Distill

Zoo

exotic

foreign

wonder

education

patchwork

noise

colours

patterns

textures

sensory

jaguars

tigers

giraffes

elephants

pandas

monkeys

peacocks

zebras

ostriches

birds, birds, birds

snakes

spots

stripes

speckles

freckles

fur

scales

skin

hair

feathers

masks

footprints

claws

paws

eyes

petting zoos

trees

habitats

ecological

biomes

water

ice

sand

A study in retro

Lesson 8 project!  Learning to use PS tools, as usual. 

A light

Quiet present of light and shadows, by Janek-Sedlar

Possibly more relevant to the current class work with photographs and photomanipulation, I'd like to feature Janek-Sedlar, whose amazing photography is coupled with a professional skill with manipulation which produces pieces that are not only beautiful, but unearthly and ethereal.  Everything this artist puts out is perfectly polished--a prime example of both a photographer's eye and an admirable ability to highlight and enhance the best features of a photo.  Browsing Janek-Sedlar's gallery is like walking into a fairytale, a journey you won't regret.

A piece of heaven

The Kiss, by Kaytseki

Stylewise, Kaytseki is probably my favourite artist in the entire world.  Her work is a peculiar blend between traditional painting and the manga look from Japanese comics, coupled with an excellent taste in colour and a lovely, opaque painting style that draws the eye to shapes and yet coheres into a whole. I can't quite describe it, so you'll just have to look!  I can't praise her enough.  Everything she does is sensitive and gorgeous, a perfect blend between the strength and fragility.  She takes the best advantage of the possibilities of the digital art medium, creating a fusion between the richness of traditional painting and the cleanness of digital work to make something uniquely ethereal.

I'm sorry, my words are everywhere.  I just adore this artist in every way imaginable.  Go check her out!

Room for Improvement

Well, guess I wasn't finished after all.  Maybe this is it. 

To Lose is to Die

Doing our part

Underground, by Yuumei

Another inspiration image!!  Not that she needs it, but I just want to feature one of my three biggest artistic idols, Yuumei, as she seems quite fitting for the current PSA project my class is working on.  Not only is she an incredibly gifted artist, but Yuumei has been working extremely hard for years on activism through her art.  Her first big success, 1000 Words, was a flash story dealing with divorce and its consequences that has been so widely read and loved that it recently made it into print.  The second, Knite, is a heavily environmentalist story that is still running, featuring a boy who tries to put stars back into the polluted skies of China.  Nearly everything she draws is inspired by some issue, some problem, and an admirable drive to contribute to the solution.

The image featured here is from her upcoming third major story, Fisheye Placebo, which deals with censorship, hackers, and freedom of information.  I can't even describe how excited I am for the first release!!!!! 

Anyways... as far as activism, public service, and current issues are concerned, I can't think of a more inspiring individual than Yuumei.  Check her out, read her stories, and let her persuade you to do your part!  :)

Taking a stand

First draft of my PSA on racehorse abuse.  I'm debating whether or not to put up some statistics--the plus side is, I get more info onto the page.  The potential minus: lowering the impact, weighing the viewer down with too much text.  I think the image should speak for itself, but how much?

Also... the composite aspect of the picture is subtle--hopefully not too subtle!  I didn't want to be too gross or morbid about this, so I confined a very tame image, highly darkened, inside the horse's eye.  I'm torn between showing people just how awful the situation is and making something that can be shown and spread.

Stock image by Vance-Equine-Stock.

Killing your heroes

PSA mood board: Racehorse abuse.

Possible slogan: Barbaro was the lucky one.  (For those who don't know, Barbaro broke his leg winning the Triple Crown, after which he had the entire country rooting for his recovery and good medical care.  Most racehorses aren't so fortunate.)

Featured left: Eight Belles--broke both front legs at the Kentucky Derby, euthanized.
Second from the left: Barbaro.  Top, recovery.  Middle, racing.  Bottom, just after breaking his leg.
Top, third from the left: Exceller.  Met his end in a slaughterhouse in Sweden.
Top, right: Alyvar.  Leg tied to a truck and deliberately  broken in order to put him down to save expenses.

Admiration

Leo, by viria13

Another inspiration piece.  What caught my eye on this one was the bold use of bright colors to highlight this image, both with the sharp yellow colour holds and the rough strokes of orange, brown, and green on the shirt.  Only the face is sharply defined, yet the whole piece still hods together.  I find this keen grasp of light, shadow, and form extremely admirable. 

Peekaboo

Learning to put together composite images!!  It's great fun!

Forgot to post this a while back--just figured I'd  put it up here, for fun. :)

Go!

Racing turtles!  Enlarged the flat, adjusted the wheels on the smallest turtle, and fixed some lighting.

Cropped, sizes adjusted a bit, placement adjusted a bit, 88 rewarped.  A couple of minor wheel corrections... and that's about it!

Increased the saturation and contrast a bit for a more cartoony, surreal look.  Pretty happy with the colouring/lighting now! :)

On your mark, get set...

Progress report!  Added a tire wall for context, GRAND PRIX text on the track (finding a good cloth banner image proved impossible), a flag, and silly painted designs!  Also shadows, a bit of tint, adjusted levels, etc.  I've gone and messed with the finish (contrast, gaussian blur) just to get a feel for where this is going to end up, but I still do need to adjust the distortion on the numbers, because they still look really flat.

Later the same day... PROGRESS has been made!!  Look at the pretty distorted numbers! :)

 

Composite: Progress

Quick progress report.  I've been a bit busy, but my turtles do have wheels, and I've been experimenting with stripes and trying to figure out a good design. :)  Once the turtles are set, I'll be working in a banner and some shadows.

Resource Pool

Mood board, take two!  With actual tentative images (something like 10% of the total image pool I dug up.  I'm picky that way...).  Turtles, wheels, headlights... now all I need is some racing stripes and maybe spoilers!

Head in the clouds

"Protect me from what I want" by AquaSixio

Just another inspiration pic I wanted to share.  I've been in love with AquaSixio's work for a while now, most notably because of his use of colour.  Nearly every piece he paints displays the same natural grasp of colour contrasts and complements, so well chosen that everything becomes a seamless whole, yet vibrant and colourful.  Absolutely fascinating and worth a look.

Playful

Mood board!!  Turtles, cars, and lots of whimsicality and surrealism.  The images in the upper left are a sampling of stock I dug up for my composite, and the rest is inspiration.  I've seen a lot of beautiful composites that are realistic, atmospheric, and somewhat monochrome, and while I love those sorts of pieces, I think the turtle cars lend themselves a bit more to a surreal, playful style. 

Key words: whimsical, surreal, sunny, speedy, playful, humorous, odd.