Things I’ve made

By Chris Kimber

The images I produced had and still have the sole intention of blending pop
culture with fandom, as it relates to a soccer club known as the ‘Portland Timbers’. The
artwork I have produced is part parody, part original. Essentially, pop-culture exists and
each individual has it’s familiarity with that culture, outside of the movies, catalogs, and
books that those cultural images exist. Therefore, I have blended the familiarity of pop
culture and the fandom surrounding the ‘Portland Timbers’ soccer club, in order to
create images and memorabilia that inspires creativity and lends to our ability to
connect our passion as soccer fans with the world around us. The images I have
created are tailored to fit a niche and that allows me to create physical merchandise that
fans appreciate, and whose proceeds go towards causes we care about. In short, every
image that I have created is tied to particular pieces of pop culture that supporters of the
‘Portland Timbers’ respect, or identify with.

Basically, fan-created content is huge with members of the Portland Timbers

supporters group called ‘Timbers Army’. People create patches, pins, stickers and
scarves, to trade with each other. This is essentially what allowed me to produce as
much content as I did and gave me a large audience to market it to. Furthermore, I was
able to join many different Portland Timber fan pages on Facebook to run my ideas by
supporters, in order to gauge interest. Doing this led me to adjust ideas or make edits
that broadened the scope of individuals I was marketing these items to. With
DIY(Do-It-Yourself) culture being a cornerstone of the Timber’s Army, I had an
abundance of information and platforms(Facebook, Discord, Reddit, etc.) that made it
incredibly easy to create and distribute products that fans would appreciate and trade
with each other. Therefore, with a captive audience that shared many of my interests, I
started to create images that reflected my artistic process, as well give individuals
unique items to display, wear or trade.
 In order to create the images that I have included within this document, I had
conversations with fans, supporter’s groups, filmmakers, graphic designers and many
other individuals within the realm of multimedia art, for the purpose of creating
something that fans would enjoy, but that would also allow me to represent myself
artistically. After these conversations and interactions, I made sure to create my images
in a way that reflected my passion for the soccer club they were in support of, while also
taking into account the experience of the consumer. For the majority of my digital work, I
used something called a ‘Wacom Intuos Pro’ which is a digital writing surface that
allows you to draw directly into a photo editing or illustration program. The images I
created were all done using Adobe Photoshop(​www.adobe.com​). First, I would
brainstorm with other Timber’s fans and get a rough idea of the imagery I wanted to use
(recognizable icons, symbols, logos, etc.) and then I would open a 8.5” x 11” canvas on
Photoshop, which is the size of printer paper, in case I wanted to print. I would choose
different pen-stroke settings and the iconic colors associated with the Portland Timbers
Football Club(green/gold, and red/black.). Once those digital images were complete,
considering that I’d run the idea by potential consumers, I would send the ideas to
manufacturers of patches(e.g. ​www.stadriemblems.com​), stickers and/or enamel pin
makers, to get an idea of overall cost, as it related to production. These companies
often do a sample run of what you would like created, so you can make sure colors,
borders and the artwork itself has transferred to a new medium in an acceptable
fashion.

For the original image included in this project, you can see me and my friend Gil
holding what is known as a ‘Two-Stick’ which is a common type of banner soccer fans
bring to games to show support. The image says ‘Keep Portland Beard’ which was a
play on words using a popular phrase around the Portland area that says ‘Keep
Portland Weird’. The image above the phrase I adapted is a picture of a popular
Portland Timber’s defender named Nat Borchers. First thing I did to create this was to
contact Nat and ask him if he was okay with me using his image to produce some
fan-made merchandise. He appreciated me reaching out and gave me the ‘OK’ to use
his image. Next, I took a photo of him and opened it with Adobe Photoshop. After that,
while in Photoshop, I clicked on the ‘Image’ dropdown menu, which is up by ‘File’ and
‘Edit’ in the Photoshop program. Under ‘Image’, I clicked on ‘Adjustments’ which opens
another dropdown menu where I then chose ‘Levels’. Basically, the ‘Levels’ tool allowed
me to separate the whites and blacks, which in turn, washed out the color and created
the sort of blocky silhouette you see on the two-stick I am holding. Once this image was
created, I sent it to a screen printing shop to be put on T-shirts, as well as having some
vinyl decals cut out for people to put on whatever they wanted. Finally, I put up a google
form for people to order on and collected money through PayPal to purchase the
finished products from the screen-printing company. With the cost of the shirts
generating a small amount of revenue, I asked Nat where he would like the proceeds to
be donated to. He elected to have them go to a GoFundMe account for a fan of his that
was undergoing treatment for cancer.

