Self Harm Awareness Poster (final)

Welcome back!

**************************WARNING*************************

The below concept is provocative and could be triggering to those who have either experienced these types of events or currently self-harm.

If you engage in self-harm, please seek help immediately!!

*************************************************************

I have completed work on my Awareness poster submission, and you are about to witness it's unveiling.  Drumroll please!

Self-Harm can come in many forms - one of which is "cutting".  This is where a razor blade, knife, fingernails, or other sharp object is used to cut into the skin generating pain that some people believe masks their emotional pain.  Don't mistake this as a suicide attempt - typically persons who self-harm like this are not yet to the point of a suicide attempt, but could be close.  Get them the help they need right away.

The awareness poster reflects a self-harming teenage girl, who had previously been as pure as a white rose until bullying drove her to start "cutting" on her arms and thighs. She is shown fading into the flower as she reaches the point of an actual suicide attempt due to the fact that no one saw the warning signs and thus no help was provided. Once that point was reached, she takes a handful of pills (which also could represent the alternate path to mental stability as the pills shown are Prozac).  Unfortunately, her overdose attempt is successful and she is buried at a very young age (around 14).  At the bottom of the image, a banner warns viewer to learn about and recognize the warning signs such that others may be saved from a similar fate.

This image was created using multiple Photoshop techniques and 12 layers.  Besides the images shown below, I've applied Curves and Vibrance adjustments, three overlays, multiple layer effects, and several text layers.  Tools used include crop, brush, pencil, clone stamp, text, erasers (multiple), and others.

Now to provide you with the original source images used in this project and give credit to their artists...

Credit: "Self Harm" by Nikki Avery

Credit: Fluoxetine HCl 20mg Capsules (Prozac) by Tom Varco is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Credit: "Blank Tombstone" by Jo Naylor is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Credit: "Blood 1" by vasyndrom

Credit: "Suicide Note" by definiteserenade3 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

I hope you enjoyed this week's posts!  Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.

Self-harm Awareness Poster concepts/sketches

This week's assignment was to come up with concepts for an awareness poster.  Given events close to home over the last year, I chose the topic of self-harm and how if not recognized as such, it can lead to suicide.

**********************************WARNING*************************************

The below concepts are provocative and could be triggering to those who have either experienced these types of events or currently self-harm.  
If you engage in self-harm, please seek help immediately!!

*********************************************************************************

Before we get into the concepts, I would first like to share a photo that I ran across earlier in the week, and which, along with personal experiences, helped inspire me to choose this topic.

Credit: Jamari Fox (http://insidejamarifox.com/choke-me-slap-me-pull-my-hair-the-bully-life/)

As you can see in the above image, the artist does a great job of tying together the source of depression (bullying/name calling) along with the effects of this behavior (self-harm).  I hope to do the same with my concepts and also with the final project once completed.

Ok - now on with the concepts....

Concept 1:

In this concept, I am portraying a girl who has been self-harming, through the use of a razor blade on her thighs.  When this type of behavior goes unaddressed and help is not provided, self-harm can lead to suicide attempts as depicted by the pill bottle.  As you know, there are many ways that suicide can be attempted, however, pill overdoses seem to be a prevalent mechanism that is used.  The tombstone reflects the unfortunate results of a successful suicide attempt - death.

Concept 2:

In this concept, the first image again shows someone who has been self-harming through "cutting".  This version is more provocative by showing a direct correlation between this and suicide.  While not always true - especially if help is sought - I have found that many awareness posters leverage this type of correlation to draw extra attention to an issue.

Concept 3:

Shifting the message a bit, in this concept I show the causation between bullying and suicide.  Many children who experience bullying become depressed, which can lead to suicide.  If we ban together and stop the bullying, we could out a huge dent in the number of youth suicides.

