For this piece I explored the way that color is associated with certain songs or artists. One of the most iconic artists is Elvis Presley, and I usually associate him with with the color blue because of his song "Blue Suede Shoes". I decided to use an image of Elvis and then recreate that image using the lasso tool and different shades of blue.
To start this project I had to find a shade of blue that I felt would fit a face the best. From there, I just changed the same basic color with different brightnesses in order to create defined features. I started off with the right side of the face and used the lasso tool to make selections around areas of similar shade, then I chose a color that matched the brightness of the selected portion and filled it in. I repeated that same process for the first three images. Through the use of different shades of blue, physical features such as the nose started to become noticeable indicating that process was working the way I intended.
When I got down with the bottom half of the face, I realized that the eyes had to be a slightly different color to make it more clear that they were in fact eyes. Elvis Presley had blue eyes so I decided to select a brighter shade of blue as the eye color. After I filled in the eyes, I continued on with the original blue and finished the rest of his face.
The next step was to finish coloring his ears and neck, still using the lasso process. When I had all of his skin colored with a shade of blue, I outlined his hair and made it black. I decided to leave Elvis' hair less detailed because it was a less minor part and I didn't want it to distract from the focal point, his blue face. Elvis Presley had black hair and it was a very distinct look, so I decided to not make it blue and leave it be. Lastly, I made his lips red because it suited his face much better than blue did. I am focusing on the color blue as the main color because of the song "Blue Suede Shoes" was one of his most notable songs, however, I felt that some variation in color would enhance the flow of the piece.
The final thing I did was the shirt, however, I used the filter gallery to made it look cartoon like rather than the lasso tool and fill method like I had before. Once I had the portrait finished, I added two instruments that Elvis was known for, the piano and guitar. I did the same filter gallery process as I had done before on the shirt for the guitar and piano. I also added a low opacity gradient overlay on those instruments, and a normal gradient behind to give it a more vibrant vibe and make the image really pop.
The final product is shown above. This incorporates the colors I associate with Elvis, blue because of his famous song "Blue Suede Shoes" and his black because of his iconic hair, and the musical aspect which I have an great interest in. I will continue to explore music and how it can impact people, and have used color to help me in doing so.
