my process

When I emerge myself into a piece, I’m not just creating art, I am unraveling my own story of growth and healing, one layer and edit at a time. The creative process for me is living with every element, decision and detail that completes the final product.

My work always starts by having a vision or idea, sometimes it’s a quick glimpse and sometimes it’s a story that lives with me for weeks. From there, I will sketch the initial vision and take notes on any small details that come forward. Sometimes it’s a manic thought that briefly makes it to paper with illegible scratches and sometimes it’s a well thought out story with loud details. At this initial stage, understanding or discovering the meaning typically is not present.

Once I have time or am overwhelmed to start solving the mystery of the initial idea, I begin with the technical aspect of building it in Photoshop. This step includes capturing my own photographs, curating assets online, painting or drawing my own assets, manipulating layers and endless hours of problem solving until I find comfort in a final draft…or until I’m absolutely tortured to stare at it for another second.

Living with each piece of the process, allows me to analyze every applied detail and slowly discover the meaning behind my initial random vision. The process is critical for me, it is what makes my work so personal. Every decision, every manipulated layer and every minute I spend creating the piece is humbling, as I am decoding parts of myself by bringing this hidden story forward. By the end of the process, I have taken this ambiguous, impalpable idea and made it into a tangible item to self-analyze the origin and physically share it with others.

I’m not here to technically get it right, but my hope is to capture this fading thought that I can document, share and personally reflect on.

example

Below is a brief overview of the start to finish of my process. Starting with sketching and building the idea in Photoshop then manipulating the different elements to compile one final image.

The video shows the final state of each layer being added, not the editing or manipulation that was completed.

defining digital composite

What is a digital composite? A digital composite is manipulated layers of photographs in a photo editing system to compile one image.

For me, this technique does not include using Artificial Intelligence (AI) software by inputting commands and allowing the AI to manipulate and compile a final image. As I explained above, I am an artist who needs to be part of the process for each detail and procedural step, with the application of AI – I feel that it would remove me from the experience of being part of the process, which is a key step in my creative work. Without involving myself in the process, I don’t believe I would find myself in the final piece.