Incomparable: Obsession With Perfection

I changed my image after the critique we had in class. I changed was one of the lines beneath the right eye was crooked in the original, and so I clone stamped over it and made the line straighter. Also, I slightly decreased the cyan in selective colors, as well as slightly increased the contrast.

I had several ideas for this project. First, I experimented with creating blood on Photoshop and had the idea of a horror-movie look. In the process of fidgeting with that, it somehow led me to playing with textures, which I intended to use in the poster. I drifted away from the idea, however, as days passed. Then I had the idea of creating a collage from pictures in magazines, and creating a poster idea of a young girl with high insecurities, with pressure from the society we live in today. I couldn't think of a girl I knew that could be used personally, so I looked in magazines in search of a 'normal' girl. It ended up being that I couldn't find one girl who wasn't dolled up and dressed to perfection in the magazines I looked at. They were all too perfect for what I was looking for-something that pressures women and young girls in society today when it comes to looks. This led to a thought-many people in today's world undergo plastic surgery, and some obsessively, to look like the 'perfect' women in magazines and on TV. I based my poster idea around that thought, and made it a documentary-film based poster.

The woman in the poster is from a page from a photoshoot in InStyle Magazine. I saw this photo before I knew exactly what my poster would be about, and I really hoped to incorporate it in some way because I loved her facial expression and features. The image was much too beautiful-the pretty pastel colors made her look like an angel-not what I was looking for. Therefore, I copied the image onto Photoshop, cropped her face and some hair, and started fidgeting with effects. Firstly, I drew the lines on her face representing marks that are made when undergoing plastic surgery. I used the brush tool for this. Then I selected everything except for her eyes-I wanted them to 'pop'. I then went to Color Selection and blasted the 'Black' to 100%, 'Magenta' and 'Yellow' to close to -80%, and 'Cyan' to only 7%. This made her less saturated and less colorful(what I was going for). After that, I turned the 'Gamma Correction' up in Exposure to give her a more 'rugged' look. The blend of these two effects together gave, with the pop of her eyes, gave her the look I wanted.

Choosing a font was rather difficult. I had trouble creating my own font, so I decided to just stick with using the fonts available. I scrolled down to see how numerous fonts looked with the title, and thought Orator was the best one. The title, Incomparable, goes along well with the idea of the poster because plastic surgery is meant to make you 'perfect' in the way you see yourself, in a sense incomparable. However, the reason plastic surgery is wanted is because of made comparisons to other people. Therefore, I made the 'In' in Incomparable black, and the rest a dark, dull red(I felt this color went along well with the mood of the poster). I used the same font for the rest of the poster, and I feel the placement of the texts are in spots to draw in viewers to the face in between the texts. Also, the lines on the face and the pop of her blue eyes draw attention. I thought everything I had on the poster was just enough, therefore I chose not to layer other images upon it. An inspiration I kind of used for my project was the Salt poster of Angelina Jolie's face. I'm glad with how it all turned out.

Keep on truckin'.

The past is the past. All you should have to do with it is listen to it and learn. Every living breath you are given in life is a chance to decide. A chance to live. There's simply no reason to waste your energy and time on what has happened. Rather, focus and wrap your mind around what can be. The possibilities in life are at the surface of your fingertips, and all you have to do is simply live for your todays, and aspire your tomorrows. It's a constant cycle that leads to success.

That's my view on life. This quote is specifically from a song called 'Forget and Not Slow Down' by my favorite band, Relient K. The road in the image symbolizes moving on and the journey each person has in his/her life. The lens flare symbolizes the 'light' guiding and leading the journey. The font was chosen because I thought it fit the saying- it's sophisticated, and common, yet personable. I bolded and made the font bigger on the words that I thought were most important in the saying, so they really jump out. The image was appropriated- I changed the contrast, blurred it, cropped it, and added the lens flare. 

Poster, poster.

My mind nearly gasped when I first saw this poster, simply because of its unexpectedness. A broken Statue of Liberty would be such a deep impact on the country. It really drew attention to me though- the poster tells a tragic story in itself. The dark colors, battered Statue of Liberty, and smoking buildings really ignite a curious thought as to the story behind the poster. The font, and effect of the font, led me to believe the 'something' that had 'found us' has to deal with aliens(just my first thought). It is really compelling because it is such a powerful poster, especially with the focus on the broken, headless statue.

This poster has an interesting element of the forming of a flag, however it is one that I quickly glanced over looking at a sea of posters. It is very simple, however I saw simple posters on the site that were striking. A great concept, but the visual and text of the poster just did not appeal to me.

200 Words.

Who am I? To be honest, I'm still trying to figure that out myself. For starters though, my name's Cynthia. I turned eighteen yesterday. This is my third and last year at AR. I enjoy photography and reading a good, warm book. The holiday season is my favorite time of year, though my favorite weather is the beginning of Fall. I believe when people speak out their passion, you learn so much more about them, opposed to them just telling you about themselves. Therefore, my first blog will be a crammed summary of my passion for music. Music has always been the tunnel leading me to the light at the end. I love searching beyond the sounds and words, and discovering the true meaning of a good song. The best part about it is the meaning is almost different to every person. It's truly just all-embracing. I write music and lyrics, and I play a couple different instruments, but mainly acoustic guitar. It's truly such a blessing that I've found a way to convey my thoughts from within onto paper, and better yet to bring the words to life through music. In the process, I have learned so much about myself.  

                                                         

                                                                    Freedom from within. 

                                                       (http://weheartit.com/entry/3656855)


Here's a link to an awesome blog: http://alexkuno.blogspot.com/