CONCEPT
For this alter ego assignment I wanted to tap into a side of
me that I wish I have, the ability to stay up all night. Although I do like the
evening hours much more than morning, I typically cannot stay awake for very
long at all. Thus, I created a night owl/human hybrid. This night owl loves to
stay awake all night long, reading new books with no regard to the passing
hours on the clock. The photographer has captured a snap shot of her just as
the sun comes up, as she realizes she has stayed up once again all night, but
her book still isn’t finished, darn!
INSPIRATION
This monster from Face Off was my original thought as I had remembered it from a previous season.
I liked the idea of over-exaggerated facial expressions and found this picture of Disgust from Pixar's Inside Out.
Legend of the Guardians is a movie centered around owls, and I found this shot interesting due to the owl in the front. I liked the eyes.
Credit: Niark
Another still from Bambi this time, really liked the eyes on this one.
PROCESS
- Lover of ramen
- Likes gelato
- Knitter
- Crocheter
- Hiker
- Lover of nature
- Lover of chipotle
- Night owl
- Glassblower
- Traveler
- Loves rain
- Textiles
- Loves to bake
- Paints
- Made of rock - sculpture
- From a different planet
- Crazy colors
- Lots of texture in the skin
- "Green"
- Made of fire
- Glowing eyes
- Oranges and reds
- Made of technological stuff - wires, circuit board
- Bookworm
- Academic
- Loses track of time
- Art
- Made of vines
- Feathers (?)
- Words
Ideas that I will liked or tried to incorporate are in bold and underlined.
I started by transferring the original photo to a blank 8.5X11 canvas for holding. I used the magnetic lasso for cutting.
I got this background from Pixabay. I cut it down to 8.5X11 and then dragged my portrait into the background and scaled down to match.
I removed the eyes from the photo below. Picture is also from Pixabay, but I'm pretty sure it came from a NatGeo photographer.
I used the liquefy filter to play with the sockets for the eyes.
I added the eyes back in and then flattened the layers so I could mess with the complete photo in the liquefy filter.
Also from Pixabay. I am cutting the "eyebrows".
I placed them on top of my own eyebrows and then used puppet warp to manipulate them around the eye.
First paint strokes for skin color.
Almost finished at this stage. I used a sheer airbrush to coat the remainder of the skin. I also used a grass brush to soften the "eyebrows". I used a sampler of other brushes to blend and soften certain areas on the face. I color matched all colors using the eyedropper. I also lowered the brightness in the final image to give it a more moody quality.
FINAL ART
REFLECTIONS
Overall, I feel like my final piece was successful in the conceptual sense. You do get the feeling that the owl/human hybrid is startled in the wee hours of the morning after a long night of reading. I feel like I not only created a creature, but also made a convincing backstory and action to go along with it. Technically I was proud of the way I utilized multiple skills learned throughout all of our lessons, such as puppet warp, liquefy mask, tinting skin, etc. The only improvement I would want to make would be to acquire more skills regarding making something look more three dimensional. Parts of my final piece feel too flat due to lack of skills in this are. However, overall I am very satisfied with my piece.
