The creation of this artwork was a cummulative creation using inspiration from the works of Amy Ross, Massive Attack's Teardrop, and Pokémon. I chose to entitle this piece 'The Circuit of Life' as a way to illustrate the overall meaning of this artwork in that of life. The 'circuit' of the title was in reference to the inspiration of Pokémon, as it has played an influential part in my upbringing. To me, Pokemon was something that had a significant role in my childhood, and the subtle teachings and morals illustrated in the game and show, helped shaped the person I have become today. So it only seemed appropriate to include something that has been so important in my life in an artwork about art itself. It is also expressed through Pikachu, the face of Pokémon, who is an electric-type. Although it may seem farfetched, the idea of electricity for me is directly related to light, which is metaphorical for anything related with light. For example, when someone is walking into the light, it is a metaphor for someone crossing over to the afterlife. Also, upon the birth of a child, the first thing they see is light, showing that light is also a signifier for birth as well as death. The latter of the title is interpreted in the foetus and every other additive in the piece as a way to successfully construe the overall message of the creation in that of life.

In order to manipulate the original piece (Massive Attack's Teardrop foetus), a significant amount of facial reconstructions were neccessary to make it look anything like Pikachu. Things like broadening the face, removing the ears, manipulating the mouth, reducing the nose, increasing the eye size, thickening the neck and widening the shoulders using the liquify, smudge, and clone stamp tool helped create a realistic looking Pokémon.
Broadened face...


Nose reduction...


Eye and mouth manipulation...


Ear removal...


Shoulder and neck broadening...


Upon creating the idyllic facial structure, I had further complicated manipulations to perform like the new ears and nose, colouration, texture, finer details, and lighting, which were all transfigured together using an array of blending options, diffirentiations in layer opacity, airbrushing, erasing and much more.
New ears...


Partial colouration and texture...


More colouration...


More texture...


New nose...


Altered lighting...


This image, if not obvious, is an creation of a Pikachu foetus. The foetus resembles a kind of vulnerablility that we face in life, as the baby itself, especially when still developing in the womb, is entirely dependant upon their mother and how they choose to care for their baby can change the outcome of the baby's life completely. The vulnerability of the foetus is also transgressed through the ears of Pikachu, as normally it is seen with its ears up, but when confused or worried about certain situations, the Pokémon is seen to have its ears down as shown. The diminished and darkened light of the piece symbolises the mystery of life awaiting the immature soul, also emmiting an unnerved sense of feeling as to the destiny of our lives. The underdeveloped stature of the foetus is a direct relation to youth, as Pikachu was a key factor in my development and my life helping to make a summation as to what the whole artwork is about, also trying to incorporate how the best years of our life were the ones of our childhood into the ultimate concept. So if not yet clear, 'The Circuit of Life' is my interpretation of the cycle of life.


Here is the final artwork, entitled 'The Circuit of Life'...



Following along the idea of Led Zepplin's Stairway to Heaven, my vision was to create a landscape image, with the colours and different pictures creating the journey of life, death and then the afterlife. When I was trying to interpret this vision, I had an idea of a large area of grass, consisting of different colours, illustrating the health of the grass, which represents different stages in life. Progessively as the grass gets older and less healthy, is signifies aging in life. This then merges into a rocky ascension, symbolising the final years of life, and/or death. Beyond the mountains lies an illuminated horizon, adding light to the artwork, symbolising the afterlife, namely heaven. My imagination however was too complex for creation, so these are the failed attempts of my vision.


This next piece illustrates my attempt of heaven...



Upon recieving the task, life was always going to be the focus of my artwork, as the possibilities of creating an artwork surrounding the matter are endless. Music was always a motivation behind the ideas of my pieces, with Led Zepplin's Stairway to Heaven the song guiding the direction of my artwork as I tried to illustrate the journey from life to death, and ultimately the ascension to heaven. This failed miserably, so I went back to basics drawing upon other songs and ideas that reminded me of life. A song, Teardrop by Massive Attack, sprung to mind with the video clip entirely focused upon a human foetus singing the song.


For me the whole concept was ingenious, requiring me to build upon the original image dramatically in order to call it my own. My brainstorming lead me to the cycle of evolution, which for me directly relates to Pokémon, and arguably the most recognisable Pokémon is Pikachu, where I grasped the concept of merging the Teardrop foetus with Pikachu, forming my interpretation of life.


To incorporate an artist with similar works, I have chosen to use a distorted approach to the way Amy Ross executes her pieces. "I am interested in the idea of artist as mad scientist. My drawings offer visual hypotheses to the question: what would happen if the DNA sequence of a plant or mushroom were spliced with that of an animal?" - Amy Ross. I have decided to take this 'mad scientist' technique onboard, but to a different extent, merging the features of a ficitonal character to that of a human. Here is are some examples of her work...





The unit regarding assessment this term has been based around is the concept of 'cycles'. Cycles are recurring events, patterns, series, sequences, and routines. This can be expressed in many ways, with different artists showing their interpretations of what they deem to be a cycle. I have decided to base an artwork symbolising life (with life being the 'cycle') in a number of ways. Hopefully it comes together in the end.


From here is all the processing of Term 4 that I have done so far.
Enjoy.