Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Friday, November 27, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Summative #1: Final Photo Manipulation

For this photoshop manipulation, I manipulated the cover of The Beatles' 1969 album 'Yellow Submarine.' Through this new album cover, I'm trying to explore the theme of The Beatles' impact on music as we know it today, as explained in the questions below.


1. What is the theme you are exploring and why have you chosen it?

The theme I have chosen to explore is the eccentricity of The Beatles and their affect on music and fashion history. Through my use of colour, I have expressed the eccentricity and unique style of The Beatles. The cartoon image of the four band members - Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr - shows their unconventional, though popular, dressing style. The cartoon images also represents how The Beatles weren't afraid to experiment with new styles both in music and in fashion. The popularity of the band lead to their music and fashion becoming trends that have lasted to this day. The record player is also a representation of The Beatles' impact on music history; The record player is a timeless classic, just like The Beatles, and I chose this image to symbolize this. The music notes floating out of the record player across the entire page also symbolize how The Beatles widely influenced the music scene back then and until today.

2. Explain the use of two of the elements of design you have used in your composition and two principles of design. Why did you focus on these elements and principles?

Elements of design:
I. Colour- The colours used in my composition are generally cool and some primary colours. Colour is a very important element in my composition, as it contributes to my theme of The Beatles' affect on music and fashion. The bright, vivid colours show the funkiness of The Beatles and how this impacted their place in music and fashion history.
II. Size/shape- The cartoon image of The Beatles in the middle of the image is the biggest image and thus the focal point of my composition. The shapes used also contribute to my theme - the mostly free-flowing shapes show unconventionality, just like The Beatles. The music notes placed across the entire composition get smaller and smaller as they move further up the page to show that The Beatles' music has had a world-wide influence on the sound of music.

Principles of design:
I. Unity- The first principle of design I have focused on in my Beatles composition is unity. Unity refers to when everything used in the composition belongs and has a particular purpose that relates to the theme. I have accomplished this and thus my composition has achieved unity.
II. Harmony- Harmony is achieved when the composition has both variety and unity. My composition has variety - in textures (different filters used), colours (cool and some warm colour), value (shades), size/shape (small shapes and large), and line (diagonal, horizontal, etc.) Because each of the images used in The Beatles' composition has a purpose contributing to the theme and there is high amounts of variety, harmony is achieved.