Wear a mask of yourself; final image

Orignal photo

Photo after edits in photoshop

Throughout this process my intent was to make a mask that reflected my playful and cheery nature, and so when I came around to choosing a location in which to take the photo I wanted something that matched that intent. The idea of children playing dress up and pretending to be monsters and animals really helped me in creating an atmosphere for the final image. Home-made dens and soft lighting were two additional thoughts that really drove the visual outcome of this photo; I wanted it to evoke a sense of nostalgia, as though it were a family photo from your childhood. In hindsight however I would have perhaps added more bold detail to the body and arms of the mask to give it more impact, and rather than drawing a few of the details in pencil, used a marker pen instead, if only in grey, to make them more visible while still fitting with the aesthetic of the overall image. 

Wear a mask of yourself; construction

Scale-wise I wanted to create something large enough to completely cover my hair and face, creating the illusion that I was the excitable character. This was done through the use of A1 paper, and keeping the features of the character to scale with the silhouette. The majority of the characters features were made through the application of cutting and glueing shaped and hand-patterned paper onto it, with the exception of the mouth which was drawn straight onto the large paper. A few material changes were also required (the pencil pattern on the stomach had to be done with promarker rather than pencil) to allow for the mask to be bold enough that the features be seen at a distance.

Wear a mask of yourself; initial ideas

While developing initial ideas for this brief, I kept in mind the idea of being playful and rather simplistic in my final overall design. I dabbled in experimenting with different line, weight and pattern with these pieces to ensure that while simplistic they didn't look plain and uninteresting.