The intent of this assignment is to encourage individualized exploration of the various tools available in Photoshop as well as to analyze the visual connotations of non-representational images.
For this exercise, we will make an abstract piece in Photoshop. The overall look of the piece is completely up to you and there are no specific rules other than the image must be abstract (the more the better!). Think of this as a "sandbox" project, where the objective is to basically just play around with Photoshop with no set expectations in order to get comfortable with the software.
Tools: Photoshop
- Create a blank Photoshop document 5x7 inches at 300 dpi.
- Import 1 original photograph. Importing can be done by simply dragging the image directly into the Photoshop workspace. The image will become a "smart object," so it can be scaled to fit and then set in place by clicking the checkmark icon on the top right of the workspace. Right click the layer and select "rasterize layer" to convert the smart object to pixels. Experiment with the many ways in which images can be manipulated. If you don't know what a tool does, try it. Use a wide variety of manipulations.
- When you have a sense of what Photoshop does, import 1-3 more images. Each time you do this, a new layer will be created. Note that images may differ in size and resolution, and pixelation may occur if images are being increased in size. Always make sure to double-check which layer in your project is currently selected. This can be seen in the layers workspace.
- Continue manipulating your piece, making use of scaling, erasing, and other strategies to make all layers visible in some capacity. Use the ability to show and hide layers to see how manipulations are working.
- Continue manipulating layers until none of the original images are recognizable
part 2:Tools: Photoshop
The purpose of this assignment is to expand on our existing Photoshop skills and spend more time practicing with the program. The end result of this project will be a grid of four distinct versions of your first textures piece.Step 1:
Start by opening the .psd project we made last time and save your image as a .jpg. This will flatten the layers, compress the file size, and make a file that is usable for other purposes like uploading to a website, etc. Name your .jpg something easy to organize, e.g. "vague_texture1.jpg".Step 2:
Next, keep working on the project as before, experimenting with various changes and manipulations. Try things you haven't tried yet. The image can look like anything, but remember we're working on abstraction. After several significant changes have been made, save another .jpg file, e.g. "vague_texture2.jpg".Repeat this process twice more. In the end you should have four .jpg files, each of them different, but saved from the same original .psd project.Step 3:
Arrange each of the four .jpg files into a grid. This can be done by opening them in Photoshop as a new project separate from your first .psd document. Use the "canvas size" function to extend the canvas by 100% relative. Then drag the four .jpg images into the four quadrants of the canvas. Borders can be created by extending the canvas again. The canvas can be extended using percent, pixels, inches, or millimeters - for our purposes I think the easiest way tends to be inches.Step 4:
Finally, export one more .jpg image of the entire grid, named something like "vague_all_textures.jpg". This will be the piece to turn in to this discussion board. If you started with a 5 x 7" project your finished grid will be closer to 11 x 15" overall. Comments are encouraged but not graded.Some things to explore:
- Brush tools
- Eraser
- Burn/dodge
- Smudge
- Adjustment layers
- Opacity