Kristy Tompkins

As an avid scuba diver, the health of the oceans is something I have become very much aware of and concerned about. for my design proposal I wanted to create a design that conveyed a message about the declining health of the coral reefs and those lifeforms dependent upon it for survival. My final submission veered in quite a different direction in style and presentation than that of my original concept. I believe my final design conveys the message I intended much more clearly and effectively than what I first attempted. It went from a coral sea scape that died as it progressed across the frame to just a single species of reef dwelling fish in stages of death surrounded by the pollution.

I used a great amount of scale and layering to achieve a sense of depth and increase the visual appeal of the design. while the individual images are some what randon in their placement, I tried to keep some unity and flow for the eye. Each piece was carefully positioned to address negative space, direction, and perspective. As the images recede into the background, they not only become smaller, but darker and slightly blurred to mimic how the eye would focus on a true scene.

the colors are a loosely based tetradic scheme. I pulled every color I used directly from the natural colors of the parrot fish. Violet-red, blue, green, yellow, and the more straight pink hues are bright and attention grabbing on purpose to create emphasis on how pollution is overshadowing the fishes natural state of living. Whereas the fish is degrading and dying surrounded by the pollution in which it is forced to live.

The jets of pollution in the background of the frame are from a photograph of an actual sewage pipe dumping waste into the ocean, recolored to adhere to my design concept. the oil is a brand I selected on purpose as the company is a huge contributor to the pollution problems. The pills represent the pharmaceutical companies who have been dumping waste into the waters virtually unregulated for years. I admit, I used pictures of my vitamins, but zinc looks really deadly in red and green. The rest of the garbage is from my own shots as well to show general pollutants. The skeleton is actually that of a yellow fin tuna carefully sculpted to reflect the shape and contours of the parrot fish.

The hardest part of the assignment for me was letting go of my original design. I spent many hours coming up with and creating it, only to have it fall short of the mark. stepping back and evaluating it with a critical eye without letting my personal feelings of attachment cloud my judgement was quite difficult.