Hello, I’m Stephanie Johnson, and I major in graphic design. I’m most interested in using Photoshop for stuff I can’t do in Illustrator or InDesign. My ideal superpower is shapeshifting, and my favorite band is Queen. Freddie Mercury is very inspiring by himself, but the other band members are just as interesting, like John Deacon.

My first piece was inspired by many surrealistic pieces of art, and a pinch of classical music as well. But this one surrealist piece of poetry stuck out to me, a piece by an unnamed artist (second poem listed).

My creative process consisted of me planning out my first piece on paper. I planned on implementing Adobe Dimension in some way because it’s a great way to introduce 3D objects to a 2D landscape, making a focal point through unique elements. I used the liquify tool quite a bit on the moon and music sheet overlays, as well as the clouds - believe it or not, those aren’t part of the original image! I believe the twisting and turning, and gaussian blurs support the surrealist aesthetic.

I was thinking of the symbolism in the elements I chose to include, such as the doves. I meant to convey a sense of free spirit within the realm of music, and the dripping moon representing the rich creative juice that lights up the imaginative oceans of dreams. I suppose this is more of a concept, not a dream.

My second piece was inspired by the art style of the LittleBigPlanet series, where 3D and 2D elements combine to provide a vibrant and complex style in-game. This motivated me to add a crumpled paper overlay, as well as paint splotches containing various elements - from music notes to a flock of birds.

The main inspiration for this piece was a song called Shuggie, by Foxygen. The surrealistic lyrics like ‘see him picking up flowers off the floor and drinking tea’ and ‘but, hey man, have a soda, it's on the house, remember what I told you about the rooms inside this house’.

The lyrics, accompanied by a psychedelic instrumental assembly, and a constantly changing beat form a story with bizarre twists and turns. You can tell what the message is, but where did it start and end?

My creative process consisted of adding splotches and various vector shapes in different layer modes. Masks upon masks and edited 3D shapes. All of these elements represent the emotions I felt while listening to the song, lyrics and instruments. And as for concept or dream, I’m unsure - consult Foxygen.

On the left is my analogous colored piece, which I am most proud of. In the middle is my primary-secondary-tertiary piece which represents the relationship between colors, which was very rushed, I didn't have time or enough creative juice for a better composition. And finally, the last piece is representing complimentary colors. I chose to use geometric and organic shapes to contrast with each other, representing the two sides of my color choices.

On the left is my first hybrid composition, combining a tomato frog with a peeled orange. If you're wondering about that orange plastic object, it's actually an orange peeler tool. To the right is my second piece, a combination of a woman and a cat, which freaks me out. And finally, a coffee waterfall! I had a lot of fun making this, combining Adobe Dimension with Photoshop usually produces interesting results.

On the left is a hand holding a vinyl record, with surrounding surrealist text. Most, if not all of the text is out of context/illegible on purpose, as I was focusing more on the shapes of the letters and less on a meaning. I will tell you that the large letters on the front left and right say 'music dream', though.

On the right is the face of David, with 'vaporwave' patterns such as checkers and viscous liquid. Sections of his face are filled with text that is legible, but to be honest, I have no idea what the language or meaning is. The rose is filled with various newspaper clippings.

The first two are not meant to express myself as a person, the third is meant for that. But first, a description of my intention.

All three have emphasis on the human eye, which is extremely important to me. I have a strong belief that the eye is the window to the soul, and it holds a lot of significance in terms of sensory input. I can’t play sports that involve catching because I always instinctively and obsessively protect my eyes - they mean that much to me.

The first composition shows a girl with a streak of light going down her face, with emphasis on her eye as it’s glowing orange, the opposite of blue (which forms a complementary color scheme). I didn’t intend on any deeper meaning, but I suppose you could say that the eye and colorful streak is her soul seeping through her shell.

The second composition features a distorted girl with a particularly interesting eye. The spiral emphasizes her eye and adds texture to the design. Nearly every color of the rainbow is used, which makes the design visually busy - but that’s okay, because your focus will most likely be on her eyes. She emphasizes how humans are faceted and complex.

And finally the third, which is my self portrait. I added a filter over a photo of my own eye, which is distributed between four picture frames, one featuring a silhouette of a girl. The meaning behind this is that I believe there’s multiple ways to view somebody, and people often misinterpret my intentions or words. The silhouette of the girl is meant to show that my subconscious is prevalent within myself, and I often fight with that every day. I feel a disconnect between my conscious and subconscious mind, and I think that’s a big part of me. I’m particularly pleased with how this came out considering I’ve never made a piece like this before, and it isn’t a total wreck! Hurray!

Here are two cinemagraphs. One is about product placement and the other is a more surrealistic approach to the project. 

First, we have Crystal Pepsi, which is an ancient and popular drink. I thought that a flowy, vaporwave-esque background would make the product more attractive. I used a mixture of Dimension and Photoshop to achieve a realistic aluminum can in appropriate lighting mixed with the animated background.

Second, is a man in an old windowsill facing the clouds. I had no particular direction here, I just wanted something cool and purple. I enjoyed adding a bit of a frosty look at the bottom of the windows, I think it adds a nice touch to the finished product. I only used Photoshop to make this gif.

For this project, I chose 2 pieces I made last year and 1 piece from this year. I am content with all except one I have made so far this year, so that’s why I didn’t pick more.

The first piece I chose is from my midterm last year. The parameters for the first piece were that I follow primary colors, radial balance, and focal point by contrast. On the remastered piece, I branched off from this. I will argue that I did use red, blue, and yellow, but not exclusively. The shading on the creatures was an experimental process, using shapes and advanced gradients to create clean edges. That was incredibly time-consuming, but produced wonderful results. My thought process when making this was drifting around the concept of ‘cosmic horrors’, or in other words, 'Lovecraftian' creatures. These horrendous monsters are easy and fun to draw for me.

The second piece is from my balance project last year. I had no particular direction with the balance project last year, I was busy at the time and just wanted to rush through it. The lack of effort makes it a candidate for a remaster. The perspective is weird on purpose, I wanted them to be shown at the right angle - and add a touch of surrealism. I embedded a message in this piece, and it’s meant to highlight the struggles of beauty.

Third, my self portrait from this year. You can clearly see the first one is just a filter on a photograph of myself. I’m not satisfied with that, I never was. The reason why my initial self portrait was so plain is because the beginning of my senior year was rough, I had a lot on my plate (and mind), and I didn't dedicate as much time and effort to it. There was also no meaning behind that picture, which I changed in this project. The remaster shows my hand reaching up into the world, past the surface of the ‘water’, and I’m constantly balancing my life like a hoop spinning on my finger. I’m growing up, and entering the next stage of life.

At the beginning of the year, I was challenged to create a cereal box in one class period. For the final at the end of this year, I was told to create 3 fictional product advertisements as a comparison to the beginning of the year. 2 ads contain motion, and one is a still image.

I created a soda called 'Moon Dust', which was inspired by Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. You can see that inspiration carried over to the advertisements as well.

I had a concept in mind for a real version of this soda. Are you familiar with Nitro Pepsi? There's a cartridge at the bottom of the soda can that contains nitrogen gas, and is triggered by the difference in pressure when the can is opened. I was thinking my soda would be completely crystal clear, and when opened, a similar cartridge will open and fill the drink with wispy, edible glitter (it's called Moon Dust for a reason).

And for the taste? Think Sprite, but with the flavor of Brazilian Guaraná fruit and a hint of mint.