Diane's Big HeArt and Sue's Joy of Play

Sue & John Soup (Images used by permission) - © R. Koleilat, 2008

Digital Artitsts/Prestigidators Diane Clancy and Sue O'Kieffe are both prolific and generous. But you knew that already. This week, they each wrote two great posts I would like to highlight here.

First, Sue O'Kieffe is extending an invitation to play with her - very exciting. I can't wait to see what comes out of it. Her collaborations with other artists (not all of them digital artwork) have been jaw-droppingly beautiful. Sue has an incredible eye and the end result is always synergetic.

Diane Clancy , besides being indefatigable and inspired, is always on the lookout for worthy causes, and she's pointing the way towards the One World, One HeArt Giveaway.

Last, but certainly not least, Diane is also collaborating with art marketing expert Chris O'Byrne (a man with impeccable taste )to create a fantastic resource for artists and wanna-bes: It's called YourArtMarketing.com and is a website/forum/information hub. This repository will incorporate all the information they both have been working so hard to put forth on their own sites, to make it much more easily accessible to all. Isn't absolutely brilliant? I think it's the beginning of something very exciting. I haven't had time to add my 2 cents there, but I will as soon as I read all that there is already there.

Now, if only someone could give me a hand to finish up the work on my own website (hint, hint, Ms. Paper&Scissors)...

"Hold On To Your Children and Your Cat"

Rima's Snowday, circa 1969?

That's what the weatherman told me today on the radio - and boy, was that ever good advice! Boreas (wind dude with serious anger issues) has been huffing and puffing and blowing real hard all day. Kind of reminding Ontarians that this is still Canada, eh?

Well, anyway... NO, I have not been abducted by aliens or joined an internet-free commune. I've just had a bunch of hard-pressing issues to deal with, and could not juggle things fast enough to get back to blogging. Apologies all around for not following up quickly on the Glass Apple challenge. That's why I put a picture of me on a snowday somewhere in Lebanon about 40 years ago, 'cause who can stay mad at such a cutie pie, huh? huh?

Special groveling also to some newcomers to our Digital Re-Imaginings* - like the very wonderful bmtyson of Creative Cogitations, a really good graphic artist/collagist who just started blogging. Go take a peek and stay for a visit - he doesn't have a lot of entries yet, so you can catch up on his musings in one sitting. I love his style and look forward to seeing more of his work.

Another cogitative newcomer is an apothecarian of thought, an old friend of our dear Hala** who has sent me a funny and kind-of-sardonic entry. He's also just started blogging, and thinks aloud about the meaning of life, bikini veils and undo buttons. Not in that order, necessarily.

Magic Apple, Digital - © R. Koleilat, 2008

Soooo... what now? Well, all I can do at this point is to promise not to disappear without a word again - and to make up for my rudeness, I will definitely accept any new Apple entries (if you're still interested, Irene!). Not good enough, you say? Well... I would have offered that you pick my punishment, but like the man said - I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid (all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding)!

Oh, did I mention how lovely all the entries were? You guys never cease to amaze... Thanks for putting up with my unevenness. I'll give proper credit and link-backs on the "wall" at Maraya. ASAP.

PS: Thanks, Bobbie and Debi - you were the only ones who got it right!

* I'll come up with a proper title for this series one of these days. In fact, I think I'll put up a poll to see which would be everyone's favourite.

** Another friend of Hala wrote a rant/poem I liked here

Salade d'Apples

One of these was made by me, one by Fawzan and one by Neda. Can you match the names to the artwork?

Apple Turnover

Rotten, Digital - © R. Koleilat, 2007

Bad, bad pun... but hey, it's better than my initial "apple-for-teacher" choice.


Here's my first entry, just so you know I'm working on this too. I'll be showing all the participating entries I am made aware of (hint! leave a comment! Frances!), starting in a couple of days. Four so far, and counting...

How-to: I can't even follow my own directives! I forgot some of the steps because I didn't think I would end up with anything useable - so I didn't make notes, mental or otherwise. For which I was punished by losing a really good one later that day to the memory monster that lives in my laptop - and forgetting the steps there too.
Anyway, here's some of the steps on Photoshop 6:
- I distorted the initial image with Spherize, and by Transforming parts of it (skewing/distorting I think)
- I used a couple of gradient and lighting effects in the background and the central figure (is it still an apple? dunno)
- also used painterly effects, a bunch of them... watercolour as the last touch gave it such a good light, I decided to save it and use it.

Sophomore Class (Digital Makeover)

Glass Apple - Royalty-free image from Stock.XCHNG

This is a bit of a teacher's revenge (curator's revenge?) - I'm offering you a more difficult picture to work with for this Digital Workshop (is it our 4th only?). But you guys have been resting for a while, so it's time to challenge those eyes and brain cells.

No rules, no restrictions - just flex those creative muscles. Anyone can participate, and for those of you who haven't tried this before, here is what you need to know:

• Click on the picture and copy it to your end (this is a royalty-free image, so you don't have to worry about altering it)
• Use any digital graphic programme to alter the image - It can be Photoshop (any version), GIMP, PainBox, anything you have. Remember to tell us what it is.
• It would be nice if you could remember some of the steps, and share with the rest of us how you got to your end result. If you can't keep track, focus on what you feel are the interesting effects.
• Don't forget to email me a copy of your work - but if you prefer not to or don't know how, point me to your work and I'll copy it off your site if needed. My email address is somewhere on my profile.
• By participating in this workshop, you are implicitly allowing me to use the image here and on my gallery website, no ifs, ands or buts - and no whining.
• I reserve the right to choose what ultimately goes on the "wall" (the page on my gallery website). No hurt feelings, ok?

Start your engine! You have until next Sunday to submit.

Trying for Democracy

Quick post/poll thingy: Would you guys prefer:

A. - A regular Photoshop/OtherMagic challenge, where I choose a picture and give guidelines for digital manipulation (as usual and more or less)

or

B. - A combination of Photoshop/Whatever and real-world art supplies?

Please let me know in the comments section by Sunday aft (N.Am. time), so I can set something interesting or fun or tedious up.

Half-Tone Anyone?

I like playing around with the Color-Halftone feature in Photoshop to create mock comic book frames with a 50s feel to them. Here are two illustrations I’m quite happy with using this fun technique.

Albatros, Digital - © R. Koleilat, 2007

Bathing Beauty, Digital - © R. Koleilat, 2007

To give you an idea of how I get to my final results, here’s a quick demonstration.

To alter your picture, first select Pixelate/Color Halftone from the Filters menu.

(1)

Using an illustration (1) I made for a corporate client a while ago (extra points if you can guess what the theme of the conference was), this is what it would look like in Normal mode with 100% Opacity (2), with the minimum number of pixels available (4 pixels).

(2)
By selecting Fade Color Halftone from the Edit menu, you can tweak it by choosing Screen Mode with 55% Opacity (3), or Overlay Mode with 35% Opacity (4) or any other Mode you like.

I have so much fun with this – the resulting images remind me of the old comic books I used to memorize at my even older cousins’ creaky apartment.

(3&4)

4 Things Tag

Au Soleil, Digital - © R.Koleilat, 2007

Debi! Do I blame you, Bobbie or Frances for this? But since I am so darn flattered you still remember who I am (and even better, you still LIKE me), I won't blame you. I love Bobbie beyond words, so I won't blame her. Guess who's left? Hehehe....

• Name four places you have lived: Beirut, Austin, Oklahoma City, Winnipeg
  
• Four foods you like: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Midnight Snack
  
• Four places you have been on vacation: Côte d'Azur, Florida Keys, Romania, Muskoka
  
• Four places you would rather be: cuddling with my kids, hugging my mom, talking with my sister, at the beach.

Create Your Own

Your own Photoshop brush or pattern, that is. It is all very easy, and to make it even easier, I'm including a pictorial to go with this very small step-by-step tutorial.





1. I painted this pattern, using different colours for the background and foreground.

When you define a brush, Photoshop will only use the shape of the brush you're creating, but will reproduce the pattern in its original colour.









2. I then chose Define Brush from Edit to create my new brush.











3.You will find your newly defined brush (and pattern) at the end of your existing list of brushes or patterns

4. You can see how, when used as a brush, the shape of your brush will appear in the colour (s) you've chosen

5. Using the same design, I also created a fill pattern by clicking on Define Pattern in Edit.

6. When you use this new pattern, it will be appear as in the original design.

See? Told ya it was simple.

Life Gives You Lemons

Life gives you lemons - © R. Koleilat, 2007

Grab a cup of joe, people, this is a long one. If you have any complaints, let it be known that I blame Neda, Debi and Irene for this. Beverly a little bit too. But not Frances, or Fawzan. Well, maybe Fawzan a little.

I first started blogging a long, long, long time ago – last March in fact, so not long in the hours and days sense but in more esoteric ways. It was at the urging of hubby, financial wizard by day, watercolourist the rest of the time. He had been blogging himself for a while, partly to force himself into a discipline of creating works, whether sketches or full paintings, through this online artist diary.

I love what he does on his blog, he’s fearless about showing his work process, warts and all. He doesn’t fear criticism, and uses others’ input in a valuable, constructive manner. That’s admirable, considering how fragile artists’ egos are. Believe me, I know, because I have to deal with them not only in my family, but in my fledgling online gallery.

I hadn’t really done any blurfing* (thanks for that one, Julie!) prior to blogging myself, and didn’t really know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect to connect (in all senses of the word) with such amazing, warm and wonderful, creative people so easily, so intimately, so rapidly. I’d read about how virtual reality is a space where anonymity is key, but what I’ve found is exactly the opposite: this is the one place where you choose to be yourself and you choose to show yourself. It is a different kind of reality, one not as encumbered by familial or social constraints, obligations and other ritual (although there is ritual involved, but that’s for some other post).

My blog was supposed to be a vehicle for helping me stretch out a little bit – I had started a newsletter for the gallery, but found it a little constraining: the format, the subjects that would be suitable, the style. Plus, to be honest, it wasn’t being read by that many, and with all the effort that went into it, I wanted more. I felt that there were so many interesting, little and big discoveries out there, a lot of enjoyable and silly/funny tidbits, not really suitable for a “serious” art website. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy the creative process of it all, and this was going to be a fun thing to try.

But most of all, I secretly wanted to emulate dear hubby, and find a way to force myself to get back to my own long-dormant, atrophied artistic self. Early on in this blog, I tried to get back to sketching and drawing, but found that whatever had been immobilizing me was not going to go away so easily. I really, really wanted a graphic for each post. I knew that this was the only way to have some discipline both in keeping a good-looking blog, and getting those creative juices flowing again. When I kicked dear ol’ sister out the blog window (so she can take flight by herself, not because I’m a meanie), I couldn’t rely on her bottomless trove of goodies anymore, so I had to find something quick and fairly presentable (I do have some standards).

Struggling with pen and paper was out of the question at that point, I would’ve had to run back to my old therapist to resolve that one and I wasn’t about to try and fix it this way. Not then, at least. And not before I win the lottery either. So I turned to digital art (with a small a, Irene).

And lo and behold, I found it! It being my little vacation, and my new doodling tool. Since I’d also like to do more design work – I’m tired of creating commercial/corporate logos, illos and designs for cheap-to-free for friends and acquaintances – this was also the perfect combo: exercise my digital design skills AND illustrate my posts.

Now you can go about your day, buoyed and enriched by this profoundly important bit of knowledge. There’s a lot more where that came from but I have to stop now. Be warned though, I’ll be picking this up again later this week, and giving you even more fascinating things to read. I need more tea now. Today is a coffee-free day for me. Endless source of compelling info, me.

* compound word of (pick one):
A) blah and smurfing
B) blue and morphing
C) block and turfing
D) blog and surfing

Time To Play Again! Digital Art Workshop Deux

C'mon! Time to get back inside! Disentangle yourself from that chaise-longue, toss that frozen margarita (or better yet, refresh it), kick off your Crocs and sit down to a new digital exercise.

You wanted more of a challenge, so here it is:

Pisa Door, by Ban Sidhe - courtesy www.wetcanvas.com

I found this copyright-friendly image on a terrific art site that hubby suddenly remembered to share with me, http://www.wetcanvas.com/. It's a fantastic resource for artists and wannabes like me, thanks in no small measure to its bottomless image library - by far the best source for public domain images I have found in my research.

To participate, all you have to do is copy the image to your computer - it's a fairly large file, so you may want to resize before saving it. Then go to town with your digital creativity (creative digitality?)

IF YOU'RE NOT ABLE TO GET THE LARGER IMAGE WHEN YOU CLICK ON THIS ONE, TRY THE ONE POSTED LATER BY ITSELF. IF NEITHER WORKS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Now for some rules - I know it's a ridiculously optimistic request on my part since no one ever listens to me, but please remember to:

• Modify the image in any way you like, with any digital art program you prefer. You can use the whole image or only parts of it for the final result - your choice.
• Use at least 4 steps/effects, like artistic filters, layers, cropping, whatever – Opening and saving your files are NOT actual steps, and do not count as such, sorry. If you don't try at least 4 stages of modification, I will need a written note from your mom. I'm doing this for your own good. (You know that you can ask me for help on anything, so no excuses). Take your time, you have about two weeks.
• Explain your process as well as you can - even if it's just to list your steps. We all want to learn from each other. Well, I do, and I did learn at least one new thing from each entry last time.
• 3 submissions max, please and thank you! I know it's hard to stop once you start, but I'm old and slow now, and I get easily backlogged. I still haven't finished uploading the last few Irises to the website.
• Send me a copy of your finished product, or allow me to copy it from your blog, so I can "hang" it on the Maraya Galleries website (no one can copy it from there). The artwork from last time looks so very lovely on my "wall" (http://www.marayagalleries.com/workshop/5.htm).

That's it. Now, ready, aim...

Wondrous Imagination, Wonderful Image-ing

Diane has gotten us used to her cornucopia of creativity - but I was still startled at the beauty that she infused these images with, part of our Lily Pad "series".

Look at the energy in these two:

Dancing with the Lilies

Square Dancing Lilies

How delightful and appealing is this one below?

Lily in the rain

Finally, this awesome and very cool tryptich:

Lily at dusk

Lily at first light

Nightlights Lily

Last but not least, Audrey's delightful contribution is on her blog with explanations (click to see the larger image to fully appreciate the fine detail)
They're not up on the website just yet, but they will very soon be taking their rightful place in that mini-pantheon of imagination and creativity.

So, thanks everyone - it's been a wonderful first experiment. I know you've enjoyed this as much as I have because you've said so - so sharpen those ...uh... mice? and get ready for the next one. Coming soon to a computer screen near you...

Bloomin' Marvelous

I still have a bunch of lilypads to post here and on the "wall", one from Audrey and a few by Diane, but until I do (and I will, be patient - I work slowly), enjoy this funky bloom by Debi:

SoulSista Lily - © D. Cates, 2007

Debi's steps:
I used the circle selector to select spots all over the non-flower part of the image.

And then I gave it a "Twirl".

I selected water pieces using the magic wand and gave them a "Ripple."

I doctored up a few of the obscured waterlily petals with paint and smear. (Not as good a result as I would have liked.)

And, I think that's it. I was inspired by Frances' 70s Slick Lily.

Well, I'm inspired by all of you - this has been fun, and for the sophomore project, I'm looking for something a little more difficult to work on. Tune back in...

You're Having Way Too Much Fun

Ok, slow down, you guys, you're having way too much fun with this digital art exercise! Just kidding, don't slow down - I'm still waiting for the rest.

This is Lily's Puppy who lives in her Pad, according to Neda

I already have 8 entries besides mine (and YES, you're allowed more than one) and I'm having a hard time keeping up with y'all! So please pardon me if I'm late in commenting or posting - the good news is, all the entries look terrific on the "exhibit wall" that I'm preparing.

It is so fantastic to see how everyone's sensibilities are expressed and translated - technical know-how notwithstanding. It doesn't seem to matter whether you've done this once or a thousand times - all the "experiments" are darn blooming good.

You'll be able to see most of them in the next few hours - since I haven't heard otherwise, I'm assuming that it's ok for me to copy the images you've all created to my own website and the new page is coming together nicely.

Oh, I'm so happy ... but I have to go now, I have a date with Harry.

Lily Pads, Takes 3 and 4

I'm working on a "wall" to put up all our different takes on the same image. It's fascinating to see what everyone "sees" in this. I'm having so much fun with this - still waiting for the others, but we did give ourselves a couple of weeks. Tick-tock, tick-tock... Oh, and we're allowed more than one entry.

Frances was the first to post hers, and she's come up with a very lovely result (see here - pay especially close attention to the title of her post, it is so perceptive and astute, and so profoundly true...). She's also listed her steps. Thanks, Frances.

Below are two more takes on the Lily Pad exercise - one by Neda (guess which one); the other by Fawzan with the very modest title of Modern Manet, but with no explanation. Still waiting - Let's hope they remember to post their work on their own blogs, and include some explanation for the rest of us mere mortals. What can I do, I share a gene pool with one and a mortgage with the other, eh...

Lily's Pad © N. Doany, 2007

Addendum: This is Neda's email this morning:

Here's my submission to you, o venerable one....oops, wrong email address..
Uhum.. here's my submission to the digital altered collage:

I used Dad's old laptop to do this project so I was limited in my choice of technical options (and I would not know where to start if I had a more sophisticated tool anyway). I used the archaic "Paint" program which is basically a glorified cut-and-paste software. Here are my steps:

- After scanning the lilypad picture, I traced certain elements (the flower and the delicate branches) and I cut them out and pasted them on a white background.

- I inverted the colors of the original image and cut out the branches and twigs which had turned into a mauvish hue.

- I then played around by laying the original and the negative cut-outs until I achieved a sort of a basic structure: the 2 flowers in the center and the branches.

--I noticed that the branches looked like little doggies (...)so I flipped" the left side of the design and I made it face leftward.

-- I cut out the flowers petals and I added them to the design. To me, they looked like pink leaves.

-- I cut out the flower pistils (sp?) as added decoration.

--- And I have to confess: I really did not write everything down so I am doing this list from memory. Sorry

Thank you for offering us this lovely project. I have to say that this is my first official digital entry and I am thrilled that you were my mentor :)

Modern Manet - © F. Barrage, 2007

My Lily Pad

I chose this copyright-free image so we could have a simple, but not too simple first exercise. I like the subject (I love lily pads, and this one is quite handsome), the quality is great, and it’s such a generic picture, with no baggage – perfect for dressing up.

To me, this lily pad needed to be stripped down to its bare essentials – the lines. I didn’t want to use any special brushes or effects that wouldn’t be available to everyone, so I stuck with what Photoshop had to offer already… which is plenty.

I made myself take notes, so this process ended up a little bit self-conscious, I must admit. I wish I had the patience to take vignettes of each step, but I don't. I might in the future, if I decide to incorporate something like this on the gallery website. But that's another post.

Lilypad © R. Koleilat, 2007

Ok, now - explanations: (NOTE: I'm updating this as needed from the comments)

First, under Filters, Stylize, I chose Find Edges, edited with Hard Light Mode at 74% opacity. This really bleached out the photo, and gave me colours I liked as a base.

I then went back to Filters, Artistic, and chose Cutout to give the image more of a hand-painted look.

I then selected the water feature with the Magic Wand, and filled it with the Satin pattern in the Paint Bucket feature at about 22% opacity, in Overlay mode. I prefer the Overlay mode for most “fills”, and generally reduce opacity for most everything for more subtle effects.

I then selected the lily pad leaves individually, and filled them in Overlay mode with the purple pattern, in some places with 22% opacity and others up to 84%.

I also cropped the image to get a narrower frame, because it was looking more and more like a Japanese print from the 50s. Which is why I went back later, and added an extra Layer with a vertical "brushed" signature and stamp.

Finally, I selected the centre of the flower, and did a Gradient overlay in a diagonal line with the Radial Gradient option, at about 25% opacity, with the violet-to-orange option (with mostly the orange showing up).

So, here are my six steps – I didn’t go overboard like I normally end up doing, because there was no need for any additional tweaking. I liked the lily like that and wanted to focus on its elegant shape, without all the distraction in the background.