Scratch Projects

Prior to my work on this project I had never truly used Photoshop to create anything from "scratch".  My knowledge and experience to this point was very remedial, as I had only used the application to alter photographs slightly.  Honestly, unlike most younger people these days, I really didn't think I knew anything about it (computers in general), and I thought it was going to be a struggle; however, when I got started I found that I remembered more than anticipated.  

SCRATCH 1 - HEART ADRIFT

The general concept of Scratch 1 came to me the other night as I lay in bed feeling my heart breaking to pieces.  We have all had this experience, or something similar to one degree or another.  Most have also had someone tell them at some point to "follow your heart", but rarely does anyone suggest what that actually feels like and how we aught to go about doing it.  And to complicate things, what is one to do when their heart is being broken and pulled in multiple directions? Where are we to go then?

I didn't really have much of a plan, but the image progressed rather nicely.  I took this concept and tried drawing some hearts in Photoshop.  First I attempted to use the paintbrush tool and mouse, but this frustrated me.  Then I tried the drawing pad, and still couldn't get the desired results I wanted.  Finally I went to the custom shape tool and to my delight I found a heart shape already designed into the tool.  From here I lassoed three pieces of the heart and moved them slightly away from one another.  I gave the heart pieces a brown color with the paint can tool and the background (a separate layer) blue; this was to conceptually emulate the earths landmasses adrift on the ocean.  I added the text layer, and lastly a few arrows and some riffle marks with the paintbrush for a little dynamics.  I decided it was finished because it expressed my feelings revolving around heart matters.

SCRATCH 2 - PREFERENCE

I was thinking bikes, but had no other ideas beyond that for Scratch 2.  One discovery I made in the process of creating this image was that Photoshop likes to make a new layer for each new shape you create with the shape tool.  This was contrary to my preferences, and it was a rather painful learning experience trying to figure out how to put shapes on the same layer. In the end, however, I managed.  I discovered how to replicate specific images by clicking on that image (in this case the bike frame) with the move tool and holding the option key and...presto!...you drag away a copy of the image leaving the original behind. This proved to proved to be fun and useful for Scratch 3 as follows as well.

SCRATCH 3 - PENT UP

I don't like Scratch 3.  Nothing about it appeals to me, and it makes me feel uneasy.  I began with a fill layer and worked with the lasso and marquee tools to create these four shapes.  To define the borders of each shape I used the stroke (outline) function.  I filled each shape then played with their placement and relation to one another by rearranging them as layers.  In the end I grabbed multiple copies of each shape with the aforementioned function above.  I decided it was finished when I realized that I hated it so much.  It's too busy and lacks any coherency. 

My favorite tool to use was being able to take a piece of the object, and then move it slightly to give it a broken and drifting look. In my opinion, the Heart Adrift is my best image.  It is simple, but is suggestive of something that I believe we all struggle with from time to time.