Pop Art

Series of Artistic Interpretations of a Modern Day Icon

Goal: Turn the commonplace into icons.

Context:

icon - n. -

• One who is the object of great attention and devotion; an idol
• An image, a representation
• An important and enduring symbol
• A representation or a picture of a sacred or sanctified personage

Pop Art - n. - A form of art that depicts celebrities or objects or scenes from everyday life and employs techniques of commercial art and popular illustration.

• Started in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• Reaction to Abstract Expressionism (by artists such as Jackson Pollock), the non-representational art of the previous decade.
• Marked by a fascination with popular culture.
• Showed admiration for the energy and simplicity of commercial images.
• Commented on the media's growing influence on American life.
• In celebrating everyday objects, the movement turned the commonplace into icons.
• Mocked the established art world by appropriating images from the street, supermarket, & mass media, and presented it as art in itself.
• Transformed objects from popular culture.
• Helped us to see the world around us with fresh eyes - revitalized cliched images.
• Employed techniques of commercial art and popular illustration.
• The leading artists in Pop Art were Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Roy Hamilton, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Claes Oldenburg.

(notes from "Scholastic Art: Roy Lichtenstein: Working with Pop Art", March 1999 and from http://artmovements.co.uk/popart.htm)

Project:
Create a series of four artworks based on a single well-known image of a celebrity or ubiquitous ("existing or being everywhere") product, using the path tools in Photoshop.

• The celebrity may be from popular entertainment, news, sports, or other.
• The artworks will be "built" using paths, layers, saved selections, and any other Photoshop tools and
• techniques in your repertoire.
• Each artwork will be accurate in likeness to the original image in regards to lines and shapes, but your selection
• and creation of new color relationships are where you will prove yourself as an artist.
• Your conscious selection of color should be both aesthetic ("beautiful") and expressive.
• Your take on the original image should make the person or product appear 'larger than life'.
• View examples of student work on the Galleries page of this Web site.

Objectives:

• Gain an understanding of the methods and content of Pop Art,
• Develop skills in accuracy and precision with some of the following tools and techniques of Photoshop:
  • Paths
  • Pen tool
  • Saving/loading selections
• Strengthen your aesthetic concerning the effects of color relationships (Color Theory).
• Develop a more exploratory attitude in your art-making. EXPERIMENT!

PROCESS:

Prep:

1. Experiment with the pen tool, paths, and saving/loading selections.
2. Discuss Pop Art.
3. Read Scholastic Art and Art & Man magazines on Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
4. View paintings by Warhol and Lichtenstein online.
5. Locate 21st Century iconic image - You may digitally photograph it, scan it, or download it.

Begin:
1. Create a new document in Photoshop:

• Resolution: 300 ppi
• Dimensions: at least 7.5 x 10"
• Color mode: RGB

2. Accurately trace image using pen tool and paths.
​3. Stroke and fill the paths
          NOTE: Be sure to use several layers, for easy adjustments later.
4. Review basic color theory: neutral, monochromatic, analogous, complementary/ contrasting, triadic
5. Apply understanding of color theory to a series of images using the previously drawn paths.
6. Experiment with expressiveness through color relationships in the image.
7. Save each image (of series) as: "pop(1, 2, 3, or 4) yourlastname" in PSD, TIF, and JPG formats

View student exemplars here: