"Crybaby"
91 cm by 61 cm
Digital Manipulation
September 2018
EXHIBITION TEXT:
My intention with this piece was to portray myself in my frustrations with my emotions. I wanted to make a distorted look to show how my feelings could look if they were a visual thing, an ocean, by using photoshop. I was inspired by the artists Salvador Dali and Odee.
Critical investigation
“I Create Digital Colleges To Express Myself Visually.” Bored Panda,
www.boredpanda.com/digital-collage-art-from-iceland/?utm_ source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic. |
“15 Things You Didn't Know About The Persistence Of Memory.” Mental Floss, 21 May 2018, mentalfloss.com/article/62725/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-persistence-memory.
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Since I had never seen or heard of a digital collage, i did some googling for inspiration and i really liked one piece. The piece was created by a man named Odee from Iceland. Most of his work is digital collages and i looked through many of them but this one was the piece i had seen first. Odee makes his pieces by combining images to create an outline of something else. Most of his pictures are made of images of comics or cartoons. The elements I used from him was the concept of him putting images together to create something that isn't just those pictures mashed together. I used that for the inspiration of the body of water in my own piece.
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.When I first came up with my idea for my piece while learning how to use photoshop I knew i wanted to use distorted things like Dali. Obviously i had took inspiration from the clocks in my road signs that make up the water. Not only does it give the distorted feeling but it also has a closer look to water. The distortion look is supposed to not only make waves but also give the distorted look that you see when you cry.
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Planning Drawings
This was my final sketch, i did this after i had taken my photos to make sure i had layed everything out the way i wanted it to be. i originally did not have the distance part in the sketch, i added it after i had completed the whole piece. i did this because i found it looked better after experimenting with Photoshop. I continued to try and recreate this in my actual piece.
Process, Ideas and Intentions
Process
Experiementation
When i was deciding how i wanted to put my self into this piece i had originally wanted to not be facing the front and show the back of my head, I felt that this idea took a lot of emotion out that i wanted to be there. I took tons of photos of myself after this and decided on the one on the left for my piece because i feel it shows a tired, annoyed or stressed face. I wanted it to be a little confusing as to what i was really feeling so its easier for others to relate to my piece. |
Firstly i begun experimenting with the different ideas i had in my sketchbook, lots of the ideas were simple or just didn't make since with the theme i wanted the piece to show. in the first page i just had myself in water, which wasn't what i wanted, then i added things in the water and then i came to the idea of my final piece. This may seem like a very minor thing but just connecting a mouse to the computer made my life much better when creating this piece. it was so hard to use the pad to select things. While using the selection tool i had realized that since my signs are very simple shapes i can use the quick select tool on most of them. Also later on i was having trouble figuring out how to add color to my "water" i soon discovered that i could individually hue each sign and give it a color. This was really cool because it gave me the idea for my "ocean of tears" by giving it different colors. |
Reflection
Personally, I'm not sure if Photoshop is my favorite way to create art. I will definitely not be making more pieces with Photoshop on my own time, partially because I don't have Photoshop at home and because I just didn't really like the repetitiveness of it. It could have been because my piece required a lot of repetitive tools, like for example hue and saturation on each of the signs. When i first started this project i was very excited about it and even wanted to buy a computer to use Photoshop at home. Eventually after coming in to work on it lunch and ACP for a whole week i wasn't enjoying it anymore. It was really just frustrating and boring to me. Despite all of that i finished my piece and i'm actually proud of it.
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Critique
I feel that my piece came out better than i had anticipated it to be. I originally thought it was going to look really childish and slapped together but that's not what happened. I kept looking at different pieces by Odee and i thought his were too complicated so i simplified it. i feel that the water appearance i wanted comes through way better because of my inspiration from Dali melting clocks, I also feel that my over all feeling from the piece is exactly what i wanted it to be.
Compare and Contrast
Similarities between my piece and Shishigami:
Similarities between my piece and Persistence Of Memory:
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Meaning
Over the course of my entire life I have been considered a crybaby. From being an actually baby to what looks like to be the rest of my life. In this description, I will tell you about me and how my piece relates to me.
First I will introduce myself, my name is Liana Bautista, i was born in the morning. It took 7 seven hours to come out. When i was born i cried for a very long time, my mom doesn't remember how long but she said it was long, very long. She was worried i would be a difficult baby like my brother but once i stopped crying, i didn't cry for a while. As long as i had something to do, i was fine for hours. And then when i got older i cried all the time. For everything. I don't remember when or why but i remember a lot of crying. Once i started school I would cry all the time for really dumb things so the kids didn't like me very much and i had a few bullies. Even when i got older i would still cry during class and being around people really stressed me out. Now i have issues with just leaving class because i just care about things too much.
Throughout my entire life i tried different ways to cry less, breathing, counting and all that stuff. I don’t think it worked, maybe i'm just stubbornly emotional? I don't know. One method that I have always used that usually helped me feel better was chewing on stuff, mostly paper. I don't really know what started it, maybe it was the fact that i was chubbier when i was little and eating was the only way to make me feel better? And just the sensation of chewing helps when no food is around? I’m not sure. I chose to use this part of me in this piece, the signs are a symbol for the paper i chew to calm me down. They surround me and become the tears that make me use the paper in the first place. It's kind of like a image for the cycle, I chew the paper which only stresses me out more that people will find out what it is but it's the only thing around me i can use. It's the only thing like the being stuck in the ocean.
