Monday, January 30, 2012

Tutorial

After reviewing the Worth1000 Tutorials, I decided to choose nothing else than the "Popcorn Dog" tutorial. First and foremost because I love dogs, specifically my bulldog Anniemae.  Secondly because Anniemae LOVES popcorn. Below is the link to the tutorial I referenced off of:

http://www.worth1000.com/tutorials/162575/popcorn-dog 

1. This is an original photograph of Anniemae. 


2.  I then found a picture of popcorn and pasted it as a new layer in between my background and copied the background. The popcorn image had white background so I removed it to only display the popcorn using the Quick Selection Tool.  This is called superimposing. Below is the almost finished product.
 
 

3. Next, I made a duplicate layer of the background and used the Quick Selection Tool to remove the foreground.  I then selected a hot pick background to allow the dog to stick out. I also used the brush tool to shadow and accent the curves of the dog. 

 
4. Overall this tutorial was somewhat difficult to complete.  There were several layers that had to align in order for it to look like an actual popcorn and a dog. After superimposing the popcorn several times, by rotating and scaling, I am satisfied with the outcome!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Digital Media Pioneer: Laurence Gartel

You would think it would take on a huge responsibility and burden for one to uphold the reputation as "Father" of the Digital Art Movement. Not for Laurence Gartel.... Check out these profound pieces of artwork I discovered from the web by Gartel.


Both pieces represent famous works of art that Gartel was able to integrate into the business world. The first image displays the cover he designed for Forbes magazine in which he used bright colors mixed with the black background. The word Forbes is in bright orange as well as the bird and the title of the main article within the magazine.  He then placed a hand releasing the bird which has sharp green lines.  This describes all of the denotations of the artwork.  From there, the connotations displays a hand releasing a bright colored bird referencing the freeing of markets and time constraints.  The image overall looks very scientific allowing the reader to be intrigued, especially by the use of brights colors.

For me, the second image is more appealing. This Absolut advertisement was one of Gartel's more memorable pieces. In 1990, Gartel joined with famous artist Andy Warhol to create one of Absolut's first digital advertisements ever. There are darker shades of reds and burdgeys surrounding a bottle of Absolut vodka. Directly underneath the piece, states Absolut Gartel.  The connotations that can be referred from this that there is somewhat of an organized chaos surrounding the bottle but ultimately the bottle stands out.  This ad directly appeals to me because I fall under a target market in which alcohol is prevalent.

These are just two pieces of artwork that Gartel has created that has had a huge impact in the digital artwork industry. More of his pieces can be seen throughout the web or even at the Museum of Modern Art. To learn more about Gartel and his creations you can click the following link: www.gartelautomotion.com