Portrait: Response to Digitization

For this assignment I chose to do self portraits, as I have no better access to anyone but myself (well, maybe). The assignment was to do two portraits: one in a medium you are very familiar with, the other in a medium that takes you outside your comfort zone.

Medium 1 (Comfortable): Digital Photography

While I am by no means a master, I do understand the fundamental principles of photography and a camera feels quite comfortable. To perhaps step a little outside my comfort zone in a medium of comfort, I decided to go bare in this self portrait - before my shower, no makeup, hair in shambles, no editing in Photoshop save a quick adjustment to help with tone. Hey there pores and under eye circles!

Medium 2 (Outside Comfort Zone): Digital Illustration and Photoshop Composite

I have "used" Photoshop for the better part of 15 years, but I've never REALLY used it. Never have I set a pen to digital tablet, never have I truly attempted drawing in Photoshop, never have I been very comfortable compositing images together. I have really only ever used Photoshop to adjust the lighting/tone/exposure/cropping in a single digital photograph... and maybe to remove red eye or a blemish. I've always been self-conscious about the fact that I have artistic talent, but can't really draw like those "real artists"... so this was a leap for me. All images are my own - photographs on my different travels to Italy. And my sketchy-illustration style is just that - going for realism here would have resulted in a big ol' mess.