Concept 4:

In this concept, there are quite a few subtle nuances that I like and as such, I am building my concept around this one.  On the left, it shows a girl who has cuts on her thighs.  Above her is a white rose covered in blood and to the right of that, a knife.  In the top right, there is an open pill bottle which lead to the suicide note and eventual interment represented by the tombstone after a successful suicide attempt.  Had someone recognized the signs of self harm and sought help for this individual during the first stage, it is quite probable that the results would have been significantly different.

Concept 5:

In this concept, I chose to do something similar to an infographic, presenting statistics associated with bullying and suicide attempts.

Concept 6:

Concept 6 would have been very provocative if pursued.  In this concept, it shows a young child (7th grade based on the graduation year) who has just pulled the trigger on a handgun pointed towards his head.  The bullet has the word Bullying on it, which allows the viewer to conclude that bullying was the cause of this child's desire to kill themselves.  The text at the bottom makes a very clear statement that Bullying = Death.

Tune in next time, when I'll be providing you with the final version of Concept 4.  I have already started working on it, so you shouldn't have to wait long!

Eye of the Storm

Now the moment you have all been waiting for - the big reveal...

Eye of the Storm  (Brian Morgan 2015)

After playing with several ideas and the concepts, I finally chose to create my photo montage based on the Eye of the Storm concept.  If you recall from the post last week, this was one of the sketches associated with this fictitious band:

Eye of the Storm Concept drawing

 Out of the all of the concepts, this is one of the ones that stood out to me, and so I started looking for photos to help build out the concept and create a montage from it.  The first thing I needed was tornado, and after viewing hundreds of tornado photos, I settled on this one:

Credit: Justin1569 at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)  via Wikimedia Commons

Once the tornado was established, it was time to look for a building that might work.  I wanted something close to the image I had in my head, and after over an hour of searching, I found this photo of the old Tampa stadium when it was being torn down.

Credit: Zeng8r at en.wikipedia [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Next, I needed some more smoke to help bring out the destruction caused by the tornado.  I chose to use the following cloud picture as the highlights would add depth:

Credit: Public Domain Image (No attribution required)

Next, I needed an eye to represent the "eye" of the storm.  I selected the eye from this image:

Credit: "Elod-Eye" by Frédéric DUPONT is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.

Although the original concept did not have lightning or rain, I decided to add them in lieu of the instruments as the additional storm characteristics also help display the emotions associated with this band's music, and the instruments took away from the image.  As such, I added the following two images:

Credit: "Night lightning" By Valerie Everett [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)] via flickr

Credit: Devon Coker via qbrushes.net

To top off the concept, I added a banner at the top with the band's name along with two adjustment layers, and effects associated with a few of the image portions. The resulting image turned out pretty close to what I had in the head.

Here is a larger image of the final design:

Photomontage Part 1 - Concept Design and sketches

The first assignment we were given was to create a photomontage for a fictitious band or artist.  The hardest part of this for me was coming up with a band name to use...I came up with several over the course of a few days, and since I could not choose which to go with, I worked up some sketches for five of them, and selected two of which to build out additional conceptual sketches.  In the interest of sharing, I've posted all of the concept sketches, and will focus in more detail on the ones that are moving forward.

Here goes nothing...As stated in my previous post, I am by no means an artist when it comes to sketching, so I hope you bear with as the concepts and sketches move towards becoming a digital photomontage.  I am much better at image manipulation than sketching - I promise...

Into The Abyss

First up, is a band called Into the Abyss.  I loved the way that sounded, so I figured I would try to sketch something up...this is the result of that effort:

Into The Abyss Concept Sketch

In this concept, the band is playing a free concert in a park next to a canyon, when the government comes in to censor the event.  The bulldozer represents how the government frequently pushes our freedoms aside, sometimes even injuring and killing people in the process.  The desolate land in the background is all the same color, void of all life and represents how bland the world would become if everyone was the same and conformed to the ideal societal restrictions (including the social norms in some countries where freedom of expression are disallowed).

