Digital Lab
Digital Exquisite Corpse This project takes the exquisite corpse that we did in the studio class into a digital realm using Photoshop and Illustrator. It requires a certain honesty in that the participants vow to not look under the covers at the other participants work so that the spirit of the exercise is maintained. You will be working in groups of three ( established in class ) to complete this project. Please remember that you should include your initials in your third of the composition so that I can identify who did what work. All files turned into me on the due date should be in .jpg format.
Getting Started Start by agreeing with your group which third of the composition you will work on; Head, Torso, or Feet. Once you have figured this out, decide which person will begin the project. The starting person will open a new photoshop document which is 9” x 12” in portrait format. Resolution should be set to 72 dpi as we will not be printing these. Click on View/Show Rulers. Cursor over the top ruler and drag out a guideline. Place this at 4” and another at 8” Your page is now divided into thirds and ready to go.
Gathering Images Begin by gathering images from the web of what you might interpret as your portion. Gather many of these as your third of the image will be a composite of several things. Open each of these in photoshop and extract elements from them using the tools we went over in class. Drag these into your 9x12 image and combine them how you like. Use layer masks to fuse the elements believably. Be sure to leave a little of the image sticking into the next third so the next person can connect their portion.
Layer Mask
Todd Lambrix
Parsons The New School for Design 2009
Finishing up Once your third feels complete, select all layers that you are working on besides the bottom and merge them. Do this by control clicking on the selected layers and choose merge layers from the drop down. Create a new layer on top of this. On this layer, draw a white box with the rectangle tool so that it covers your third of the composition. You should see only the connecting part that is sticking out. Now lock the layer.
1. Selected layers ( both blue )
New Layer with cover
2. Merge Layers 3. Merged layers are here
Todd Lambrix
Parsons The New School for Design 2009
Saving Files Make sure to save these as Photoshop Documents or .psd files. If you save them as .jpgs or pdfs they will not be editable when they get to your partner. This will set you back in terms of time. The group is responsible for coordinating the project and all participants. In other words, if a member is not carrying their weight, you are responsible for getting them moving. I suggest if you have a member that historically leaves things to the last minute or is habitually late with assignments, to put them first and hassle them about it.
Todd Lambrix
Parsons The New School for Design 2009