Hello my fellow digital art lovers! In this post, I’m showing you the creation process of my digital photo manipulation ‘oblivion.’. It’s the first one in a series of two and includes lots of symbols that I chose to express a certain concept. Read on if you’d like to find out more!
‘oblivion.’ is a photo manipulation that I created in 2017. As the title suggests, I worked with the concept of being oblivious of what’s going on around you and took my vision to the digital canvas.
I believe that oblivion, neglect, self-forgetfulness and insufficient awareness are things that happen a lot. They don’t happen necessarily out of ill-will. Much of the time, they just happen because people are not aware of it.
People don’t have the time and leisure to pay attention, they are busy doing something else. Nowadays, it’s easy to get distracted by our daily routine lives and all the things that society has to offer…
A very similar work that I created in the same year is ‘neglect.’. Both ‘oblivion.’ and ‘neglect.’ use similar symbols and elements to illustrate the concept of not being conscious of what’s happening around you.
the concept of lacking awareness and interest.
The Making Of 'oblivion.'
Reverse layering
- Click to play
Work in Progress shots
Here is how the digital photo manipulation started out: I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to have some bedroom background for this creation, with my lady sitting at a desk. So it was rather easy to choose a background image for this piece.
I didn’t want to have too much contrast and too many different colors in the background, that’s why this one was a pretty quick choice. I dimmed down the tones a bit and added some blur – and you can already see the roughly cut out part where my lady is going to be.
I also edited out the lamp on the right-hand side, because I wanted something else to be in that spot…
Sometimes things just go bit by bit. I usually have a very concrete idea in my mind of how my creation is supposed to look. I know exactly in what position I want my main character to sit, how I want the arms and the hands to be, and what expression I want to have in her face. That was also the case for ‘oblivion.’ and that’s why I built it up step by step.
The bust is a single part, and then the arms and the hands. One hand is still missing here, because I still had to take another shot with my hand in a very particular position…
However, I already painted her neck chains, and added some transparent curtains and a subtle cloudy night sky on the bedroom wall.
If you take a closer look, you can also see the skeleton of a scorpion on the floor and some broken eggshells here and there, which are going to play a major role in this creation.
Like in most of my Surreal Stories, a little bit of blood mustn’t be missing, because I don’t only see blood as a symbol of death but also as the elixir of life. That’s why I like to work with it.
My digital photo manipulation is on its way. Now you can see in what position I wanted the hand to be. The lady also got her face – again with a very specific position of the head and expression on the face. As always in my Surreal Creations, the face is my own – and already edited and stylized here in the WiP screenshot.
When you take a look at the background, you can see that the decoration on the right bedside table has appeared: the skeleton of a bird with a little red pearl in its beak…
I like to create women with huge pinned-up hair and ‘oblivion.’ is no exception (other examples are ‘Lisa‘, ‘Sally‘ and ‘Zuckerwatte‘).
I created the hair in a baroque-like fashion, with corkscrew curls hanging down her neck. A dead bird on top of her hair with a crown on its head and a tear running down its eye…
I painted in the face to work out the expression that I wanted her to have.
This editing step included mainly the work on the hair: lots of hair ornaments like roses, feathers, pearls, and twines to adorn her head.
‘oblivion.’ is completed. The first thing you might notice is the red bird on the table that is chained to her hand with a turquoise ribbon. The perfume on the table symbolizes her inclination for vanity, while the open pocket watch marks the incessant lapse of time – just like the hourglass that stands on her bed…
Let's talk about the symbolism this digital photo manipulation.
The Pearls symbolize luxury on the one hand and the self-forgetfulness and insufficient awareness of the things around you, on the other hand. The pearls are meant to be the food for the birds, but in her self-forgetfulness, the lady doesn’t even notice that the bird cannot live on them.
The birds are the ones who suffer the oblivion. One bird’s skeleton is already on her bedside table – still with a pearl in its beak, a symbol of oblivion. Another dead bird adorns her extravagant updo. The third bird is still alive but tied to her hand. It cannot get away and has to feed on the pearls that cannot keep it alive. Even though the bird is so close to her, she doesn’t notice…
The crowns on the birds’ heads are meant to show how precious the birds actually are. But she doesn’t notice…
The wings in her hair symbolize the last uprising of the bird that just died. It tried to get away, make her notice, but too late.
The hourglass and the pocket watch symbolize the evanescence of all things. Her time is finite as well, but she doesn’t notice…
The perfume bottle symbolizes her inclination to luxury, self-forgetfulness, vain things over which she obliviates the important things in life.
The broken eggshells symbolize the never-ending circle of life. While some of the birds are dying, new ones are born. Another reason that she cannot get out of her oblivion. She doesn’t notice…
∗∗∗
I hope that this post helped you gain some insights into my creative process and better understand what I meant to express through this work. However, I know that art is subjective and I am always interested in knowing how my viewers perceive my art.
What do you think about this piece? How does it make you feel? What does it mean to you? Please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments. If this piece inspired you to create a new piece of your own, I would love to see it! Post a link in the comments, tag me on Instagram (@ginangiela), or reach out to me directly. Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you don’t miss out on new ‘Making Ofs’ and other cool stuff. ♥
Details
Fine Art Prints
View the Print & HR Images
