A bit about my final pieces

I have dabbled in Photoshop but never explored it as much until now. I have surprised myself with how much I did know and how much I have learnt in the past couple of weeks.

For my first image, Don’t blame the games, I chose an issue that I have found myself in several debates about, Children and video game violence. In my poster I wanted to state that adults and parents are buying 18 rated games for under 18’s and that they are responsible for monitoring what their children watch and play. Certificates are there to protect the younger generation. I think my poster puts that point across using minimal text and the rest said though image. You can see the mother with the money, the father smiling and the child wide eyed and taking in the images. I chose three images from games that have strong violence to represent the 18 certificate. Overall I am very pleased with the outcome of this poster.

For my second poster, Moderation, I thought about making an image with influence from Hannah Hoch and Richard Hamilton. I took influence from Hannah Hoch by taking photos and roughly cutting them out and the black and white and colours are an influence from Richard Hamilton. Although  I am not a huge fan of either artists I wanted to look at this module as an opportunity to experiment with Photoshop and imagery. This isn’t my favourite poster I have done but I am pleased I experimented with this style, it showed me that images don’t have to look realistic and polished to get a point across.

My last image, The question of man, was a late thought. The image just popped in my head an I thought I could use it as quick addition to this project. The idea is my favourite one, it is simple, powerful and effective. It has a John Heartfield, one image reading as two, style and the simplicity of Peter Kennard. I would like to develop this idea a lot further, I can see it as a short  moving image and would really like to experiment with this idea. It represents the ultimate question, what is the meaning of life?, what is mans purpose? Why are we here?

Overall I have really enjoyed this project, discovering new techniques and expressing my imagination and ideas.

Cut, copy, paste Finished Posters.

Don’t blame the games. Image 1

Moderation. Image 2

A Question of Man. Image 3

Moodboard for image 3. Cut, copy, paste.(Meaning of man)

Moodboard image 2. Cut,copy,paste.(Moderate)

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Mood Boards for image 1, Don’t blame the games. Cut, copy, paste

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Montage artists (Cut Copy Paste)

Before I recieved this brief I had never really taken the time to look into photomontage. I am still unsure about how I feel about it but have found some artists that I like and many styles I don’t like.

Looking at Hannah Hock’s work, I can say I’m not a fan of her style at all. It’s to obvious that they are photographs cut and pasted one on top of the other. It’s too obvious for my liking. It’s the same for Richard Hamiltons photomontarge’s. Although his images fit better in the environment they are set in, I find I dislike the black and white images mixed in with random splashes of colour. It feels odd, like my brain can’t quite comprehend the image, like its unnatural.

Looking at John Heartfields work, however, appealed to me much more. His photomontarges’ have more subtle cuting and pasting, also I like how you can read his images in more than one way. For example in the image below you can see a skeletol hand but in a second look you can see he has used the vapor trails of planes in the creation of the had. This to me sends a clear message of what Heartfield wanted to portray. Obviously this image was about war and the death and destruction that comes with it, I know this because the images he uses are relevent to war, ie death, bodies,fighter planes, bombed buildings.

Peter Kennard also did photomontarges about war. His imagery are more simple and straight to the point but equally as effective.

Don’t blame the games you’re the parent! Cut, copy, paste.

I have played video games for as long as I can remember, all different genres and types. I have NO criminal record or have a violent nature and a big part of it is because I have been brought up with a clear comprehension of what it right and wrong. These certificates are in place for a reason! You get asked for ID in game shops if u look under age, so if kids have 18 rated games it’s because an adult has bought it for them, the same with movies, they ask you for ID too! There are procedures and warnings in place to protect kids from distressing images and violence, after that its up to the parents.

DON’T BLAME THE GAMES your the parent!