y tho

Intention

Our project started as a play on the "y tho" meme, which originates from the painting "Pope Leo X" by Fernando Botero. The painting is captivating and funny because of the blank, awkward expression of the Pope, and has been used to express all type of annoying or problematic situations. I thought this meme would be fun to modify, as it can be applied to personal daily situations. As a result, we tried to modify the meme according to possible troubling thoughts we may have experienced in our lives.

Layer #1

Served by Mimi Niou

I started with the most basic "y tho" image, and added my own caption that represents a thought process I commonly have. I created it using the original painting by Botero, and used a simple meme generator to add my captions. I kept this simple, so it could be modified further in future volleys.

Layer #2

Served by Laura Miller

I served a volley involving Potato Jesus.  I had never seen the "y tho" meme before this, and all I could think of was how hilariously vacant the face was in the portrait, despite its skillful composition.  It immediately reminded me of Potato Jesus, along with the "layering" concept of this project, and how Potato Jesus was layered on top of a beautiful, priceless piece of art and then spread around the internet on top of all manner of famous pieces of art.  Coupled with the classic black meme border and the simple text, I thought it would go perfectly with a jab at the artist.  I decided to keep it black-and-white to go with the coloration of the theme before to make it look like I was trying to pass it off as belonging with the previous painting.

Layer #3

Served by Jared Moore

With my work, I continued with the meme-ception thing we had going. We started with a painting, and then added another painting, so I added a painter. The Bob Ross painting something is a somewhat popular meme (it seems a lot of memes evolve around famous people). He was known as a happy/positive guy so him creating a meme for others enjoyment makes sense. The meme is also self-aware that it is a meme/that memes are involved, playing on his famous quote which is probably paraphrased and incorrect - "let's just add a happy little tree here." I used a Bob Ross blank canvas template to create this in Photoshop.

Layer #4

Served by Mimi Niou

For my fourth volley, I decided to continue with Jared's idea of using a real photo and Laura's modified "y tho" face, but also adding a personal touch. I found a picture that represented an employer talking to another person, and layered the "y tho" face on top, along with a caption to describe the scenario, that is personally relevant to me. 

Layer #5

Served by Laura Miller

I again used the idea of the image being a real photo for this volley.  The previous picture being used as an overlay over someone's head and shoulders reminded me of an astronaut because of the way the face is embedded in the round, white, puffy background.  Thus, I decided the "Ancient Aliens" meme would be suitable.  The picture has gotten grainier from being cut and recut a few times giving it the essence of a UFO picture from conspiracy theorists.

Layer #6

Served by Jared Moore

I had received the aliens meme with our modified y tho picture in it. I was pretty stumped when it came to following this up, so I took a two-panel approach. The second panel is supposed to be the reaction to the first one. I was essentially trying to make this meme tennis go full circle. The second panel is questioning the first panel, which makes sense because the aliens guy always tries to explain what he cannot explain by saying that aliens exist and caused it. But that isn't really sufficient for our "y tho" guy.

Approach/Process

Our approach was to allow one person to choose the initial image and just rework as we each saw fit.  We didn't communicate or get to see the image for the handoff until the person currently working was done, so it was always a surprise what we ended up with.  Often, we didn't use many images from the previous iteration, but instead kept with themes or ideas.  In this way, we each added our own voice to the project while keeping the original source material flowing naturally through our pictures.  Our biggest challenge was keeping a flowing narrative, because each of us had a very strong voice, and our individual styles lead us to rework much of the image we were handed. However, we did stay true to the original image and ended up with a funny ending.

Reflection

One thing we learned is that it actually takes more time than we imagined to come up with an idea and incorporate it into a photo. It probably took us the most time just to choose where to begin our project. Another challenge we encountered is using technology to modify an already modified image. It can be hard to continue themes while also adding more images and keeping the meme easily consumable.

Sources

Banner Image source: http://imgur.com/gallery/yNlQWRM

Layer #1

Original image: girlsthinkimfunny / Instagram

Used mematic generator.

Layer #2

Idea source: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/potato-jesus

Image source: https://pacojariego.me/2016/07/10/pray-to-potato/

Used Photoshop to edit

Layer #3

Bob Ross template: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/photoshop-bob-ross

Meme font guide: https://diaryofdennis.com/2013/05/10/the-most-commonly-used-meme-font-and-a-tutorial-how-to-create-a-meme-with-photoshop/

Used Photoshop to edit

Layer #4

Career fair photo from: http://www.hercampus.com/school/usf/your-guide-job-fair-prep

Screenshotted a portion of layer #3 to layer on top. Used the meme generator again to add text.

Layer#5

Idea source: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ancient-aliens

Image source: http://www.history.co.uk/shows/ancient-aliens/articles/10-facts-about-the-ancient-aliens-guy

Used Photoshop to edit

Layer#6

HD y tho: http://i.imgur.com/yNlQWRM.jpg