Part 1 – Typography Portrait

Original Photo

Final Typography Portrait

I used 5 relevant words to this musician to create his portrait including his name in Korean, the name of the group he is in, as well as his song titles.

Part 2 – Photo Mosaic

Core Photos

Angelina and Children

The parent-child relationship falls perfectly in the “what makes us” theme.  As a mother of 6 children, Angelina Jolie served as the best model for my photo mosaic.

Part 3 – Audio Biography

I wanted to depict myself sonically through music so I chose 7 songs to create a mini intro.  The audio mix not only encapsulates the mood, lyrics, and general musical taste of me but demonstrates the non-linear experience of listening as well as getting to know me as a person.

The track is called “As I Am” which can be found here and then clicking on the “Audio” tab.  Select track and remember to click on the play button at the bottom of the player.

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In all of these mini projects, I used at most 7 key elements to create the respective pieces. Although this was not the intended final project I wanted to hand in (as my original aim was to make a 1 minute animated typographic music video), I am satisfied with the different ways I explored the theme of “what makes us”.

Furthermore, I spent a lot of time creating my website to really showcase the various projects that truly made my semester.  You can check out the site here:

Holly’s Multimedia Portfolio

Shattered Blocks Wallpaper

Before:

Courtesy of www.ygbigbang.com

After:

Modified instructions below.  Original can be found here.

Step 1 – Preparing Background Image:

Crop image and use eraser tool to remove any extraneous details (like copyright info and logo).

Step 2a – Drawing Face Grids:

Create a new document of size 20×20 pixels and create a new layer.  Use Pencil tool with size 1px and color #FFFFFF (white).  Draw left and bottom border to form a “L”.  Hide the Background layer and click Ctrl+A.  Go to Edit > Define Pattern. Name this pattern as Grid.

Back to main document, create a new layer called “Grid”. Use the Paint Bucket tool and select to fill with Grid pattern.

Step 2b – Adjusting Face Grids:

Set the opacity of the grid layer to 20%.  Right-click on the grid layer and choose Blending Options.  Activate Outer Glow and set its Blend Mode to Color Dodge, Opacity to 100%.  Leave the rest at default settings.

Step 3a – Creating Holes:

Create a new layer and name it as Holes.  Select Rectangular Marquee Tool and then choose Add to Selection Option.  Using rectangular marquee tool, path out several square holes according to the face grids.  Right click and choose Make Work Path.  Go to the Paths tab, Ctrl+left click on the work path layer created.  Back to Layers tab, select the Holes layer and fill the selection with #FFFFFF (white).

Step 3b – Creating Shattered Blocks:

Ctrl+left click on the Holes layer to load selection.

Select the Face layer and hit Ctrl+X to cut out the pixels. Then press Ctrl+V to paste and then name this new layer as Blocks.

Drag the blocks to area for the shatter effect with Move tool. Go to Edit > Free Transform to reduce the size slightly and angle as desired.

Step 3c – Duplicating and Placing Shattered Blocks:

Duplicate the Blocks layer. Shift the blocks and transform as desired.  Repeat this one more time.  Merge these 3 layers of duplicated Blocks and name this new merged layer as Right Side. 

Duplicate the Right Side layer and rename to Left Side.  Use Move tool to move the block set to the left side and transform as desired.

Step 4 – 3-D touch ups:

Working on the Grids layer, use the eraser with appropriate brush size to erase grid lines on shattered blocks.  I wanted somewhat of a 3-d effect so I also erased the grid lines on the arm, red wire from the apple as well the chains around neck.

Image Editing Assignment Part 2

Pop Art

Before:

Courtesy of www.bb-flow.com

 After:

Modified instructions below.  Original can be found here.

STEP 1. Creating the Half Tone Shading

a) Preparing the Canvas

Crop photo to space you will be using to become pop art and then duplicate the layer called “Background”.  Rename this new layer “dots”.

Create another new layer and fill it bright blue using the Paint Bucket tool .

Drag this layer between the two existing layers and rename it “blue”.

