Final Essay

When we were first told what the final exam was, I was really lost about what I should do my project on. I mean I had no clue if I wanted to paint, draw, make a comic strip, or edit an image using Photoshop. I thought about it and realized that I enjoyed using Photoshop, because it is really new to me and fun. For an image I decide to use the NBA all-star Chris Paul who is also my favorite player.
I have grown up with a ball in my hand since I was just a toddler, and even the first word I ever said was “ball”. Basketball slowly developed into my favorite sport. The game of basketball is amazing because of the combination of fines, physical toughness, mental toughness, strategy and composure that it requires. So I decided since I love basketball and I am beginning to love Photoshop, I minas well create a basketball image of my favorite player on Photoshop.
I wanted to portray that Chris Paul is really an amazing NBA player. I t took me a while to really figure out how I was going to do that. I thought about making a background of stars, flames, or a city however when I put them into Photoshop they never really fit what I was looking for. Those backgrounds looked cool but they just didn’t portray the message I was trying to get through to the viewer.
I read a comment a fellow classmate made about my photo, and he suggested that I incorporate lightning bolts into the photo. I thought it was a good suggestion; however it ended up being a great suggestion because it started getting the wheels turning in my head. Instead of just incorporating lightning bolts into the photo I decided to make the background a lightning storm. I searched for while on the internet and found many cool photos of lightening storms but nothing really was that perfect storm I was looking for. I finally found the photo that I used for the final project, and it is a fierce lightening storm over the water with the moon shinning across the water. This was perfect because the background had an amazing lightening storm and the moon created a glow around Chris Paul that brought light to the photo. It made it seem as though he was fighting through the storm and just made it out to the light.
The photo was great at this point but it was still missing something and I couldn’t figure out what. I tried incorporating Chris Paul’s head looking down over him, and crowd around him but nothing looked right. Again a classmate commented and suggested to highlight the word “amazing” and incorporate a lion into the photo so it was as if Chris Paul was fast enough to get away from the lion. I tried it and it was perfect.
I really enjoyed working on this project. I was extremely pleased with how well my final edit of the photo came out; it just portrayed everything I wanted. I learned so much from it as well. I realize now that the creative process isn’t just portraying a “creative” something. The creative process takes time, effort, and a little help from your peers. I have never asked for suggestions before, but after doing it for this class I realized how much better my creations were and was more pleased with my final projects.