While several other concepts floated around my head, including one with a barbed wire fence, while drawing this sketch, I came up with another band name while building this one out so I figured I had better sketch something up for that one before the image left my head.  As a result, The next band name idea came to light and I never pursued additional sketches for this idea.

Into Nothingness

Lots of ideas floated around my head for this one, but getting them out and onto paper was another story.  I came up with two concept sketches for this idea.

Into Nothingness Concept 1 Sketch

In this concept, a black hole has opened up in the sky, and swallows USA1 in a freak event where the sun is blood red and onlookers from the city below witness the event.  Once again, this represents a band that does not wish to conform to societal norms and sees the government as a burden that should be dealt with.  The black hole represents the chaotic direction in which the government might lead us if we were to follow.  Luckily, the population of this city was grounded in reality and not impacted by the game of follow the leader.

After moving on to a few other concepts, I came back to this one and drew two more sketches.

Into Nothingness Concept Sketch 2

In the second concept for Into Nothingness, a bus full of people is directed into a portal that supposedly would bring to another world, one full of pleasure and lacking the pain of this world.  What we see is a half of a bus, travelling through the portal, and nothing on the other side.  This should leave the viewer wondering if they made it, and if the promises were actually fulfilled or if they were tricked into living their lives in a small society inclusive of only those in the bus.  Maybe the riders died...one will never know.

The third, and final sketch for this idea is shown below.

Into Nothingness Concept Sketch 3

In this concept, earth is shown from the distance, and there is a helicopter circling the earth with the last remaining people as a nuclear blast destroys the planet and all inhabitants - sending them into a state of Nothingness.  What happens with those left on the helicopter?  Do they survive?  If so, how will they continue to survive without earth to support them?  Does the government have a solution or are they left on their own to figure it out?

Chaotic Requiem

The third band name idea was Chaotic Requiem.  This sounded like a gothic metal band, and as such, the images flooding my mind were those of evilness, the balance of good vs evil, and given the meaning or requiem, implied the state of chaos associated with a memorial service and/or interment.

Here are the three concept sketches associated with this idea:

Chaotic Requiem Concept Sketch 1

 In the above concept sketch, loved ones are in the process of burying their relative, when all of a sudden Satan comes up form the burial hole and grabs the casket.  The shock of the event sends the family running away and saddened by knowing that their relative did not go to heaven, but instead will spend eternal life in hell.  While provocative, many bands in this genre use provocativeness in an attempt to bolster sales of their albums.

Chaotic Requiem Concept Sketch 2

 The second concept sketch for this idea may leave viewers wondering who really sets the path for the afterlife - could it be the church?  What if the church had buried this individual in the cemetery to the right instead of the left?  Would the decision send the individual straight to hell?  Is the church truly on the border of heaven and hell and if so, does their belief system truly make the determination between heaven and hell instead of it being based on the actions of the individual and their life?

Chaotic Requiem Concept Sketch 3

The final concept sketch for this idea is set inside of a church, where the requiem service is being held.  During the service, a bat flies in, followed by a gargoyle, who rests on top of the casket, and demons walking down the aisle.  The stunned priest tries to calm the congregation and they all turn to look, but it is too late - the fate of the deceased has already been chosen and there is nothing that anyone can do to prevent the inevitable. 

On to the next set of Ideas...

Space Monkeys

Space Monkeys...hmmm..that sounds like a psychedelic 70s band..ok, lets sketch a few concepts surrounding this one!  I'm thinking...maybe something along the lines of planet of the apes humanoids...or maybe just plain old monkeys that form the band...lets see what kind of concepts we can come up with.

 While working on Space Monkeys, I had found an image from NASA that inspired the first design concept - it was a nebula that formed the outside shape of an eye...this image inspired a few other of the design concepts as well.  Here is a copy of that image (non-commercial use permitted without modification):

By NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Ariz. (NASA - Comets Kick up Dust in Helix Nebula)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Okay...now on to the concept sketches

Space Monkeys Concept Sketch 1

This first sketch leverages the NASA picture for the rough outer edge, and then I was thinking of placing an image of a planet in the center with an overlay of a monkey's face in the center.  Here is a cool monkey head that might just work...

