Spring Semester 2025
11 x 17
Acrylic Paint, Acrylic marker, Photoshop
For the compassion poster, we were required to gain compassion for a specific group of artists. I chose to create a poster for dancers to educate them on the numerous paths to becoming a professional dancer.
I first began my process by doing divergent thinking and brainstorming to decide on a topic. I decided to choose to gain compassion for dancers, and I created a mind map of all aspects of being a professional dancer. I narrowed down to focusing on the paths of pursuit for a dance career. I attended a Photoshop workshop where I learned to add text onto my poster later in the process. I drew thumbnail sketches to design my poster. I gathered magazines to cut out images related to my topic (Georgia State University logo, film camera, ballet dancers, freestyle graphic, pointing hand, and human silhouette). I first painted the 11 x 14 canvas red to create a vibrant background. I printed out a sheet of 100-dollar bills to cut out and create the hallway and door frames. After gluing the hallway, doors, and graphics to the canvas, I decided to cut out letters to spell out “heart” as a symbol to follow your “heart”, despite the numerous options for career choices and money available. I then scanned my collage, and added the text “Got Moves? Got options.” This phrase is a play on the 1993 “Got Milk” campaign. The phrase is to educate dancers that they have options, and there is not one specific path to take, and there is money in every field. However, as mentioned above, it is important to follow your heart and not the money. I linked the Clistudios website, which is an online learning platform for aspiring dancers in pursuit of a professional career.
For this project, I learned the basic elements of Photoshop. I’ve been procrastinating on learning for years, so I’m glad that this workshop and program were available to me. I also improved my collage skills as I cut and paste from the magazines. To carefully glue and align the thin paper was a tedious task, but became therapeutic as the collage came together. I will take these newfound Photoshop skills into my future classes and professional projects.
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