract imagery.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted my theme to be expressed through the technique I used. I wanted it to be centered around relationships and also wanted to incorporate the tone of desperation.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I made inferences about the techniques I researched and how I planned to use them in my project. This helped the vision for my piece become clear in my head.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I was inspired by Dali and Magritte's points of view. I was influenced by Dali because the meaning behind his work is very gloomy and dark and he uses his technique to reflect this. I also took inspiration from Magritte because of his imagery and the meaning behind it.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I learned that the themes behind the Surrealism movement are based around the expressing feelings and thoughts through abstract imagery.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I wanted my theme to be expressed through the technique I used. I wanted it to be centered around relationships and also wanted to incorporate the tone of desperation.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I made inferences about the techniques I researched and how I planned to use them in my project. This helped the vision for my piece become clear in my head.