Digital Collage
"Optimist" resembles my mindset only ever paying attention to the beautiful in life and to focus on moving forward to greater things, no matter where I grew up or live. This piece represents Milwaukee being an unhappy place, as the most segregated city in the United States. It's showing how I will overcome the negativity that surrounds me in my everyday life by having a positive attitude. Using Rene Magritte as inspiration, I followed the concept of covering my face to give the piece a sense of flourishing and positivity.
Planning
InspirationSince the beginning of the project I knew I did not want to incorporate my face into this piece. Unfortunately I felt too shy to be able to work with the looks of my face just yet, so I immediately thought of "The Son of Man" by Rene Magritte. Although it is not his only piece with the covered-face concept, it was the painting that I recreated during my Sophomore year of art history, where I learned that Magritte chose a style of placing regular everyday people in illogical situations, causing the viewer to be more interested in its differences from the real world. Many of his paintings include the same theme of a man in a bowler hat, and others just portraits of regular, yet unknown, people.
"Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see." -Magritte I also came to appreciate Magritte's reasoning for the cover ups of the faces in his portraits. By covering up the face of someone, you're also covering up their emotions and feelings often carried by the eyes; a classic tactic used by modern day brands and companies. The main facial feature that shows emotion is the mouth. However, I specifically wanted my smile to show in order to express the theme of my happiness and confidence. The flowers were a way to objectify my feelings and allow the viewer to easily focus on the top portion of the piece, as well. While researching, I came across "The Great War" by Magritte, and was surprised. I have seen the painting before, but it never came to mind when creating my piece. It was almost exactly as I wanted to create mine, however with a bigger flower piece and my smile showing. Also, much of the top of the woman's head is covered by her hat, and since I do not have one in the picture, the best solution is to use flowers. Planning Sketches |
Rene Magritte - 370 artworks. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2018
Whenever an idea for this project came to me, I would write it down to refer to it later on. Of course, I never use every image or concept I record, possibly not even half of it. My first sketch included everything surrounding me from half of my body and up being the "chaos" and dark hues, while a sort of wall would be behind me such as in "The Son of Man" by Magritte. I specifically wanted to include the Hoan Bridge, as it is arguably what symbolizes Milwaukee the most. I also wanted a long and angled shot of the bridge as a simple side shot would seem too flat for me.
My second idea was for there to be no wall behind me and the background to completely swallow me, so I would be the only bright colored thing in the piece. Most importantly, my entire face would be covered with flowers, including my smile.
My third and final sketch had the most differences than the other two, considering my face would not be covered up with flowers. It was my last resort, however I went with the idea of having the Hoan bridge behind me, and keeping everything else only on the top half, above the bridge.
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Collecting Images
Since I do not own a professional camera, I knew it was going to be difficult finding a good picture. However, I remembered a trip I took to downtown Milwaukee to Black Cat Alley to take nice photos with my friend's professional camera. I scanned through the photos and I found the perfect one for my collage. What made it even better was the fact that Black Cat Alley is another well known location in Milwaukee, relating to my topic. As for the flowers, it was difficult for me to find such beautiful and vibrant colors in both good lighting and in good condition. It wasn't until I took a trip to my grandparents' garden that I found the perfect flowers, even if some are fake. All other pictures are taken from my iPhone 7.
Experimentation
From the beginning, I tried to blend the two pictures where they met so there would no longer be a visible line between the two. I tried for a very long time to figure it out on my own by playing around with the app, but it got me nowhere. Once I started to get frustrated, I decided to reach out to my friend who also used to take the same art course and he recommended that I use the rectangle tool to outline the space I wanted to blend and adjusting the opacity. As I tried, the pictures only became darker rather than actually having a nice blend to them, so I turned back to playing around with the software and tried a new tool for me; the color gradient. The color gradient did its job as I was able to select the background colors to blend into as well as blending upwards or downwards.
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Once I finally began working with the color gradient, it was difficult to tint it to the color I wanted it to fade into. Rather than keeping its qualities and only turning grey, the entire layer would turn into a solid layer of background grey. It wasn't until I changed the background color that I finally got the tint I needed to keep the sky qualities while changing the color. And within minutes, I finally got the blend I was looking for.
