Autoscopy

I had many ideas when I initially started this Autoscopy project: turning myself into a glass, making my face out of flowers... I had other concepts as well but ended up going with this one.

I turned myself into a bust type of vase, made of china and fused together in a style of Kintsugi.

Just as most of my projects, I wanted to focus on the idea of re-building and mending myself. Self-love and growth are definitely themes that I would say fuel my inspiration. Kintsugi is a really great example of taking something that is broken or in pieces and creating something with more value.

The flowers are bright and colorful, also representing growth. Marigolds are my birth flower, so I felt that it was a personal touch on my already personal piece.

The shadow behind the bust doesn't follow the shadow of the flowers, because I wanted it to represent the shadow of self.

This all goes along with the philosophy that we have certain aspects we try to keep to ourselves, or hide from the world and other aspects that we aim to flourish and present ourselves as.

The background checkered print is from a marble chess set... Chess was always something that I enjoyed, as it is a pastime with loved ones and a way to challenge the mind.

At first, I wasn't happy with where this project was going... But after some time, it started to grow on me. I know I still have a lot to learn, especially in photoshop, but I am happy with where this project ended.

Time to complete: 5 hours

Logo Tag Brush

I really enjoyed making this "Logo Tag Brush" because I feel that it really resonates with the style of the logo I've created for myself. I'm all for "messy," "grunge," and "punk" styles so I felt that this was a good fit for some of the art that I work with!

I have to be careful though... because now this is tempting me to make this into a real tag!

Time to create: ~30 minutes

More Than Two Lips

"Gradient Meshes allow for very flexible and detailed application of color to objects. A Gradient Mesh creates a grid inside the object that follows the contour. Color can then be applied to grid points, and different colors between grid points feather into each other."


More Than Two Lips was designed after my failed attempts at creating two separate portraits using gradient mesh. I generally tend to be very ambitious with the designs that I plan to create, but due to time restrictions, I realized I would not be able to finish the portraits, and if I did, it would not be the quality I'd want for myself



Tutorial used (in case anyone would be curious to dive deeper into the world of gradient mesh): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ghlrCIhn9I
Time it took to create this work: 4 hours

(Not an assignment!)

So after finishing the self-portrait, I wanted to keep designing with the style and push myself a bit further. I'm so happy with how this came out overall... I enjoy how the folds came out in the jacket, however, I wish I included more, not just on the sleeves. I also like how the hair came out. I used the same layering style as I had with my self-portrait, but I created a second layer with just an outline for the highlights. I brought the opacity down and created it in a hard light layer to help it blend through the rest of the hair layers.

(Also, peep the pocket... you'll see a familiar logo if you've seen my other work!)

Self Portrait/Poster

As I've talked about in other posts, I am heavily influenced by color. I knew I wanted to play with bright colors. I ended up having over 30 different color schemes I was picking from but wanted to go with this honey and chocolate feeling.

I also decided to use the Curvature Tool rather than the regular pen tool, because it works better for me and I feel that it gives me more organic lines with a better flow.

When I got the idea to work with the propaganda of "Bee Kind" I had wanted to include bees as well as a honey-like melting in the portrait. I had planned to do this once the face was outlined and ready to go, but when I finished the outline I liked where it was. I decided to include the shirt but not have it so obviously a shirt because there is a lot going on throughout the poster and I felt like too much detail could take away from the honeycomb design and actual portrait.

The hair was a lot of fun to create, though it was probably the most time-consuming. It's created in many different layers, some behind the face and some in front of it. The gradient was added at the end to give it a bit more life rather than leaving it flat.

For the shadows and highlights, I continued to use the curvature tool and created shapes on top of where these spots would be in the actual picture. Once they were created, I changed the layers to soft light and 60% opacity. This gave a softer look and allowed me to layer the spots for deeper shadows or brighter areas.

Overall I'm really happy with how this work has come out. Let me know what you think!

(color schemes):

(reference):

Text and Shape Exercise

Logo of Me

 The Logo of Me is a combination of lines and curves used to represent me. I formed the design by breaking down one of my favorite quotes into the most basic forms and combining those in multiple ways before coming up with a symbol I was happy with. I learned how to do this while I was studying sigils a few years back and took my own take on the method.

Method to sigil making:
Step 1: Create a quiet, distraction-free environment.

Step 2: Quiet your mind.

Step 3: Write down your goal or desire as a sentence.

(The sentence I chose was a quote from one of my favorite childhood poets, Shel Silversteen. The quote is "...and all the colors I am inside have not been invented yet.” I feel this quote very much represents me, as I define my life and feelings in colors very often. To make it easier on myself, I focused on the two bolded words because I wanted to resonate with the idea of having a world of different colors inside myself.)

Step 4: Strike out all the vowels. (Optional: Strike out duplicate consonants.)

Step 5: Rewrite the remaining letters in a jumble.

Step 6: Rearrange the letters until you have a new symbol.



Later on, while looking at my logo, I realized that it also represented a few other very meaningful things to me. If you look at the process sketches and variations below, you may see what looks like a figure rising and dancing out of a fountain. (That's what I see anyway.) But this is something that I found powerful because it represents how I am constantly working on myself and growing. Music, color, and growth are concepts that have helped me better myself a lot in the past year.

Looking at the symbol even further I realized I was able to pinpoint a few of the letters that I use in my design pen-name: Misimdo. This name was created so that I could post my art free of having my own identity tied to it. However, Misimdo is actually my name broken down and combined into one word! (Michaela Simone Dooley.)

I've always liked coming up with creative designs like this that hold a lot of meaning. I feel like this design is one that I will start to use to define my art more, like a signature. So if you see something with this symbol hiding in the corner, go ahead and give me a wave!