Mundane
to
Monumental
Digital
A t&Design
Project 3
Objective
To become acquainted with the basics
of flat bed scanning, image resolution,
scale, selection making, image
editing and layers. And to combine
these found mundane objects into
Monumental:
a monumental composition using
any work of art Photoshop.
of grandeur and
simplicity, regardless
of its size, although
To Start
it often connotes
Take a long walk outside. Pick up 5 to
great size.
8 interesting and diverse objects
www.artlex.com along the way. Look for a variety of
shapes, colors, textures and
especially sizes. It is OK if you have
no idea what “it” is or where it came
from. Objects must not exceed 1lb. in
weight and cannot post a possible
health/odor problem (i.e. no road
kill). Don’t steal. Don’t buy. These
need to be truly found items.
Procedure
Scan your items, considering
appropriate resolution for each.
The higher the resolution the more
you can enlarge the item. Once the
item is scanned and saved, double
click on the background layer so that
it becomes layer 0. Next, by carefully
selecting mask out the object’s
background. Use the most efficient
selection tool. Don't forget
QuickMask Mode can be helpful to
improve your initial selections. Clean
up any imperfections as needed. Exit
quick Mask mode BEFORE putting on
the layer mask. Do the same for all
remaining objects. Convert to smart
object. Don’t forget to save. Save
often. Don’t wait until you are
completely done to save!
Next, create a new blank document at
200 dpi of any size and proportion that
can be easily printed on letter sized
paper (max image size is 8x10). Open
all of your cleaned up masked scans.
One by one click drag them into your
new document. Each object will
become a new layer. Work at
transforming/moving each layer and
reordering layer orders. Repeat. Your
goal is to keep working until you
create a cohesive and non-
representational form/composition.
Requirements
You may mask or reveal more of
each layer. You may use each layer/
scanned object more than once. You
may have as many layers as you need.
You can use an item smaller than
you scanned it. If you need the item
larger, then scan it larger to get more
resolution–don’t scale it up because it
will be blurry. Make sure the final
shape and it’s placement are both
simple and interesting.
Deadlines
Have objects collected and scanned
by end of class 3/10
All objects cleaned-up, masked from
backgrounds and saved as separate
files by end of class 3/12.
Three rough compositions are due
3/26
Finals -tba.