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As I wanted the flowers placed over my face to stand out, they looked too harsh and rough to flow with the rest of the collage. So following a new process, I outlined the entire bouquet and transferred it to a blank page, and played around a little more to change the opacity and smooth the edges. It was tricky at first because of the thin flowers I chose to stick out on top, so I switched from the quick selection tool to the free handed too. Changing the opacity was the main trait needed to change in order for the entire piece to flow smoothly. Since the colors were a bit too bold to be placed underneath a place of blending, I changed the opacity of the bouquet to 75%. It did take a bit of time to complete the task of quick selecting the entire bouquet correctly and later subtracting unwanted outlines, I realize it would have been easier to select the flowers individually and change the opacity one by one, and also smoothing the rough edges before placing them onto the bouquet.
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Process
Essay: Optimist |
First, I placed the picture of me onto the blank background leaving space on the top. I was careful to center my body, and not make the piece feel unbalanced considering the wall next to me as well as the direction of my head. I worked on placing the flowers first, and placed the main flowers I wanted around my face using the quick selection tool and copy and paste. I wanted to include one of each flower that I took pictures of, but never using the same species twice. I also placed them spaced out evenly so it would not seem too cluttered and unpleasant to the eye.
I soon realized that I would have to reposition the bottom flowers in order to see my smile, so I placed them at a higher level but keeping them nicely spaced from one another. Afterwards I added "filler flowers" behind them to make the bouquet seem full. I chose the white flowers to put in the back to make the more vibrant colored ones stick out more. I easily could have chosen more purple or pink flowers, however I wanted the main flowers to stand out from the others while still complimenting one another's colors. I could have easily placed only one single flower blown up placed in front of my face such as in Magritte's "The Great War", however I feel that only one flower would not capture the essence of my personality that I was trying to convey throughout this piece.
Once I finally perfected my flower cover, I added the picture of the sky above and behind. I did no editing to create the dark tone of the top, I simply snapped the picture of the top of a car windshield that had sun protection. The majority of the original picture is the bright blue as seen on the bottom, however since I was fading it into an even darker color, I found it best to keep it as is. Also, the dark hues of the painted walls would not have blended well with the brighter colored sky, unlike Magritte's paintings who often colors his skies a brighter shade. Also, Magritte uses the majority of the background as the sky, including clouds. I, however, decided to use less of the sky with little to no clouds visible.
Using the same quick selection and copy and paste method used on the flowers, I pasted the picture of the Hoan bridge onto the piece. Because there were black power lines and lamp posts in front of the bridge, I used the Spot Healing Brush Tool to erase them, and it worked quite well. I also ran the outline of the bridge through smoothing and feathering, to make the edges not so rough and pointy.
I then adjusted the bridge's opacity to 27% in order to fade nicely into the background, and used the gradient tool to blend the background pictures and later darken the image towards the sky. It took a lot of clicks and adjustments to get the correct fade that I wanted, I would have to be careful not to click and drag towards the right or towards the left, otherwise the darkened areas would dramatically rise in that direction. However, I learned through much time spent on trial and error and ended up satisfied with both the blending and the darkness.
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How do you maintain hope when you live in the “most segregated city in the country”? Surrounded by the home run uproar at Miller Park, live music blasting from the lakefront Summerfest, the downtown views on the Hoan Bridge, and learning the difference between the voices of a firework or a gunshot. I’ve seen people leave Milwaukee in hopes for better safety or to escape the racial stigmas of nearby neighborhoods. I’ve seen people swallowed into the life that lives in the hidden corners of the city. I’ve been exposed to death, depression, and suicide, and yet, after all that surrounds me, I continue to look on the bright side of life. It comes to me naturally to find the beautiful things to smile about. I see no purpose in being upset over things I have no control over. I have seen, heard, and been through awful things in my life, and they have helped shape who I am today. I could either take those experiences and live in a world of regret, anger and terror, or I can learn to move on and gain control of future situations.
