Final Evaluation [Unit 13]

Unit 13, Unit 13 Final Piece

For this unit we were given no specific topic – we were given the opportunity to choose our own topic/theme that we feel truly showcases our skills. Beforehand, I believed that I was going to really struggle as I usually would the given topic as a guide.

However, I immediately made sure to get various ideas down in order to one and truly crack down on my time management. I knew firsthand that I wanted to involve animals, once again, into my work so I started to think of ways that I could take pictures of animals but add a bit of a twist – I knew that I didn’t want it to just be me taking photos of animals and that’s it. I knew I had to try and make it a bit more in depth than that.

I also knew I needed to get ahead of it all in order to make sure it was all done on time, as previous pieces were done in somewhat of a rush due to my poor time management.

So, I thought of giant animals. I knew already of an artist who’s work involved stuff similar to this so I did more research and slowly started to work on experimentations.

After a lot of research and experimenting, I started to get the hang of it all and began to improve my photoshop skills – I started to try and make the images smoother in order to make them look somewhat more realistic.

I loved every moment of this project – I feel as though this project was one of my best outcomes due to my organisation and time management, I got so many good experimentations done and I was on top of my research as well which helped me in the long run.

However, what I would do differently is more physical work – although I am happy with my experimentations and the progress that came with it, I feel as though I could have done a bit more physical stuff; go out and take photos of landscapes or of animals rather than just relying on the photos I had already because although they worked well and came out quite successfully, it would have been even better if I managed to get those last few physical pieces done.

I was happy with these as well seen as though they were my images – aside from the landscape, but I still felt very pleased with how they turned out. I was worried the lighting wouldn’t match as it took many, many attempts to get right but I feel like it was worth it in thee end.

These two images were taken at a zoo and I just had to tweak them slightly to get the final images.

Although I wish I had put this much time, planning and effort into my previous pieces, I am so glad I managed to get this far and I am so grateful with the help I got along the way.

One thing I am also pleased about was the motivation I had throughout this unit as I genuinely feel like my work and progress showcases it. I am overall extremely happy with how this whole project turned out and I feel like this is one of the few project I have done where as I said, the work showcases the dedication I had to this project.

Final Pieces

Unit 13, Unit 13 Final Piece

A little while ago I mentioned experimenting with the whole post apocalyptic idea, however with lockdown it became a bit difficult in order for me to take said photographs. A lot of the places near me were closed off due to lockdown, there also weren’t too many animals/landscapes for me to take too many photos of – on top of that I couldn’t transfer my images from my camera as I wasn’t home during lockdown.

However, I didn’t allow that stop me from using some of my own photography to create some images.

The two images above were also some of the experimentations which I thought were quite successful and knew that I wanted to use them as my final pieces.

These two images were ones that I was able to create using images that I had taken at a zoo – however, I just had to use images of landscapes as I couldn’t get many taken.

I am still pleased with the outcome, however I just wish I could have been able to go out and take more images as I feel as though that could have helped me a lot with improving my skills.

Self Evaluation [Unit 13]

Unit 13

Throughout our previous units I had found it somewhat difficult to find motivation and therefore my time management wasn’t at it’s best, usually leading to the quality of my work suffering – even just ever so slightly. But, I made a note to myself to work as hard as I possibly could for this project.

I made sure to improve my time management – by planning way ahead. Before we even started Unit 13, I ensured that I knew one hundred percent what I wanted to do and that I would not at any point change my mind.

As per usual, my subject of choice was nature/animals as I know it is easily something that I am immensely passionate for. It also became somewhat apparent of what I wanted to do when I cam across Mani who is renown for his clever use of photoshop – even better, it was large animals.

I quickly started to delve into research and got posts ready to upload before we had officially started Unit 13. I then ensured that I did experimentations to go alongside those research posts; I came across Jason McGroarty who didn’t do the whole giant animal theme that I wanted however, he did photoshop animals into environments that they weren’t usually found in. I also did experimentations in the style of Luisa Azevedo which I wasn’t fond of the results.

Overall I would say that I am at a Merit level. I am extremely pleased with my results and the progress leading up to said results – I am also pleased at the fact I was still able to get everything finalised before the lockdown as it made things a bit harder.

Luisa Azevedo [Experimentations]

Unit 13, Unit 13 Experimentations

After doing research on the Portuguese photographer, I decided to attempt to do some pieces in a similar fashion to open up some new techniques.

However I was overall disappointed with the final outcomes, I did not like how they looked as they looked extremely fake and just not right. I was still glad I gave it a go as I have previously stated that I want to do as many different kinds of experimentations as I possibly can so this was still part of the process.

These two images look a bit better than the previous attempts however there was still that part of me that didn’t like how they looked. But once again, I am still pleased with the amount of experimentations and research I have been doing for this unit so far and am intrigued as to how this will pan out.

Apocalypse

Unit 13, Unit 13 Research
Matthew Watts Art: Post apocalyptic concept art 2 | Dropzone

The coronavirus has seemingly worsened with the country going into lockdown it has made the whole process of going out and taking pictures for my project increasingly more difficult. However, instead of giving up I decided to somewhat use it to my advantage as it is a virus going around I decided that perhaps what I can do is continue with my project as planned but with a twist.

I began doing research on post apocalyptic scenarios to incorporate that theme into my project. A post apocalyptic wasteland where animals have began to mutate and the world around them also changes.

Then I thought of movies that I have seen or heard of involving mutated animals in a post apocalyptic scene such as ‘Annihilation’ which has various different mutated animals which I always found incredibly fascinating – especially how different creators portray the whole apocalypse concept.

After a bit of digging I also remembered a few video games that involves the same concept, which also then branches out my research so it isn’t just information from websites.

After looking at some of the concept art I could find or scenes for different movies, I began to look at the similarities and differences in each of them.

To be fair, there are a lot of similarities as most post apocalyptic landscape images involve the same sort of factors; overgrown grass and plants climbing up the side of buildings and windowless, rusting cars. However what varies in each is the wildlife – some have a tendency to keep it as normal, or your typical wildlife; dogs and cats roaming around as well as some exotic animals loose from zoos, etc. But there are some who go the extra mile if it involves a virus as it effects the wildlife as well as humans therefore mutating them.

Luisa Azevedo [Artist]

Unit 13, Unit 13 Research

Luisa Azevedo is a Portuguese photographer best known for her creative use of merging images. She has created many beautiful pieces that easily caught my attention.

As I have chosen to do giant animals as my theme, finding her pieces such as the ones above has definitely helped give me a few ideas for more experimentations.

I love her creative use of merging things such as buildings on bears and can absolutely see myself trying to do a few experimentations with it to see how they turn out and to see what I can possibly add to it.

This is another piece I think would work quite well as a fish tends to be quite a small creature, so to turn that into such a creative concept really intrigued me.

These two images are absolutely breathtaking. Luisa’s use of lighting only adds to the beauty, however I really like the concept of adding flowers or some sort of plant to animals, I think they are truly extraordinary.

This is another great piece that fave me some inspiration, in fact there are several pieces of her work that I intend to try and use as some experimentations as I am determined to do as many as I possibly can in order to truly progress with this unit.

These are also two brilliant concepts that I wish to try and incorporate it into my work in the next few experimentations that I do. I’m hoping to try and add them to my ideas as I truly love her work and think they are absolutely brilliant for this unit and it would be an interesting road to take.

Eben McCrimmon [Artist]

Unit 13, Unit 13 Research

Eben McCrimmon is another photographer who is known for his creative manipulation of images. He, like Mani, does animals at a larger scale in order to create this magnificent pieces.

However, this is yet another artist who doesn’t have much information about them revealed therefore there isn’t too much I can say about Eben – but I can definitely say that his work is extremely creative.

In every image the animal at hand is looking directly where Eben intended to create said pieces – sometimes the animal is looking down/towards the subject and sometimes the animal is looking off in the distance which also works extremely well as Eben’s use of lighting adds the realism I keep talking about.

This is a perfect example as the bull is looking down at the subject adding that little bit of character and a bit more of a story to the image. The bull is looking somewhat aggressively down at the person, or possibly curiously.

