The Exploration of Image Making is the imagination of original ideas. It is the power of self-determination—something we all desire but at times it can be challenging to control. Limitations often force a person to push boundaries to develop new solutions and go beyond the obvious. At its best, creative freedom forces us to conceive the unimaginable, but harnesses the creativity to form cohesion. Image making is something that takes practice and is very experimental, which is part of what makes it so enjoyable. Starting is always hard, but once you get into the process, it’s all worth it in the end. You learn a lot through the making process, whether it’s a new way to manipulate something or learning how to etch an image into glass. Experimentation is the key, and you want to exhaust all options so you know you did everything you could to push your art to its best.

As a designer I was forced to consider the user to create human centered solutions. But now, it is my turn to use my newly found knowledge. I have found this to be a daunting task so far, because I am a person who likes guidelines and rules to follow. The reason for this is that it makes it easier to complete the task at hand. Now however, I want to do the thing that scares me most, allows me to grow, and throws the rules away. I have chosen a project where I have the freedom to follow my passion, something with no right or wrong answers, or specific rules.

This project is a collection of ideas inspired by ten individual words. Each week for ten weeks, I study one word and attempt to interpret it through various studies in form. Sometimes it is a drawing, sometimes it’s a collage. This is an experiment with ideas and how I process them to formulate visuals that are either expressive, symbolic, or perhaps literal, like I did with vessel. I chose broad topics for my prompt, which gives me more freedom to experiment using collage, illustration, photography, painting, etc. This project has given me the opportunity to experiment and create interesting content that I haven't made before.

One of the techniques I used to generate ideas for some of the words was to brainstorm word lists. I then research the words from the list and look them up on the internet. The research I do mostly is image searching and finding visuals to inspire my image making. Then I start experimenting with different mediums and just make a variety of things that reinforce the meaning of each word. I choose my words through observation and being more aware. For example, with the word macro, I was using my macro lens one day and thought it could be interesting to use macro as a concept. I experimented with various ideas and came up with the idea of starting with something big (a sunflower and its leaf) and zooming in until you were at the nucleus of the leaf. No two processes are exactly the same because there’s a lot of experimenting, so I end up with something different every time. It is rewarding to see one idea evolve into a whole part of a project.

My work showcases the exploration of image making because it’s one of the things graphic designers must be good at, among other things. Image making is a fun process, but is intimidating at first, because there are so many choices. From my experience, you just have to narrow in on one process and see where it takes you. There are the traditional processes like painting and photography, but there’s also the use of materials like plexiglass, etching cream, digital illustration, photography, collage, etc.

There are several artists that I admire for their image making abilities such as: Mr. Brain wash, for his collages and street art, Samantha Dion Baker, for her drawing and ability to use different surfaces and mediums, as well as Van Gogh, for his impasto technique of painting. I encourage you to be inspired and see what you can create!