Narrative Visual Perspective in Digital Media

Funny images

Along with our Surreal Photoshop Compositions (see the english narrative 2 tab) we also created two funny photoshop collages, in order to build our editing skills and practice for our humor project later in the year. We were supposed to create the compositions with only photos taken by us. I decided to create images with me, my dogs, and my friends, along with things I liked.

Quick selection was a compositing technique I used a lot, and it made the process so much faster since I didn’t have to trace everything out myself. I think it’s nimportant in a good composite image because it prevents you from having unwanted parts of each image. I also think clipping masks are a very useful tool for compositing, because they allow you to include things from different images in a really easily replaceable way, where you can switch out what is in the shape anytime. With being able to composite in photoshop, I value the potential for how fantastical any future photoshop creations could be. It expands the possibilities which is always good, as more skills make you more competent.

Multi-Layered Art Project

For this project, the aim was to create a Multi-layered piece of art using Adobe Illustrator that told part of our worldbuilding story, and connected in some way. I chose to depict the last scene of the story, the climax. This is my sketch, where I planned out all of the layers, as well as my illustrator file.

I started with the stacked wood art option, because I wanted to create a cave, and I thought the wood would show the texture the best. Then, Mr. Flo introduced another option, which was a lightbox, that had no light, and instead, had colored paper, which I really liked, and so I decided to do that. I thought the different colors would give it an interesting ethereal feel, and would replicate the artist that inspired a lot of the aesthetic in the story: Moebius. After I finished the illustrator file, I ended up wanting to create a stacked wood version as well, which I like a lot.

I made this piece based on my group’s worldbuilding project, where a character has a brain prosthetic that controls their life. There is a climax scene in the story where the group finds themselves in a mine, and this character experiences a seizure due to a radioactive crystal. I really liked this scene, and I wanted to depict it in this piece. I wanted the layers to all be intensely complicated, and to really represent the complicated intricacy that is the character’s mind. 

After the project was created in Illustrator, we imported the layers into Adobe After Effects to create a digital video showing the multilayered quality of the piece. This was very tricky, and involved using a moving camera, a light source, and creating shadows of each of the pieces.

After that was done, the physical piece was laser cut, and I glued everything together to make my two pieces. With the wood, I had to clamp everything closed, and with the paper I had to stack them inside of a wooden box.

I really liked this project because it was very complicated but also very fun, and required a lot of thinking. I think the different steps that we took were all teaching us different skills, which was very fulfilling. I feel a lot more comfortable with Adobe Illustrator now, and with thinking of things in a 3D context. I like the final products a lot.