Art Dump

So after taking a 2 hour nap I’m finaly awake and ready so ART DUMP! This is just basically what I’ve been doing recently in my spare time.

Frozen Flame

Well there’s Trang’s favourite out of all my manipulations so far and it was also my first finished product in my second semester folio. (now that I think about it I should be working with my year 12 one right about now…) The title somewhat explains the subject matter, for this picture I placed a candle inside a rocks of ice and surrounded the area with black paper to increase the level of contrast in the image.

This is actually only one of the 100+ photos that I took of this composition so I might go back and use some of the pictures that I did not use. Well once I selected the photo I manipulated it, the process was really long so I won’t repeat it cuz I don’t remember where I placed my folio is where I wrote all the steps but I remember there was a lot of clone stamping, dodging and burning.

Tsukasa Shinjiro Line Art (his name has been ordered the Japanese way, Surname before Given Name)

This is one of my original characters, don’t bother asking whether he is a dog or a wolf cuz I don’t know and it doesn’t really matter, he’s just a canine. Colours have been reversed for fun and it looks kinda nice. This is an example of Kemono, half human and half animal. This character is actually quite special to me cuz he’s my fursona. What that basically means is if kemonos really existed I would be Shinji, so basically he’s an alter ego I have. He’s also the first character that I drew after I stoped drawing all those years ago.

Although i've started to draw again, I stopped ages ago because I couldn’t handle the level and skill Liz had compared to me so in the end I stopped drawing. I was very spoiled and immature as a child I know, but honestly in the end, I’m really glad that my sister draws such amazing art because in the end her drawings will often evoke the greatest inspirations for my own drawings. She is the greatest support I have out there and I’m thankful that she’s always there for me when I ask for her opinions and help.

Tsukasa Shinjiro +WIP+

This is just what I’ve done so far in terms of colouring him in. Haven’t really had the time to finish things off so it’s just the base colours and some shine on the axe. The sky is made from scratch by the way. I applied a gradient for the sky on one layer and then on another layer I scribbled in roughly where I wanted the clouds, using a brush set at 70% opacity and white as my colour making sure the scribbled blotches got smaller as they got to the horizon. Then using the smudge tool set on 50%, I smudged in the clouds making them fluffier and more realistic. The smudges were always in one direction to replicate the effect wind had on the clouds.

If you were to ask what I prefer in terms of photo manipulations and drawing, though I like doing both, I actually prefer drawing. There’s just some slight greater appeal about creating an idea or a mental image and seeing it come to life by your own hands without relying on a camera or Mother Nature. In the end I like both but you will most likely see more manipulations than drawings because my skills with photos is far more polished because I’ve been doing it for longer and I want to do what I’m good at for my year 12 folio not what I necessarily what I prefer, although I am thinking of incorporating both in the folio.

Noble Conflagration

A photo manipulation that I did in the car on the way home from the Wilson’s promontory trip using photos I took of the campfire. I used three Photos that I took of fire and I edited using Photoshop CS2. The main tools I utilised were layer effects, clone stamp, burn, dodge and smudge. The first image is the main shot of fire while the other two were photos where I set a longer shutter speed and painted on lights using the fire. It was a technique that I found out I could pull off with this camera years ago but I never found the use for it, until now. I’m really unsure of what this picture really looks like to everyone cuz to me it just looks like a lot of purple so any comments on how it looks or tips on the colours used is very much appreciated.

You’ve probably noticed that I like making my photos dramatic. I do this cuz I just like to see the reaction that it gets out of people, I like for my work to be able to have an impact rather than just be a pretty picture. What I normally make sure with my manipulations is that a high level of contrast is established you might have noticed that in most of my manipulations there is usually always an amount of complete black (as in 0R, 0G, 0B) and complete white (255R, 225G, 225B). I’ve noticed while working, this tends to cause a breathtaking response when used correctly. Frozen Flame and Sunset Dawn both follow this concept I’ve found, as well as this most recent creation.

Well it’s late and I’m trying to fix my sleeping habits for the better so off to bed I go. Good night everyone and take care of yourselves.