Our assignment in Design was to find a model and style them using appropriate backdrops and props to portray our main character during a certain moment in our story. We used the lighting equipment and learned new lighting techniques to create dramatic lighting and shadows. This lighting was further emphasized in Photoshop.

I learned that finding the right model, and using the right backdrop and props is very important in telling a story through a character portrait. I also realized that different lighting creates different moods and conveys different emotions.

My character’s name is Dr. Fynist Martin. My story is set in the future when Earth’s resources are becoming extremely limited. He is a scientist and he believes that he can solve the Earth’s resource problem. However, the rest of society and the scientific community does not trust him and believe that he is just a lunatic. He becomes extremely desperate and makes a decision that ends in his death.

Because he is a scientist, my model is dressed in a lab coat. His lab coat is disheveled and rumpled to show how he is seen as inferior to other scientists. I decided to pose my model this way to try to convey the desperation that my character is feeling in this moment. The dark, intense vignette on my photo is meant to symbolize the impending doom that he feels. I also chose to use a red backdrop to represent his death at the end of the story.