[Week 2] Creative Assignment: Digital Collage

I made three digital collages in Adobe Photoshop. In these collages, I focused on making the images connect more smoothly. Some elements can look like, “Why is this here?” at first, so I paid attention to how the eye moves across the page and how textures and colors can help different sources feel like they belong together. At the same time, I wanted each source to keep its own unique look. Overall, using Photoshop felt amazingly clear to me because collage is built from multiple layers, so if I cut something wrong, I could always go back, undo it, and try again.

1. Paper & Digital Collage

This one started as a paper collage. After I finished the paper version, I used it as a base and created the rest digitally. I wanted it to feel like you’re looking outside from a house, right when the weather is changing from winter into spring. The background still has a cold, snowy feeling, but the ground starts to look greener and more lively. I also added surreal objects and animals to move it away from a realistic scene and make it feel more like a strange dream.

Paper Collage

Paper + Digital Collage

2. I created this collage using six layers of photos I took this year. I wanted to combine different times of the day, sunrise, daytime, sunset, and evening into one scene.

 

Working with 6 layers of images

3. The original photo I started with was my dorm room. I took it after sunset, so the room was getting darker, and I wanted to make the space feel brighter and filled with things I love. I relied a lot on blending (using blend modes) to connect the added images into the original room.

Because the original living room felt empty, I added cozy items and placed a space image on the ceiling to make the room feel more spacious, as if the space were expanding upward. Room C is my bedroom, and I edited that area with a spring vibe to create a warmer feeling.

Original Photo

Digital Collage using 23 layers