There was one point in my life where i wasn't as emotional, i would say it was the lowest point in my life but also one of the highest. I was really sad and i didnt care about anything and that's how i stopped crying. It sounds really emo but i seriously didn't even care enough to cry, I remember thinking that there was no point in crying because there's really no point to anything. After this i started making friends and i talked to other people at school and i was able to stand up to people who bullied me because i just didn't care about it. I made lots of friends and i went out a lot and met more people. If you were to ask any of my friends about me during that time they would probably tell you i was one of the happiest types of person. This was one of the biggest changes for me because I seriously didn't care what others thought about me so i could do and say whatever i wanted without regretting it and getting emotional. I wasn't exactly happy during those times but it was much better than constantly crying. This point in my life is also connected to the piece, because it was such an important time. This is shown in the expression on my face. It can be read differently by different people but it's supposed to show how annoyed i am with the whole situation of life.
After this point in my life i don't know what happened. I don't really understand what happened or how I got here but I did. At this point i'm the person i wanted to be when i was a fat girl that cried all the time. I’m happy with who i am and i don't take crap from people. That's all i wanted, and i'm not going to let anyone downgrade me ever again for my overbearing emotions, because that's what makes me who i am and if you have a problem with it, i don't care. Please exit from my life, I have no explanations for you and i'm not going to change for you, I was fine by myself then, im sure ill be fine without you now. Crying doesn’t make me a sad person, i just care a little too much.
First I will introduce myself, my name is Liana Bautista, i was born in the morning. It took 7 seven hours to come out. When i was born i cried for a very long time, my mom doesn't remember how long but she said it was long, very long. She was worried i would be a difficult baby like my brother but once i stopped crying, i didn't cry for a while. As long as i had something to do, i was fine for hours. And then when i got older i cried all the time. For everything. I don't remember when or why but i remember a lot of crying. Once i started school I would cry all the time for really dumb things so the kids didn't like me very much and i had a few bullies. Even when i got older i would still cry during class and being around people really stressed me out. Now i have issues with just leaving class because i just care about things too much.
Throughout my entire life i tried different ways to cry less, breathing, counting and all that stuff. I don’t think it worked, maybe i'm just stubbornly emotional? I don't know. One method that I have always used that usually helped me feel better was chewing on stuff, mostly paper. I don't really know what started it, maybe it was the fact that i was chubbier when i was little and eating was the only way to make me feel better? And just the sensation of chewing helps when no food is around? I’m not sure. I chose to use this part of me in this piece, the signs are a symbol for the paper i chew to calm me down. They surround me and become the tears that make me use the paper in the first place. It's kind of like a image for the cycle, I chew the paper which only stresses me out more that people will find out what it is but it's the only thing around me i can use. It's the only thing like the being stuck in the ocean.
There was one point in my life where i wasn't as emotional, i would say it was the lowest point in my life but also one of the highest. I was really sad and i didnt care about anything and that's how i stopped crying. It sounds really emo but i seriously didn't even care enough to cry, I remember thinking that there was no point in crying because there's really no point to anything. After this i started making friends and i talked to other people at school and i was able to stand up to people who bullied me because i just didn't care about it. I made lots of friends and i went out a lot and met more people. If you were to ask any of my friends about me during that time they would probably tell you i was one of the happiest types of person. This was one of the biggest changes for me because I seriously didn't care what others thought about me so i could do and say whatever i wanted without regretting it and getting emotional. I wasn't exactly happy during those times but it was much better than constantly crying. This point in my life is also connected to the piece, because it was such an important time. This is shown in the expression on my face. It can be read differently by different people but it's supposed to show how annoyed i am with the whole situation of life.
After this point in my life i don't know what happened. I don't really understand what happened or how I got here but I did. At this point i'm the person i wanted to be when i was a fat girl that cried all the time. I’m happy with who i am and i don't take crap from people. That's all i wanted, and i'm not going to let anyone downgrade me ever again for my overbearing emotions, because that's what makes me who i am and if you have a problem with it, i don't care. Please exit from my life, I have no explanations for you and i'm not going to change for you, I was fine by myself then, im sure ill be fine without you now. Crying doesn’t make me a sad person, i just care a little too much.
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and it's effect upon your artwork?
Each of my inspirational pieces had a effect on my work in one way or another. For example, Since i had been inspired by odees collages it had effect on my work by giving me the idea of and ocean for my foreground and background
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
So Odee was describing himself and how he describes his art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas,culture,etc. While you researched your inspiration?
One generalization from Odee was that he didnt want to be associated with the typical artsy people and their sterotypes.
What is the central idea and theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea and theme around my research was to put feelings in my piece, from Salvador Dali and don't think about it too much, from Odee
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that Odee wanted to visually express himself instead of making art.
Each of my inspirational pieces had a effect on my work in one way or another. For example, Since i had been inspired by odees collages it had effect on my work by giving me the idea of and ocean for my foreground and background
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
So Odee was describing himself and how he describes his art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas,culture,etc. While you researched your inspiration?
One generalization from Odee was that he didnt want to be associated with the typical artsy people and their sterotypes.
What is the central idea and theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea and theme around my research was to put feelings in my piece, from Salvador Dali and don't think about it too much, from Odee
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that Odee wanted to visually express himself instead of making art.
Bibliography
1.“I Create Digital Colleges To Express Myself Visually.” Bored Panda,www.boredpanda.com/digital-collage-art-from-iceland/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic.
2. “15 Things You Didn't Know About The Persistence Of Memory.” Mental Floss, 21 May 2018, mentalfloss.com/article/62725/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-persistence-memory.
2. “15 Things You Didn't Know About The Persistence Of Memory.” Mental Floss, 21 May 2018, mentalfloss.com/article/62725/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-persistence-memory.