Pop Art Celebrity Prints Day 4: Featured Artist: Andy Warhol

Today’s essential question: What are some ways our celebrity prints are similar to the artwork of Andy Warhol? What are some ways they are different?

Today we will discuss the artwork of Andy Warhol and then continue working on our celebrity prints. If you think you have your set of 4 final coordinating prints, call Ms. Lawson over for feedback. Once she approved your set, you can create a final blog post with all 4 prints and a 150-word artist statement about the project.

Next class (Tuesday) will be the last day for this project. If you are behind, please arrange a time to catch up.

Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art, or the art of popular culture. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertising. By the 1960s, Warhol ran a studio known as “The Factory,” where he collaborated with dozens of assistants and celebrities, eventually becoming a celebrity himself. Learn more about Andy Warhol from the Warhol Foundation.

Here is a 1 minute video of Andy Warhol making a print. Do you think his assistant should have received credit? Why or why not?

Why do you think Andy Warhol focused on printmaking instead of drawing or painting?

Do you think Andy Warhol would have used Photoshop if he were alive today? Why or why not?

Here are some of Andy Warhol’s prints:

Artist Statement Brainstorming Questions:

• Describe your artwork
  • What does your artwork look like?
  • What is the subject matter?
  • What art elements (ex. color, value, shape, line, texture, form) or principles are most obvious in your work?
• How did you create your art?
  • What media is your artwork made from?
  • Describe the process or steps you took to create your artwork.
• What is the big idea behind your artwork?
  • Who or what inspired your artwork?
  • What is your artwork about?
  • How do you want people to feel when they view your artwork?
• Overall thoughts
  • What did you learn from creating this artwork?
  • Is the final piece what you imagined? How so?
  • What did you do well? What could you have done better?

Today we will:

• Learn about Andy Warhol and discuss his prints
• Continue working on our celebrity prints
• Create a new blog post with the following:
  • If you have not finished the project, you will post an image of anything you worked on today
  • If your finished your project, you will post:
    • a set of your 4 favorite PNG or JPGs of your celebrity that you created in Photoshop
    • a 150 word artist statement about the project

Pop Art Celebrity Prints Day 3: Creating a Unified Set of Four Prints

Today’s Essential Question: How will you tie your favorite 4 prints together so they read as one unified artwork?

Today we will continue making celebrity prints in different color schemes. Aim for 8-10 prints total. This will give you the most options to pick from, ensuring that your set of four prints will display unity. Here are some examples of print sets that work well together created by past students. What are some reasons each of these sets goes together?

Remember, the design seeds website is a great resource for color schemes.

By the end of today’s class, make sure the following have been posted to your blog AND your shared Google Drive folder:

• The grayscale cutout image of your celebrity
• Every version of your celebrity that you have created. You will not like every image, and that is ok. The point of this project is to experiment with different color schemes that push the boundaries of our comfort zone.

Today we will:

• continue making celebrity prints in different color schemes
• Post all the prints (including the original black and white one) to our blogs
• Upload all of our prints to our shared Google Drive folders

Pop Art Celebrity Prints Day 2: Adding Color

Today’s essential question: How can I add color to my celebrity portrait?

Today we will finish smoothing out our celebrity portraits. You will show your finished design to Ms. Lawson, and once she approves it, you will post a JPG of your smoothed out portrait to your blog, and upload the black and white smoothed out image to your shared Foundations 1 Google Drive folder.

Then you will begin adding color to your celebrity portrait, following the steps in this post. You will save each color scheme as a different file name. (ex. arianna_grande_blue, arianna_grande_purple_orange, etc).

A Monochromatic Color Scheme is comprised of different tints and shades of one color.

The design seeds website is a great resource for color schemes. I used several of their color schemes for my Drake prints:      

How to Add Color to your Photoshop Portrait

1. Open Photoshop (Go to the windows icon at the bottom left of the screen -> All Programs -> Adobe Master Collection CS5 -> Adobe Photoshop).
2. Open the Photoshop file of your monochromatic celebrity portrait (File -> Open).
3. Convert the Image to CMYK. This will allow you to add color. (Image -> Mode -> CMYK). If will ask if you want to flatten the image by merging the layers. Say yes.
4. Open the image of the color scheme you want to use. Select the move tool.  Use it to drag your color scheme into your photoshop file. Double click on the layer with the color scheme, and name it “color scheme.”
5. Save a version of this file that recognizes that you can add color (File -> Save as -> filename_red_monochromatic.psd)
6. Select the eyedropper tool.  Use it to select your first color. (It is easiest to start with the darkest or lightest color, and get progressively darker or lighter.)
7. Click on the layer with your image.
8. Select the magic wand tool.  Use it to select your first color.
9. At the top of the screen, click Select -> Select Similar. This will select all the areas of that color.
10. Make a new layer.
11. Select the brush tool.  Make sure it is set to 100% hardness. Make the brush size huge by clicking holding down on the right bracket (}) key. Color over your entire image. Only the selected areas should change color.
12. Select -> Deselect
13. Repeat steps for your next color.
14. Repeat steps until you have added all the colors.
15. Save your photoshop file. File -> Save).
16. Save your file as a jpg file. File -> Save As -> filename_red_monochomatic.jpg (or some other name that identifies your color scheme).
17. Close your file.
18. Repeat these steps to create more prints in different color schemes.

