I wanted to mimic ideas from the book Dune by Frank Herbert in my surrealistic photo. I used the main ideas of dunes, water, travelers, vast plains, and worms as inspiration for this piece. In the novel, the main character Paul Atreides is brought by his father the emperor to the planet Arrakis, a desolate planet that lacks the most fundamental element of human survival: water. Water is a big theme throughout the book and it’s heavily emphasized through characters’ conservation of it and the symbol presented behind wasting or ridding of it due to its scarcity. I made the piece ironic by making the sky a roaring wave of water and adding a water shadow atop the dunes themselves. The worms in the piece are meant to be like the sandworms in the book– gigantic and dangerous.
While creating the piece, I didn’t struggle much. It was more about recalling all the techniques involved, such as bringing part of a photo from a lower layer above another one. For the most part, I spent a lot of time figuring out the composition of everything and piecing them together. I later added texture and matched hues to really blend everything together.
I really enjoyed getting to use Photoshop more, since I find it quite difficult to use sometimes, and I have a better understanding of its functions. I also really enjoyed creating surrealistic photos. As an artist, I can’t illustrate or paint well on my own, but with compositing, I can build these art pieces without having to worry about actually drawing all elements. I can just piece parts together and use more technical skills to blend everything.
Related website
