Digital Collage:
Ties.
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Meaning
‘Why do bad things happen to good people.’ These are things my friends and family would always tell me. Which lead me to think that as long as I’m nice and be a good girl, I would be fine in life. These thoughts followed me throughout middle school until I reached the fifth grade. That’s when I found out my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
I didn’t cry. I didn't worry. Counselors asked repeatedly me if I was fine and I was. I knew my mom was going to be fine and she was. Lost an ovary but fine. Even doctors called a miracle that she got pregnant a few months later after chemo without any medical help. This made me think about what it felt like to be sick and have something like cancer. I was a very curious child. After two years of wondering, I then was diagnosed with the same ovarian cancer. This time I did cry. Doctors told me that my tumor was the size of a watermelon, so I basically looked like a pregnant teenager that threw up everything she ate. After the whole cancer ordeal and the removal of liquid surrounding my right lung, I started having anxiety. I never had it before so I didn't know what any of the symptoms were. I found out when my mom realized that I would have trouble breathing and start tearing up whenever I was near the hospital or had an appointment. My doctor said it was called classical conditioning or paired association anxiety. This kind of anxiety is when a an action, place, or even emotion stimulates a person's fight or flight causing them to have a certain response to the situation. For instance, if a person loses their job it can trigger stress. I do still have it but it’s not as serious as it was before.
Topics like anxiety, cancer or health in general are very serious subjects but sometimes I feel like this generation is overly sensitive. For instance, if I ever mention to someone that I used to have all these health problems people would immediately start treating me as if I was easily distressed or offended. But in reality, it’s something I don’t mind talking about or sharing with others.
So why do bad things happen to good people?
I don't know.
I didn’t cry. I didn't worry. Counselors asked repeatedly me if I was fine and I was. I knew my mom was going to be fine and she was. Lost an ovary but fine. Even doctors called a miracle that she got pregnant a few months later after chemo without any medical help. This made me think about what it felt like to be sick and have something like cancer. I was a very curious child. After two years of wondering, I then was diagnosed with the same ovarian cancer. This time I did cry. Doctors told me that my tumor was the size of a watermelon, so I basically looked like a pregnant teenager that threw up everything she ate. After the whole cancer ordeal and the removal of liquid surrounding my right lung, I started having anxiety. I never had it before so I didn't know what any of the symptoms were. I found out when my mom realized that I would have trouble breathing and start tearing up whenever I was near the hospital or had an appointment. My doctor said it was called classical conditioning or paired association anxiety. This kind of anxiety is when a an action, place, or even emotion stimulates a person's fight or flight causing them to have a certain response to the situation. For instance, if a person loses their job it can trigger stress. I do still have it but it’s not as serious as it was before.
Topics like anxiety, cancer or health in general are very serious subjects but sometimes I feel like this generation is overly sensitive. For instance, if I ever mention to someone that I used to have all these health problems people would immediately start treating me as if I was easily distressed or offended. But in reality, it’s something I don’t mind talking about or sharing with others.
So why do bad things happen to good people?
I don't know.
Artist and Culture
Turner, Michael. Monaco 75. Digital image. Vintage Posters. Vintage Posters, n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2016
Ray, Man. Dora Maar. Digital image. Taft Museum. Taft Museum, 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Sept. 2016
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Before being able to begin this piece, I needed to find inspiration in order to get ideas. Man Ray and Michael Turner were my main inspirations for this piece. Man Ray’s retro poster for the ‘Monaco 1975’ race gave me the idea of using an old fashioned propaganda type of poster. The only difference was the use of text on the piece. I felt that he did a good job of getting his point across of the excitement of this race without adding as much text compared to other posters in current time. Michael Turner was someone that was difficult to look into since there are other people who have the same name. So I decided to focus on his specific piece ‘Monaco 1975’.
Another inspiration I had was Man Ray’s portrait, ‘Dora Maar’. This portrait gave me inspiration to use hands even though the hands in this portrait weren’t as emphasized. His main focus are close ups on woman or certain parts of a body such as the trunk. I found his pieces very beautiful and unique making me want to try something that is very abstract to previous art I’ve done in the past by experimenting with mediums i haven’t used before.The fact that he used only certain parts of the body inspired me to only have one part of my body showing instead of having full body images. Using unique poses for the women he took photos of and incorporating them in photography made him a major part of the surrealist and Dada movement and people would describe him as a very adaptable artist. I took the movement and incorporated it into my piece by having my arms and hands where it wouldn’t really be possible unless there are several people taking the photo. But in the end I was able to figure out the best way for me to incorporate the images I wanted in this piece. |
Process1)Before I started my planing sketches I decided to just look up digital collages and I happen to bump into some old-fashioned or retro posters. As well as several collages that use different body parts in the piece. This ended up being on of the aspects I focused on later on.
2)After deciding what the main theme was, I started sketching several ideas for the collage. After a lot of mental debate I finally was able to decide on one idea. 3) After deciding and figuring out how to use Photoshop, I started to take several pictures of my arms holding and poses to see which would look best when experimenting with the cutting and auto select tools. 4) Then i decided to try different colored background and figure out the amount of vibrancy I wanted to add to the images. Which is how I decided to use a yellow and orange background by using Paint Tool Sai. 5)Finally, I organized all the layers into the proper places, adjust and do touch ups like trying to add noise to the background to give a more retro feel. |
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Reflection
I'm pleased to how his piece turned out especially since it was my first attempt at photo manipulation. I learned about the tools and effects that Photoshop has to offer. I know that I haven't mastered Photoshop completely but enough to do what I wanted to be done.
