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Pop Art Tutorial

SharpArt — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:35:02 +0000

There are many Photoshop tutorials out there with help on creating different finishes and effects. This one whizzes through one way of creating a Pop Art image.

I like the way he demonstrates very quickly with no messing around. You do have to watch his cursor closely to see precisely what he’s clicking on, because he doesn’t always tell you. But I have made quick notes to support this video which you can have to one side as well, whilst you chose your own image and work your way through the process. Give it a go – if you’ve got Photoshop that is.

Pop Art Images from Photoshop

Select image and duplicate
Image > adjustments > invert
Filter > blur > Gaussian blur > select radius about 7 ish
Change blending mode (on Layer window) to ‘colour dodge’
Change threshold (bottom of Layer window) jiggy it round until happy with detail – here set at 240
New layer > blending mode to Multiply – label skin and choose colour – paint bucket
Duplicate background > move to top > this to be ‘hair’, so change colour > filter > sketch > halftone pattern – size 2 contrast 50 – blending mode to either ‘overlay’ or ‘multiply’
New layer – Lips – blending to ‘multiply’ – red, zoom in and hide other layers to see what you’re doing
New layer – eye whites – blending mode to ‘overlay’ – white (erase any other section you don’t want so they can shine through)
New layer – eye colour – blending tool to ‘multiply’ – blue
Can change colours though ‘saturation’ if not happy
Can change background colour – blending mode to either ‘overlay’ or ‘multiply’.

I find it really useful seeing other people’s videos and watching how they use Photoshop. Everyone has their favourite techniques, sequences and ways of building up layers. I’d like to build up a library of different videos or written tutorials from which any of us could select the approaches that best fit the way we would like to work.

How useful was this for you?
Do you know of other tutorials that would help with making Pop Art images?

Please make a comment or suggestion. I would find it really useful with my work.

Rugby as Pop Art

SharpArt — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:22:38 +0000

Kiwi artist Aaron Tomlinson struck upon the idea of popular rugby players – particularly Dan Carter and Richie McCraw – as icons that would benefit from a Pop Art overhaul. He talks candidly to the local New Zealand Herald about his thoughts and what was fun about this idea. There has to be fun in Pop Art doesn’t there!

I like that way he links popularist images and icons and moves the ideas on to what is important, today.

You can catch the video here.

Roy Lichtenstein at Museum Ludwig

SharpArt — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:47:29 +0000

Roy Lichtenstein – Kunst als Motiv (Art as Motive) is a collection of about a hundred pieces which reflect his interpretation of other great modern pieces with a Lichtenstein twist. He uses his flat palate of bold colours and outlines and his now famous cartoon shadings with benday dots and blobs to break up the images and create his own slant on masters such as Picasso, Monet, Matisse, Mondrian and Dalí.
This exhibition at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne runs from 2nd July until 3rd October 2010.

‘Silver Liz’ Pop Art Print goes for £6m

SharpArt — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:12:04 +0000

The painting by Andy Warhol call ‘Silver Liz’ was recently sold for £6,762,150. The painting hasn’t been in the public eye for over 20 years and caused quite a stir at its recent auction at Christie’s in London. It probably won’t be seen for another 20 years as it was sold to an anonymous bidder.

Painted in 1963, it shows one of Warhol’s favourite female icons of that time, Elizabeth Taylor after she had suffered from a major illness. He was fascinated not only by the glamour of Taylor, Marylin Monroe and Jacky Kennedy but how that was juxtaposed with loss and death. He painted Monroe after her death and Kennedy after her husband’s assassination. There were only two paintings in the series where Warhol added violet to her eyes, a personal touch, which has no doubt added to the interest in this particular piece. She did have violet coloured eyes, something that would not have been seen in her earlier black and white films, but with colour and her recently starring in Cleopatra, this would have added to her allure and appeal.

This painting celebrates this film icon using silk screen over sprayed silver background – the shallowness of the painted image completely changed the genre of portraiture. And this series encapsulates all of Warhol’s ideas about fame and celebrity and the symbol of feminine beauty.

Female Pop Art Artists

SharpArt — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:30:30 +0000

Seductive Subversion - the name of the exhibition at the University of the Arts earlier on this year, shows a different, less commercial side to Pop Art – mainly because it’s all produced by women. These pieces are observant, pithy and quirky, and were overlooked at the time because of their glamorous male peacock counterparts. This exhibition wishes to redress this imbalance and celebrate a wider definition of the Pop Art Movement.

It was the first exhibition of female Pop Art and is now to be seen, I believe, at Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, although I can’t see it on their web site as yet.

This Times Square inspired ‘Ampersand IV’, is a stylized neon ampersand in a Plexiglas cube by Chryssa, one of the first artists to utilize neon in her work in 1965.

Mara McAfe’s ‘Marvelous Modern Mechanical Men’ harks back to Art Deco.

But I think my favourite is Black Rosie by Niki de Saint Phalle. Eight foot tall, this colourful, lumpy, playful figure glorifies woman’s roles without the usual half naked predilections.