Accountability (For the Big Screen)

Accountability (For the Big Screen)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is digital art, an illustration that I created from (digital) mixed media. I made the original version back in 2005. I started with everybody's standard photo of the Hollywood sign. Then I used Painter to do some cut-and-paste and hand-lettering to change "Hollywood" into "Accountability". (The point was that "accountability" had become an icon.) Since 2005, this image has served as a profile picture and as a logo on a web site. This morning I had to get it ready "for the big screen": not as in Hollywood silver screen, just a power-point presentation at a conference. This wasn't an easy task because the image was at such a low resolution that it would look too blurry in a slide presentation. So I opened the older version in Painter and after some trial and error, came up with a quick solution (quick so as to be done before the flight to the conference). I used the selection tool to sharpen the image of the sign and the hillside, and then I posterized that same area. Then I softened the focus of the sky, to get rid of pixilation markings. Despite my standard complaining about "the role of the artist in American society," I've grown fond of this image. And as they say in Hollywood, it's good to be famous.