Identity
First Semester.
For my second year project my theme for this year is identity/confidence, which was stated in my student statement for this year. The resaon why I chose to concentrate on this particular suject is that I can use my own experiences and emtional into my work it also has a personal meaning to me so combineing all that together would make my work more instresting and could be meaningful to other peers. I also hopefully would like to explore a wide varity of different medias into my project and make mixed media.
Further Development into the project.
Getting further into my project, the aim was to feel more confident in photoshop and to able to expand my ideas into other mediums. So to start off this next part of the project, I decided to look at more photos and get inspiration to widen my variety of things I could do to achieve more mixed media work.
Most of these photographs are from Artists I've looked at and also ideas I've got off Pinterest. Pinterest link here:https://www.pinterest.co.uk/davikakergon/identity/
Photoshopping Development.
I played around with photoshop with an old photograph I had from a previous project I did, I wanted to make them look effective and manipulated but also link to what my project is about which is identity and emotions and feelings. Looking at these edited photos, I like the way the motion blur tells a story or almost like masking the face like "hidden Identity" or distortion.
Describe your image.
Describe your image.
Describe your image.
Describe your image.
I wanted to become more confident with photoshop, so I decided to play around with using different filters and effects on basic portrait pictures of people but also linked to my project/subject type. The first image I used the filter "motion blur" which I found interesting during my research period. Using this particular method is fairly simple but also looking quite vintage and "old" looking. I actually enjoyed making and developing these photographs as I think they look quite effective.
There was one Artist in particular which I was inspired by, which is Antonio Palmerini. Link:http://trendvisions.lancia.it/en/article/dream-catching-in-the-photography-of-antonio-palmerini
More photoshopped photographs.
These next few days I edited some photographs that I found on the internet. I experimented with more different filters on photoshop and also experimenting with colours and different kinds of blur effects to see which effect was the most appealing.
These black and white photographs I edited are personally some of my favourite images I created. I think the photographs have a very 'mysterious' and 'masked' meaning to them. I also think the black and white theme give it a 'retro' feel to them. The girl on the top left almost looks sad with her eyes spiralling, like it's telling a story. I think in he near future of my other work I would like to keep using photoshop and using these "Blur' filters, I feel like I've learnt a lot more about photoshop. Two artists inspired me for these types of images, one weirdly is John Stezaker, I really liked the idea of him masking the old celebrity photos and turning them into something of his own, so I decided to use an old image of a celebrity. All these Artists that I was inspired by are all listed in a different page named "Artist Research".
Links to artists:http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/john_stezaker.htm
http://trendvisions.lancia.it/en/article/dream-catching-in-the-photography-of-antonio-palmerini
Experimenting in colour.
I wanted to try and challenge myself to move away from black and white, I wanted to see how these filters would look with colour, just to see if I preferred it or not. I actually think that it looks quite professional and unique style of photography, but also looks like they were done accidentally. I enjoyed making these photographs and I feel like it still compliments my theme of being vintage/retro. I think in the near future I would like to develop further into colour as I feel like I haven't done it enough. The only thing I would like to change about it is if I could be able to do more with photoshop in which will probably be my next goal for the next stage of my project. (same artists used above.)
Photos of Friends.
This next part of my project, I decided to take my own photographs in a sort of professtional style, very basic white background, no facial exxpression because I wanted to try and tell the story in each different photo by minipulating the photos in my own style. I think that using my own photos is so much better than using other peoples photographs because I feel like its my own personal work and I didn't have to get anyone else to do it for me. I think the only thing I would like to change or to do next time is take more further away or closer up, get them to do different facial expressions.
Edits of Friends.
I decided to have a different theme for each photo and using different filters to blur out the image. Throughout this project so far I've tried to concentrate on "motion Blur" as I personally think the effect is appealing and quite mysterious. To get these effects I've used the "blur Gallery" so for example I used "spin Blur" or I would use the pen tool to get the "scratching" effect on the photograph but in a digital way. I like the effect of "chemical exposures" and they way the photos would look, this is why I put my photos in black and white. I think it's so simple, yet so effective and I personally think it's interesting to look at. I think the only thing that I would change now is using more effects on photoshop as I feel that I only use what I feel comfortable with.
Experimentions with Transfers
I felt like I needed to do something more hands on and completely out of my comfort zone and do something I'm not used to. so online, I found this certain technique to get this type of print onto materials such as musilin or even just plain canvas (which is was the materials I used for my transfers.) This particular technique I used to get this kind of vintage style print was actually using acetone. To achive this transfer all I did was printed a picture out of my choice on a lazer printer (these are test pieces) then, turn the image over onto the material and got a metal spoon and pressed hard against the paper to rub the ink onto the material. I really enjoyed experimenting and using something completly different and for the first two times I did this, It work well and looks quite 'old fashioned'. I think in the near future I would like to do more of these and maybe try to do one and maybe on a bigger scale with a different matrials to see which works best.
