Basic Photoshop

Then I experimented on one of my images – adjusting it slightly in different ways – e.g. looking straight through a doorway and angling the view through the door. Also styles of working e.g. scruffy and neat. Also I tried out different brush types e.g. plain, soft and scattered as well as spacing and size within that. One more thing I used was painting techniques e.g. normal, colour dodge and multiply.

My Decided Designs

I looked at real photos of caves and caverns to give me and a better idea of things that could be included based on the structure of them and formation. But also I had a look at African culture as that is where the book is set.

Caves

African Artifacts

I looked at a website – http://www.conceptart.org/ and it is a place where you can access concept art from loads of different people, so I had a look through and found that 2 of the ideas i felt were exciting had been overused and did not give the full picture, so i decided to change them for perspectives that i had seen that I would have thought would have worked well on mine and they did. Also i decided the change the other one because the scene i chose did not mention anything about its surroundings so I decided to zoom in to focus on what I knew.

I read over my interpretations after and started to sketch out a few basic ideas for each scene – changing the perspective and focusing on things

After I sketched them out I looked over my basic ideas and chose out the three that i thought had the most exciting perspectives and gave more through

After this I decided I was going to look at other concept art

Interpretation Of Scenes

First set

- Greenery for 4 to 6 miles – in the shape of roman amphitheatre
- Rocky sides clothed with bush
- Centre – rich meadow land, single trees, meandering brooks
- Grazing goats and cattle
- Human habitation in form of litters –left side – half a mile

Second Set

- From underground shaft
- Ventilation – borings
- Enormous pit
- Half way up – where were standing – low rock wall surround
- Pyramid of skeletons

Third Set

- A Cavern – fifty foot high and long – thirty foot wide
- Rose coloured glow
- Smooth walls
- White sand floor
- A Goblet of fire – at the far end of the space

Concept Art - Landscapes From Books

Decision From Experiments

From my experiments I decided to use number 1 because it gives the best combination between the items and my face. The objects can clearly be identified and you can still see all my facial features that make my face.

Experiments

I had the idea of my head being filled up with things i have learnt with things i am going to learn being sucked in so i had to experiment with how i wouldget to see through my head to see the items inside. These are my experiments -

Development Of My Initial Practical Ideas

I have develoed some realistic versions of my initial ideas - From this I have chosen the idea which I am going to carry on developing and that is Idea 2 (the torch). I have decided to carry on with this idea because I feel it has the strongest concept behind it and it can be developed in many different ways.

Influences In The essay

Self Portrait 1889 - Van Gogh
Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins - Michael Donald

Migrant Mother - Dorothea Lange

Vanitas Still Life with a Portrait - David Bailly

Plan For The Essay

Look at - plain painted portraits(just the person)
- plain photographic portraits(just the person)
- painted portraits with surroundings/possessions
- photographic portraits with surroundings/possessions

Then within this I will talk about how paintings take a long period of time and your feelings change and how photographs are instant and many can be taken in the period of one painted portrait and you can capture all different moods.

My Essay Title

Discuss the relationship of time and surroundings to a portrait

Influences On Practical Work

After choosing my ideas, I decided to have a look back at the artists from the initial presentation who have a connection with my work and help it to develop. I found that Arcimbaldo associated well with my first 2 ideas as they are based on build the face up from different objects. Then for idea 3 I looked back and forth trying to find a connection between the artist then I come across the Freida Kahlo painting of herself in two different styles and this links as I am going to show two different ways in which i could end up depending of the result of my present day.

Thinking About The Topic



As a class we researched artists that have experimented with portraiture, identity and changes. I start to gather ideas and I found myself unable to stop because there are so many aspects to a character in terms of personality, appearance and surroundings. So I chose the three ideas that I felt to be the strongest and concentrated on them – these are those ideas –











1: This idea is about meeting new people as you go through life. It shows the split that in order to meet new people you have to leave but not forget people u know already













2: This idea is based on your identity being ever expanding. This idea revolves around that you are a flame and you keep learning things / doing things right up till the time of your death but if you believe in heaven then u could take this as a symbol for life basically because you could say that the new things you learn feed the flame so along as you are learning / doing more you will be burning.













3: This idea revolves around what may happen in the future depending on what happens to myself now. This idea takes that if I am successful in my life in will lead me on to bigger and better things where as if I am unsuccessful in my quest I will be a failure.