Blog #5

1. The most significant accomplishment I had in my Final project was creating meaningful artwork. The Big Idea for my final project meant a lot to me because I had a personal experience with my sister going through an eating disorder. I was hoping to show how serious an eating disorder is and I also wanted to show that it is possible for a person to overcome an eating disorder. I feel like I accomplished this goal in my work by my cohorts reaction to the images, they were amazed, not only by the images.

2. My most challenging learning experience in Photoshop was masking. The problem wasn’t understanding what masks could do, it was just knowing HOW to do all of the perks masks offer. By the final project I felt like I had a pretty good handle on how masks worked but I still feel like I could play around with them more to fully understand how they work. Considering I had never used Photoshop before, every concept was difficult at first, but I would have to say learning how to layer and control the color and intensity of images is something I mastered by the end of the quarter.

3 3. The two images I chose to compare and contrast are the images from my final project and quiz 2. They both deal with similar Photoshop concepts but the image from my final has so much more meaning behind it. Anyone could tell that there is so much more thought behind this image. The image from quiz two is just an example of technique and it is not as strong of an image.

Quiz 2

Final

Final: Body Image

Artist Statement

My Big Idea is body image with a focus on anorexia. I chose to explore this big idea because my sister struggled with this eating disorder for four years and nearly died. Since my sister has been healthy for nine years, I had to use photographs taken of her during the battle. For the first image I combined photos and a watercolor that I painted of my sister when she was sick. I hope this image conveys how serious anorexia is and how it can take up residence and consume one’s mind, body and spirit. Ironically, the word “eat” is in the middle of the word “death” and I intentionally positioned the word over her mouth.

In the second image I used a photograph that I took of Ashley after she defeated anorexia. In this shot she is obviously healthy and well with the eating disorder behind her, literally and figuratively. I also used the last stanza of a poem she wrote to further explain her victory. The color used in this image is inspired from the artist in my blog number four. I tried to make everything black and white except for Ashley. I want her to look full of life while everything else looks dull.

In both images my goal in Photoshop was to better my skills in masking and also perfecting all the other skills we have learned through the quarter. I also researched artists that use body image as their big idea in their artwork and I tried using some of their design techniques. I found this very helpful in creating my final images.