The Secret Language of Comics

This sketch definitely took the longest amount of time to think of a unique idea that fits the criteria. After exploring Stephen Mcmennamy’s Tumblr and the examples on the class website, I noticed a pattern involving animals so I decided to try to focus on that rather than trying to think of a random idea. I came up with the idea of a morphed giraffe. I originally was going to use an empty paper towel picture role to represent the long neck of the giraffe but I decided to take the photo one step further and use a bamboo stick. The final picture represents a Giraffe and its unique characteristics: a very long neck and eating habits. The bamboo even though it is not the tree that giraffes typically pick leaves from represents the giraffe’s eating habits. Even though I had a long brainstorming process, I enjoyed creating the sketch as the photo editing process was very smooth because I used Google Drawings which I am very familiar with. Overall, I really enjoyed this Sketch as it was very interesting to make a clever piece of art using two things that are unrelated.

I scrolled through Flickr’s explore page to find inspiration, and I landed upon a photo of a butterfly with marble patterned wings. I thought of different things that could replace the wings, and the first thing I thought of was an open book. I scrolled through various photos of open books on Flickr, until I came across one that matched the shape of the butterfly’s wings the best. I used Pixlr to edit the two photos together, the most challenging part being erasing the background of the photo of the book. I feel as though my photo implies that reading gives you wings: diving into a text is similar to a butterfly fluttering its wings and flying to whatever world the book takes it.

“Marbled White” by Sebastian Morweiser

iStock Dmitrii Maslov

Recently, I’ve felt a need to use my pepper spray for amusement but I remember that it’s actually for safety. Then I started to think of things that made me feel at ease, and a flower, to me, means safety and peace, similar to how I feel and when I walk around campus or anywhere I travel with my pepper spray. Thinking about the combo photo wasn’t that difficult however combing the image was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Despite my best efforts, I was still unable to complete it perfectly. I couldn’t combine the photos together so i just put it on top of each other using google docs.

I combined pictures of birds with a picture of two planes. The idea of combining something living with something mechanical seemed really fun to me, so I kept that in mind while scrolling on Flickr. When I saw the planes, the natural next step was to find bird wings to replace the wings of the plane. The biggest challenge was the editing. Attaching the wings to the plane was a bit of a challenge and required some cropping, blending, and transforming. My final image conveys a plane with bird wings.

“Bird”
samuelrodgers752
Attribution (CC BY 2.0)
Edited

“Bird in blue sky”
Yuri Levchenko
Attribution (CC BY 2.0)
Edited

“bob hoover collection image”
SDASM Archives
No Known Collection Images
Edited

When I was brainstorming for the pictures I wanted to use, I immediately thought of my home. At around six years old, I saw Taipei 101, the building in this combophoto, for the first time. The moment I lifted my head, I thought the building was endless and extended to the sky. With this memory, I combined the building with a picture of a rocket launching. During the process, it took me more time to find a suitable photo for the rocket launch. Most of the rocket pictures online did not fit with the building’s shape, making the aligning difficult. Luckily, I was able to find a suitable photo. My final image intends to convey the importance of reaching for the limit and exploring the unknown.

Photo Credits:

David. “Launch.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 15 Jun. 2006, http://www.flickr.com/photos/davids_digipix/167832681/in/photolist-fQbNV-dMu3AF-7cotgs-71BtcB-2dPQdQM-cELoYQ-29np7QJ-2p3aSAz-qyHAD3-7pehGt-acUP14-4Yun77-26ZwnZ7-duD8zu-omVxrc-2okuuVU-2g3uBor-2o64iCQ-974EiT-zpFaWy-eFWKT6-ob1xfA-2kpgJD6-dnSz3f-KXiMS-23v3EWd-2p3557w-5zTuQA-S5AXjR-2okpm2R-6aPKdL-2kE56Yj-nT499o-2jPaWt9-S5B68M-5SLLS9-2iByMCW-2mvgCc1-HT8Cpk-VAu8dt-2n8jvxP-2ip8pTT-Qqy2-2n4WtAZ-QN8dvS-L8Tdp6-71hENj-crJRF1-CLJC3-2hWjw2N.

My.travels. “[2818] Taipei 101, Taiwan.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 4 May 2022, http://www.flickr.com/photos/129345858@N02/52048064452/in/photolist-2niiWeA-KYckjH-JepDHX-252gNVX-9wVjq-BxCzFu-JWs7DL-UXTzzd-D9ZzQ4-iFmeV1-7rYAQy-2jW6o9p-cDsSQq-2m4xAkF-2hV5xLt-CcK8bf-2jsScZK-3Dw2V-8ovvhn-6L1rRw-UKCtGm-zbg5KD-28BEPW6-vCjCKk-PEVuy3-22MiLAb-2nYuMNR-DyiXxv-ETqC9g-9YWZ4f-m4swE1-2bK4HN5-b1tMsk-pUN9gL-HrcfYH-5m8RZ1-PPnRyV-2m2QzNw-J6157X-XM5k7R-2gWGt6r-PTGBc2-92KMw8-QNE9RL-25jFHFM-2mXNyT3-2hAVcAr-unhseR-Q85Fx4-rzM8X4.

Link to Prompt

As someone who doesn’t particularly love vegetables, my favorite vegetable is broccoli. The inspiration for my combophoto popped up when I was out hang out on Saturday and I saw a large tree. On a whim, I visualized his canopy as a broccoli plant. Merging two items naturally is the toughest problem in combophoto. I tried to adjust the brightness and transparency of the broccoli in order to make it look less jarring. My final image aims to illustrate how we may use our imagination to connect seemingly unconnected elements of nature.

photo from: https://www.amazon.com/Broccoli-Seeds-Heirloom-Brassica-oleracea/dp/B096TBHWZD/ref=asc_df_B096TBHWZD/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=532859556718&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16870780359666689283&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010926&hvtargid=pla-1508021944277&psc=1

https://images.app.goo.gl/J6hJjwrd3xzqxd3BA

For this Sunday sketch, I create a staple swing. Again, this project started off with me rummaging through my pencil case for an item to start off with. What I found was a mini stapler, and from there I took out a single staple. To me, a swing instantly came to mind. However, searching for a single staple photo was impossible to find so I took my own. The swing was easier to find on internet and I chose the first one that was suitable.

The actual photoshopping process took much longer. For one, this program was new to me, and even though I am familiar with photoshop, the cropping functions had different properties that stumped me. I ended up taking a different approach to deleting the swing from the original picture and I believe it turned out well. I could have spent more time to make it look more cohesive but with the tools at hand I don’t think the time investment would be worth it.

Photo from :TreeSwing7.jpg (777×945) (themerrythought.com)

When I began thinking of ideas for this sketch, I knew I wanted to use a photo of my own. After scrolling through my camera roll for 30 minutes, I decided to use a photo of me diving into water. The background of the image wasn’t uniform, however, so after some trial and error, I realized I wouldn’t be able to find another image that aligns well with the background. Instead, I decided to crop everything but me out of the image. I struggled to think of ways I could creatively combine myself with another image. My mom used to cook dinner for us every night and recently I’ve been missing her meals, which gave me the idea for the background photo. I don’t have any images of meals she made, but my mom loved to make soup. If I was back at home right now, I know I’d “dive head first” into the food she makes.