#messin' around with new cc

[teekalu]

[avornalino]

messin around with new cc

[ghost-chance]

Photomanipulation: Faux-illustrated backdrops from photos

I’ve shared several of my photomanipulation pieces on here so far (most on @ghost-chance-digital-works) some with a breakdown of the work that went into them. Each piece is a result of many hours (sometimes even several days’ worth of sessions) of intense editing, but my favorite part of the process, hands down, is the editing of the backdrops. Sometimes this editing is straightforward and the results are more subtle than flamboyant; other times, the image in mind calls for something more artistic than realistic.

These are some of my favorite non-realistic backdrops I’ve managed so far, all filtered to appear animated, painted, or otherwise non-photographic; all but Docks of Taneycomo came from photos published as Public Domain or Creative Commons, free for use and alteration. Most of these photos came specifically from free stock photo sites, while a couple were found by rigorous searching. Some of these, like purple heather, I’ve used in a few different pieces with different variations; others, like rainy park, I haven’t used for some reason or other. These were all developed using the free PicsArt app for tablet. Most of these don’t actually have titles. (they’re base photos - individual pieces rather than entire puzzles) Unless otherwise noted, I’ve labeled them by the file descriptor.

Are they perfect? Heck no. Are they my best work? Definitely not. They are, however, some of the few pieces/bases I’ve completed to a point where I was actually satisfied with the results rather than feeling “Welp, this ain’t perfect but it’ll work and I’m sick of messin’ with it.” If there’s any interest in seeing the original photos for comparison, I’ll gladly share them in a second post. Each pic has a basic process included; they aren’t detailed descriptions because I don’t want to bore y‘all with every single tedious step that went into each finished piece. A lot of y’all are probably going to look at the pictures and skip the description, honestly, and I’m perfectly fine with that. ;) I ramble. I don’t blame anyone who gets bored with it.

They’re not much, but I hope you enjoy my little labors of lunacy.

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Rainy tree

Initially I put this together for a piece of concept art for A New Lease on Life. By the time I finished, I felt like any further alterations would be "gilding the lily.” I’m not going to say it’s perfect - my ego isn’t that big - but it felt finished and I couldn’t rationalize further changes. This is only a portion of a cropped photo of winding street, lawns, and trees in a downpour.

If I’m recalling correctly, the illustration effect was achieved with several layered filters including poster and either old paper or gouache; each layer involved heavy tweaking of the filter settings.

Autumn clearing

The first time around, this photo had very little in the way of alteration before I built the cover with it - I crosshatched it and called it good. THIS time I had more practice under my belt and a better understanding of the settings, and was patient enough to put real effort into it. The first alteration to this photo is the backdrop for the cover  of Shifting the Paradigm but it and the base photo have since found their way into other pieces. (Namely the the now-embarassing Hiding and Denying and In the Autumn-Clad Forest.)

The process here involved adjustments to the hue/saturation/contrast and a couple runs with layered poster filters; I might also have used the halftone filter with the point size at zero.

Mountain forest

I’ve honest-to-bog forgotten exactly how many times I’ve used the base photo for this one or its variations. (there have been a few.) This version was my favorite, and the only one I liked enough to save for future uses. I’ve used this backdrop primarily in covers/concept art for my Dragon Ball Z fanfiction. (Piccolo and Aubergine and the cover for “The Demon King and the Halfbreed Hermit,” Poker Face, and Hiding and Denying, an early character concept piece which is now really friggin’ embarrassing.)

The alterations on this one are a bit more subtle then the rest - some shifts to the hue/lighting/contrast and layered poster and FX filters.

Docks of Taneycomo

This scenic piece is the only one here NOT from a PD/CC/Stock photo - I took the original photo in Branson, Missouri a few years back. What you’re seeing is a view from the College of the Ozarks campus, a lookout point with a breathtaking view of some docks along the winding Lake Taneycomo. This was originally meant as a backdrop for a concept piece for “A Match Made in Metal” but the differing animation styles were too much of a booger to work out sufficiently. I hope to someday get around that problem but for now I’m rather haunted by Minion’s resulting serial killer face.

This one had surprisingly little in the way of alteration - a couple mild hue shifts, some strategic blurring, heavy low detail/high color range poster filter over light old paper filter (for texture) with an extra moderate detail/high color range poster over that. As this came from a photo I took myself, I’m be happy to let people use it if they so choose so long as credit is given/not taken.

Purple Heather

This last one is practically unrecognizable from the base photo because of how abstract it turned out. I’ve used it in several different pieces/projects in different color schemes including the header for @get-a-new-lease-on-life, my main blog header, a panel in the Dream Lovers poetry comic, and my Halloween-themed poster Moondance to name a few. The original photo showed a prairie of tall tasseled grass on a clear day.

Lots of heavy, intense alterations to this one. If I’m recalling correctly, I started out with several layered Cartoonizer and minimal color/moderate detail poster filters until I achieved the right amount of abstraction, hue shift to purple, more poster layers, then a final hue/contrast/saturation adjustment. No, there isn’t enough purple in this piece. It needs WAY more purple.

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Well, that’s a wrap. Anyone got any thoughts? Opinions? I’d love to hear them. Hope everyone’s having a good Summer so far, and y’all come back sometime.

[algarve-365-blog]

Algarve Cycling Tours

Algarve Cycling Tours Algarve Cycling Tours was started last year when we team up with a highly respected bike hire company in the Algarve. What started out as bike hire has slowly become assisted cycling tours. Over the last 12 months we have assisted Canadians, Americans, English and last week the Welsh boys. Previous trips have been on mountain bikes and cycling along the coast line and countryside. The Via Algarviana is also very popular with dozens of different routes!

The guys from Gwalchmai CC however wished to use carbon road bikes for their Algarve warm weather riding so some of those routes were not suitable. We met the guys at Faro Airport to deliver the bikes and collect their luggage. They then cycled from the Faro Airport to Vila Real Santo Antonio on the Spanish boarder. This was approximately 60kms. When The Going Gets Tough! After using the EN125 for that trip the guys decided they wanted something a little quieter and scenic. I told them it could be done but would be "a little more hilly". After completing this trip they nicknamed me Porkie Pie Pete as its seems it was hillier than I suggested :)

VRSA to Portimao Cycling Route They covered an impressive 133kms that day. Taking in Tavira, cutting across to Sao Bras de Alportel, Salir, Alte (Stop for lunch), Messines, Silves and then to Portimao. Whilst all that was going on I had taken the luggage from VRSA to Portimao and then went home to jump on my own bike. I met the guys between Messines and Silves and guided them in via some back routes to Portimao marina. Day 3 saw them cycling down to Praia da Luz just to keep the legs loose as the following day we had "the climb". Day 4 saw me joining the guys again. This time to cycle up to the highest point in the Algarve known as Foia. The round trip ride was just under 80kms, but the climb (only around 15km in total) was over 3,300ft and in hot temperatures.

Everybody took it at their own pace but every rider managed to make it to the top. There was only a gap of around 7 minutes from first to last. At the top we took in the views before heading back down to Monchique for a traditional Piri Piri lunch. The boys had a great time and are already talking about new routes for next year. If you think we can help you plan your Algarve Cycling Tour routes, hotels, luggage transfers or bike hire then hit the contact us button above. Read the full article