My New Hair Styling Trick...I Mean Design Skill

Selection and layering— while it sounds like something that you would ask your hair stylist to do, it's actually a digital design skill. Selection is the process of outlining something to move it, change the size, edit, and basically anything else you could possibly do to a photo. Layering is just what it sounds like, putting things on top of and below other selected items. Layering is easy if you have a clear vision of what you want the final product to look like. Selection is a tad but more interesting because there are MILLIONS of ways to select something. The magic wand tool may be one of my favorite ways, because it's really easy and I like things fast and simple. The Lasso tool is the biggest pain in the neck; because God forbid you click the mouse anywhere by accident you’re screwed.  If you don’t click the lasso exactly where you want it, you’re screwed.  If you even try using the lasso tool, you’re screwed!  But I indeed did have to use the lasso tool and I that might have been the most agonizing part of the project.  And in the end I shrunk the item down so small you couldn’t even tell how much work I put into it—I digress.

So my first design is called Kitty Jones’s Diary.  It’s a satirical parody of one of my personal favorite movies, Bridgette Jones’s Diary.  This would be my big selection piece.  I used some drop shadows to give the poster/book cover some depth.  I also used a little bit of layering when it came to giving Kitty Jones her little flower in her fur.  I also used the layer duplication with the possible suitors, the fish.  Kitty Jones’s Diary 5 is coming to a theater/ bookstore near you soon!

This second design is not my favorite but I took so long to do all of the selecting and layering in this project that I couldn’t just scrap it.  Each item in this design was carefully selected and layered to give this table the design aesthetic that comes with a dining room table.  By the way, it was the forks and knives that required the undivided and undying attention with the Lasso tool.  And because I feel like it’s still lacking I think I want to go back and maybe add some hard wood floors and something to make it look like it has a wall for dimension.  Enjoy.

Ian J.