Final Evaluation For Piece 2/2

After many many attempts and experiments and trial and errors, I have finally got a complimenting outcome which both represents my project, as well as matching the crucial other piece.

I had a lot of trouble with getting this to match my final deer piece, mainly I think because I didnt paint the flowers directly on to some flowers (as I did with the deer girl - I painted directly on top) this then meant that my flower photograph (which I did paint from) didn't sit directly on to my painted flowers (as the deer girl did) meaning when I changed the layer styles, I got a completely different look.

So, when I went through the process of making this, I started with just the painting and the McQueen inspired illustration - the colours were much too bright, it was too busy, too overwhelming on the eye and it didn't look sophisticated... or good with my deer girl piece.

I then knew the missing ingredient - I needed to add the layer of photography. I also turned the piece 180 ° , once I had this, I was getting there. By turning my painting round, the direction of the flowers (top left > bottom right) looked better with the direction that the deer girl flows in (bottom left > top right).

Once I was at this stage, the hard part of getting the layer styles was done, I just had to tweak the hue and saturation slightly to get it just right, next to the deer piece.

The final bit I had to do was subtly incorporate the paint dripping layer, to tie my deer girl with this piece. To do this, I just reduced the opacity, turned the layer style to multiply, and also put a layer mask on it so I could subtly fade out the top right corner.

This layer takes away any stark whiteness, which there used to be in the bottom left section. This stark white was really obvious as my other piece didn't have any. This dripping layer adds a touch of dullness, which is what the piece needed.

Concise Run Down of Method To Final Piece

Image: Carnations

Style: Ian Francis

Ground: A1 cartridge paper

Medium: Acrylics.

Technique: Painting

Once painted: Imported to Photoshop

Added Photography layer to painting

Photography Layer: Soft Light

Reduced Opacity

Inserted Skull and Flower McQueen Illustration

Illustration Layer: Soft Light

Reduced Opacity

Inserted Deer Girl Paint Layer

Paint Layer: Multiply

Opacity 30%

General Alteration on whole Image: Brightness/Contrast/Hue/Saturation

I am so pleased with this final outcome, especially combined with my other piece. I think that they represent my project so well, they represent well separately, but when they are together it's so much more powerful - which is why ideally I wanted to have a series of two final outcomes.

The flower piece is a good reflection of my project because flowers are pretty, and beauty has been a major underlying theme - stemming from my original Snow White research. However at the same time of them being pretty, they are also very powerful, deep, dark and gritty. These are opposing qualities you would associate with beauty.

The dark shadows create an uncertainness but the contrasting with these dark shadows are large area's of white. It's all about the contrasts. Dark v Light, Life v Death...