Last Day In | Case Study

#1

This is a case study of photo manipulation for a fashion ad. I combined two different fashion ads as a photo collage and manipulated the images for cohesiveness. I used similar techniques as before for practicing using a different application for consistency. The inspiration for the pattern and frame was from the Zune user interface as well as for blocking out.

I would like to know on how to improve on my compositing skills. This is a photo illustration that is made from compositing of images similar to paper collages but a photomontage technically. I am wondering if this image has enough depth to show its details of a story. The image is bright because of the intent of not showing a dark mood or theme but for a brighter occasional day showing an aspect of daylight without being too obvious or frank.

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#2

What is the story that you’re trying to tell with this image? Often, an image’s narrative will have very specific compositional needs that’s unique to the context of the image. It’s hard to help you if we don’t know what it is you’re trying to convey with the image.

#3

This image is based on the morals of harm in the population of pollution. The fashion ads had their own unique vision to their campaigns which I slightly went a way with my own vision. The image is created to show the memory of a last day in a urban industrial environment. So I created a color palette which would mix in the sunlight for a brighter mood instead of the dark environments usually portrayed in visiting this message. In today’s standards urban environments comes slightly populated with all sorts of pollution which makes the city slightly undesirable to live by. The smoke throughout the image is representational to that. I wanted the image approachable to everyone witnessing the act but still instilling a fear of isolation without the population of pollution which is a double standard.

#4

What is your goal? What industry do you want to work in? What’s the intended use of this image? An illustration? A poster? A book cover? Just an image in your portfolio? Tell us what you need help with. Is it just comments on this image, or do you want to become a better artist overall?

If you are serious about telling a story that viewers can understand, then you must break the image down into understandable elements. Have each story element represented by clear and effective visual representations so that the viewers won’t sit there and scratch their heads and wonder what the hell they’re looking at. Between being too vague and too obvious, is a very wide range of possibilities, and right now, you are way over on the side of the obscure/vague.

Also, if you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend you visit the Art Techniques & Theories forum (linked below in my signature). Read the sticky threads there, as they contain a ton of very helpful tips and resources that will make a huge difference in your artistic growth.

#5

I would like to work in the video game, film, or design field pertaining to graphic design. This image is intended for studying the basic design principles like composition, depth, focus and the rest. This image is also both a photo illustration as well as an image in my portfolio showing my capabilities in the field I would like to adhere to. Both comments and making me a better artist overall is what I would like to receive from this forum and thread. I think from this point on I will need to make my work a little bit narrow and to the basic elements. I sometimes confuse my layout and design principles once it passes the middle stages, I tend to change the story for a wider presentation and it starts becoming more vague. My work is a little bit obscure with how I composite things since I am trying to develop compositional techniques as well that I would like to resolve someday being able to tell the story I would like within the layouts I would choose intentively and intuitively. I follow your forum but I have not went back in a bit since I started posting works in progress and visiting other locations. I will read your threads again since you really do inspire and give wonderful advice that I can develop in growth with. That is all I can think of to answer the questions you would like.

#6

If you are serious about your career aspirations, then you need to buckle down and learn the essential foundations of visual art. There are no shortcuts to this, and it will take at least a few years of discipline, perseverance, and inexhaustible passion in order to become competent in the foundations.

Fumbling around on your own without guidance doesn’t work for a lot of people, and even for those who are capable of figuring out stuff on their own, having guidance will speed up their progress/growth significantly. That is why you must read the sticky threads at the Art Techniques & Theories forum (linked below in my signature), and then start following the learning/growing strategies I have often laid out for those who are looking to learn/grow as artists.

This thread in particular (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=166&t=84440), contains precious information that can change the lives of aspiring artists–IF read them carefully and take the advice to heart, and incorporate them into your daily life.

Put together a learning/growing strategy based on the advice I gave in those threads, and start training. However passionate you are about your dreams and goals, should be reflected in how hard you train, and if your training does not match the intensity of your desire to become the artist you aspire to be, then you’re in danger of becoming someone who is all talk and has nothing to show for his aspirations. So start learning, absorbing knowledge like a sponge, and train hard. Draw and paint as much as you can, and don’t do it aimlessly. Target your weaknesses whenever you work on an image–don’t just doodle aimlessly of the stuff you already know, and stop doing photo collages.

Learn to draw and paint, and then the whole world of visual art will be yours, because everything you learn in drawing and painting will carry over to other visual art disciplines, but the reverse is not true. If you can achieve competency as a 2D artist who can draw and paint, then you can pickup any other visual discipline much faster and easier–be it photography, graphic design, 3D, etc. Nothing else teaches and trains the essential foundations of visual art like drawing and painting does (although photography is incredibly useful for learning composition).

#7

I actually was considering to stop photo collaging. This was the last image I was going to make and it is true that photography helps with composition which is what I wanted to learn through the process. I have a lot of books I am going to start reading that will help me with my draftsmanship hopefully. The most glaring weakness I have is not being able to gesture draw the way I would like how I see others draftsmanship according to a gesture draw. I am going to start learning at a University level soon which will help me buckle down and really get gesture drawing. I know most other fundamentals but the most fundamental I have not fully developed to understand is Gesture Drawing. If you have a good resource I can read on how to fully understand gesture drawing that will highly appreciated and helpful. I have always liked photo collaging and that is what inspired me to do art but I will stop doing that and doing regular traditional work like drawing, illustrating, and sculpturing. I am still learning discipline in the process of working and studying art which will help me out as well as following your advice. So yes I am really considering to stop photo collaging and creating original work as the foundation. Thank you for the hard advice which is what I needed. I am reading and watching a lot of the ImagineFX tutorials as well as going to focus on your article, but thank you. I guess this thread is officially done with lol.

#8

I will be reading “Gesture Drawing For Animation” by Walt Stanchfield, since that was made specifically for the field I would like to develop in. That will also give me the proper foundations for the fundamentals in capturing the essence of an object. I will be reading as well as applying so I can consume a good amount of education for this field. I may also read the popular Andrew Loomis books to develop my hand-eye coordination which I will need to develop a tad bit more specifically for expressive and simplified linework.

#9

Updated the picture: the definitions of the forms and color graded. Made the picture an anaglyph to show the depth created from the image. Hopefully this image shows the narrative a bit more than what I had previously shown.

#10

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.