Experimental Pages

After experimenting and completing some water-like backgrounds, I decided to go back onto photoshop and roughly edit in some of my screen prints to see what they would look like on these backgrounds. I experimented with getting rid of parts of the white paper backgrounds, partially removing parts of the watery backgrounds to make a clear distinction between underwater and above water, as well as editing the vibrancy of my screen prints to make them stand out better on the backgrounds. 

I tried this print on several different backgrounds, I think the orange print works well it contrasts with the blue more. I like the print with the 'perfectly normal' lettering in the background as well as it emphasise the message of my book. I am considering using this at the very beginning of my book as the cover page that joins to pages to the hard cover or as the title page and edit more text onto it. 

In this image I edited out the watery background to show she is only partially in the water. I made sure there was distinction between the blue water and her yellow silhouette to link with my research into colours above and bellow water. Yellows/reds disappear quickly in the water so I wanted to make sure anytime my character Ethel is featured above water I use colours to represent this. I left echo's of the watery background through the whole image, just without the colour, to give texture throughout  so it's still interesting to look at, not just empty plain space. This way it will still link to the other pages with watery backgrounds. Brilliant white untouched paper also can be seen as perfect which I am trying to avoid in this book, and the texture also gives an aged effect which I am trying to create as my story is based in the 1500's. 

I chose a darker background for this composition as it is taking place deeper underwater, perhaps as the Mary Rose is sinking, so there would be less light and less colour. This is why I have kept the outlines of the characters a dark blue as well as no yellows/reds would be visible in deep water. 

I wanted to use a background for this print that wasn't blue/green to portray that it is happening above water but something that still contained the splash/watery effects so it won't look out of place compared to the other pages. I am very undecided with how to edit this image. I like the whiter background so it doesn't take away from the character too much and the hands are contrasting to stand out which helps emphasise the message of the image. On the other hand, I like the darker background as it looks more watery but has reds/oranges in it to show that it is happening above water. It is also a dark background to reflect the negativity in trying to capture perfection (the message of the image).

I think this is the edit I am most happy with out of todays experiments. The editing of the background clearly shows the difference between water and sky. The characters are in an orange/brown colour that contrasts nicely with the blues and shows they are above water. The nature of the edit makes the image look dreamlike which I like as it seems positive, which is how I want to end the book. So I think this will be the last image of the sequence.

I still have original screen prints to create to illustrate the rest of my story. But once this is completed I will start to bring in text and experiment with placing of words/lines.