For my eighth assignment I had to create a new species on GIMP by combining images. I also had to write a story that explains how the new species in the picture came to be.
You Are What You Eat
Recently, a group of scientists have discovered a new species, the body of cheetah and the head of a giraffe. Mating between the two species is impossible due to the different number of chromosomes in the two species sex cells, so how did this new creature come to be? After numerous tests and studies, scientists have discovered the new species is a result of the cheetah’s diet. It is very unusual for a cheetah to consume a giraffe. The new nutrients were a “shock” to the immune system of the cheetah and the body reacted in the same way it would to fight cancer cells. Instead of a tumor forming however, the head of a giraffe began to grow. Through reproduction of the infected cheetah with a regular cheetah, a cheetah with a giraffe’s head was born. This new species, being called scientifically the Giraffa jubatus, and informally the girafeetah, has now begun to grow, but are still hard to come by. Next time you are on a safari in Africa, keep an eye out for the rare girafeetah.
This project got to be a little frustrating at times, but after sitting here and chugging along I finally got a product I am happy with. While combing images, I found the giraffe neck to be too long for the image. To solve this issue, I scaled down both the cheetah image and the giraffe image to make them fit the canvas. I also chose to cut out the cheetah after placing the giraffe neck to make the image flow together better. To make the two animals blend together I used the blur tool on the seam of the giraffe and cheetah. I then added another layer with the image of a savanna landscape for the background. The process was long, but I am very happy with my results.