Poetics Step 4 (Zooming / Manipulations)

STEP FOUR:

You're done with the painting. Now mess around with it.


Manet's painting of the matador [The Dead Toreador] is a famous work of art that came about because Manet essentially destroyed the original painting of a bullfight. Because of perspective (the bullfighter in the foreground and the bull in the background) critics complained the the immensity of the bullfight was not present (it looked like the bullfighter had been killed by a horned mouse, rather than a magnificent bull). Manet then separated the two images and that's how we get "The Dead Toreador." 

With digital painting, the destruction of a painting does not have to be permanent (See Step 2). Manipulations are important so that one can see different parts of the image that could not be seen before. Zooming, for instance, allows the viewer to get as close as possible to the art, and to do wo without moving themselves. It allows, as Jullien suggests, for the bigger picture to be seen (one can see the whole world) or for close analytical reading to be made.There are three sections of this step.


1. Manipulation: Manipulate the painting in any way that you would like. Remember to save the painting under a different name before you start the manipulating, so that you don't lose the original final product. Do this every time you want to manipulate the painting (this applies to 2 and 3 as well). Try to create photodynamisim.

2. Inversion: Invert the colors of the painting.

3. Zoom in: Pick a section of the painting and zoom in on it to create a whole new composition.