These two images are also brilliant examples of Eben’s use of lighting as the bear being engulfed by what appears to be clouds adds so much depth and perspective to it. Whereas the squirrel also showcases once again that his use of lighting is great – as well as the squirrel looking directly at the camera too, once again adds personality and character to it.

Monokubo [Artist]

Unit 13, Unit 13 Research

Whilst doing research on Mani, I came across another artist; Monokubo – a Japanese illustrator, commonly known for his illustrations of giant animals which immediately peaked my interest.

Although I couldn’t find much information about Monokubo, I did however find several images of his that I really like.

A lot of his work involves real animals such as racoons, dogs, cats, etc. However some of his pieces are based around Chinese mythology which I thought was quite interesting.

For example, Inoshishi is a boar from Chinese culture and mythology. It is one of the 12 Chinese zodiac symbols, it’s previous name being Yamakujira which meant “whale of the mountains” which appears a lot in Chinese folklore as Inosasao – the boar with the back covered in bamboo leaves.

One thing I really like about Monokubo’s work is his colour palettes – they are always soft colours and well co-ordinated with the animal in the image. For example, the image with the Shiba dogs works well because of the soft greens and browns, with the occasional splash of white and blue which add a bit more colour to it.

With these two images the colours typically whites, blacks and greys with the occasional splashes of colour such as greens, reds and browns which really completes the images. However there are a few more colours in the panda illustration with the hat and banners but it helps add to the adorable nature of it.

It’s a shame that I can’t find much information about Monobuko however I am still glad I came across his works as they are incredibly well done and quite interesting to hear about the mythology behind some of them.

Mani [Artist]

Unit 13, Unit 13 Research
Image result for giant animals roam mani
Giant Animals Roam

When I started my research Mani was the first artist to appear. He is known for his breathtaking images. This kind of photoshop work can be extremely intricate as it can become very obvious just how fake it is when the subject isn’t blended correctly, however Mani always manages to pull it off.

Giant Animals Roam

As I had previously stated, lighting was one thing I struggled with majorly when creating my experimentations. However it seems that no matter the environment or animal, Mani gets the lighting and perspective perfect.

The main reason I decided to do black and white experimentations was because I couldn’t quite get the colourisation correct, which easily became extremely frustrating as the image just didn’t look right the black and white theme helped with that as it is no longer a hassle.

Giant Animals Roam

These two images once again prove Mani’s incredible use of lighting – in the image with the lions he blurred the lion at the back slightly which gave the image that depth and realism that I aim to achieve.

The image with the cat is also yet another brilliant example. I have started to try and improve my images’ lighting and I have also tried to use the blur tool in order to add more detail to my images.

Giant Animals Roam

This piece, to me, is absolutely brilliant. I love his art style in general and I love every piece he’s created, however this is piece is similar to something I wished to do – and still do, however didn’t quite know how to achieve it. Therefore I plan to possibly experiment a little bit further in oder to hopefully achieve that level of detail and realism in my pieces.

Black and White [Experimentations]

Unit 13, Unit 13 Experimentations

After my previous set of experimentations, I wanted to try adding a black and white filter in order to add a bit more depth and realism to the images. Especially after doing research on Jason McGroarty whose work is in black and white which helps give it that extra depth.

My first attempt (left) was a bit too bright and the shadows weren’t quite accurate so I ensured that the lighting was a bit darker on the subject and corrected the shadows ever so slightly.

For my second attempt I decided to challenge myself a bit as I wanted to try and create a reflection in the lake. I knew what I wanted to do the second I saw the image – I knew that I wanted to change it up a bit from just an animal stood in a random location, I wanted to really challenge myself a bit. It paid off as it has easily become the piece I am most proud of currently.

Once I begun to try the black and white theme, I attempted to make a penguin seem as though it was walking through the city streets however I still wasn’t that pleased with the results apart from the shadow as I believe that adding the shadows adds more perspective and realism to the image.

The image with the cub however, did come out quite good but I do think I could have improved the shadow a bit – nevertheless I am extremely happy with how I am progressing in this unit.