I didn’t intend to portray any specific message with my surreal composition, I just wanted to utilize the Photoshop tools we had learned in class to create a composition of some sort of visually interesting mythic creature.
For my piece, I used masks on almost every layer to hide parts of the image I didn’t need to keep and to clean up the edges of each layer. Some different images I used/combined for the subject were: bat wings, a chandelier, a leafy sea dragon, and pearls. The background is composed of three different images of caves, and I used blending modes and played around with curves and layer settings until I got something I liked out of them.
Surreal compositions had more room for creativity since it isn’t necessary to create scenes that make logical sense. Realistic compositions require that you match lighting sources and have overall cohesive colors, lighting, and contrast. Even though I enjoyed both, I found the process of making a surreal artwork to be more fun overall!
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