For my Sustained Investigation, I answered the question, "How can I manipulate scale to illustrate a theme or idea?" Throughout my pieces, I maintained an emphasis on specific art themes such as movement, structure, and contrast which helped contribute to the meaning and idea behind the piece. For my first piece, I depicted a girl drowning in an hour glass to illustrate the idea of mental health awareness. I wanted to show the emotions I felt during quarantine in this image providing realism for this situation in which the entire world also experienced. I placed an emphasis on the focal point which is the girl by using color contrast. For my second piece, I also answered my question with a symbolic piece that depicted the theme of the effect of death by manipulating the scale of a skeleton to match the structure of a person's position. Next, I lined them up and created a layer mask and edited the edges to perfectly align them. I added the roots and I applied a filter on the roots so it could fit with the thematic motion in the piece. For the background I used a night sky because night time resembles darkness. Placing the skeleton in the center showed how death is very powerful effect on ones life and it can be the center focus on many peoples thoughts because it can cause great fear. Because this piece is very symmetrical and centered, I wanted to focus on movement throughout the piece. I did this by emphasizing the outline and structure of the object using a filter from the filter gallery. I also decided to illustrate an idea such as a child splashing in person's eye, in my 3rd piece. I wanted to widen my boundaries by not only illustrating themes but also illustrating an idea. This broad spectrum helps me reach out of my comfort zone and to think more creatively.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, color filters
Process: I used a layer mask to isolate the layer of the girl and to cut out the image of the hour glass. then I grouped those layers and layer masked them to place the hour glass in the hands.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, blur tool, and smudge tool
Process: I used a layer mask to isolate the photo of the skeleton, roots, and the lightning. I also used a pin tool to make the cut outs concise.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, color filters, and downloaded rain brush and splash brush.
Process: For this piece, I used layer masks and filters to incorporate the child onto the eye. I focused on realism on this idea so I added shadows and reflections to add to the effect of the idea.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, color filters, dodge tool, and burn tool
Process: I used layer masks to isolate the layers of the guitar, gymnastics, and the background.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, color filters, and downloaded smoke brush.
Process: I used layer mask to isolate the layers of the cigarette and the factory to place on the scenery.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, color filters, patch tool, blur tool, dodge tool, burn tool, pin tool, and lightning brushes
Process: I cut out and image of a hand holding a rock and a man with an umbrella and pasted it onto a central park scenery with a layer mask then I added time lapsed lights to the sides.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, color filters, patch tool, blur tool, dodge tool, burn tool, and pin tool
Process: I cut out images of a spiral staircase and placed it leading up to the brain where I opened up his head using a pin tool. I placed an image of a lightbulb in his head to resemble his imagination.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, color filters, dodge tool, and burn tool
Process: I cut out photos of a bird cage, a lightbulb, and a crying girl and placed them on woods background. I illustrated a girl that has been hurt so much, finally puts her guard up.
Materials: Photoshop, Layer mask, brushes, photographs, filters, color filters, and downloaded cloud brush.
Process: I started with a photo of a man holding a magnified glass and illustrated a plane coming through the glass by using a layer mask and cloud brushes.
Material: Layer mask, pin tool, burn tool, dodge tool, select and mask, and filters
Process: I cut out a globe stand and placed the earth in instead of the globe. Next, I made it look like a puppet is controlling it spin by using a layer mask and pintool.
Material: Layer mask, pin tool, burn tool, dodge tool, select and mask, and filters
Process: I used layer mask to isolate the photo of the window washer and then I used a burn tool to create shadows. Next, I used a red rope and copied and pasted it to attach it to the man.
Material: Layer mask, pin tool, burn tool, dodge tool, select and mask, filters, and cloud brushes
Process: I cut out an image of a spiral lightbulb and pasted it on a a sunset background. I used filters to blend the spiral staircase on the light. I also connected it to the sky and another staircase with a girl walking up it.
Material: Layer mask, pin tool, burn tool, dodge tool, select and mask, filters, and cloud brushes
Process: I cutout an image of a cliff and put it with a mountain sunrise background. Next, I cut out images of a dragonfly and a girl riding a horse and put them together. Last, I used some cloud brushes and added an image of a boy putting his out like he is doing to a horse.
