Project #3

• You are asked to use compositing methods to produce your image.
• You are free to choose how you approach this final project.
• You are only asked to produce one composited image.

How to begin?

I like to start my projects with the act of "PLAY". It's important to work with a playful attitude and an open mind. Allow yourself to enjoy what you are doing. You may decide that you like a color that you have selected. Or you really like a texture. Move forward with those choices. You may then find that you are telling a story or communicating an idea beyond the act of PLAY.

 

What makes a successful composite?

• Clean Selections
• Blended Layers using Masks (gradients and soft brush)
• Deliberate Soft or Hard Edges
• Layers Transformed to Match Scale or to Exploit the Scale
• Layers matched with Color and Tones
• Use of image sources that would not usually be found together (Contextual Contrast)
• Use of Graphic Shape
• Use of effective Colors
• Use of Texture
• Area of Focus (your subject. It's not simply two landscapes combined, there might be a strong or subtle narrative)

Sources:

Required: There must be a minimum of 3 images in your work.

Required: 1 image source must be your ORIGINAL image
Use at least one or more:

• This can be an object from your house or something you find on a walk
• It can be a background landscape image
• It can be of a family member that you use as your subject
• Or you might use yourself as the subject

Optional: You can draw on your image (this can be directly digital, or drawn and then scanned / digitally captured)
Optional: Fair Use images from the internet

 

Technical requirements:

8.5" x 11" @ 300dpi (or larger)
2550 px X 3300px (or larger)

What to turn in:

digital images:
lastname_p3.psd

and jpgs: (SAVE AS - 12 quality) (Add this image to the Critique Discussion Thread)
lastname_p3.jpg

Reflection:
And a Text document saved as a PDF
with a Reflection on the work that you created.
lastname_p3.pdf

Video Links:

Jerry Uelsmann
his work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJkhUloCnqc

Maggie Taylor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyYzr8HNoN0

Erik Johansson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc0vhSseGk4

Artist Links:

General link on Pintrest for "Surreal Collage"

Contemporary Collage Artist Links:
Julien Pacaud 
Jesse Treece
Hollie Chastain

Compositing/Collage Surrealist Artists:
Shana & Robert ParkeHarrison
Maggie Taylor
Jerry Uelsmann
Teun Hocks
René Magritte
Erik Johansson 

Bauhaus Collage (1930's):
Lazlo Maholy-Nagy
Max Ernst
Kurt Kranz

Tyra Tate, 2020

What makes Tyra's image successful and compelling?

• The bold graphic red lines extending from the corner and leading our eyes to the center of the image.
• The provocative female subject; not having a head or face pushes our gaze to her body and her identity is removed - we are forced to view her as a symbol of "female" as opposed to an individual.
  An attempt at being covered creates a mood and a loose narrative.
• The ocean surface image clipped into the circle shape, then repeated and transformed.
• The color palette: the background is muted and matches the skin tone of the subject. There is a dominance of brown and also a more saturated version finishing with red. In essence we have RED with lowered saturations of that hue. We then have the blue/green of the ocean which is a Hue Compliment to the Red.