Monthly Archives: March 2021

Creating Unity though Repetition

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Today’s essential question: How can I create unity through repetition in my Afrofuturism collage?

Unity occurs when all of the elements of a piece combine to make a balanced, harmonious, complete whole.

Here some in progress examples of Afrofuturism collages created by SOTA students. How are the artists creating unity throughout their collages?

Creating our Afrofuturist Self-Portrait Collage in Photopea

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Today’s essential question: How can I use the Photopea app to create my Afrofuturist self-portrait digital collage?

Today we will begin creating our Afrofuturist self-portrait using the free app Photopea. We will combine a MINIMUM of 10 images and will spend four classes on this project.

How to start your self-portrait collage in Photopea

  1. Go to Photopea.com. Click “Open from Computer.”

    Locate your selfie with the background removed and open it in Photopea.

How to place more images in Photopea

  1. Make sure you have already removed the backgrounds from the images you would like to place
  2. Import the first image you would like to use in your collage by selecting “File -> Open & Place”

How to Move Objects

  1. Use the move tool to drag objects around the canvas.
    Make sure you are on the correct layer or you might accidentally move things you do not want to move! (The layer you are on will be a darker shade of gray than the other layers in the layers palette on the lower right side of the screen.)

How to Make Objects Smaller or Rotate them

  1. Go to Edit-> Free Transform to scale and rotate objects as necessary
    Note: Do not make objects larger. This will cause them to pixelate and become blurry.

How to Duplicate Objects

  1. To duplicate an image, Go to Layer-> Duplicate Layer:

How to save your images:

  1. Click File -> Save as PSD (This will automatically save your image with layers to your downloads folder)
  2. Upload the PSD to the Google Classroom Assignment

Removing the Background from our Selfie in Photopea

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Today’s essential question: How can I use the Photopea app to remove the background from my selfie?

Today we will remove the background from our selfie using the free app Photopea. DO NOT use Remove.bg, as it will shrink down the size of your selfie.

How to start your self-portrait collage in Photopea

  1. Go to Photopea.com.
    Click “Open from Computer.”
    Locate your selfie and open it in Photopea:
  2. Select the Eraser Tool .
    Erase the background. (Hint: this will go more smoothly if you use a mouse.)
    You can adjust the size of the eraser tool using the options at the top of the screen:

How to save your images:

  1. Click File -> Save as PSD (This will automatically save your image with layers to your downloads folder)
  2. Upload the PSD to the Google Classroom Assignment

Afrofuturist Self-Portrait Collage

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Today’s essential question: How can I create a self-portrait collage inspired by Afrofuturism?

Here are some examples of projects that would receive As (it is ok to hide your face if you are self-conscious):

Project Requirements:

  • Created in Photopea/Photoshop from at least 20 images (at least 5 different images that can be repeated)
  • Includes a photo of yourself (can be a baby or childhood photo)
  • Includes objects that symbolize your past, present, and future
  • Includes colors that represent you (including at least one neutral)
  • Objects have been carefully arranged to show unity throughout the piece
  • Good craftsmanship – backgrounds have been neatly removed, objects are not pixelated or distorted