Unit 8 using
For task one we were split into two groups, we read our briefs and we looked at different sites that would aid us in our process. Our task was for each person in the group to take a photo of something within our theme we had decided on, the next person in the group would then edit the photo using photo manipulation, and photo editing software. Our decided theme was Fun Fruit, our goal being to edit images of fruit to make them look like something else entirely. we also conducted research on different photo editing software and apps such as, Photoshop and Photo effects pro. We also had to do research on sites and apps that you can use to upload photos and to stay in touch outside of college, as we had to work together as a group outside of college time too. Some of these sites include; Instagram, Facebook, Evernote, Doodle, Pinterest the One drive. The sites and apps we used were Evernote, Pinterest and Facebook.
For my part of the team work I was given an image one of my fellow team members Hannah took, the image was of a melon and I then had to edit the image to make it look like something completely different but still make sure that it looked like a piece of fruit.
the first step in this process for me was to brainstorm and write down ideas as to what I could do with this image, eventually after much deliberation I decided on editing the image of the melon to make it look like a minion from the animated film Despicable Me. I decided it would be best if I opened an image of an actual minion from the film on Google Images for reference purposes.
I then opened the image on the computer using a software called Paint, the first thing I did was use the oval tool to create two white circles I then used the fill tool to fill them in, making them a solid white. After that I made two smaller, brown circles with a black outline, then I made two completely black circles in the middle of the brown ones, these are the minions eyes.
I used the oval tool again to make two bigger circles over both of the eyes, these are the minions goggles. the lines of the circles were too thin so I had to go around them with the eraser tool but with a light grey colour. For this I adjusted the thickness of the lines and went round the circles again and filling in the gaps to make them look more like goggles. I then used a darker shade of grey to draw on a strap on the goggles on the right hand side of the goggles, I could not do this on the left hand side as the round part of the goggles was so big there was no room to draw in a strap on that side. Once I had finished the goggles, I then went on to draw in the minions hair, I used black for this and did three strands of hair on either side of his head with a parting down the middle.
The next step in creating the minion was his mouth. I used a light/ pale yellow to draw the shape of his mouth,I then used white to draw on his teeth, next I filled in the gaps with red to make it look like it was his tongue.
The last part of creating the minion was to draw on his dungarees using the eraser tool but in blue, I then used black to put two dots on his dungarees to make them look like buttons. Finally I used the eraser tool in a darker shade of blue compared to the dungarees to draw on his pocket and the logo on his pocket. My image of a melon is now completely transformed into a minion via photo editing software.
Here is a link to our Pinterest page we made it shows all of our group work and all of our individual work too.
Erik Johansson is a Swedish born photographer and retoucher, he is based in Berlin in Germany. He works on both personal and commissioned projects, he does not capture moments he captures ideas. Erik has a problem solving approach to photography, preferring to think of photography as a way of collecting material, to realise the ideas in his mind before actually capturing anything. Every new project is a new challenge and the goal is to realize it as realistically as possible. His unbelievable and reality defying high skilled retouching makes it seem real. He also models in some of his images himself.
He got his first digital camera at the age of 15, and later on in his life moved to Gothenburg to study computer engineering at Chalmers University of Technology. Today he works with both personal and commissioned project. In 2011 he first started doing street illusions, in November of that same year he spoke at the TED conference in London about his photography, and then went a step further and gave another talk about his work at the Adobe MAX conference in May 2013. Some of his clients include; Google, Adobe and Microsoft.
Christophe Gilbert is a brilliant Belgian photographer from Bruxelles, who specialises in visual art. He is one of the most quoted in the advertising world. Christophe truly believes that the small details are those that make a huge difference. His distinct and clever style will leave you speechless with his unique ability to manipulate liquids such as, paint and water. Gilbert born in 1962, attended the Academy of Ixelles, studying photography. The Creative Club of Belgium awards, whose objective is to precede and promote the Belgium creativity awarded Gilbert in the years; 200, 2001, 2003 and 2005.
Gilberts work rises above the rest with its distinct and clever style, some of his clients include; Toyota, Mercedes, Ford, PlayStation and Ikea.
Andric is an award winning photographer with a distinct signature style, his strong work has brought to the photography world, light and clean images that prove time and time again to be timeless. Born in Belgrade Yugoslavia to a family of artists, Andric has been working as an advertising photographer since 1988, and has moved the advertising world with his stunning images since then. Having been born into a family of artists Andric's talent was naturally self taught and he landed his first paid gig at the age of 21.