The nine images submitted with this task had very similar processes to the
aforementioned project included in this task. The following are individual steps
regarding creation and adherence to the guidelines presented to students, in order to
succeed with submitting appropriately tailored images. Each photo title is listed as the
main bullet point, with subordinate bullet points describing how to create each of the
previously noted files. The file names and explanations are as follows:
1. Original Digital Photograph
1.1. Handing my phone to a fellow supporter, I had them take a pic of my
friend and I holding the two-stick I created.
1.2. Next, plugged my phone into my computer and downloaded the photos
into a file titled Timbers.
1.3. When it was time to submit this photo to WGU, I retitled the image
‘ResizedWGU’ so that it would be easy to find when searching for that
image.
1.3.1. I renamed this file by opening my Timbers folder, finding the image,
and doing a single click on the file name that I wanted to change.
 1.3.2. This highlighted the text, which in turn allowed me to type in the file
name “ResizedWGU”.
2. Resized
2.1. This image was created by opening my original photo in Photoshop.
2.1.1. First, I opened Photoshop, which brings up a screen that allows you
to choose recent projects you have worked on, or create a new
one.
2.1.2. Second, I clicked ‘Open’, which opened a screen to allow me to
choose a file to import to Photoshop.
2.1.3. Third, I looked for the ‘Search Field’, which often has a magnifying
glass next to it, or the word ‘Search’.
2.1.4. Fourth, I clicked in the ‘Search Field’ and typed ‘ResizedWGU’ and
the picture I was looking for popped up at the top. I selected it and it
opened in a new window in Photoshop.
2.1.5. Fifth, with the image open, I looked at the top of my screen and
found the word ‘Image’.
2.1.5.1. This word is next to words like ‘File’ and ‘Edit’ and is a
drop-down menu.
2.1.6. Sixth, I clicked ‘Image Size’, which opened a screen that allowed
me to adjust the size of my image. (Check to see if the dropdown
menus to the right of ‘Height’ and ‘Width’ have ‘Pixels’ selected,
since this is the measurement I am using in this example. If ‘Pixels’
is not selected, please select it, in order to follow the rest of this
tutorial.)
2.1.6.1. Due to the image needing to be sized 640 x 480, I had to put
in a value lower than 640 into the first field(width), because
the image was rated at 720 x 720, which meant that if it were
dropped to 640 as the width, the height would be 640 as
well, or 640 x 640. At this point, I just put in 480 as the width,
because I knew the height would be the same.
 2.2. Finally, I clicked on ‘File’ at the top of the screen, then hovered my cursor(
mouse pointer/little arrow) over the words ‘Export’, which opened another
drop-down to the right. I then selected ‘Quick Export as JPG’, which
popped up a final window that allowed me to title the project
‘ResizedWGU’.
3. Cropped/Adapted
3.1. Following the steps from 2.1.1 through 2.1.4, I searched for the image I
had just created, ‘ResizedWGU’.
3.1.1. Once open, I clicked on the ‘Crop Tool’.
3.1.1.1. It is on the left side of the Photoshop screen and looks like
this:

(Screenshot from my Computer)

