DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGING WEEK 9

01/06/2023 (Week 9)

Agnes Fadhyllah  / 0360503

Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Week 9 : Digital Surrealism

Lectures

Digital Surrealism

Realism Vs Surrealism

The two opposing artistic movements with different methods and ideologies are surrealism and realism.

• Realism: takes topics from the everyday, everyday world that we refer to as "reality." It typically uses a mundane, unremarkable subject matter and theme. Thinking outside the box is not necessary because it is not "real."
  
  
• Surrealism: Realism with a twist. It examines the subconscious mind with a focus on dream imagery and frequently seeks to distort the commonplace and what we refer to as reality.

Fig 1.0 Example of realism

Fig 1.1 Example of surrealism

Surrealism

• Logic is defied by surrealism. Surrealistic art (French for "super-realism") is influenced by dreams and the inner workings of the subconscious and is full of unusual visuals and odd juxtapositions. 

Fig 1.2 Example of surrealism

Surrealists like Salvador Dal emphasized free association and dream imagery, inspired by Freud's theories and the rebellious art of Dada artists. 

Dadaism

an anti-war art movement that produces satirical and absurdist works of art.

Fig 1.3 Dadaism example

Salvador Dal, a Spanish Surrealist printmaker and painter, was well recognised for examining subconscious imagery.

Fig 1.4 Salvador Dal's Creation

Digital surrealism

What is digital surrealism? 

Fig 1.5 Digital Surrealism Artwork

• Surrealism is an artistic movement that focuses on expressing the ideas of the artist themself.
• Surrealism is one of the most popular digital art movements in the current period.

How to start creating surrealism artworks? 

Fig 1.6 Digital Surrealism Artwork

1. Dream-like scenes and symbolic images
   
   
2. Unexpected, illogical juxtapositions.
   
   
3. Bizzare assemblages of ordinary objects
   
   
4. Primitive or child-like designs

What to do to start? 

Fig 1.7 Sketch For Digital Surrealism

1. Sketch it out

• Start to sketch, whether it's on paper or tablet, draw your vision roughly. do not start with details, and just start with key points of your vision.

2. Find reference image

• Gather the reference images that will help you with your idea and make sure to gather image that relate with what you have in mind.

Keep in mind! 

Fig 1.8 Digital Surrealism Artwork

1. "Does it look real?"

• Surrealism is best when its convincing that it could be real, however, we must knew that the subject we create are nonexistent, thus it is not real.

2. Make it happen to the best of your ability.

• When you try to approach something challenging, you will learn the skills that you may need next time to make it work, the worst thing you can do is be afraid and back off from your idea, because you wont be able to learn that way.

What Software to use? 

Fig 1.9 Digital Surrealism Artwork

• Photoshop will make it easier to create surrealist images, it requires a modicum of photomontage skill to produce impressive result.