For my second sustained investigation piece, I decided to focus on the decade the 60's. Since my last piece was focused on the 50's, it only made sense to keep going in chronological order. I took inspiration from the biggest events during the decade including the moon landing, the Kennedy assassination, and popular music bands. I wanted to create a piece that honors the era and shows how much things have changed.  

My first step was finding something that I cold use as the main focal point that was iconic and memorable from the 60's. I decided to use the moon landing because it is an iconic picture of what it meant to be alive during that time. I just used the object selection tool to cut out the sky in the background. 

Next, I added in a more interesting background that had more stars. I liked how it had so many colors and added interest to the piece as opposed to the plain black background that was there before. 

After adding in the stars, I added this 60's style pattern on top of the stars. I wanted to make this piece feel as much like you are actually in the 60's as possible. I used the darken filter to blend it in with the stars and create more colors for the background. 

After finishing the star background, I started to add in the objects for the background of the piece. I searched "popular items from the 60's", "famous bands in the 60's", etc. to find all of these images. I used the magic wand and object selection tools to cut out the images and move them to the correct spot. My favorite one is the Jetsons. 

My next step was to continue adding in the images that I found on the internet. I started to add in popular clothing trends and popular signs from the 60's, such as the flower or peace sign. I also added in things from popular movements during this time such as the yellow sign with the word "peace" on it, and the "love one another" sign; these signs would've been used at a possible civil rights protest or another kind of demonstration. I wanted to make the background as interesting as possible, because there was so much content that I wanted to include. I feel like the images that I chose for the background fully encompass what it meant to be alive during this time, and that someone looking at the piece for the first time can understand what I am trying to say. 

My final steps were to add in the rainbow on the bottom, and the rainbow drip effect on the astronaut's helmet. I wanted to add something else to add more interest because I felt like although the background was certainly special, I needed to include some other things that could make this more interesting. I used a rainbow drip pattern that I found online for the astronaut, and I used the pen tool to perfectly cut it out and place it over the helmet. I also used the opacity tool to turn the opacity down and make it so that the astronaut helmet is still visible underneath. Finally, I added the rainbow squiggles on the bottom. I wanted to continue with my theme of color to add something else to the piece. I used the layer mask tool to cut out the astronaut and the flag from the pattern. I really like how this rainbow brings in the colors from the top part of the piece, and I think that the borderline chaotic-ness of the piece adds more detail and explanation to the events of the decade. 

Here is the final project: