Illustration Friday - Pretend

She is trying to pretend that he's not tugging on her heartstrings.


Oh my goodness, this was so much fun - what a great Illustration Friday topic this week!
This next image is a compilation of the images I used for this piece. I experimented with layer blending modes in Photoshop to get just the right feel for the piece and a sense of mystery with depth and shading.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog. Have a great week!

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-Wide

Illustration Friday - Wide
Digital Collage

She has traveled Far and Wide, does she measure-up?

This little lady has quite an imagination. She travels Far and Wide in stories she tells herself. Safely tucked away in her dear and favorite flowers, she knows that dreaming will bring her to far away places and allow her to travel wide. Oh, the things she has seen…
This was an extremely difficult topic for me.
I'm going to go see what everyone else came up with this week for Illustration Friday.

The second photo shows elements used for this collage...
I applied Layer Blending Modes, Artisitc Filters and varied Opacity levels to create the final image for this topic.

Several of you have emailed me about the Wacom I use. I couldn't work without my Wacom tablet now as I am totally addicted! It's amazing the time I save and the creative process is less inhibited with the use of it. I have the Intuos 3 Graphics Tablet. It's just the 4x6, but that's what I chose as I like to limit the size of things on my desk!!! Well, I try to make a conscious effort anyway...

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 - 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!