Photoshop and gene manipulation

Gene manipulation is a controversial matter. And Photoshop is as complicated as it is fascinating. So why not smash them togehter! The project introducing Photoshop in the DP-course is to shape manipulated creatures symbolizing threat or possibility connected to the manipulation of genes. The instruction gives some guidelines: the illustration will be part of a report in a popular science magazine. Marie-Therése Julin is a student at the course, and here are her images and own story:

I have decided to name this image ”The World’s Fastest Giraffe”. It has the legs and body of an ostrich and a neck and head of a giraffe. They fitted well together since they live on the same continent and both have long necks. I don’t know how fast a giraffe can run but I assume the ostrich is faster, therefore the name.

To create this image I used a layermask on the giraffe and deleted unnecessary parts such as the background and its body. I then transformed the head and neck to make it fit the ostrich’s body. I deleted the ostrich’s head with the cloning tool, and with the same tool I added some black feathers to make it seem like the giraffe’s neck belongs to the ostrich’s body.

“The Lion Goddess” is my personal favorite. It’s a mixture between a lion and a human being. I placed the human face on a layer underneath the lion. I then added a layermask on the lion and uncovered the woman’s eyes and hair. The human picture was in black and white so I had to color it to make her match the lion. I thought green eyes fitted the lion perfectly since it’s a cat. The eyes have a somewhat extreme look and that was my intention – they are meant to look goddess-like. I colored her hair brown to separate it from the lion’s yellow-ish mane.