By Julielangford (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

With this design, the image would look similar to an eye...hmmm...Eye of the Storm sounds like another cool band name...guess I'll work up some concepts for that next...lets finish this set of concepts first.  The astronaut and spaceship would provide additional items to bring this concept to life, and help steer the viewer towards the center of the design.

Saturn is a cool planet, and I wonder if the Space Monkeys could play when standing on Saturn's rings...

Space Monkeys Concept Sketch 2

In the second concept for SpaceMonkeys, I have the monkeys wearing space suits and standing on the rings of Saturn (like that's possible).  In the background, a spaceship orbits the planet and similar to the tour bus, it would have the Space Monkeys nomenclature and logo on the side.

Since the Space Monkeys have a tour shuttle, I guess we ought to see what it looks like when they are travelling in it...

Space Monkeys Concept Sketch 3

In concept sketch 3, the Space Monkeys have boarded their tour-shuttle and are off to yet another planet to play - they must have killed at the last show...it was so good that the planet cracked in half!

Maybe its time to bring them back to Earth for a show.

Space Monkeys Concept Sketch 4

In concept four, the Space Monkeys are standing on the horizon of planet Earth, with a satellite and stars above them.  Once again, they are wearing their space suits, and given that they are a psychedelic band afterall, aurora borealis will be above them in the sky.

Space Monkeys Concept Sketch 5

In concept sketch 5, the Space Monkeys' tour shuttle has broken down, but don't worry...they have an old-style rocket to get them to their next show!  In fact, maybe they will play a few quick songs before boarding just to put the ground crew in a good mood.  The Space Monkeys have their instruments and are standing in front of a rocket prepping for launch.

Considering they have their spacesuits and instruments, lets have them play one more show - this time for the aliens of the universe...

Space Monkeys Concept Sketch 6

In Concept sketch 6, the Space Monkeys are riding on top of the rocket while playing their instruments for all to hear (I wonder where they get electricity to play?).  Below them, they pass by another planet on which they have no shows scheduled.

Eye of the Storm

Now on to the final concept, and the one which will inspire my Photo montage...Eye of the Storm!

Eye of the Storm Concept Sketch 1

In this first concept, there is a tornado tearing through a concert arena where the band is playing.  In the middle of the tornado, is the "eye" represented by a graphical representation of a human eye.  The band's instruments are flying all over due to the storm.

Eye of the Storm Concept Sketch 2

In concept 2, the band is playing a free show when upon them comes a lightening storm...two bolts of lightening are rushing towards the stage, "electrifying" the audience and the band.  Each of the two grey storm clouds contain eyes and when taken in totality, the concept looks almost like a face.  Above the clouds, flies an airplane which witnesses the event.

Speaking of eyes, maybe I need to show the band as an eye...the bottom two designs are also inspired by the previously referenced NASA image.

Eye of the Storm Concept Sketch 3

In concept 3, the band is playing on stage, forming the iris of an eye.  in the background, is a red-colored planet (or other celestial body) that is red in color.  Surrounding the planet is a Nebula in bright blue, which starkly contrasts the solid black background of space (with stars of course).  To ensure the viewer relates this to a storm, lightening bolts are coming from below the nebula.

Eye of the Storm Concept Sketch 4

The final Eye of the Storm concept sketch once again builds upon the NASA image and also includes a red planet, however, this time its a bit different.  The nebula has a tornado in the background and there are lightning bolts going through the "eye".  The iris is made up of a dark storm cloud, and it is raining.  The rain could also reflect tears falling from the eye as a result of all the chaos.

So...which sketch will make up the final photomontage???

Tune in next week when the photomontage will be revealed for the first time!