Experimenting with different mediums: Paint.
I next wanted to experiment with using a different mediums again, I decided to go back to paint and combining the idea of Identity and 'masking' the face to hide certain features. so for this photograph on the left, this girl was insecure of herself and all her facial features. So I then decided to ask them by usng the paint to cover them. In this series I tried to use more colour with painting instead of just painting it black or white.
In this next photograph I did something quite similar to the first, which was masking the face because she felt insecure and didn't really like the photgraph of her however, I kept her eyes showing because they looked like as if they were telling a story and giving you eye contact. Again, I wanted to keep with the colour theme. I learnt that red looks quite more effective to the blue as it almost looks like blood.
In this image I used some acetate over the top of the image then I painted onto the acetate. I thought this was a good Idea because this girl again felt insecure of this photo, I wanted to try and keep that type of pose wth fully covering her face so as you can see I left partof her smile to show what was hiding underneath. Also by using the acetate over the top, you can look underneath to show the orginal image
For this last Image, this person was insecure of his skin and didn't like the way it looks and after the photograph, he asked not to see it which is why I covered his eyes. I think that this small series I came up with is quite upsetting. The amount of people on a daily basis that feels insecure about themelves are insegnificantly high. Even though i've masked there 'Identity' I still feel like it's a powerful piece and speaks out to people that has insecureties of thier own.
Experimenting with different mediums pt2
For my further experimentation, I wanted to make something challenging, this technique I did was quite complicated and fidily compared to all the other small experimentations I made. As much as I like the effect, you have to have quite a lot of concentration for this as it takes quite a while and you have to be quite procice with it. It's more complex than what I usually do but l do think it's one of my favourite effects rather than using photoshop. I think next time I would like to try making one on a bigger scale.
I got this idea from the picture collage I did earlier in the project but I did it woth my own twist. I really liked the way this turned out, I think it gives the photograph texture but also like an 'old fashioned/rustic' meaning.
This photo is similar to the one I did with paint but instead of paint, I used coloured tissue paper and again using the same colour as did with the paint. I feel like this piece more more like a mask. I think this is quite an effective piece of work but also quite unusal which is why I like it. I would like to do a whole series on doing this to all my photographs.
This last photo I did was again inspired from the picture collage, although the orinal piece wasn't coloured tissue paper. My idea was to make a colour collage and change the wole appreance of the dullness of the photo and to brighten up the photography.
Making my Photos bigger.
Describe your image.
Describe your image.
Describe your image.
Describe your image.
I wanted to see how my Images would be if they were bigger and how effective they would look, so today I worked on making my photographs bigger. I picked these images because I thought these photographs I took would look the best blown up to a bigger scale. For the next part of these bigger images I might minipulate then from the experiments that turned out the best but make it into a bigger version. I thik by the end of thi year, I would like all my work to be as big as these three mages.
Further experimentation on Photographs.- Second Semester.
For this next Semester, I have decieded I wanted to expand my skills with print making just to see if it's effective enough for the next stages of my project. lately I've been inspired by a photographer called Ashley Edwards and Claire Pestaille. Both of these artists have a very similar style of mixed media photography which I really enjoy looking at. So I thought that screen printing would be the best way to achieve this certain style but having my own twist on this particular style of photography. I combined my photos I've took from the first semester to try and experiment with using diffeent mediums.
These are just a few of my favourite screen prints I made.
Development with Colour and Shapes.
Towards the end of the first semester I started looking at colouring and trying to mask the face with different techniques such as paint or distorting the images on photoshop. After making these screen prints which were inspired by Ashley Edwards with using the shapes to add layers of colours to give an almost"3D" effect, I decided that I quite liked the Idea of using shapes and colour. I looked further into colour and what I could do with shapes and using it as a form of "Identity" I used the big images I printed from the first Semester and I painted shapes on top of the image just as an experiment to see how it looked.
Before painting the shapes on the bigger photograph, I wanted to test to see if it looked effective and work well against the photo. This Image is just a small A4 print out that I painted small red triangles onto the image.