Today we will:

• Demonstrate how to add color in Photoshop and save different versions for each color scheme
• Create several variations of our portrait using different color schemes
• Create a new blog post with the following:
  • our black and white celebrity print
  • each digital version and the color scheme it was inspired by

New Project: Pop Art Celebrity Prints

Today’s essential question: What celebrity will you use for your portrait project? Why?

Project requirements:

• one black and white high contrast portrait with 4-6 shades
  
• a set of four coordinating Photoshop portraits of that celebrity featuring a range of different color schemes
  

How to Create your cropped, monochromatic high-contrast celebrity portrait

1. Download your celebrity image
   1. Go to images.google.com and search for an image of your celebrity that is larger than 4MP
   2. Click on the image of your choice until you can view it full size. Then right click -> save image as and REMEMBER WHERE YOU SAVED THE IMAGE
2. Open your celebrity photo in Photoshop
   1. Open Photoshop (Click on the Windows icon at the bottom of the screen -> All Programs -> Adobe Master Collection CS5 -> Adobe Photoshop)
3. File -> Open (Select the image you downloaded. You will need to remember where you saved it!)
   
4. Turn the image black & white. (Image -> Mode -> Grayscale).
5. Crop your image.
   1. Select the crop tool.
      Set the crop tool to 5.5×7 inches at the top of the screen.
      Click and drag the crop tool until the area you want to crop is selected.
   2. Hit enter to crop your image.
      
6. Intensify your shadows & highlights.
   1. Image -> Adjustments -> Levels
      
7. Double click on the background layer in your layers palette and rename it.
   Then use the eraser tool to erase the background:
   
8. Simplify your image to 4-6 shades.
   1. Layer -> Duplicate Layer
   2. Filter -> Artistic -> Cutout
      
9. Touch up your image so it looks smooth and has a solid color background.
   1. Layer -> Duplicate Layer.
   2. Use the eyedropper tool  to select a color, then use the brush tool (with hardness set to 100%) to color over the image and smooth out any awkward spot:
      
      The { key will make your brush smaller, and the } key will make your brush larger. You can use the magnifying glass to zoom in on the image.
      
10. Save your file as both a Photoshop (.psd) and a jpg (.jpg).
11. Upload your original image and your cutout image to your blog.
12. Upload your Photoshop (.psd) file to your Google Drive

Today we will:

• Download a high-res celebrity image to work with
• Crop the image so it is 5.5×7 inches
• Alter the image so it is a black and white image with 4-6 shades
• Create a new blog post with the following:
  • The original celebrity image
  • Your cropped, monochromatic high-contrast celebrity portrait
  • A paragraph describing why you picked the celebrity, and which colors you plan to use for each part of the project.

Multiple Mes: Last two classes

Over the next two classes, we will finish our Multiple Mes project. We will  upload our final Photoshop (.psd) and PNG files to our Foundations 1 Google Drive Folders. We will then make a blog post with a PNG of our final image and an artist statement (minimum of 150 words and written in paragraph form) about our project.

Please make sure you have placed your final PSDs and PNGs in your Shared Foundations 1 Google Drive Folder. This is the only way I can access the print-resolution file. Many people will have blurry silhouettes in the upcoming show because I had to use what was posted on the blog, and I do not want that to happen again.

Here are some examples of what I am looking for in a final blog post:

• Mercedes
• Aleesa

Today we will:

• Finish our Multiple Mes Photoshop Collage
• upload both the Photoshop (.psd) and PNG files of our final projects to our Foundations 1 Google Drive Folders
• Create a new blog post with the following:
  • A PNG of our finished project
  • A 150 word artist statement about our project.
    Not sure what to write? Start by answering the following questions:
    • Describe your artwork
      • What does your artwork look like?
      • What is the subject matter?
      • What art elements or principles are most obvious in your work?
    • How did you create your art?
      • What media is your artwork made from?
      • Describe the process or steps you took to create your artwork.
    • What is the big idea behind your artwork?
      • Who or what inspired your artwork?
      • What is your artwork about?
      • How do you want people to feel when they view your artwork?
    • Overall thoughts
      • What did you learn from creating this artwork?
      • Is the final piece what you imagined? How so?
      • What did you do well? What could you have done better?

