Digital Manipulation
Title: Running Forward
Size: 30 in. x 20 in. 170 resolution Medium: Photoshop Completion: February 2020 Exhibition Text: Running Forward is a representation of moving forward in life. I wanted to manipulate moving forward with running because running is a big aspect in my life. My inspiration for this piece is Runners by Steve Gamba and The Magpie by Monet. I used Runners because it was my initial inspiration for creating this piece. The Magpie because I wanted to include snow as symbolism for my picture because it's hard to find motivation during winter, but I've started to move past it. |
Inspiration
My inspiration was Steve Gamba and Claude Monet. Steve Gamba is an expressive realist, in which he uses bold colors and expressive brushstrokes, He has a fascination with light and shadows and Gamba prefers to paint with pure colors. In this piece he focuses on runner's feet on a dirt track. I chose Runners because the different legs inspired me to show a picture of my legs running because it's a passion of mine and I thought it would be interesting to use running as a metaphor for life. This piece was the initial inspiration for my digital manipulation because running is a big part of my life and it happens all year round for me. I also chose The Magpie by Claude Monet because I wanted to include the struggles of winter and how it can cause a strain on motivation. This piece reminded me of snow days and how all you want to do is sleep in and forget about homework. I wanted to focus on this because lately there has been a lot of snow and I know that with winter running it's hard to push yourself past your limits and run in the snow. This is simply because it isn't fun and injuries can happen. Claude Monet was a French painter who founded the Impressionist movement. He paints several landscapes that include different perceptions of nature. In this piece, Monet paints a single magpie sitting on a gate. He paints lights and shadows against the trees, sky and snow. This was one of the first true Impressionist paintings before the movement was given a name.
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Planning Sketches
For this planning sketches, I wanted to take pictures of me running and to see which one I like the most. All of these would be flipped around. However, I liked this one because of the stride, but I liked how the legs were separate. One thing I dislike about this picture is that half of my foot is in this picture and I would have to Photoshop the other half, which isn't a problem. This picture is from a burst and looks a little too plain and spaced out if I were to manipulate it.
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This second planning photo was from another burst and this one is with the third photo. I liked this one because I'm placed in the middle, but I feel like the legs are detached from each other. I wasn't sure how I liked the one leg being blurred and the other one focused. However, I plan to use the front foot in this picture for the last picture since there isn't a foot. The picture is also placed in the middle, and it isn't something I wanted.
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This final planning photo is part of the burst from the second one. I likes the spacing of this and I can manipulate it several times to how I want it. Although I do have to Photoshop a foot in, I like this one because this was the goal for my piece. My thought was to Photoshop the foot in from the second photo because it is blurred like the leg. Even though I didn't like the second one with the difference in legs, this one isn't as noticeable. Since the image will be flipped, it will show the past moving forward as time goes on.
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Experimentation
For my experimentation, I only had to experiment two things, the photos and the placement. For the pictures, I wanted the picture to be at the end, to show where I am now and where I would like to be in the future, which is forward. I took several pictures to get the right one, which was luckily the third picture. I wanted to get a burst while running to get a natural movement. I originally thought that if I had myself placed on the right, I would be moving forward, but in reality I'm moving backwards. In the picture to the left, I started the manipulate the picture going "backwards" until a classmate pointed out that it might be better to flip the image. It's like reading a book, in order to get to the end, you have to move left to right, not right to left, otherwise you won't get anywhere. I then flipped the image, as seen in the picture on the right. During this process of copying and pasting the legs, I had to flip the pictures as well, otherwise they would be in the opposite direction on the final page.
Process
- First thing I did was have a friend take different bursts of me running, the bursts gave me different choices for the photo and several options if I needed to Photoshop part of it into my collage.
- After I selected the pictures, I went into Photopea, clicked on file, and then new, and began to create my piece. I changed the measurements from pixels to inches, 30 inches (width) by 20 inches (height) and 170 resolution
- I created piece, clicked on file, then open and place, to place the image I wanted to use onto the background.
- I then went to file, clicked on open and selected the same picture, I used this to copy and paste the leg and foot onto the background or original page. Then I opened up a photo which had my other foot, which I used when I started to manipulate the piece.
- To flip the images so that I could continue to manipulate the photos, I clicked on image, transform, and then clicked on flip horizontally. This is seen in photo four down below.
- I used the lasso select tool to trace out the image I wanted so I could copy and paste it several times and change the opacity.
- On the right above the layers, I changed the opacity percentages, starting at 100% and decreasing it 25% moving towards the right of the picture.
- After I finished my photoshop document, I saved it as a PSD to save my layers and as a JPG so that I would be able to print it.
Reflection
Overall, I really like my digital manipulated piece. I think it turned out really well for photo-shop and manipulating an image as well as photo-shopping a foot in. Although, it did take a short amount of time after I experimented, I felt accomplished and met every goal I made for this piece. I think I captured the message of moving forward, but in a way that goes with my theme of self-identity. This piece shows growth and a part of me that makes me happy and that has affected my life tremendously. Throughout the making of this piece, I've learned that my motivation decreases in winter because it's a depressing time for me, and it's hard to have determination because it feels never-ending. Soon, spring and summer come, and everything is back to normal. It's hard to move past obstacles that get in your way, but it's easy to forget about it and not make any progress.
Compare & Contrast
Similarities:
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ACT Responses
1) Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Steve Gamba's piece the Runners inspired to do legs down running picture, but I put my own twist on it. I decided to copy the legs and change the opacity to represent moving forward. I used Claude Monet's piece The Magpie because I wanted to make sure there was snow on the ground when taking my picture because I felt that it would represent my motivation because the snow can stop someone from doing things they need to accomplish.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Monet would paint a lot of landscapes, which this doesn't represent a landscape, but the features of the background can be important to the meaning. Steve Gamba painted a lot of abstract pieces that still represented realism.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Throughout my research, I had a lot of trouble finding another piece of inspiration because not many people focus on running, which can be very hard since that is one thing I want to focus on.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central theme was strength and motivation that connect with self-identity. The more you're able to help yourself and take better of yourself, the stronger your identity is because it becomes more recognized.
5)What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Some things I learned throughout my research is that Claude Monet is known for his landscape impressionist paintings and Steve Gamba is on the smaller scale of being known but he mainly does abstract realism paintings.
Steve Gamba's piece the Runners inspired to do legs down running picture, but I put my own twist on it. I decided to copy the legs and change the opacity to represent moving forward. I used Claude Monet's piece The Magpie because I wanted to make sure there was snow on the ground when taking my picture because I felt that it would represent my motivation because the snow can stop someone from doing things they need to accomplish.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Monet would paint a lot of landscapes, which this doesn't represent a landscape, but the features of the background can be important to the meaning. Steve Gamba painted a lot of abstract pieces that still represented realism.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Throughout my research, I had a lot of trouble finding another piece of inspiration because not many people focus on running, which can be very hard since that is one thing I want to focus on.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central theme was strength and motivation that connect with self-identity. The more you're able to help yourself and take better of yourself, the stronger your identity is because it becomes more recognized.
5)What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Some things I learned throughout my research is that Claude Monet is known for his landscape impressionist paintings and Steve Gamba is on the smaller scale of being known but he mainly does abstract realism paintings.