3.1.2. Next, you are able to move the corners of the cropping tool in by
clicking and dragging the different corners. The purpose of this is to
take out any ‘unwanted’ portion of the image. I wanted to close in
on the Two-Stick that I created, and cropped out everything else
(background, my friend, and myself).
3.1.3. Finally, I followed step ‘2.2.’ to create the saved image, but just
retitled it ‘CroppedWGU’.
3.2. Before I closed out, I selected ‘Image’ and then hovered over
‘Adjustments’. Next, I went over to the menu that popped up to the right,
and selected ‘Black & White’. Clicking that changed to the color scheme of
the photo itself. I then followed the save procedures found in step ‘2.2’, but
titled it ‘AdaptedWGU’.
4. Scanned/Scanned_Adapted
4.1. First, it is important to know that my printer scans into my computer and
leaves the file as ‘Scan’ on my desktop. To scan your image, you need a
scanner. If you don’t have one, you may want to visit a place like FedEx,
RiteAid, or Walgreens. Bring a usb stick with you for them to save the file
to and make sure to have them save the file as a name you will remember
 for the next step. You will then bring the usb drive/stick back to your house
and plug it into your computer.
4.2. Next, follow step 2.1.1. through 2.1.4., but search for the file name of the
image that you either scanned at your home, or had
FedEx/RiteAid/Walgreens scanned for you.
4.3. Finally, use step 2.1.6. and substep 2.1.6.1. to resize the image.
4.3.1. For me, the image did not have the right dimensions and I followed
my same practice as before, which was inputting the lowest
value(in this case, 480) into the Height field, which readjusted the
width value to 370.
4.3.2. Finally, follow step 2.2., but title the work ‘Scanned_Adapted’.
5. Paint/Paint_Adapted
5.1. For this image, you can refer to my previous discussion of my ‘Keep
Portland Beard’ project on page 2 of this document. I give a detailed
description of how to use the tools I was using, as well as a further
explanation of what that image was used for later on. The following step is
how the image was adjusted to meet WGU specifications.
5.2. In order to complete an ‘Adapted’ version of my ‘Paint’ document
(previously noted as ‘Keep Portland Beard’), I did three things:
5.2.1. First, I opened the ‘Paint’ version of my ‘Keep Portland Beard’
image. (Refer to steps 2.1.1. through 2.1.4., or 4.2. for further
reference.)
5.2.2. Next, I followed steps 2.1.6. and substep 2.1.6.1., and made sure
the ‘Width’ value was not over 640, and that the ‘Height’ value was
not over 480.
6. Outside
6.1. For this, I simply googled ‘Two-Stick’ and clicked ‘Images’ at the top of my
browser window. I then found an image that was as close to what my
Two-Stick might be considered, and clicked on it.
6.2. Second, I right-clicked on the image to save it as ‘Outside’.
 6.3. Third, I clicked on the image to figure out it’s location and once the site,
that it was located on, popped up, I clicked on the web address(the bar at
the top of your browser where the name of the website you are on is.).
This is also known as an address bar.
6.4. Finally, as all the text in the address bar was highlighted, I right-clicked
and clicked copy, so that I could paste it into the end of this document,
and into my image submission.

Ultimately, the process was rigorous and had many ups and downs. At times,
people were critical, or wanted more control over the creative process. The thing is, I
was the one creating and distributing, so I had to eventually not involve naysayers.
While some people liked the things I produced, others disliked that I was producing
them at all. It came down to one simple idea, ‘If you believe, you can achieve’, and
honestly, I wouldn’t take back anything I have produced, regardless of its reception.
The scanned image below became a t-shirt that was later printed for the students at the school I
currently work at to raise money for technology for the school. Ultimately, I just edited the face,
and added text digitally. The pictures are as follows:
This image was pulled from pinterest to serve as an example. Here is the web address for the
photo below: ​https://www.pinterest.com/pin/243194448597868728/
The following images were created by me.
This is an image with color that I created digitally.