AE252_2010W_Louis40

(The following is from my artist statement)

For my final, I decided to expand on quiz #1. That is, I decided to make a magazine cover. However, I wanted to put more meaning into it this time because the first time around I was merely making it because I had to.

My Big Idea that is present in this piece is the concept that we are all connected. To show this I wanted to show a string of random magazines that appeared to be somehow connected. The first thought that popped in my mind was to put each magazine cover in the other and continue this trend six times (to also reference the popular concept of "six degrees of separation").

To make my picture, I first took two pictures with my camera, one of a magazine lying on a table, and the second of the table without the magazine on it (I used a tripod to do this to ensure the same position of the camera). Then, I looked for magazine covers on the Internet and found 5; they were from Car and Driver, National Geographic, People, Popular Science, and Time.

I opened up the picture I took with the magazine on the table in Photoshop and used the Vanishing Point filter to set a reference plane. Then, I copied the Car and Driver cover into a new layer and positioned it so that it was lying on the table, covering up the old magazine. Since the fit was not perfect, I duplicated the background layer, copied the picture of the empty table into the layer beneath the background copy, and erased the parts around the Car and Driver magazine. I found out that the picture of the empty table was a little lighter, so I used the Burn tool to darken it.

Then, I opened up the Time magazine cover, and I used the magic wand to select the interior of the cover. I then pressed select inverse and copied that into a new layer. After this, I only had to copy the previous image of the Car and Driver magazine on the table into a layer in between the background and the newly copied layer. This resulted in the "Time refined" layer.

I repeated this process for each of the magazine covers, and ended up using the Car and Driver cover as the initial magazine cover. This is what connects the magazines together. As you look from the first magazine, you go to the second, the third and so on, until you reach the sixth one, which happens to be the first magazine cover.

What I want to convey with this picture is that we are all connected and the magazines serve as a parallel to this ideology.

Here are the magazine covers found inside the final:

For this assignment, I had to combine a "chick flick" movie poster and a "guy pick" movie poster into one balanced combination. I chose to use (500) Days of Summer and 300, to make (300) Days of Summer. Here are the original movie posters:

And here is the combined movie poster:

The hardest part was to recreate the sun that was behind 500, it definitely took a long time.

This is quiz #3. I chose to modify an image of Zooey Deschanel. I really did not put in a good effort into this and I feel that I should have tried harder.

Original Image:



Modified Image:

1. What is the most significant accomplishment in looking at your Midterm or Final? You can talk about technique in Photoshop, investigating your Big Idea, creating a meaningful artwork, etc.
   
   I think the most significant accomplishment I've done in this class was done during my quiz #4, where I had to combine a chick flick with a guy pick. To edit the background of the (500) Days of Summer poster, I had to be incredibly meticulous and I often had to recreate parts that were not on the original image. I thought I pulled it off as best as I could and I was really pleased with the end result.
   
   


2. Choose a project in the class and discuss your most challenging learning experience in Photoshop. Focus on a technique or concept from Photoshop that was difficult at first, but that you mastered by the end of the quarter.
   
   Again, quiz #4 was one of the most challenging experiences. One thing that stands out in my mind was when I was using the cloning tool. Instead of using it in spurts, I used it for big sections. However, whenever the clone stamp replicated something that I didn't want, and I pressed Undo, it would undo a fairly large section and I would have to start over, even though there would only be a fairly tiny error.
   
   


3. Compare two projects from the quarter to compare and contrast how you achieved making meaning in the work. Try to showcase in your examples an improved capacity to making visual images that mean something as opposed to being a showcase of technique.
   
   Quiz #1 was one of the projects in which I had put little thought into towards the meaning. However, I put a lot of thought into the Midterm. I really felt more connected to my Midterm piece than quiz #1, even though at the time I finished quiz #1, I felt quite proud of my effort. I realize now that effort for effort's sake is not enough. If there is a little thought behind the effort, the piece becomes exponentially better.
   

My Final project will be an expansion of my quiz #1 entry. The Big Idea that I will address is the concept that we are all connected.

I will attempt to show this by using the following tutorial: Using the Vanishing Point Filter to Mock up a Business Card, to show a magazine lying on a table, and the cover of that magazine will be of one genre but the main picture will be using the same effect to show another magazine inside of a different genre. I hope to repeat this 6 times, to draw attention to the well-known concept of "six degrees of separation". Also, the final magazine cover's central picture will be the entire image, so it will sort of loop back on itself.

My primary magazine cover will be of a car magazine. For the inner magazine covers, I will use various other types of magazines such as Vanity Fair, Popular Science, etc. I will actually use the covers of an actual magazine and edit the central picture (keeping the magazine as unchanged as possible, something that I have tried to do in most of my works).