Multiple Mes In-Progress Critique

Today’s essential question: What are some things that are working well in my project?
What are some things I still need to complete or improve?

Today we will quickly offer feedback on the current state of the projects. We will then continue working on our projects based on the feedback we received during the critique, and post our progress to our blogs.

Project Timeline:

• Today: In-Progress Critique followed by work time
• Tuesday, 11/13: Work Day
• Thursday, 11/15: Last class to work on projects + artist statement

Things to think about:

• How creative/original/interesting is the scene
• Do the people look like they are realistically in the scene?
  • camera angles
  • lighting
  • overlap
• How is the craftsmanship?
• What suggestions do you have to improve this piece?

In Progress Student Projects:

Image Credit: Alyssa

Image Credit: Amber

Image Credit: Ashanti

Image Credit: Genevieve

Image Credit: Island

Image Credit: Jack-Henry

Image Credit: Lily

Image Credit: Shannon

Image Credit: Troy

Image Credit: Vegas

Today we will:

• Continue building our scenes in Photoshop
• Create cohesive lighting using photo filters, dodge, and burn
• Create a new blog post with the following:
  • An image of your progress so far
  • A few sentences describing any challenges you faced today, how you worked through those challenges, and what you would like help with

Multiple Mes Day 6: Lighting with Filters, Dodge, and Burn

Today’s essential question: How can I use filters and the dodge and burn tools to match the lighting throughout my Photoshop collage?

Thursday will be our last class on this project. By this point, you should have started combining your images in Photoshop to create a scene. The lighting likely differs throughout, making it obvious that the scene was created from several different images. Today we will learn how to create the illusion of cohesive lighting through filters and the dodge and burn tools.

Adjusting Color with Photo Filters

For an image to look cohesive, the lighting needs to be consistent throughout. The image below was clearly Photoshopped because Mckenzie is not as blue as the background:

We can change that by using Photo filters.

1. First, select the layer with Mckenzie on it in the layers palette on the bottom right hand side of the screen. At the top of the screen, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Photo Filter
   
2. We can then select different photo filters from the drop down menu, and preview them to see which one is the best fit. Similarly, we can also preview the intensity of the filter by adjusting the slider. For this particular image, the Cyan filter at 40% seems to create the most realistic effect:
   
   

Now let’s see if we can create a similarly realistic effect with a warmer background. Once again, notice how the original photo looks awkward when first placed in the scene:

1. Once again, we will select the layer with Mckenzie on it in the layers palette on the bottom right hand side of the screen. At the top of the screen, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Photo Filter. This time, the Warming Filter (85) at 60% seems to create the most realistic effect:
   
   

Establishing a Clear Light Source with the Dodge and Burn Tools

Photo filters match the colors of each piece of the photo collage, but for a truly unified image, we will need to establish a clear light source. This is where the dodge and burn tools come in. They will allow us to add highlights (dodge tool) and shadows (burn tool) in a similar manner to traditional drawing.

In the image with Mckenzie, the fire is a natural light source. Therefore, we will want to darken the left side of Mckenzie, the bottom portion of Mckenzie, the ground area around Mckenzie and the fire, and the bottom portion of the logs.

1. First, we will select the burn tool  from the tool bar on the left side of the screen.
2. Next we will adjust the settings at the top of the screen. It works best if you set the exposure of the burn tool low, and darken your desired area slowly. This is how I have set my burn tool:
   
3. Now select your desired layer in the layers palette on the lower right side of the screen. I always duplicate the layer (Layer -> duplicate layer) before dodging or burning it, so I can go back to the original layer if I mess up.
4. Paint your desired area with the burn tool. You can adjust the size of the brush at the top of the screen, or by using the right and left brackets. Slowly shade the areas you want to darken just as you would with a pencil. You will have to select each layer in the layers palette on the lower right side of the screen before you can use the burn tool on any objects in that layer. Notice how we have now created a clear light source by painting shadows with the burn tool:
   
5. If you would like to highlight any parts of the image, click and hold on the burn tool in the tool bar on the left side of the screen. The dodge tool  should appear in a drop down menu below it. Select the dodge tool, adjust the setting at the top of the screen so the exposure is set to 15-25%, and paint as needed to create highlights.

