For this project I asked myself the question: what does a child's imagination look like? For this project I choose to do a child swinging on a swing imagining that he is swinging into the sky seeing a castle in the clouds.

First, I used a photo of a castle and cut it out and put it into the frame. Then, I changed the brightness and contrast to make the colors blend better. I also then changed the color balance to bring out more purples into the castle. I felt that these new colors of the castle better represented a child's imagination. Next, I added a starry sky background to blend with the castle because the photo of the castle was also during the night.

Next, I made a cloud brush and added clouds around the castle to make it look like the castle was in the clouds. I added them in front of and behind the castle to give it more depth. Then, I used a white brush on low opacity and put some more clouds in the back.

Then, I added a boy swinging on a swing and cut it out to fit in the piece. I tried to make it seem like the boy was swinging into the sky and this was what he saw as he was on the swing. Next, I added a moon and put it to where it looked like the boy was looking at it. I then created a layer mask on the moon and brushed over it to make it blend better into the sky.

This is my final product of my sustained investigation piece.