Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
“Hello, World” from Yoon caught my eye and just had to be featured. I sent her a note to ask her about her process and received a self-deprecating and generous reply. Working in Photoshop is mostly about experimenting and seeing what happens:
“I work in a way you could call a mess,” as she told me. “I never really have a plan and just play with whatever comes to mind while working. I do like to use textures and mixing several layers so you could call that a basic approach for my work. I like the unexpected effect and try to avoid making it look the same all the time.”
She acknowledges she has a recognizable style, though flounders with how to describe it. Her work is influenced by her mood and the surprise of experimenting, rather than a specific strategy: “The only time I will do things more or less the same is when it is part of a project needing a certain consistency. I never like that kind of work too much, because I feel restricted by it.” In this picture above, you can see she used a map layer, increased contrast, and went to black and white for the face.
“Chaos”, below, is extraordinary and a wonderful use of color:
“I like colors a lot. Black and white often loses out to color when I have a choice. Somehow it fits me better I suppose, more expressive or at least a different kind of expression with colors.”
Once Yoon has her picture ready to shoot, she takes several iterations in many different WindLights. She doesn’t use Depth of Field or shadows very often, as it makes her viewer unstable. By experimenting and layering layers, she can bring out depth and intensity in the colors.
For Yoon, it is all about the process. “I am not very good at making quick shots and quick post-processing. I like to walk away and look again after a while to see if I still like it. Sometimes I edit for hours and throw it away after all. I don't mind. It is not the end result that matters. The playing with it all is as pleasant as achieving a result I like.”
“The Overwhelm by Meiló Minotaur” is a beautiful picture of an in-world art installation. (Inara Pey did a fabulous review here.) Here you can see how Yoon’s experimentation with light and color can make them so intense and dramatic. She often edits more than one version of her picture, producing two or three versions and then only uploading one.
What are we missing, I wonder? So much of her work could be called extemporaneous.
“I need freedom in post-processing to get things done in a way that makes me feel satisfied with it. I do not like it to look too composed and constructed. This seems like trying to force an effect and ruining it more than adding to it.”
Many of Yoon’s photos link to her blog, 99 Faces, which is highly personal and confessional. It’s interesting and thoughtful. Sometimes she shoots a picture to illustrate a pose she wrote. Then sometimes, she takes a picture and it inspires a blog post. She refuses to think of herself as an artist and thinks it would be pretentious to offer advice to others on how she works.
“It is a hobby for personal pleasure in fiddling with pics... My stream can be considered like a sketchbook, random and inconsistent, but always done with attention and focus on what I find perfect enough.”
In the end, though, she does have one piece of advice:
“Play and don't be afraid to try new things, without focusing on a fixed idea of what you want to achieve. Let your mind and mood be free in creative attempts that sometimes fail and sometimes result in wonderful surprises.”
See all of Cajsa's Choices here. Follow Cajsa on Flickr, on Twitter or on her blog.
Comments