Every branch of my family comes from humble beginnings, and as I look back, I have it the best out of everyone. And everyday, I am reminded of the awful tragedies and disasters occurring in the world. It was this that taught me to be grateful for all that I have, all the possibilities and opportunities I am given for the successful future my family fought for, and millions of others continue to fight for. And it is this that makes me refrain from complaining and whining. Instead, I count my blessings and plan on moving ahead in life with what I am given.
No matter the circumstances, one should always look for hope in even the most desperate of times. Even by just displaying the slightest amount of confidence and belief, an entire view of the world can change. Positivity is contagious, and honestly, the world needs more of it. Kindness cannot be forced into the identity of a person, but if you choose to rewire your own mindset to be light hearted and compassionate to others, it will reflect better on yourself and how others treat you. That is what I chose to portray in my piece, the fact that even though the world that circles around me is not always the brightest or most lively, I will continue to remain the optimist that I am. And I believe that it works to benefit both myself and those around me, enough for me to be capable of moving beyond all the dark points in my life, and learn to notice the beauty in learning from it.
Every branch of my family comes from humble beginnings, and as I look back, I have it the best out of everyone. And everyday, I am reminded of the awful tragedies and disasters occurring in the world. It was this that taught me to be grateful for all that I have, all the possibilities and opportunities I am given for the successful future my family fought for, and millions of others continue to fight for. And it is this that makes me refrain from complaining and whining. Instead, I count my blessings and plan on moving ahead in life with what I am given.
No matter the circumstances, one should always look for hope in even the most desperate of times. Even by just displaying the slightest amount of confidence and belief, an entire view of the world can change. Positivity is contagious, and honestly, the world needs more of it. Kindness cannot be forced into the identity of a person, but if you choose to rewire your own mindset to be light hearted and compassionate to others, it will reflect better on yourself and how others treat you. That is what I chose to portray in my piece, the fact that even though the world that circles around me is not always the brightest or most lively, I will continue to remain the optimist that I am. And I believe that it works to benefit both myself and those around me, enough for me to be capable of moving beyond all the dark points in my life, and learn to notice the beauty in learning from it.
Reflection
For a first timer with photoshop, I'm pleased with my outcome. It took a long time and hard work and frustration, but it payed off. It was not exactly what I had planned in my planning sketches, however I kept the most important pictures from my ideas. My planning sketches involved a lot of things going on at once, giving the sense of chaos. Not only would it have been very difficult to pull that off, but the way I resembled my theme was satisfactory to me.
Probably the easiest part of this assignment was finding my inspiration. I have a great admiration for Rene Magritte and his ability to recreate the same concept throughout multiple beautiful pieces of art. I also admire his use of soft tones allowing the piece to flow easily and I tried my best to recreate that by lowering the opacity on every picture.
The most difficult part in this assignment was definitely figuring out how to blend the two main pictures together. I followed online Youtube tutorials, followed the photoshop app tutorials, and seeked help from a former student and I still could not complete such an easy step. With every blending option that I could have been given on the app, I could not use it for some reason because it would never be available for me to click on. I spent much time trying to figure out how to complete the task, but eventually I did. Even when I did figure out how, it took even more time to get it to the perfect color and darkness that I wanted it. But in the end, it was good enough for me.
Most importantly, this project allowed me to look deeper into myself and analyze for once who I really am. Very few projects actually require that, and I am happy to say that I enjoyed it, although it did get confusing sometimes wondering which parts of me I wanted to show the world. It soon became clear to me that I like myself best when I have an obviously positive mindset, which is really close to being all the time. I understand that art is expressing my way of interpreting the way I see the world and myself, and I extremely look forward to doing it again in the future.
Probably the easiest part of this assignment was finding my inspiration. I have a great admiration for Rene Magritte and his ability to recreate the same concept throughout multiple beautiful pieces of art. I also admire his use of soft tones allowing the piece to flow easily and I tried my best to recreate that by lowering the opacity on every picture.