Andric's work combines humour with wit and has the ability to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary by singlehandedly creating illusion.
Many big named brands have the privilege to work with Andric, some of these include; AT&T, Capital One, Amex, Hitachi and Samsung.
For task 2 we were told about an photographer and conceptual artist Sophie Calle. In a PowerPoint presentation we were shown her work and how she approaches her line of work. Our Sophie Calle inspired task was to then take images of a friend or family member without them knowing, showing their daily routine throughout the day. Once we had taken these images we then had to swap our images with one of our fellow peers images, we then had to edit these images with the purpose to tell a story. I exchanged images with my peer and friend Hayley Campbell, her images were of her 6 year old sister Sophie at an anime convention her and her family attended for Hayley's birthday. The first thing I did was brainstorm and discuss possible ideas with my peers, I then decided I was going to do a comic book inspired theme where, I would have speech bubbles next to the two stuffed toys Sophie was holding as if they were a part of a story in a comic book and were actually talking.
I printed and cut the images out and rearranged them into a different order one that would tell a story. I then wrote out on a piece of paper exactly what I wanted the stuffed toys to be saying on each scene. I then edited each image separately and one at a time using Photoshop, I used the oval tool to create the shape of the speech bubble, then using the fill to make the speech bubble a solid white colour. I then used the text tool to type in the speech bubble what I wanted the soft toys to say, I had to adjust the size of the text to make sure all of the text fit into the speech bubble and was readable.
The final step in this process was to use a website called Collage.com to put all of my individual edited images together in a college in the correct order. My comic book inspired edited images/ story is now complete.
Sophie Calle is a French writer, photographer, instillation artist and conceptual artist. Sophie's work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints and how it evokes the French literary movement of the 1960's known as Oulipo. her work not only showcases the human identity but also the human intimacy and vulnerability.
Calle is known and recognised for her detective like ability to follow strangers and investigate their private lives. Calle adds unique extras to her work these often include panels of text of her own writing. Her work reports on encounters and situations she has set up. Some examples of these set ups include; asking strangers to sleep in her bed, inviting an author to take charge of her destiny and asking her mother to hire a private detective to follow her. These documents of social interactions require a pact of complete trust.
Sophie was born in Paris in 1953. She first began taking photographs in 1979, not only did she take photographs but she also took notes as she followed people on the streets. Image, text and compelling narratives have formed the basis of her work, between collective experience as well as her own private experiences her works alludes to not only journalism, but literature and an aspect of a photo diary.
Comparison of both tasks:
There were similarities in both tasks the main one obviously being that we had to edit images in both tasks, but the tasks were different in their own way too for example with task one we were in a group and we got to decide on our theme and what things we were going to take pictures of, we all pretty much had an idea of what everyone was doing. Whereas in task two the only choices we were given were who we swapped our images with and what we decided to do with the images we were given. Once we were given the images we had to then think about what we could do with them, how we could make a story out of them, and that was quite difficult. When you know the theme and have a rough idea of what the image is going to be of, you can then start planning in your head what you can do with that image how you can make it look like something other than what it is. We were also in groups for task one so we had teamwork on our side, we could discuss things as a group, whereas in task two it was pretty much all down to you. It was kind of sprung on you in a way, you were just handed these images you had never seen before and were told to edit them with the purpose to create a story out of the edited images. We certainly had more freedom with task one than we did with task two. In my case I used two completely different photo editing software's for both tasks, for example I used Paint for task one and Photoshop for task two. Personally I found using Photoshop easier as I have previously done two years on a media course, but there is only a certain extent to what you can do on Photoshop as far a creating artwork is concerned.
Pro's and Con's of using mobile devices to create artwork:
There are many different pro's and con's to using mobile devices to create artwork, some software's are great for creating art work digitally but other are not so great. I find that for editing images/ photo manipulation and making them look as if they are real, Photoshop is the best software for that purpose. If you wish to do over a drawing of your digitally or draw on top of another image then Paint is the software to use. Both software's have their downsides, for Photoshop it's that I can be rather confusing if you are not very familiar with it, and you can certainly get lost and confused when using Photoshop. For paint the downside is that you can not get as smooth of a finish to your artwork as you would have liked, for that to happen you would have to have an extremely steady hand. Although there are con's to using mobile devices to create art work, such as graphic art etc. I personally think you get an all round better finish and have more control over your artwork when you use free hand rather than mobile devices.