My sustained investigation question was, "What would mental disorders look like if people could see what others were suffering and dealing with?" For my second project, I wanted to illustrate and raise awareness for anxiety. For this project I wanted to portray a girl and her anxiety to show the harsh reality of what people have to cope with. So, I first started with a sketch. I wanted a girl as the main focus, and I wanted her to have different versions of her to make it look like a live anxiety attack. I wanted a picture of an eye with a tear because anxiety brings out other emotions especially sadness. I wanted a hand holding up a mask because most times when people have anxiety they cover it up to hide it from others which makes coping with it even harder. Lastly, I wanted to add squiggles to convey anxiety and stress because when those have panic attacks their brain becomes jumbles restless.

To start off the project I found a picture of a girl who is clearly in distress, who is clearly struggling to cope and understand her emotions, and who has been over come with anxiety. I also found a picture of an eyeball with a tear because when people suffer from anxiety attacks, crying and other forms of outward emotions often follow. Also, sadness is a side effect of those who endure anxiety so an eye crying seemed fitting. After I found these images, I first adjusted their sizing. I started off with the girl and I enlarged her so that the fit the entire canvas size, and then I adjusted the picture of the eye to a smaller size and moved it into the top left corner. And then I moved on to the adjustments of the eye image. I started with the curves and I changed it so that the contrast were more promenade and darker, and then I changed the color balance to a more blue tone. To finish off the eye adjustments I then changed the overlay to divide which brought in the element of more colors.

Then I wanted to bring in the mask idea because with anxiety many people cover it up which allows peoples problems with anxiety to escalate rapidly and consume a large portion of their lives. To portray this idea, I found an image of a girl with her hand up to her face because the hand would be the holding of the mask up. And then I changed the adjustments of the girl so I could get the mask to look how I wanted. To do this, I changed the saturation level to very high, and then I changed the contrast to a very high level as well. I did this so that the colors would pop more when I up an over lay and so that cutting out her hair and body would be easier. To finish it off, I then changed her overlay to color burn. Then, I placed a layer mask over it and masked over the areas I didn't want to show such as the hair and shirt so that it really looked like a mask.

I didn't feel like the girl who was having the anxiety attack stood out as much because eI felt like the mask and the eyeball was taking away from the main object. So, I made a copy of the layer with the girl, and I made some adjustments. I started with the curves and I made it to where the image was less dull and to where the light exposes and areas contrasted more to bring in depth. I then placed a layer mask on the image that was a copy of the girl and masked over the areas I didn't want to show which was everything but the face. Then I changed the brightness level down a little more because I didn't think that the two layers of the girl blended well together. 

To further illustrate the girls anxiety, I found an image of a girl with random squiggles that I would use in the background. I wanted these scribbles to represent stress and anxiety and to also represent therapy and how squiggles are a common form of therapy used to help cope. I wanted to add scribbles because when people suffer from severe anxiety some go to therapy to fight against the darkness and anxiety that comes with it. One of the most common ways to cope with the stress is through doodling so I added this behind her and to resemble her anxiety through her drawings from therapy. I then made multiple copies of this image and filled in the empty parts of the background with it. Then to make the squiggles blend into the background, I changed the overlay to divide.

Then to finished off my project i wanted to add more depth into the background and also to really emphasize the girl in the middle rather than the images on the outside. To do this, I searched up anxiety on the internet and found an image with paper tears and illustrated a rapid whole and the circle closing in and getting closer and closer together. First, I changed the sizing of the image and made it fit the entire canvas, and I also adjusted the brightness of it so that when I placed an overlay on top it it didn't loose the definiteness of the tears. After I made the adjustments, I changed the overlay to hard light. Then, I changed placed a layer mask overtop and masked over the area of the girl because I didn't want it to cover her up. 

I soon realized that I was not satisfied with the final product so I made some further adjustments. I started with the image of the mask because I did not like the way it looked, so I made a duplicate and changed the curves of it which brought out some blue and green tones. Then I realized that in order for it to look like a mask I needed to mask over the neck as well so I also made those adjustments. I also felt like I wanted to add more contrast with the girl and the rest of the image, so I changed the adjustments of the first girl layer to a harsh curve. TO finish off the project, I went in to the squiggle layers and unmasked parts of it in some areas such as where the neck of the mask image used to be.