My sustained investigation question was, "What would mental illnesses look like if people could see what others were suffering and dealing with?" For my first project, I wanted to illustrate and raise awareness for Post Dramatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. For this project I wanted to portray a girl and the incident that caused the PTSD and what the suffer is feeling on the inside. So, I created a sketch on how I wanted to outline my project. I came up with a girl in obvious stress on a sofa with the "spirits" of the killer, victim, and her in the same room from the incident. I also wanted to add little details such as scribbles to convey anxiety and stress because doodling is a way people cope with their fears in therapy.

To start off my project, I wanted to find a picture of a beaten up room with clear signs of distress to represent the room that caused the PTSD. When I found a picture of one I thought would fit best I started by making some changes. I wanted the project to show the occurrence in the night time so I then searched for an image of the night time with a moon. I wanted to put it overtop the window that shows a white back round with light coming in from the sun. Then after that I changed the overlay of the moon back round to multiply and placed a layer mask over it and masked over the areas I didn't want to show. After that, I made another layer and chose the brush tool. I lowered the opacity of it and lowered the hardness and then began brushing over the sides of the window where the sun had lit it up so that it was dimmer and more like the moon was lighting it up. 

Then, I started to make adjustments to the back round to make it more cohesive with more contrast and less dull than it is. I started by raising the saturation level and then I raised the contrast levels a little bit and this really made it less toned down. Then I wanted to place the girl who has PTSD over top of the couch. To portray someone who is in obvious stress I searched up a woman having a panic attack which is a common side effect people suffer from when having PTSD. After I found one I liked I made her a smart object and then adjusted her sizing. Then I placed a layer mask overtop of her and began masking the areas around her so that she would only show. After, I moved her overtop of the couch so it looked like she was sitting on it. 

Then I wanted to start adding in the "spirits" of the people that were there during the tragic memory to portray the incident that scars her and keeps replaying in her head. I wanted to place the victim first so I searched the internet for a man lying on the ground, and I chose one that I thought fit best with this the perspective and angle that the rest of the project is in. Then I placed him, made him a smart object, adjusted his sizing, and then I put a layer mask and began masking the areas around him. After this I wanted to put an overlay overtop so that it looked more like he was from a memory rather than a real person. I decided on making the overlay divide because I though it fit best. 

After, I wanted to place the killer in, so I searched for an image of a man standing with a hoodie on holding a weapon. Then I repeated the process. I placed him, made him a smart object, adjusted his sizing, and then I put a layer mask and began masking the areas around him. I made his overlay divide too because I wanted the spirits to be cohesive and look the same. I made finishing touches by adjusting their sizes and moved them where I thought they fit best. 

Then after that I wanted to add the woman as a spirit into the project. So I searched for a woman who was helping someone and crouching next to them. Then I repeated the process for a third time. I placed her, made her a smart object, adjusted her sizing, and then I put a layer mask on her and began masking the areas around her until I was satisfied. I then moved her down and so it looked like she was behind him with her hand overtop of him trying to help him. I also then added in shadows behind the woman so that It looked like she was actually in the room sitting on the couch.

Then I wanted to add the police coming to the crime scene part of the story into the project because when incidents occur 911 is called and they help with the situation. So I did this by making another layer, selecting the brush tool, making the opacity 40%, and by making the hardness of the brush all the way to 0. Then I color selected red and began placing it on the layer in random places. Then I color selected blue and began filling in places of the layer that were not already red. I wanted to mimicking of the police lights to look more realistic, so I put an overlay on top and the overlay I chose was overlay.

After, I wanted to add a bullet hole on the victim so that the memory of the PTSD was explained more through the illustration. So, I searched for an image of one. placed a layer mask, and cut it out. Then, to make it fit better I made the overlay multiply so it looked like it was actually on the victim. Then I wanted to add scribbles because when people suffer from PTSD most go to therapy to cope with the darkness and anxiety that comes with it. One of the most coupon ways to cope with the stress is through doodling so I added this behind her and on top of her to resemble her anxiety through her drawings from therapy. Then I made the overlay of it divide because I thought it fit best and blended the best.

I wanted to carry on this theme of expressing the woman's anxiety in the project through doodling, so I decided to put in a crumpled piece of paper effect to the edges of the project. I searched the internet for a crumpled piece of paper because it also gave the project the feeling of distress. Once I found one I liked I adjusted the size of it to fit the whole back round, then made a layer mask, and then I used the soft brush tool on the middle of the image so only the edges were left. Finally to finish it off I changed the overlay from normal to vivid light because it also made a drastic change in the contrast of the light balance because it made the edges darker.

I still wasn't satisfied with the final project, and I wanted to bring the therapy ideal even further because therapy is such a common coping method for the suffers of PTSD. I placed the same paper image that I had used before but this time I only adjusted the size of it to fit the whole back round. To finish off the project, I changed the overlay to multiply because it wasn't too prevalent but it was clear that is wrinkles of paper. This was the final result of the project illustrating the effects of PTSD and sustained investigation question of what it would look like if people could see what the suffer is dealing with.