The most difficult part in this assignment was definitely figuring out how to blend the two main pictures together. I followed online Youtube tutorials, followed the photoshop app tutorials, and seeked help from a former student and I still could not complete such an easy step. With every blending option that I could have been given on the app, I could not use it for some reason because it would never be available for me to click on. I spent much time trying to figure out how to complete the task, but eventually I did. Even when I did figure out how, it took even more time to get it to the perfect color and darkness that I wanted it. But in the end, it was good enough for me.
Most importantly, this project allowed me to look deeper into myself and analyze for once who I really am. Very few projects actually require that, and I am happy to say that I enjoyed it, although it did get confusing sometimes wondering which parts of me I wanted to show the world. It soon became clear to me that I like myself best when I have an obviously positive mindset, which is really close to being all the time. I understand that art is expressing my way of interpreting the way I see the world and myself, and I extremely look forward to doing it again in the future.
ACT Questions & Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
My inspiration not only shared similarities with the way it was displayed, but for the reasoning as well. Of course, Magritte and I both covered the faces of the portraits with objects that are centered in the middle of the piece, but his main focus was the actual person and the object covering them, while mine was both me and what was surrounding.
My inspiration not only shared similarities with the way it was displayed, but for the reasoning as well. Of course, Magritte and I both covered the faces of the portraits with objects that are centered in the middle of the piece, but his main focus was the actual person and the object covering them, while mine was both me and what was surrounding.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Although there is debate for the real reason Magritte decided to hide the faces of his portraits, the one that related to me was to allow the viewer to give their own emotion to the painting. Because of this, the viewer would feel a connection to the painting as it reflects the emotions of that specific viewer.
Although there is debate for the real reason Magritte decided to hide the faces of his portraits, the one that related to me was to allow the viewer to give their own emotion to the painting. Because of this, the viewer would feel a connection to the painting as it reflects the emotions of that specific viewer.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?I didn't learn too much about every surrealism artist as a community, however using background knowledge I do know that there are multiple kinda of surrealism that each hold different motives, and without being given any context about his paintings, Magritte's work would be difficult to understand, let alone categorize.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?The central idea and theme around my inspirational research was most definitely emotion. Magritte did not express any of his feelings or any specific kind of emotion at all through my inspirational paintings, and I feel that is because he wanted the viewers to be aware of their own emotions and be able to relate to something.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?I inferred during my research that his simple work may have reflected his life in some sorts, living a decent and fairly simple life. I came to this conclusion because most works that come from troubled artists tend to be very gloomy and upsetting, while Magritte's was rather lightly colored and seemed to have to deeper meaning to them. However, after more research, I realized I was wrong and he had indeed lived through a troubled life including the suicide of his mother and dying of pancreatic cancer at age 68.
Bibliography
“2nd Semester Art History Notes.” Mrs. Milewski's Digital Classroom, www.mrsmilewski.com/2nd-semester-art-history-notes.html.
“Man in a Bowler Hat, 1964 by Rene Magritte.” The Lovers II, 1928 by Rene Magritte, www.renemagritte.org/man-in-a-bowler-hat.jsp.
“René Magritte.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 10 Aug. 2015, www.biography.com/people/rené-magritte-9395363.
“Rene Magritte - 370 Artworks.” Www.wikiart.org, www.wikiart.org/en/rene-magritte/all- works#!#filterName:Style_surrealism,resultType:masonry.
“The Son of Man.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_of_Man.
Magritte, René “René Magritte The Lovers Paris 1928.” Lee Bontecou. Untitled. 1959 | MoMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/79933.
“Man in a Bowler Hat, 1964 by Rene Magritte.” The Lovers II, 1928 by Rene Magritte, www.renemagritte.org/man-in-a-bowler-hat.jsp.
“René Magritte.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 10 Aug. 2015, www.biography.com/people/rené-magritte-9395363.
“Rene Magritte - 370 Artworks.” Www.wikiart.org, www.wikiart.org/en/rene-magritte/all- works#!#filterName:Style_surrealism,resultType:masonry.
“The Son of Man.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_of_Man.
Magritte, René “René Magritte The Lovers Paris 1928.” Lee Bontecou. Untitled. 1959 | MoMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/79933.