I am going to look further into drugs and the relationship between dealer and buyer, and the power the dealer has over the buyer. I am going to look into puppets and the way they are controlled and the vulnerability of the users.

What makes som more vulnerable than others?

 Like many other diseases, vulnerability to addiction is influenced by
multiple factors, with genetic, environmental, and developmental factors all contributing. Genetics accounts for approximately half of an individual’s vulnerability to addiction, including the effects of the environment on gene function and expression. Elements of our social environments—culture, neighborhoods, schools, families, peer groups— can also greatly influence individual choices and decisions about behaviors related to substance abuse, which can in turn affect vulnerability. Indeed, addiction is a quintessential gene-byenvironment- interaction disease: a person must be exposed to drugs (environment) to become addicted, yet exposure alone does not determine whether that will happen—predisposing genes interact with this and other environmental factors to create vulnerability. In fact, environmental variables such as stress or drug exposure can cause lasting changes to genes and their function, known as epigenetic changes, which can result in long-term changeto brain circuits. Genes may also mitigate the effects of environment—which is why, for example, two substance-abusing individuals growing up in the same high-risk environment may have very different outcomes.


Adding to the complexity, the contributions of environmental and genetic risk factors may also vary during the different life stages of childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Adolescence is the period when addiction typically takes hold. Additionally, because their brains are still undergoing rapid development in areas that contribute to decision-making, judgment, and risk-taking, adolescents tend toward immediate gratification over long-term goals. This can lead to risk-taking, including experimenting with drugs. When coupled with their increased sensitivity to social or peer influences and decreased sensitivity to negative consequences of behavior, it is easy to see why adolescents are particularly vulnerable to drug abuse.

Here i have used the acid cloud idea that i was inspired by by Tchmo. I like that the bright clouds give it more of an acid trip look, and when linked in with my theme looks like being on a high, and hallucination etc.. I tried my best to try and blend the clown into the sky and clouds, but struggled when changing colours and editing the vibrance and curves. i like that the balloons still stand out behind the coloured clouds, but that they arent too bright and eye catching at the same time. 

Here i have tried to improve the first image i did by making the clown blend in more and adding in more clouds and using different effects.

Here I have used a few of my previous ideas to come up with some things closer to what i could do as a final piece. I wanted to use the clouds and clowns as i've done a lot of work on them. I thought this idea worked really well as being on a high, this links in with my drugs theme. ive used the idea of cindy shermans m

Because i have been doing photography and looking into Periott clowns, which are also known as 'sad clowns' i thought id look into the darker side of Clowns. I came across a photographer called Cindy Sherman, who photographs manic clowns. She is most famous for her self portraiture and is one of the most successfull photographers working in the art world. Clowns  such as the ones below often represent childhood nightmares. The manic laughing, staring eyes and creepy smirk. People often assocate clowns with horror. There is something sinister about there appearance. I feel the comparisons between these clowns and drugs is quite similar. What appears to be a fun and harmless 'game' on the surface, often turns out to be a nightmare of paranoia and hysteria. That is why i would like to use a 'manic' clown to represent the sinister side of gaining a 'high'.