Hello Lovelies! In this post, I’m showing you the ‘Making Of’ my creation ‘Wounded Vanity‘. I’m revealing the digital compositing in Photoshop – step by step – with screenshots of the major editing stages and a timelapse video. I speak about what inspired me to this artwork and what it’s meant to express. So if you’re interested how this digital shoe composition came to life, then this is the right post for you!
‘Wounded Vanity‘ is the first one of my shoe creations that I made back in 2012. The second one is ‘Extravaganza‘ that followed shortly after in 2013.
…and now, eight years later, I feel like another shoe creation. I have already an idea in my mind, so maybe a new ‘shoe’ is going to come soon…
As I said above, this is the first digital shoe that I’ve ever created in my life.
At first, I thought it’s too weird to make an artwork that includes my foot and a ‘shoe’. Before, I’ve just made artworks that include my face, sometimes along with other parts of my body. But a foot? Can a foot be ‘art’?
I was wary about creating a piece that’s starring a foot, but then I decided to let go of my doubts and simply follow my inspiration and do what I enjoy. That’s how ‘Wounded Vanity’ was born…
What actually inspired me to do this piece? You don’t see artwork that includes feet all the time, so this one needed some special inspiration.
The inspiration came from Michel Tcherevkoff and his ‘Shoe Fleurs’.
I stumbled upon his shoe creations on the internet and was immediately stunned by the idea of using natural elements to create a shoe. A shoe is something pretty random (even though there are lots of fashion shoes that I absolutely dig as well), and using flowers and parts of plants to design beautiful footwear is quite exceptional.
If you know my Surreal Stories and Nature & Macro collections, you know that I love working with natural elements. Even some pieces of my Lip Service collection feature elements of nature.
I fell in love with Michel’s ‘Shoe Fleurs’ right away and was longing to make my own shoe creation – but I wanted my shoe to be on a foot. And I already had something very particular in mind that I wanted to express with this creation…
The Making Of 'Wounded Vanity'
Reverse layering
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Work in Progress shots
This was the first step before the digital compositing in Photoshop started: taking a photo of my own foot.
I knew that my shoe had to be something sexy, fashionable… It could only be a high heel shoe with a thin stiletto heel. I already had the side view in my mind, so I knew how to place my foot.
I don’t like taking photos too much, I rather like the editing process. So this shoot was set up rather quickly. It was already late at night and I didn’t have enough lighting. Obviously, the photo didn’t come out too bright. But thanks to Photoshop, poor lighting is not too hard to fix!
If you happen to have the same problem or similar ones, you can check out my 7 Tricks That Always Work, when you are wanting to make photo manipulations.
Yay, this is how powerful Photoshop is. With a couple of Blending Modes (in particular Screen and Overlay), you can fix almost everything!
A few adjustment layers allowed me to completely change the tone of the image and brighten it up nicely. I also gave my toenails a quick digital polish, so they are ready to slip in the shoe…
Now the digital compositing in Photoshop is really starting. You can see that I’ve already created something like a purple sole and the front strap of the shoe that will be mainly made up of thorny brambles…
The brambles are free stock from TinusDream on DeviantArt. Thank you so much for this amazing stock! 💚
There’s also some blood there already, because thorns do prick and the piece is called ‘Wounded Vanity’…
I’ve built up more of the heel and the front using the brambles. There are also some gold and glittery purple elements… hey, after all it’s supposed to be a fashion shoe!
If you want to learn more about how I included the brambles in my digital compositing in Photoshop, then check out TRICK #2: How To Blend In 3D Elements.
Going on with a few embellishments. The stiletto heel is there in part and I also added some roses and a skull. If you know my Surreal Stories, you know that I like to work with vanitas symbols like skulls and skeletons, and also blood, which for me do not only symbolize death, but also life.
Here the digital compositing in Photoshop is finished. Some more brambles, a few pearls, glitter stones at the heel, and the wings of a butterfly – my vanity shoe is complete.
I’ve edited in the background and made the entire composition look a bit warmer in Photoshop.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with this creation. I really enjoyed making this rather unusual ‘foot+shoe’ artwork, and I believe it illustrates pretty well what I wanted to express…
What is the artistic thinking process behind 'Wounded Vanity'?
Vanity is the quality of being worthless or futile. We all know the vanity of human wishes.
‘Wounded Vanity‘ is the portrayal of the futility and superficiality of fashion and all other consumable things that society tends to desire but that are not really necessary.
It’s also an opposing view of the common saying ‘Beauty knows no pain‘.
The ‘shoe’ itself is equivocal. On the one hand, it’s made up of natural elements: brambles, roses, a skull, a butterfly. Nature is where we all come from and where we all go back to. Nature is calm, is healing. There’s nothing unnecessary. All things have their purpose in nature.
However, in the artwork, these natural elements form a high heel. A shoe that is worn for fashion – not for its purpose – for the wish to look beautiful, to look sexy, to be covetable… It’s worn out of vanity.
But beauty does know pain. This is symbolized by the thorns of the brambles. The thorns prick the skin around her ankles. That’s why the blood is there.
The skull underlines the futility of fashion items. Fashion is short-lived, ephemeral. Just like our lives…
The shoe is not meant as a general statement against fashion. I’m not against fashion. I love wearing fashionable clothes as well (including shoes and high heel shoes 😇). Fashion can be fun.
‘Wounded Vanity’ rather uses a fashion symbol (the high heel) to illustrate society’s exorbitant love for futile things of whatever kind. The natural elements – that paradoxically form this vanity item – are a symbol to always remember what’s really important in life. Fashion and vanity can be fun, but you should never forget what really matters…
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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. ♥
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