I was going to add a spotlight using the light effects but unfortunately I wasn't able to make it do what I wanted it to and so I decided to copy and paste all the layers, merge them, and make them a brick red colour. Later adjusting to make it look like a shadow sort of. Something i wanted to change was the light from the windows of my are, but because of the lack of space and time I wasn't able to take pictures with the correct lighting. I noticed this when I was looking through the photos. Lighting will definitely be something I will be more careful about.
My artist inspirations Michael Turner and Man Ray are two almost completely different artist. Turner was a very passionate motor racing fan and because of this he made a lot of art dedicated to motor races, such as his piece 'Monaco 75'. His use of bright colours, yellow and orange, are brighter and more pastel than the one I decided to use. His piece was to excite people for the up coming race in 1975 while my piece was to have viewers question it. Another artist who inspired me was Man Ray and his surrealist art. I feel as if his art was are bit morbid yet beautiful in a weird sense. But his portrait of Dora Maar was one if the main pieces that inspired me. The position of the arms on his piece make more sense compared to to places in which mine were placed. But the doll hands he placed is what gave his photo a tad of surrealism because it's something you wouldn't normally find in portrait. The displacement of entire arms in my piece was something that would better send the message I was trying to give.
I was going to add a spotlight using the light effects but unfortunately I wasn't able to make it do what I wanted it to and so I decided to copy and paste all the layers, merge them, and make them a brick red colour. Later adjusting to make it look like a shadow sort of. Something i wanted to change was the light from the windows of my are, but because of the lack of space and time I wasn't able to take pictures with the correct lighting. I noticed this when I was looking through the photos. Lighting will definitely be something I will be more careful about.
My artist inspirations Michael Turner and Man Ray are two almost completely different artist. Turner was a very passionate motor racing fan and because of this he made a lot of art dedicated to motor races, such as his piece 'Monaco 75'. His use of bright colours, yellow and orange, are brighter and more pastel than the one I decided to use. His piece was to excite people for the up coming race in 1975 while my piece was to have viewers question it. Another artist who inspired me was Man Ray and his surrealist art. I feel as if his art was are bit morbid yet beautiful in a weird sense. But his portrait of Dora Maar was one if the main pieces that inspired me. The position of the arms on his piece make more sense compared to to places in which mine were placed. But the doll hands he placed is what gave his photo a tad of surrealism because it's something you wouldn't normally find in portrait. The displacement of entire arms in my piece was something that would better send the message I was trying to give.
ACT Questions
1) How are you able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
Micheal Turner's piece was to promote and excite people for an upcoming race by making an advertisement. I applied his style of advertisement to show the feeling of restriction from the past.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The main point of view I found from research was that Man Ray was a very surreal artist as well as being one of the key artist in the Dada Movement. Which lead me to create a dream-like feel to convey a message.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I didn't really encounter many generalizations other than the retro style can be very vibrant. I can also conclude that retro comics and it's style can be overly dramatic.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
The main theme that I stuck with for this piece was past and struggle. I showed this by combining Man Ray's surrealist style and Turner's retro poster.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I concluded that Turner was a very big fan of car and motor sports when looking at his art, which turned out to be correct. As for Man Ray, I assume he loved France since he moved and lived there for 20 years till he had to move back to the US because of WWI.
Micheal Turner's piece was to promote and excite people for an upcoming race by making an advertisement. I applied his style of advertisement to show the feeling of restriction from the past.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The main point of view I found from research was that Man Ray was a very surreal artist as well as being one of the key artist in the Dada Movement. Which lead me to create a dream-like feel to convey a message.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I didn't really encounter many generalizations other than the retro style can be very vibrant. I can also conclude that retro comics and it's style can be overly dramatic.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
The main theme that I stuck with for this piece was past and struggle. I showed this by combining Man Ray's surrealist style and Turner's retro poster.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I concluded that Turner was a very big fan of car and motor sports when looking at his art, which turned out to be correct. As for Man Ray, I assume he loved France since he moved and lived there for 20 years till he had to move back to the US because of WWI.
Bibliography
- Webmaster |, By. "Man Ray, Dora Maar | Taft Museum of Art." Taft Museum of Art. Taft Museum of Art, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.
- "MICHAEL TURNER." Michael Turner, Motorsport and Aviation Art, Paintings, Prints and Cards. Studio88, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.
- Hudges, Kerrie. "26 Inspiring Examples of Vintage Posters." Creative Bloq. Creative Bloq, 01 June 2016. Web. Sept. 2016.
- "MICHAEL TURNER." Michael Turner, Motorsport and Aviation Art, Paintings, Prints and Cards. Studio88, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.
- Hudges, Kerrie. "26 Inspiring Examples of Vintage Posters." Creative Bloq. Creative Bloq, 01 June 2016. Web. Sept. 2016.