This week we learned how to use Photoshop as a digital sketchbook. This is something I would really have liked to learn last year, when we were experimenting with surrealist collages. I remember how hard I found it last year, trying to create an aesthetically pleasing combination of items as a collage. I was aware it was possible to use layering, changing size, shapes and colours electronically but didn’t know how.
During this lesson we discovered this is a quick way (if you are proficient with the different Photoshop tools) of building up images. In fact you can work in a quick ‘loose’ way and speed things up.
But first, you need to consider copy-right and the size of the images you will be working with. Our tutor showed us how to check that it was legal to use the images we found online. He also reminded us to make sure the images were a good size, ideally large.
Here are some screen shots from the lesson. I started by selecting this background, because I noticed that at the start of autumn there was a lot of yellow leaves in the trees.
I was exploring the Goddess Persephone myth which is about youth, fertility, autumn, abduction and transformation.
I chose this image of a beautiful girl for Persephone with golden hair, like the leaves in the autumn. It reminded me a little of Rossetti’s painting of Proserpine (which is the Greek name for the Goddess Persephone).
I included these butterflies because they are symbolic of transformation and have a similar colouring.
I played around trying out different ideas. I didn’t find anything that I would take forward.
I also considered using the pomegranate which is part of the Persephone myth symbolizing her fruitful womb.
But decided against it because I liked the similarity of colours I had already chosen and didn’t want to introduce red.
My second experiment was more successful. I liked the patterns in the butterfly and decided to explore possibilities with that.
I introduced the pomegranate again and considered how I could tell the Persephone story in a more subtle way. I decided that without a female figure in the scene it would be more thought provoking.
I added text, but it came out as a series of symbols and I really liked that idea. It is both neat and unusual; a good contrast to the more abstract images in the piece.
Reflections
I think using the digital sketchbook will improve my Photoshop skills and also open up ideas that wouldn’t occur to me with a physical sketchbook. I will add this to my practice because it gives me lots of new ideas and inspiration. It has also been very useful to learn which images you can copy legally from the internet. This is something I will find very useful in my practice.
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