After painting on the image, I found that looking at the photographs was interesting and it had more than just a simple photo of someone. I asked other students in my year to see what they think by looking at my work, most people said they were interested by the colours and how its a mixture of both realism and geometric shapes. It gives the images an original twist on photography and how to make it look appealing and bold. The colour represents the aura of each person and what the person means to me. All these people I've taken photographs of are people I know personally, looking and thinking about each person makes me think about their different personalities and what makes them different to each other.
Trying different Layouts and Shapes
I decided that I wanted to try something different with the layout of the photograph but still stick to the theme of shapes and using colour on top of the photograph. The inspiration for this mixed media photograph was actually more than one artist, mainly Brno Del Zou and Claire Pestaille. Both artists are quite similar on how they distort their images and playing around with the facial features and moving them around. I tried to create a similar effect but using all the artists I've looked at and combining them altogether.
Edits with Illustrator.
I played around with illustrator for these next few photographs. I wanted to try and see if I would get a different effect using different shapes or using a different medium. I think that these photographs look more graphical and 'modern' like compared to the ones I painted or screen printed. I think these look more digital made rather than hand made, which I actually quite like.
Critical Assessment on my work.
In second semester, I talked about my new project ideas I want to achieve by the end of this semester. The pieces I chose to show was one screen print which I thought looked the best and I also chose a mixed media photograph with shapes I painted on top. I chose these two so that the other students could get an idea of what I'm doing for my project. Overall I got quite good feedback on my new project, most people seemed to enjoy it. The other students that viewed my work, gave me a few Ideas of what I could do next, which was to paint onto the face ten take a photo or video of it, which I think I might do in the third semester. I now want to look at facial expressions and maybe look at other age groups.
Some of the students said that these two pieces look "glitchy" and has an almost 3D effect.
Paper collages-Third semester
In Third semester, I had been mainly looking at John Stezaker and Claire Pestaille. As you can see from the artists they both use collage to hide the 'identity' of there chosen image. Looking at the reasons behind the reason why the use this form of art, is actually express their emotions similar to my views on my own art work.
For this next piece of work I made, I wanted to combine the ideas from the last 2 semesters but still having the 'collage' ideas from the recent artists that I was receently looking at. I used two different mediums to make this piece both collage making and photoshop. Both Claire pestaille and Ashley Joseph Edwards were both key artists that I am mainly inspired and interested in, especially their processes. I wanted to keep the theme of shape and the form of the photograph as it's what interests me most so far this semster and so I develop my work futher for my final show.
This collage is similar to what I did last week, although this has more colour and is made by cutting out shapes and using acrylic paint to colour the shapes in. This piece was more of an experiment rather than an actually final piece of work, I wanted to see if it looked effective with more shapes and the colour balance and the plain portrait of the girl. I like the colours used in this photograph hover I feel like the shapes would look better if they were the same size and maybe to use different colours rathter than just sticking to one.
This collage I did this week was inspiration I had taken from the previous week which was the colored cut out collage. I trired joining the shapes together and making them similar to size to make it look more minimalistic. I think I do prefer this collage to the one I made last week as I feel like it looks more effective and almost like an illusion. This collage was actually inspired by a new artist called Julie Cockbrun, which I have recently come across.
This week I decided that I wanted to try something a little different, I started getting more into cutting and althering the photograph. I used a craft knife to create this piece. This kind of mixed media photography I did reminds me of the artist John stezer and Lucas Simoes. They alther there images, change the portrait into somethingmore interesting to look at. It also fits into the theme of shape which links to all the previous research and experimenting I did.
I really liked the outcome of this ut out image. It almost looks like a puzzle and trying to fix the image back together but also giving a sense of identity. I think this piece looks effective and interesting to look at. This idea actually came from a mistake which turned into one of my favourite collage cut outs I had done.
Context of my work
Based on the artists I've looked at and the work I've made inspired by the artists and there belifes, I look at it in an enviromental aspect. For example, a standard head shot shows what someone looks like but an envromental portrait can speak volumes about a person. I feel that this type of context links to my work and also the ideas behind my theme Identity. I wanted to connect with my audience in a personal way and show what my work means to me.
End of second year- Studio Assessment
In this last studio assessment, we had to showcase all the final work I did in semester 3. Looking at these I've produced I've shown that I have experimented with using different mediums and keeping to the theme of my project which was Identity. I had shown that I had taken inpiration from my research. One thing that I would have liked to improve on is making bigger pieces of work, I think for my Third year I would like to concentrate on making my work bigger and I also wold like to do an animation but still maybe keep to the theme of identity.
2nd Year Exhibition-
Overall, the piece I decided to put up for the final show was a piece I made in second semseter as I felt that it looked best, it was simple and I got a good amount of feedback from this piece of work.