Here is a side by side comparison of the original collage, as well as the collage after we have applied photo filters and the burn tool:

Before

After (photo filter + burn tool)

Be careful not to go overboard with the dodge and burn tools:

Today we will:

• Continue building our scenes in Photoshop
• Create cohesive lighting using photo filters, dodge, and burn
• Create a new blog post with the following:
  • An image of your progress so far
  • A few sentences describing any challenges you faced today, how you worked through those challenges, and what you would like help with

Multiple Mes Day 5: Using layers to create a realistic scene

Today’s essential question: How can I use layers to create a realistic scene with a foreground, middle ground, and background in Photoshop?

I created this photo of puppies on vacation with many layers in Photoshop:

Here is what the layers palette looks like:

Here is a step by step process for building the scene with layers:

Using foreground, middle ground, and background will help your characters look like they are actually in the scene, versus on top of an existing image. How will you use layers in Photoshop to create a realistic environment? What are some things you could add to your foreground?

Today we will:

• Continue building our scenes in Photoshop
• Upload our progress to our shared Foundations 1 folders in Google Drive
• Create a new blog post with the following:
  • PNG images of anything you worked on today
  • a few sentences describing what you found easy, as well as any challenges or things you would like extra help with

Multiple Mes Day 4: Combining images to build a unique setting

Today’s essential question: How can I combine images to build a unique setting for my story?

Today we will remove backgrounds from images we will use in our digital collage. If you have taken your green screen photos, you should remove the backgrounds from them. Otherwise, you will download pieces of your scene and remove the backgrounds from the various pieces that will comprise your setting.

If you have not yet taken the photos of yourself or your classmates for this project, please do so this class.

Creating a setting

You must photoshop at least 5 different images together for your background or setting.  (So, for example, you cannot just put the images you photographed in front of the green screen into an existing photograph – you must add at least 2, preferably more, other items to customize your scene.) The emptier the scene you start with, the better. For example, the image below is terrible for the purposes of the project, because it is already full of cars and people, so we have no room to add our own:

The next image is much better, because it has space to add whatever cars or people we would like, giving us complete control over the mood we establish:

Here is another example. These wooded scenes are all a great place to start because they have ample space in the foreground to add other imagery:

Here are some extra images that might make the scene more interesting:

 

Today we will:

• Finish shooting any needed photos in front of the green screen
• Remove backgrounds from images we will use in our digital collage
• Create a new blog post with the following:
  • any photos taken today
  • before and after photos of any images where you removed the background
  • a few sentences describing any challenges you faced today, as well as how you worked through those challenges

Multiple Mes Day 3: Common Multiple Mes Photography Mistakes

Today’s essential question: What are some common issues that arise when taking photos for the multiple mes project? How can we prevent them?

Today we will continue photographing ourselves, trying to prevent common photography mistakes. We will post any photos we have taken today to our class blogs, and will also upload them to our shared Google Drive folders.

If you have already taken your photos, you may begin removing the backgrounds using either the Procreate app on the iPads or Photoshop on the computers. You must have uploaded your photos to your Google Drive for this to work, and you must upload the photos to your Google Drive again after you have removed the backgrounds.

Here are some examples of what I am looking for in today’s blog posts:

• Photos taken during class
• PNGs of photos with backgrounds removed

Common Multiple Mes Photography Mistakes

Camera angles do not match

Why it happens: Different photos are taken from different camera angles. These photos then will not work together if composited into the same image in Photoshop.

How to prevent it: Set up a tripod to your desired height and camera angle, and keep it consistent as you photograph all of your subjects. Make sure the angle of the camera matches the angle of your background scene.

Motion Blur

Why it happens: The subject moves before the camera finishes taking the photo.

How to prevent it: Use a quick shutter speed (if you have a DSLR). If you can’t control the shutter speed manually, force the camera to use a quick shutter speed by providing sufficient light and using a tripod to steady the camera. Remind your model to remain as still as possible.

Subject is not Realistically Posed

Why it happens: The model awkwardly acts out a pose without the necessary props, and consequently, poses themselves incorrectly. When the scene and props are later added in Photoshop, they do not fit or look strange.

How to prevent it: Provide the model with placeholder props and scenery that mimic the size and shape of whatever will be added in Photoshop. It’s amazing how much simple objects such as boxes, paper towel rolls, rope, and stuffed animals can help the model pose properly.

Bonus Tip: Place Green Screen on Ground to Easily Capture Action Shots

Today we will:

• Take photos in the hallway for our Multiple Mes project
• Upload any photos taken today to our shared class folders in our Google Drive
• Remove the backgrounds using either the Procreate app on the iPads or Photoshop on the computers
• Create a new  blog post with the following:
  • images of any work created today
  • a brief reflection of any challenges you faced, how you worked through those challenges, and what you would like help with