Lens Based Project
Overview Title - Through My Eyes Size - 24' by 36' in Medium - Photopea (Digital) Date - November 2023 This project was a collage of my Milwaukee adolescent experiences. Nearly everything I've seen in my life with my friends is depicted in it. The goal was to test out a digital application called Photopea, which is comparable to Photoshop, by using five distinct images of landscapes and five different images of individuals that hold personal significance for me. This project interests me because, in my opinion, a lot of people believe that digital art is "not real art." As a result, after doing it for my art class, I now have a different opinion about it.
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PROCESS
The first thing I did was set the Length and Width at 24 and 36, with a DPI of 200. I then created the product and it came out as a white blank paper. I did not have an idea for this project but I knew what pictures I wanted to use. I chose pictures that have some sort of meaning towards myself because my theme of artwork is identity.
To start adding the pictures to my poster, I first went to File and then scrolled down to Open (O). It then takes me to my google drive and then I chose my first picture. To continue adding pictures, I discovered that I had to complete this same action but once the picture was on a sepearate board, I had to copy and paste it onto the first image.
To start adding the pictures to my poster, I first went to File and then scrolled down to Open (O). It then takes me to my google drive and then I chose my first picture. To continue adding pictures, I discovered that I had to complete this same action but once the picture was on a sepearate board, I had to copy and paste it onto the first image.
The first picture I chose for this project as the background is a picture that was taken of me cruising Westown Milwaukee during a field trip. During this trip I felt very independent because I was able to walk around with one of my friends and look at multiple attractive landscapes. I've went out and rode city buses alone but I've never walked around the city with a friend and had fun. I only went out on business.
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The reason the face was distorted was because I used the Magic Cut tool and erased it by accident. I wanted to have a blurred out effect on my face but that unfortunately didn't work out the way I wanted it to. The Blur tool did blurred things pixel by pixel. It would've taken a really long time to complete this action.
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STAGE 2
After I created my background, the first thing I did was edit the pictures to be a part of my collage. I made each one different. This first picture was taken at Summer-fest of 2023. I wanted the night sky and the aura to have a calming effect to represent my growth as a person. As a child I was very overbearing and now- similar to this picture, I am growing and constantly in motion, living my life.
Instead of having a rectangular picture of this photo, I went to the Edit tool and scrolled down and clicked on the Transform option. I then chose Scale, which created the squares for me to edit the side of the picture. After I chose my desired size, I then chose the Warp option and warped the sides of the picture to make it irregular. Next I went to the Select tool and scrolled down to the Magic Cut tool and chose which portions of the picture I wanted to be in my final piece.
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My next picture consisted of six people including myself so I used this one photo to represent my five people in my collage. This photo was taken at my homecoming dance which of course meant a lot to me because I felt beautiful and I had so much fun taking pictures and creating forever memories.
I transferred the homecoming picture onto my first background but I didn't like it's rectangular shape, so I used the Magic Cut and then only used the portion where myself and my friends were in the picture. |
STAGE 3
The next landscape I used was one I took through a window of an art museum . I chose this picture because it made me feel like a true art student. I value this title because I taught myself how to draw and really learned and gained a skill that wasn't a naturally born one. I dedicated myself to sketching and grew from there.
(The picture in the top right corner was the picture I took.)
This picture blended in with the sky and I had to do no editing to force it to blend which I thought was pretty convenient. The only thing I did for this picture was edit out the rest of the sky so it looked more natural with the Magic Cut tool. The final product of my piece has this picture on the ground to make it look like I am walking not it or stepping on it to symbolize me getting closer to my dream of becoming an interior designer/architect, which is a different form of art. (The Summer-Fest picture isn't warps because I didn't have that layer on). |
The next step I took to complete my collage was adding another landscape picture. This landscape picture was taken at a college on another field trip. This picture holds dear to me because it's proof that I took initiative and cared about my future and where I go to college.
Instead of warping the picture or changing it into a different color I just rotated it 180 degrees and placed it at the bottom near my feet to display the fact that I do not want to go to that college. It wasn't for me and it was my first decision about college that I was 100% about.
