Task 3 - Combining Media & Media Materials

Title

For this exercise I had to collect pictures of an exterior or interior design either from a video game or real life. I chose to use the former and got my inspiration for an underwater scene from the video game Rayman origins. As you can see each picture showcases a different design I can use or implement into my own art project.

Below is a plan of the exterior environment I will attempt to create. It has a drawing of the setting I want with annotations of what the objects and creatures are and underneath features the different methods I could use to achieve the visual design I have drawn.

Main project

This is my project in the making, due to technical issues I lost the footage of my previous pictures but was able to salvage these two which show how I progressed though the project.

To get upto the stage below I had to use the previous techniques I had learned from my previous task and experiment a little to get to the stage that I thought made the picture look as good as it could get. To get to this point I had to use this equipment:

• Paint brush
• Acrylic paint
• Tissue paper
• Cartridge paper
• Ear buds
• Water
• Sponge
• Scissors
• Glue/glue stick
• Toothpick

My first step I created a turquoise type colour to try and match the bright colours on the inspirational environments, I then got some tissue paper and placed it over the normal sheet of paper where I painted wet acrylic paint over the top of the tissue paper so it would seep through and create a watery type effect.

Next I set about making the rocks at the top so I created a darker colour blue so they looked like they were submerged underwater, then I proceeded to paint onto a sheet of cartridge paper and waited for it to dry. Using a sponge I got some black acrylic paint and dotted it on top of the rocks so it has an eroded effect. I painted a black strip over the top of the rocks to show an underwater type cave.

Next I wanted to create a murky seaweed that would be hanging from the rocks above and so first tried a scratching technique by using the edge of a paintbrush and scratching into the paint, however, it didn't look correct or give the effect I wanted so I got some more tissue paper, a sheet of paper and glue and stuck the tissue paper down onto the sheet and proceeded to scrunch it up. As I wanted the seaweed to give a flowing type of effect I didn't wait for it to fully dry and instead proceeded to paint the tissue paper a murky green and ripped the pieces from the paper. Since they were still wet from the glue I could tear the paper apart and generated a seaweed effect so stuck them down underneath the rocks.

Next I got an ear bud and white acrylic paint and began to create the anemone's at the bottom of the page, I would dot the paint onto the page in a stipling type of technique, once happy I waited for them to dry and used a paint and paintbrush to make the more longer and bigger anemone's. Finally I used the ear buds to dot yellow paint onto the page to show an underwater light source, once they dried I got water and spread it out so the paint from the yellow and blue would combine.

For my last technique I used another sheet of cartridge paper and painted it blue and cut out multiple shapes with a round surface for the rocks at the bottom. 

After that I got feedback from my teacher and peers who stated the image looked too flat with the anemone's compared to the rocks and so I created seaweed and different coloured anemone's to add to the 3D effect it gave. I also used the ear buds to make the bigger anemone's look more detailed instead of how they looked previously.

Finished product

To finish off the product I got a toothpick and some black paint and painted around the rock's edges so that it gave a shadow of sorts, it was too add a more 3D effect which I believe it does. I also think it makes the rocks and entire picture stand out more.