Recently, in class, we presented our projects based off of our researched artists. I presented my work, based off of visual artist Paul Pfieffer. Pfieffer did a lot of work with altering pictures and changing the meaning, a theme I tried to capture with my work. I was previously inexperienced with Photoshop, aside from our small amount of work in class, and decided to tackle my project using Photoshop. Photoshop was one aspect of the class that I wrote about in our mid-semester blog post that I wanted to use again and one skill I wanted to become better with. I was a little bit intimidated by Photoshop at first, which showed in my work. As I became more confident, and Professor Friebele taught me different techniques, I think my artwork benefited. I thought that the creations I was making towards the end of the time with Photoshop was stronger, and did a better job showing Pfieffer intended themes.
During my critique from the class, I think that my point of getting better with Photoshop as time went on, was illustrated. When I presented my artwork alongside Pfieffer's, my later work better compared to his. My latest piece, that I felt strongest about received the best praise, and my earlier attempts saw the most criticism. My later artwork, which were of Lebron James, related to Pfieffer's themes of incorporating the fans into the picture more than the athlete. Though the athlete is the centerpiece, taking away his material things (team name, number), you can draw in the outside perspectives. My last piece, I decided to take out all the players that were present on the court, aside from Lebron. I also cropped out his team name and number. Altering the court added to the focus on his action of what looked like a dunk, but left things up for interpretation. Pfieffer always succeeds in showing just enough action in his work that it can be interpreted, most of the time correctly. I enjoyed presenting my work, even when it did draw criticism. I understand that I am obviously not a perfect artist and I feel I was able to handle criticism and also praise all in perspective.
