Time For a Little Cross-Curricular Jellyfish

This week, we had no official assignment other than to roam free in photoshop, so I made a jelllyfish. We were talking about phylum cnidaria (jellyfish are a part of this) during AP Biology this week, and I was inspired by just how beautiful jellyfish truly are. I took a picture of a jellyfish that I found online, made it black and white, and used the pen tool to recreate it as a vector and bring color to the jellyfish, while placing it on a background almost identical to the one that resulted from the black and white adjustment. I spent a lot of time making the tentacles just right, but I'm really happy with the end result.

#sunset

This week, we took photos indoors and made them look like they were in sunsets. I didn't look at any tutorials, I kinda just winged it. Using various adjustment layers and doubling up some layers I was able to make Cole look like he was in the orignal sunset photo.  It was hard finding the right sunset background for what I wanted. I also had trouble getting the levels where I wanted them. The photo looks different on here than it does in Photoshop, it looks more realistic there. #coleissunset

GIFs!

The last two weeks have been incredibly productive, despite only being in class a few days. I revised my original GIF of Cole smashing clay on the ground. I hand colored the clay, so when he smashes it, you can follow all the fragments, making for a much cooler GIF. I also finally finished my CB450 vector drawing that I've been working on for a while, and decided to GIF it. I originally wanted to make the wheels move with the bike, however, the way I made them, I'd have to redo the piece in order to accomplish that, so that will have to be something that I work on in my free time. I really am happy with both of these pieces. (They load faster when you open the images in their own tab by right clicking on them and selecting "open in new tab")

Portraits....AGAIN????

This week, we were assigned to make three portraits that told a story. After realizing my initial idea was not doable, being the apathetic senior that I am, I decided to tell a story of seniors suffering through their remaining days here. In photoshop, I first made the images black and white. I then made corrections to get the levels and exposure just right. Next I went to the filter gallery and would experiment with layering halftone pattern filters and note paper filters. After I got those where I wanted, I went back and adjusted levels again until I was satisfied. The reason I chose this look is because earlier this week I saw a music video, Liar (It Takes One To Know One),  by the band Taking Back Sunday, which uses a similar stylistic approach, and it looked cool, and after accidentally stumbling across the halftone pattern filter and note paper filter, I decided to go with this look.

Painting poorly

This week, I did a painting tutorial. Needless to say, it went poorly. Very very poorly. I feel really bad about what I've done to the photo of cole that I painted. I'm used to painting on top of pictures, and I've never painted anything "from scratch" like this, and I clearly need some more work in this area. I think I'll stick to painting over things for future paintings.

Cole...Again!

This week, we did more portrait based pieces. For this one, I followed a tutorial that showed how to use Photoshop to add more elements to portraits. I started with a portrait of Cole, then removed the background. From there I kind of strayed from the tutorial, cause I really didn't have the vision of that kind of piece in my head. By some accident, I accidentally managed to give Cole long hair. After that, it all came together. Using various noise filters on water drop textures as well as the original portrait I was able to create a cool portrait loosely based on the tutorial.

COLE SMASH!

This week, we were instructed to create 3 portraits. I was stumped, but decided to photograph Cole. He suggested that I attempt to get a photo of him smashing leftover clay pieces on the ground. I had little to no luck with that, so I decided to try a video, and create stills from that. What resulted was  a gif that shows him in the various stages of smashing, each frame a portrait of him. At the end, I had a little fun and added the popular Doge meme for comedic relief. COLE SMASH!