Conclusion

At this point I would say that the most significant accomplishment in my class was my midterm.  I thought that both of the parts to it have strong underling messages and at the same time show a beautiful picture. My favorite part of it is how they both came from the same basic background picture but look completely different.

One thing that was hard to master when first taught in class was the layer mask and specifically making things look realistically put into a picture by using shadows. The first project that i really did this in was one of my quizzes. It took me a few tries to make it look right but it was well worth it.

Over the course of this class I've not only improved my photoshop skills but also my ability to express the point I'm trying to make with my work. The first picture is my modulated meaning project which was made right before my midterm.

As you can see there is a lot going on and I had a little more trouble getting the meaning of good vs bad dreams and making it look clean/professional. 

The next picture is my final project and although it isn't as complicated as my midterm it has just as much meaning if not more.

In the top part the kids playing hockey represent the youth, they have all their hopes and dreams and can only imagine what they might become one day. There is also a kid wear #88 who is supposed to be more of the main focus an Patrick Kane as a kid. On the left I have Patrick Kane grown up (#88) holding the Stanley Cup and during the national anthem. This is supposed to be what the kids dreams are and at the same time showing that he is capable of accomplishing it. The bottom shows a man on the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Many people have died attempting to climb it and it alone is a huge symbol for determination and hard work. This mans journey to his accomplishment probably started years before preparing and climbing other mountains. In the reflection in his goggles there's a picture of fellow climbers following in his footsteps.

Final Preparation

For my Final project I wanted to further the development of my Big Idea which is dreams. For my midterm I created two dream-like worlds using the same basic picture in order to contrast good and bad dreams.  Instead of creating something that was similar I wanted to show the more literal interpretation of Dreams, in the sense of dreams and aspirations. I made two pictures which showed some of my past/present dreams.  I then combined them by giving both a border that looked like torn white paper. If this work was to be used in a promotional sense I would most likely see it being an inspirational poster or ad.

One thing that influenced my final would be inspirational posters/pictures, a similar style to these seemed fitting for my big idea.  Another thing that influenced me was one of my old schools hockey posters. The heading was old time hockey and they were on a frozen lake in a really cool setting paying in hoodies and jeans. I incorporated this into the top part of my final.

One thing that I incorporated into this project that I hadn't done before was the use of custom brushes to give it a border and more fluently combine two pictures.

The finished product is below:

Interesting Artists

The first artist which got me excited is Stilling a user I found on worth1000.com.
Here are a few of his works:

I thought that his work fits well into my Big Idea of dreams.  He is very creative and I feel depicts a "dream-like" world in most of his pieces.  I enjoy his creative style of turning an ordinary picture or object (stone table, elephant, or castle) into a fantasy world. I feel like after seeing his work I will be able to incorporate his style into my Big Idea for my midterm.

Stilling's profile can be found here:
http://all.worth1000.com/artists/stilling

This next artist got me excited and interested in his work but almost a little disturbed at times too.
His name is Alex Pardee here are a few of his works:

Like Stilling I felt that Pardee's works fit in well with my Big Idea of dreams but more in the nightmare part of it. They are all very intricate and creative. As I said earlier I'm a little disturbed by a few of his works but overall I'm very interested and they do have a nightmarish feeling to them.  I will try to incorporate some of his style into the bad dream part of my midterm.

His website and everything he's created can be found here:

http://eyesuckink.com/gallery/

Partial Submersion Tutorial

The tutorial I completed was to show how to make a Partially Submerged object. It can be found here

http://www.worth1000.com/tutorials/163050/partial-submersion

 I started out by cutting out the background behind the turtle and distorting the ocean part of another picture to make the top of the water.

I then selected the top of the turtle which was cover up and erased it to look like it is sticking out of the water.

I put two pictures of water underneath the surface of the ocean and blended/ erased to make it look realistic.

I imported a picture of clouds and warped it to make the sky more interesting, added to the shell and played around with the shading and coloring to finish it off. The finished product is below.

Connotation and Denotation

The dictionary definition

Denotation: What is actually shown. 

Connotation: What can be inferred or concluded from the denotated images.

Smurf Sighting by Nate Hallinan 

Denotation: A fictional blue creature with a mushroom attached to his head which looks like a hat and what looks like mushroom pants and shoes. He is walking in a forest with a speared slug and berries on his back.

Connotation: The so called Smurf is walking alone with a speared slug and berries suggesting he was out hunting/gathering and coming back.  He looks like he is walking boldly suggesting he was successful while hunting. By the mushroom which is attached to his head and his surrounding one could say he lives in the forrest and evolved to have camouflage.

Imprisoned for Life

Denotation: Three birds sitting in what looks like a cage. One has "For Life" on its chest and has its wing around the smaller bird who is crying next to him, The third bird has just pooped and has what looks like crumbs on his face and is wearing a striped hat. There are also a pair of bird feet facing up towards the top of the picture.
Connotation: The bird feet on the bottom suggest that there is a dead bird on the bottom of the cage. The small bird who is crying could be crying due to the lost of a friend or for being "imprisoned for life".    The third bird's hat resembles a prison hat which in addition to the bars in the background implies that they are in jail and due to his expression the dead bird doesn't bother him. The biggest bird with the tattoos resembles a thug-like boss character which generally comes to mind when thinking of prison. The gray/black background gives the picture a darker feeling.

Both images were found on Nate Hallinan's website:
http://www.natehallinan.com/