PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION
Digital Artwork
RMIT University Project
September 2021
The purpose of the project was to create a feature illustration with a surreal, vintage pulp cover feel to it that looked like a painting using a supplied photograph. The story is about a woman who lives in a greenhouse. They dedicate their days to looking after the various insects that live among the plants. At the end of the story, they are covered in plants, fungi, and insects.
Vintage pulp cover mockup
I identified a colour formula for a harmonious vintage pulp design and opted for a complementary colour scheme using purple for the background, and its opposite on the colour wheel, brown, for the woman, with the goal of attracting the viewer's attention
to the woman.
I focused the attention on the hierarchy established by having a distinct foreground to the background. Less important things in the composition, such as the rose in the foreground, was adjusted to monochromatic colours with some contrast added to them by using broader brush strokes.
The use of a grained texture, created by applying different filters, including the 'high pass' and 'camera raw' filters in Photoshop, in combination with layer adjustments and blending modes, has added the wood pulp paper look I was after to my final illustration.
Photo used for the project
Woman in silver necklace by Olha Ivanova, 2021, photograph
Mockup sketch used as the basis for my photo-illustration
Throughout the creative process, some techniques I explored included 'masking' (layer and clipping) where the woman has been isolated from the background and pink branches have been created using the image of the rose, by 'liquifying' it to add depth to the composite.
After experimenting with additional natural elements (flowers and butterflies), light and shadow, tone and texture, and testing out colours for the background of my design, I used a manipulation technique to create a '3D surreal hollow head effect' to add to the image of the woman. For this, the 'ellipse tool' and different 'blending modes' have been applied to the woman's head to do the trick.
Woman's sketch that shows where the 'cut' is done (left) and creation of the 3D surreal hollow (top)
Screenshot of the layers panel in Adobe Photoshop (1)
Screenshot of the layers panel in Adobe Photoshop (2)
The final result was successful, with the floral portrait of the woman surrounded by flowers, leaves, and insects that corresponded to the vision I had in mind. Different images were combined using masking, blending techniques, abstract elements, textures, and filters adjustments to enhance colours and conceptualise my design to achieve the wanted outcome. The 'vignette' effect used to darken the corners of the image draws the viewer's attention directly to its center and the woman's features.