Assignment 1 Completed

After three days of taking pictures and five days of intense Photoshopping, I was able to finally complete the first assignment for Digital Imaging:

So much work has been involved to create this piece. Each of the characters involved 4 faces to create them. I was able to blend these faces successfully by using the patch tool, Gaussian blur and curves. I then used old skin to add texture back in. Applying texture to the queens dress was another challenge. Using a number of masks and warping the selections, I was able to create changes in the patterning of the texture. The foreground were three pieces put together in Photoshop. The dunes, castle and mountains were all scanned. Once i was able to put everything together in place, I turned the image into black and white. With and empty layer set to soft light blending mode on top of each part, I began manually coloring in the space. The result was what I had intended to achieve in the beginning. There are a few minor errors, but I will attend to these as soon as I have time.

Progress Assignment One

So far I began creating the queen. I put four faces together and a queen's crown from the internet:

Rumpelstiltskin

For this project I chose Rumpelstiltskin. Its a classic fairytale about a poor woman who is forced to magically spin thread into gold for a king. Unable to do so, she accepts the aid of a gnomish creature, who is able to carry out the task in return for her child. The lady sees no harm in this since she has no children and does not see the prospect of ever getting pregnant. Years later, after she is married to the king and has a child, Rumpelstiltskin comes back to claim what is his. He makes a deal with the queen: if she is able to guess his name within the next three days, he will break off the deal. The queen eventually finds out and infuriates the creature. In his fury, he kills himself unintentionally.

I will focus on one image for now. I intended to take multiple photographs for it and combine it all in Photoshop. The photograph will not be a scene from the story. Rather it will show the relationship between the two main characters: Rumpelstiltskin and the queen. The setting will be outdoor. Far into the distance will be the king's castle in the middle of the photograph. On each side of the castle in the foreground will be Rumpelstiltskin and the queen. The castle thus symbolizes the cause of their relationship. The queen will be in a dress made completely of straw. The end of the dress will be held by Rumpelstiltskin with one hand. In the other hand he will have it out has if he is offering help. One hand offers help, but the other hand shows the consequence of accepting his help.

There will be an extensive amount of Photoshop that will need to be done.
Environment: Picture of dramatic, grey sky and natural landscape put together. Castle will be either scanned or taken form the internet, cut out from the original source, shrunk, and pasted onto the environment. May even consider using and sand castle and granite texture to it. The more Photoshop and transformation, the more this fantasy world will look unique. I could also put in trees which I will deform beforehand.
Rumpelstiltskin: Will combine 4 faces to create a digital creation. Will include crazy hair style and beard. Will also use and old person general facial skin. Pictures will all be taken in the studio. Will then shrink the creature with Photoshop and and shadow. Full body will be shown.
Queen: Will combine 4 faces to create digital creation. Smooth out skin. Pictures will be taken in the studio. Straw texture will be added digitally. Shadow will be added digitally. Fully body will be shown.
Style: When all the above components are finished, I will transform the photo into a black and white image, using Greg Gorman's Method. I'll then apply color to each physical aspect of the image: grass, clothes, castle, sky, etc.

 Link to Fairy Tale 

Sketch for Fairy Tale Postcard

Brain Storming Assignment #1

Before I begin an assignment, I have to be inspired to start it. Maggie Taylor's unique artistic expression is what mainly interests me for this first assignment. She begins by collecting items at flea markets, garage sales and on E-bay. She particularly likes to collect photographs from the 19th century, especially tintypes and ambrotypes. In addition she collects old toys and objects — things that have a sense of history and presence. She prefers antique shows or flea markets to E-bay™ because she often doesn't know, until she holds an object in her hand, if it will work well for an image.

She scans her collected objects on a flat bed scanner — usually with the lid of the scanner open. Once they are scanned she starts constructing an image. Working intuitively, she approaches the image without preconceptions. Starting with one or two objects, or an old photograph, she usually has only a lose idea of how they might work together; but things change and start to come together when she's working in Photoshop, putting things together then taking them apart again, making as many as forty different layers in an image and sometimes more, watching how things interact with each other.

I intend to create a manufactured world by combining landscapes from multiple photos together. I aim in creating an artificial, digital person by putting faces together. If I make a child, I'll smooth out the skin completely and shrink the artificial person. I also aim in creating an animal with a human form as the example shown above. The photo in the end will be converted to black and white, and then I'll manually put in color to each component of the photograph under the soft light layer. This will create a painterly effect. If I can't find the appropriate attire, I will try to scan what I'm missing from magazines or old photos.

Pen Tool