SOFTWARE EXPERIMENTATION

I have downloaded a free software called KRITA, in which there is a focus on different types of brushes, allowing for lots of experimentation. Originally inspired by Petra Cortright, I wanted to try to create digital art which is relevant to the message I'm trying to communicate and visually pleasing. I have found I like creating a busy canvas and using a blur/smudge brush create textural based works. 

WEEK FIVE

In todays lesson we focused on colour grading, spotting and retouching images and creating panoramic images. 

To colour grade this photo we were shown how to use levels adjustment layer using specifically the RGB layers, I cant quite remember but I believe we took the blue flowers and made them an off white.

These two panoramic images were created using photoshops panoramic feature. In camera raw we batch edited the photographs so they has the same adjustment qualities then selecting them all merged them together using photoshops panoramic feature.

Unfortunately, Shirley has a lazy eye, luckily enough for her, we can fix this for her through photoshop.  We selected her right eye, duplicated it, transformed and flipped it to mirror her right eye and then through using blending brushes and healing brush tool we were able to convincingly blend her skin tones together.  

For this image, we were shown basic ways to beauty touch a portrait of someone. Using the dodge and burn tool and the spot healing brush tool to reduce the bags under her eyes and decreasing the intensity of her wrinkles around her face. We were also introduced to using the liquify filter which allowed us to make adjustments such as increasing the size of her eyes and reducing the size of her nose. 

ARTIST RESEARCH / CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

Kerry Ann Lee 

Kerry Ann Lee's art explores cultural intersections occurring in the space between private moments and public locations. With a background in graphic arts, she creates work that is both expressive and socially engaged by playfully investigating issues of identity and hybrid cultural formations through hand-made processes. 

http://www.whitespace.co.nz/artists/kerry-ann-lee.aspx 

I like the way lee has convincingly created a false environment using a combination of photography, image sourcing and illustration. Through the use of perspective, shadowing and scale Lee has created a unrecognisable scenario yet familiar  

Stuart Lipponcott

 Visual effects artist and animator Stuart Lippincott creates breathtaking ethereal scenarios in his ongoing “Everyday” series.

Petra Cortright

Shifting between the digital and the physical worlds, she interrogates definitions of painting and nags the boundaries of online/offline existence. Cortright creates her paintings from Internet-sourced imagery, which she digitally manipulates. Lifted from Google Images and Pinterest, colours, patterns, and skin tones are broken down and reintegrated to become the digital ‘paint’ from which Cortright builds slowly-morphing, fluid abstractions, consisting of hundreds of painterly layers and effects.

http://citygallery.org.nz/exhibitions/petra-cortright-running-neo-geo-games-under-mame/

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT 

For my investigation I am looking into the contemporary concern around social media, especially the rise of Instagram, and how this is changing the way we interact socially the world around us. Due to the fact that most people have access to a smart phone (which is basically a networking multimedia device with internet access at all times) everyone is a photographer now and choose snippets of their life to share with the rest of the world, in other worlds constructing their own virtual reality through social media.

With the rise of social media, ordinary people who have done exceptionally well at constructing their own personal life through Instagram have gained popularity, fame, recognition, opportunities and in some cases wealth. These people who now are social media famous, have a large audience and lots of influence on these people, especially the easily influenced minds of the youth that use Instagram, Where as when I was growing up people who influenced me were famous sports people and celebrities in movies etc.

More specifically I would like to make a comment on how 'Instagram famous' people have a large influence on a younger generation and they often promote many things a traditional celebrity would not.