Illustration Friday-Worry

No WORRY for this fine lady... She Keeps Her Eye on the Ball

The topic for Illustration Friday was perfect this week as I finished this Digital Collage on Thursday. Oh, by the way, we ate this fish that my husband caught, it was so delicious. Another "by the way"...my husband just shook his head when he saw this illustration, I'm sure he does not get it, but it makes perfect sense to me!

The ball is a selection of the fish eye - I was amazed at the great variation in it when it was enlarged and I applied a blending mode, plus bevel and emboss. The border is a photo of rust on a solid background with a blending mode applied, I love the texture.


I created 3 variations of this, if you would be so kind as to leave me a comment with your favorite of the three I would really appreciate it. You can also see the images used to create this piece below.

• Here are the images used to create this piece:
  
  Cinnamon colored solid layer
  Tan colored solid layer
  Scan from old store ledger
  Photo of rusty metal, cropped for frame
  Sky with clouds image
  Calligraphy Image
  Image of Domenico Ghirlandaio 1488 painting
  Fish my husband caught (yum), with selected fish eye

Thanks for stopping by!

Illustration Friday-Electricity

…

e.lec.tric.i.ty
Electricity is the new topic for Illustration Friday this week. Since my husband, who has worked his life away for the power company, knows so much about the subject, I thought I would ask for his input. Well, it’s funny how we all have different perspectives on things - he instantly thought of a power house, converters, transmission lines, transformers, those water drop thingies for hydro power, dams, substations, K what-cha-ma-call-it lines…and it goes on. I said, “Honey, can you make it simpler?” He said, “a kite, a key and Ben Franklin”.

Bingo…

Personally, I was thinking of a riveting on-stage performance by a beautiful actress or dancer. Something along these lines from http://www.freedictionary.com/electricity
3. electricity – keen and shared excitement; “the stage crackled with electricity whenever she was on it”
Oh well, he always seems to win out lately, if he didn’t look so much like Sean Connery, maybe I wouldn’t give in to him so easily. Just kidding…I liked the idea too.

The images I used for this composition are:

• Brown background
• Blue background
• Powerline photo that looks like a line drawing
• Inverse cloud background
• Ben Franklin scan from currency - recolored with a mask
• Kite illustration
• Key - scanned image
• Lightening made from Obsidian Dawn brushes
• Frame image

Illustration Friday -Heavy

Heavy or Not -- Anything is Possible

What a great Illustration Friday theme...many concepts came to mind; like Heavy Metal, He Ain't Heavy - He's My Brother (love that one especially), and Heavy Heart. But my very creative daughter came up with a feather lifting an anvil, so I played off the idea with creatures of the same distinction. I love Elephants and found this great one and his feathered friend on istock.

The Design Elements:

I used 3 backgrounds; the textured brown, the diagram and a blue fill layer (it's very light in this example, see it at the top & to the right.) Then I experimented with layer blend modes and transparency. The white lilacs (photo) was placed between the layers to try different possibilities, but I finally decided to plop them in behind the light blue fill layer. Florals always play an important part in my art and life...

Of course the main elements for the collage are the elephant, the dove, and the ribbon which I drew out on my wacom. You can see where I used a layer mask to weave the ribbon in and around my little elephant.

The final layer was created to frame the piece in a very subtle way -- adjusting transparency and using the selection tool, I made a filmy frame to give the piece some depth...oh, and I used a drop shadow on the main elements too.

Now to go create some more in between REAL LIFE...

Illustration Friday - Spring Garden Fairy

Putting it all together...

Creating the Garden theme image was especially fun for me as I love anything having to do with the Garden, except weeding of course...

Here are the images I used in this piece. Using blending modes, layer styles, a render light effect, and plenty of layers, I tried to create a collage with depth and an ethereal feel.

It's very satisfying to see the effect and yet, I know I could take these same elements, change a couple of things and create something almost entirely different. That's what I like about a program like Photoshop -- the endless possibilities!

Playing around...

Just a little mind game to impress myself...

It looks pretty genuine, don't you think?

Here's the image I inserted on museumr to get this picture.

Hey, I'm having WAY too much fun!

This piece was one of my first large prints.

I loved colorizing the old cabinet card and putting it all together.

It won a Merit Award at the Student Art & Design Show

Coyote Gallery @ Butte College

Putting it all together -- the elements

The Blessed One

Created in Photoshop using layers, blend modes, render filter for light effects and custom brushes for the edge effect.

Gathering the elements...
this is quite simple with very few elements, but the filters and blending effects dramatize the results.