On impulse I decided to have two backgrounds for my collage; another landscape picture. I took this picture on my way home and I decided to make my original background smaller than my additional one. The original color was bright and vibrant but I decided to make it black and white to emphasize the dullness of my thoughts about my home when I leave for collage. Everything in the foreground is bright and contains various colors, signifying the adventurers I had but I know once I am gone that my home will become a memory, more and more each passing day.
But to make my picture black and white the first thing I had to do was transfer it over by going to Edit and clicking the copy and then transfer it over to my current collage and press paste on the Edit tool. After I did that, I adjusted the size of my original background and then clicked on Image and then scrolled to Adjustments and then selected Black & White.
I also added my sister into the corner, specifically on the background of my original background, embedded in black and white because when I leave for college I am leaving her too. I used Refined Edge to get an irregular shape for her picture.
But to make my picture black and white the first thing I had to do was transfer it over by going to Edit and clicking the copy and then transfer it over to my current collage and press paste on the Edit tool. After I did that, I adjusted the size of my original background and then clicked on Image and then scrolled to Adjustments and then selected Black & White.
I also added my sister into the corner, specifically on the background of my original background, embedded in black and white because when I leave for college I am leaving her too. I used Refined Edge to get an irregular shape for her picture.
After this I added an additional picture of a sculpture. This has no real meaning. I used the Magic Cut tool to scrape away the initial background and just have the sculpture part. I moved some pictures around and ended up with my final product.
I also added a tree from a landscape picture that I took from outside of my house on my porch. The sky was pink but it had no real meaning behind it but I used Refined Edge to get the shape of the tree exactly how I waned it.
I also added a tree from a landscape picture that I took from outside of my house on my porch. The sky was pink but it had no real meaning behind it but I used Refined Edge to get the shape of the tree exactly how I waned it.
EXPERIMENTATION
I experimented with the tools at the bottom of the history and layer section on the right at the bottom.
None of these icons worked when I pressed on them. I also watched a tutorial to figure out how to erase the borders of pictures on Phototpea but this did not work either. I wanted to erase the edges so I pressed on the middle rectangle icon called the Raster Mask. In the tutorial they used this icon but it did not erase the edges so I had to figure out how to make the edges not rectangular. This when I found the Magic Cut tool and the Warp tool to erase and mold the edges like they were mallable.
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Once I found the Magic Cut tool, I didn't really use it much because my goal for this collage was to make it look similar to memories or portions of my life that are now apart of me. I used other tools but my main one that I used was the Magic Cut tool.
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Before I found the Magic Cut tool and the Warp tool and experimented with the Raster Mask, I experimented with the Blur tool. This can be found on the left side and it looks like a raindrop. When I used this tool, it also did not work. I am not sure why. At first I wanted to have all pictures fade into the sky, like in cartoons it looks like a thought bubble but my plan did not work as soon as the Blur tool failed to work.
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REFLECTION
For this project I did not have any experience whatsoever with any digital art platform that I consistently worked with. Because of this, I determined that I was at a disadvantage which left me discouraged. But instead of complaining and procrastinating, I decided to utilize my resources and research things that I needed assistance with in Photopea and I also took notes when my teacher was discussing how to use Photopea as well to help me when creating this collage. I believe this is how I once again grew as an artist. Although I felt discouraged because I had no experience using digital art platforms, I proceeded onward anyways. Because I am in an HL IB course, many people decide that this art class is too difficult and stressful and drop out but even if the workload is tough I still proceed onward. One challenge I faced was the slowness of the program of Photopea. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to work with because my tab would become unresponsive and it slowed down my entire Chromebook whenever I was working on this project. With the help of this project, I got exposed to Photopea and now it is something I can use for future digital art pieces that I may want to create.
My goal for this project was to visualize my tiny accomplishments as a teenage girl that no one really talks about. I achieved my goal in that sense. Even though some of the tools didn't work, I'm assuming it is the platform itself or I did something wrong but even if I was also in possession of limited resources inside the program itself I still had a beautiful outcome. I am elated to see my vision come to life.
My goal for this project was to visualize my tiny accomplishments as a teenage girl that no one really talks about. I achieved my goal in that sense. Even though some of the tools didn't work, I'm assuming it is the platform itself or I did something wrong but even if I was also in possession of limited resources inside the program itself I still had a beautiful outcome. I am elated to see my vision come to life.