Kara Dally's Digital Imaging

 I have been kind of struggling with the what kind of images I can use, but so far I'm kind of liking how this is looking. I kind of what to make some of these pictures look less like photos, so maybe I can take them into adobe illustrator and image trace them. I'm focusing on Darth Vader's backstory so far, the other pictures I have used are from when he was still technically Anakin Skywalker, and the events that led up to him becoming Vader.  If you've never seen Star Wars (⚠️spoilers ahead⚠️) essentially what physically makes him Darth Vader is he gets burned in lava after his legs are cut off by his former master, who is seen at the bottom right of the image. He is saved by someone from the dark side who puts his burned body into a suit that allows him to continue living (aka the Vader suit), and thus, Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith is born. 

  Here is my icon :) Darth Vader is an icon to me, because I feel like anyone could recognize his famous breathing and his helmet shape. I chose this particular photo because it is from the legendary "No, I am your father" scene that I feel like almost everyone knows or has at least heard a reference to before. I've known almost my whole life who Darth Vader was, and that he was Luke's father, before I had even watched a single Star Wars movie. 

This project was much more difficult than I anticipated. I realized that I honestly hardly know anything about illustrator. As I type this with cramped hands, I can tell you that I think I finally learned a little bit. Not nearly as much as I need to but that's why this is only the first project, not the final. I struggled with the perspective on just about everything, which was probably one of my biggest challenges, but in the end I just left them so that I could finish. Looking at my masterpiece now, there are many things I don't like about it, but I have to say, I'm kind of pleased with how it turned out. 

I think I might go back to my original plan because I found a vertical tanning booth that looks exactly like the inside of a toaster (I can't make this up) and so I'm thinking I'm going to go back to my original plan of making doors on the outside of the toaster, instead of on the inside. 

So I think I decided on turning my toaster into a "tanning bed hotel" but for food. I was going to have a pool on the top of my toaster so that I could have the lever as a diving board, and then use the side of my toaster to show where the tanning rooms are.  However, I found some reference photos of the inside of a toaster, and in my opinion it looks exactly how I would imagine a tanning bed hotel. So I'm thinking from these photos, that I  might change the perspective to a top view and put the tanning rooms inside of the toaster and use the lever as an elevator through the different levels of the rooms. I'm liking where this is going so far tho. 

  This is my current progress so far. I have mainly been wanting to just get the shape of the toaster first before I started doing anything fancy. I have started on some of the reflections and shiny parts of the buttons and the metal, which has been tricky because I'm still learning how to use the gradient tool, but I'm getting the hang of it. I have been thinking about what I want to combine my toaster with and I've been leaning towards a building, using the leaver as an elevator, or a diving board, something that springs into the air etc. As for what kind of building, I've been trying to thinking of places that relate to heat/ heating things, so maybe a tanning bed company? Not sure yet, still fleshing things out. But I like where I'm headed.  I have mainly been trying to work on the reflections of the buttons and metal on my toaster. There is still a lot to do and more to figure out but I'm looking forward to seeing what I come up with.