To cut out figure, use the Pen Tool. Remember to make sure the pen tool is set to create a Work Path. Take the pen tool create a path around the person (or thing) and then make it into selection. Invert the selection (CTRL + Shft + i) and hit delete. Deselect (Ctrl + D)

b) Making the Dots

Desaturate the “dots” layer (Ctrl + Shft + U).

Next adjust Threshold to something dramatic (still working on the “dots” layer). 
Image >> Adjustments >> Threshold.
I set mine to 90 but you will need to experiment to see what threshold settings works for YOUR image.

Using Threshold will leave the image looking very pixelated (jagged). So apply Gaussian Blur (approximately a 2-3 pixels should do it). Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur.

In your Layers Palette right-click on the “dots” layer and select Duplicate Layer. 

Select New for the Destination Document. Now you will have 2 documents open in photoshop.

Working on your new document change the Mode to Greyscale.
Image >> Mode >> Greyscale
A dialogue box appears…”Discard color information?”…Click OK.

Now change the Mode to Bitmap.
Image >> Mode >> Bitmap
A dialogue box appears…”Flatten layers?”…Click OK.
Choose Halftone Screen on the Bitmap options window. Click OK.

Next appears the Halftone Screen box. Set frequency to 12. Angle to 45 degrees and shape to Round. Note you may want to experiment with the Frequency as this decides the size of the dots. Click OK.

Almost there with the dots. All that’s left is to transfer the dots back to the first document.

c) Organizing

Change the Mode back to Greyscale.  A dialogue box will appear…Make sure the size ratio is 1 and click OK.
Now change the Mode back to RGB.

In your Layers Palette right-click on the layer and select Duplicate Layer.
There should be 3 three options as the Destination Document. Choose your original psd.  You can close the second psd that you created..there’s no need for it now.

The final step for creating the dots is to create a Clipping Path between the new layer and the “dots” layer.
To create a Clipping Path, hold down the ALT key and move your cursor between the 2 layers in your Layers Palette. When the cursor turns into a “double bubble”, click to create the clipping path.

Now link the “dots” and “Background copy” layer. Merge Linked layers (Ctrl + E)Down.

STEP 2. Adding Color

Having achieved a great looking half tone effect, it’s time to add the color.  ‘m going to use Fill Layers to color this picture. Fill Layers are great if you are indecisive about your color palette and fantastic for color experimentation for pop art.

a) Creating Fill Layers

Duplicate the “dots” layer. Rename this layer “white” and drag it below the “dots” layer in your layer palette.  Adjust the Brightness/Contrast on the “white” layer.  Image >> Adjustments >> Brightness/Contrast.  Set the Brightness to +100, and adjust Contrast until white.

Change the blend mode on the “dots” layer to Multiply.

Click on this icon at the bottom of your Layer Palette and select Solid Color.  Select a color in the Color Picker dialogue box. Click OK. I’ve gone for a pink shade to color his lips. You don’t need to be too picky here because we can change the color easily later on.

The new fill layer created will appear in your layer window. Right-click and rename the layer e.g “lips” to color the lips. Drag the new fill layer below the “dots” layer in your layer palette. Your image is now totally filled with the color of the fill layer.

Create a Clipping Path between the “lip” and “white” layer. This will ensure that you don’t color over the lines.

Change the foreground color to black. Working on this new layer, take your Paint Bucket Tool and fill the “lips” layer black.

Now for the coloring. Change the foreground color to white. Get your Paint Brush Tool and start painting where you want to the color to appear. Use a hard brush with the opacity set to 100%. Make sure that you zoom in when coloring, so that it is nice and tidy.

b) More Fill Layers

Repeat the above step creating a new fill layer for each color/item in your picture.

At any time if you are unhappy with a color that you have chosen, simply double click on the Layer Thumbnail and re-select a color. Now you have the ability to change the color of the hair for example, to a whole new color in a second flat.

STEP 3. Adding Background

Click on the Custom Shape Tool.  (Make sure the “shape layers” option is chosen on the top.)  Choose from the list of images/shapes loaded in your version of PS.  Change foreground color to desired color fill for shape.  Drag shape over image and adjust accordingly.  Drag this layer below the “white” layer.