Summer Project

For our summer project, we were each given a list of different words, in which we then had to each choose one word from the list to base our project around. Looking through the 20 or so different ways that I could approach my project; I was mainly interested in 'Observation of the self', 'Effect of time' and 'Unusual viewpoints and perspectives'. After a lot of consideration, I eventually chose 'unusual perspectives/ viewpoints' as I thought that this was the most interesting one to choose from. However, although I had chosen this- I was still very fond of another title from the list 'being a stranger in a strange land'-as I was looking at unusual perspectives, it led me to think about the ways children perceive adults from their point of view; and how when were little everything we see seems so much more exaggerated. Prior to choosing my word, I had been looking at the artist Egon Schiele- who also depicts his drawn figures from particularly unusual angles; but also exaggerates his figures bodies, making their hands extremely large in comparison to their tiny physiques.

Planning 

So far I have collected images of Egon Schieles distinctivly unusual drawings- using his work as a starting base for my own. Schiele portrays such an unusual representation of the human body in his drawings; that could be somewhat disturbing in many ways, as these bodies look so dishevelled and skeletal.

These are some of my quick sketches that I did in preparation for taking my photographs. I knew from the start that I wanted to create this illusion of people looking extremely large, and out of proportion. For my sketches I drew people with tiny heads, contrasted against their much larger bodies.

In preparation for taking my photographs, I looked on google images to find some images, typing in 'people from below' this is what I found. I think these images are very useful as they depict very disproportionate and abnormal people from low angles. Whilst taking my photographs, I would like for them to look like these.

Taking photographs 

I knew that for beginning my project, I wanted to take photographs of my friends and family members, as a starting base for this project. In terms of taking these images, I used my iPhone- as I feel that it's very good quality but also very light weight allowing me to take my photographs quickly, and sufficiently in different positions; also self timer, which is something that I used for the majority of my project.

These were the first images that I took in response to the 'unusual perspectives' project brief, in which I used self timer to take these images. Surprisingly this process had quite a lot of complications- as I had to firstly rush into the pose, making sure that I hadn't knocked down my phone and also making sure it was tilted at the right angle. Overall, I feel that both of these images are very successful in creating this sense of disproportion and abnormality.

I chose to photograph my boyfriend, Jules for this project; as he has a very slender body similarly to these bodies in schools work. As I was taking these photographs of Jules, I wanted to capture as many different and unusual viewpoints as possible- making him appear as this extremely large and terrifying character. The outcome of these photos were actually far more successful than I had anticipated. Although I took many other photographs, this was the one that I chose for my final piece. I found this image so interesting for many different reason- the scale of his feet compared to the rest of his body- looks as if his feet are coming out of the image. 

This was a photograph that I took of my brother Charlie. I think this image is successful for many reasons; as his head looks tiny in contrast to his much larger physique. Whilst taking the photograph, I asked him to hold his hands out into the camera, which I think actually works quite effectively- making the image slightly more dramatic, and interesting.

Using photoshop

Once I had taken these photographs; I thought that it would be interesting to experiment with another medium, photoshop; editing these images so that they would appear far more abnormal and deformed in their structure than originally. Although I have previously used photoshop in the past, it was still quite challenging getting to grips with using it this time around. Another reason why I thought photoshop would be an interesting medium was from looking at artists Egon Schiele, who really excentuates his bodies in his work- making their hands and arms appear much larger and abnormal than the rest of his body.

Drawing the photographs 

From the photographs that I took, I decided to draw the image of my brother, my boyfriend and myself for my final project. Using a very thin black ink pen, I was able to draw very precise, detailed drawings- which was also very time consuming. Although, I am pleased with the images- it was also quite challenging trying to draw this particular angle that I had initially taken them from; making sure that their heads were a lot smaller than their larger physiques. 

Displaying the drawings in my room. 

For this image here, I was just playing around with the filters using the Instagram app. I really like the  saturated orange effect of this image, against the sharp black- as it really accentuates the sharpness of the drawing, and highlights the black a lot more. However, I do wish that I had edited the other images the same as I did so with this one. 

Once I had drawn all three images, I decided to use photoshop to overlay these drawings with the original photographs. Although I had used photoshop in the past, it was quite challenging at first trying to get to grips with it again. However, I began by putting the original image into photoshop, I then went onto ‘layer’ and clicked ‘new layer’, which allowed me to then put in the image of my drawing. Once this was completed, I had to select the whole image of my drawing using CTR+T, which allowed me to copy and paste this image onto my original photograph. The next part of the process was turning down the opacity on the image of the drawing, so that you could see through to both images.


Although I was very pleased with these images, they did all look a bit faint and unfinished in their colour , prior to turning the opacity down. So, I decided to edit them even further. Turning down their highlights, and turning up their saturation and contrast.

***** FINAL IMAGES ******

Conclusion

Overall, I feel my work for the summer project was quite successful. I began to look at illustrator Egon Schiele, who really accentuates the features in his figurative portraits, making them look very deformed and abnormal. This abnormality was something that intrigued me, which led me to choose 'Unusual perspectives/ viewpoints' for my project. Taking photographs of my friends, family and myself- i began to explore the different positions, and angles to take photographs from. It was interesting taking these images, as photography isn't something that is very familiar to me however, after this project, I feel much more comfortable with this medium, and I will continue to use photography in the future. The next step to this project was drawing the photographs that I had previously taken. Using a very thin black ink pen, I drew three very precise, detailed drawings, one of myself, my brother and my boyfriend. I did not find this part of the process too challenging, as drawing is something that has always come very easy to me, and I did really enjoy the process of this.

Another medium I explored during this project was photoshop- although I have used it in the past, it was quite challenging at first getting to grips with it. However, after a lot of practise I eventually got the hang of it, and produced three final images- in which I had overplayed the original image with the drawings. I am very pleased with the outcome of these images, and I am glad that I edited them a little more, as it really did make the images just that extra bit neater. I do think that the 9 images together as a series does work successfully however; looking back on the project, I feel that maybe I should've drawn all 9 images, instead of only three.