Artist Statement example.

Shock and Awe
Jenny Jax
9/26/2006

I created “Shock and Awe” for my Media Graphics and Design class at Eastside Prep in East Palo Alto, California. The piece is meant to illustrate both pop art as well as Warhol techniques. In addition, I wanted to illustrate a multi step tutorial to my aspiring design students.

I choose a close up candid shot of myself making a funny face. I took the photograph over the summer after having my hair dyed red and black. In addition, I was still learning the functions of the digital camera. I started with a color photograph and loaded the shot into Photoshop CS. I turned the photo into a black and white and then applied an artist cutout filter. I prefer this to the threshold technique because it breaks the photo into 3 colors-grey, black and white. I then applied the paint bucket to the photo and increased the canvas size. I then adjusted the hue and saturation to make each pattern look different.

As I mentioned before, the style of this design was influenced by the Pop Art movement. I borrowed the style of Andy Warhol's famous screenprints. I was also inspired by the upcoming Halloween season. I choose dark colors to give the image a dark ominous vibe. I wanted the viewer to wonder what the woman saw in the room to make her open her eyes and gape open her mouth.