Backgrounds assignment

1. Backgrounds
All of the backgrounds I have made have been done by using scanned
pieces of magazines and books (inspired by Kerstin Stephan’s work)
and combining these with images from the internet. They have been
combined together to form backgrounds that are surreal and
unrealistic (as is Eugenia Loli’s collages)
There is a dominant theme of 8 bit gaming in the backgrounds as that
is part of the personal side of these backgrounds. It is a big interest to
me and also what I have grown up with. The games include Grand
Theft Auto I, Street Fighter, Mario, Megaman, Doom and The Big Pro
Wrestling which are all games I played in my childhood. I have also
added scanned images that I cut out of National Geographic journals
and added these to two of the backgrounds. National Geographic is
something I enjoy to read so I used it to make the backgrounds more
personal. Also in there is an 8 bit Godzilla, this is because of my love
of the franchise and all of the films.

2. Background 1

3. Background 2

4. Background 3

5. Background 4

6. How the layers were added

7. Magnetic Lasoo Tool

10. Move Tool

11. Layer Style/Pattern Overlay
180% Scale

12. Final Image

13. Self portraits
All of the images :
1/30 secs f/5.0 ISO: 800

15. Finished Background 1

16. Finished Background 2
I didn’t choose these 3 images because although I like the compositions, I don’t think
they are good enough or that they represent my theme enough to be considered to be
chosen.

17. Finished Background 3
This is the image I would have chosen if I did not choose the 4th image because I spent
quite a lot of time getting everything together and including myself into it.

18. Finished Background 4
I have chosen to use this final image because I believe it is the most complex and
involves me the most. The complexity and busyness of the image represents the main
theme of my work, retro gaming.