Elise+Picard+Combine+3+Texture+Project

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Changes:

In my piece I attempted to create a fantasy element in my art, a sort of surreal feeling in the image. To convey this feeling I had a number of changes made to the image. I first off edited Madison, I changed the color of her sweatshirt to match the colors better, I gave more shadows and changes the contrast as well as the needlessly lengthy process of making hair partially transparent. Then I had the rocks, I made some of the rocks have a higher saturation than the others so they have a better contrast, as well as replacing one of the rocks with an interesting piece of amethyst I found to make the whole of the rocks seem more like 'treasure'. The background I made out of a small pond to seem more like a mirror, and to give it more reflective-like feelings I did a cool-to-warm gradient over the background, which draws your eyes to the main focus of the piece. To make the tree seem bigger I duplicated the tree and flipped and adjusted it to look like more of the tangling branches as well as adjusted the colors to seem more green like the mossy log Madison was standing on. I adjusted and erased a number of the tree branches, as well as created an artificial shadow with the burn tool on the trees. I also used the burn tool to darken specific parts of Madison and give her a more intense shadow. To make the images look cleaner, I actually used a blur tool to clean up the edges and make them less harsh in relation to each other, so for instance, the amethyst is very blurred around it's edges to look more like a rock sitting among the pile rather than my awkward and painful cropping. I took the berry-like seeds on the last picture and moved them to the top of Madison's spear. Finally I applied a final opaque gradient over the whole of the image, giving an overall blend of warm to cool.

Artistic Concepts: - The rule of thirds was used to bring your eye to the far right of the picture, making Madison the main focus - Leading lines were used less with lines but more with the gradient, moving from the cool receding colors to the more vibrant warm colors of the gradient - Unity was used to tie together the different images with a similar red and blue palette as well as the overall gradient - Balance was actually intentionally skewed, usually in a more modern sense of balance somethign small in the foreground would balance the bunch grander Madison, but I chose to keep the balance uneven, showing that something was 'off' with the whole picture. The skewed balance adds to the warped perception of reality that is mirrored with power.

Theme:

All of these choices were made in an effort to reflect the ignorance of even the smallest amount of power. Madison, who is portraying a ruler in the image, is sitting atop a log, with a stick and rocks as her riches, but still is shown as blind and overzealous in the image. Showing that someone with a domain as small as a pond or a few rocks can be blinded by their own small intrinsic power as they continue to be in charge.