Vector Graphics - Young Man - CorelDRAW

Vector Graphics - Experiment with Bitmapped Graphics

I love to experi-
ment with bit-
mapped images using vector tools on them for unusual results. This photograph of a close up of sunglasses and reflection, with nose, was taken by my son, Keir M. Gatzka a few summers ago. As you can see it captured my imagination and I used it for an experiment.

I first opened the photograph in Paint.NET and adjusted the size, and used the Ink Sketch filter on it with no color for the black and white image as the basis of this experiment. Then I opened it in Painter 8 and added a watercolor layer and used a large watercolor brush with two colors only for the background.

I copied the image to the clipboard and opened CorelDRAW, pasted it and began to add some vector graphics. I used the Freehand drawing tool and created some bits and pieces of paisley and florals plus some swirled lines. I also built some buildings and a car with a road.

I copied that to the clipboard and pasted it as a new image in PhotoPaint. I added a 20 pixel border and signed it. I made the image a jpg file for display here.

----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Eleanor Rigby Cover
via FoxyTunes

Zeke Nouveau - Grandson - Texture

The other day visiting my Grandson I took a number of photographs. I selected this one for today's image, where he is standing up, with a little help from his Grandmother.

I opened the photograph in Paint.NET and used the Artistic> Effects> Ink Sketch> filter and removed all color for the black and white image. I had opened an Art Nouveau frame, from Dover Publications, in PhotoPaint and I copied and pasted the image of Zeke into the frame.

I used the erase tool, before merging the object, and erased the upper right hand corner for his name tag and the lower right hand corner for the floral part of the frame.

I opened one of Mayang's Textures of fossilized stone in PhotoPaint along with the black and white image of Zeke. I cut out a portion of the texture and then opened from the clipboard. I then copied and pasted Zeke into the stone texture. I did an asymmetrical placement of the image, added Zeke's name and a black border to finish the piece.

----------------
Now playing: Elmore James - Dust My Blues
via FoxyTunes

Badcuda - PhotoPaint - Paint.NET

We caught up with this car, driver and passenger after following him for a short while. At first from a distance I thought it was a Charger, but my wife said she thought it was a Barracuda. Now since these cars are among my brother Kent's favorites we followed, trying to keep up until he stopped for gas, only a short way along.

We approached him and got permission to photograph the car. I got a couple of differing angle shots, with this one being my favorite one.

I used Paint.NET's Effects> Ink Sketch> on it with the color turned all the way up and the ink lines down. As it is a black and dark purple car, at twilight I did not want to make the image too dark.

In PhotoPaint I resampled for the web, added Filter Forge's film frame. And I added a KPT's Collection Lens Flare to the image.

I sent all five photographs to my brother along with a couple of new ones of our Grandson. I know he will enjoy them.

----------------
Now playing: BB King - Three O'clock Blues
via FoxyTunes

Digital Painting - Painter 8 - Grandson

The image shown today is a digital painting that I painted in Painter 8 from a photograph I took the other day when visiting.

I used a Bristle brush for the bulk of the painting and a second layer set at Gel for the background. I used Digital Watercolor brushes for the background. And merged the layers saving to a jpg file for display here on the web.

I brought the file into PhotoPaint to apply Filter Forge's frames a watercolor frame. I added a black border of 10 pixels. I resampled the file from the larger working file while in PhotoPaint also.

Back to Digital Painting - Colorful House - Painter 8 Wow! Book Brushes

Visiting my grandson Zeke yesterday and my daughter showed me a photograph that begged to be painted digitally. I asked for a copy and she sent one to me.

In PhotoPaint I resampled the image to 880, plus 128dpi. I added a blue sky to the picture as it was white, and I included a few clouds. I used this image in Painter 8 to digitally paint. I used the Painter 8 Wow! Book's Building brushes Feather brush at varying sizes as my brush of choice. I kept it at 5.9 size for detailed appearance, with the exception of increasing it for the sky.

I used Apply Surface Texture> Image Luminance> to add texture to the brushstrokes. I saved that file at optimum resolution. Reopened it in PhotoPaint and added a painting frame to it with Filter Forge's Frames. I then used the Tone Curve for depth and upped the saturation by 7 for brighter color.

My daughter did not know the photographer of this house, so I would like to credit them here. If you recognize their work, please let me know who the photographer is that I may give full credit to them. Thank you.


----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Our House Cover
via FoxyTunes

Digital Collage - Mayang's Textures - Dover Clip Art

Today I decided to do a digital collage. I looked through my folder of Mayang's Texture in Picasa 3 and opened the one I selected in PhotoPaint.

I looked through my collections of Dover Publications Clip Art samplers and gathered together the images you see in the collage. I used a King and castle image entitled the Idylls of the King - Enid, and also selected an Art Nouveau frame. Then I placed a coat of arms piece in the top oval. I used a modern Op Art circular piece and applied Effects> Texture> Plastic> to it before I used the object property Multiply on it as I had the other black and white pieces of clip art. I found a nice Art Nouveau corner piece and placed it in the opposite corners.

I used the Tone Curve to deepen the color of the background and upped the saturation for a bit more color. I finished the piece with a 10 pixel black border.

I really enjoy using Dover Publication's Clip Art for such digital collages and also Mayang's Textures as well. I want to thank them for allowing me to gather textures and clip art samplers from them to use in such images as today's.

----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Like I've Never Been Refused
via FoxyTunes

Seagull 12-string Guitar

A quick post today. Here is an image I did from a photograph of my Seagull 12-string Guitar. I used similar multiple filters on it in Paint.NET and added the frame from Filter Forge in PhotoPaint.

We have a late season picnic to got to today so I am pressed for time, thus the short post.

This is my only guitar at present and it wears many hats as I create songs and use my Toneport along with the Gearbox software to emulate electric guitar styles using my Woody Pickup.


----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Can You Please Love Me?
via FoxyTunes

Swan - Pen and Ink - Watercolor

A Swan Song [click here] isn't always the end of something is it? Today's image is from a photograph. It was taken at a pond.

I used a number of filters on it in Paint.NET including the Oil Painting, Ink Sketch filters for the watercolor look and feel. I had at first attempted to paint it in Painter 8 using differing brushes but did not like the outcome, so I switched to using multiple filters.

In PhotoPaint I applied the Filter Forge's watercolor frame. Then took the image back into Painter to Apply Surface Texture> Image Luminance> for the texture of this piece.

I guess I just wasn't patient with my digital painting today, what ever brush type I tried just didn't suit me. So I manipulated the photograph with multiple filters. I also used the Tone Curve on it for depth and slightly upped the saturation for color. I do like the subject matter and the pose of the swan.

----------------
Now playing: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)
via FoxyTunes

Stone Grunge Guitars Grid - PhotoPaint

I was browsing a musician's website and went to his photo gallery where he displays a grid of his guitar collection. I was immediately taken by the grid of rectangular guitar images. I did a screen capture and contacted the musician about using this in an image to gain his permission.

His name is Edward Sparks and credit for the grid of guitars goes to "M. Edward Sparks/Pepperland Productions", along with my many thanks for the use of this great piece of image making.His website is really good and he has, along with his guitar collection, some great videos to view and listen to him perform. [CLICK HERE] for the link to his site. I invite you to go there and enjoy his music and well done site. We are both members of the Acoustic Guitar Community where we share music and music based videos, groups, photograph and discussion concerning our love of acoustic guitars.

I used a stone background from Mayang's Textures and assembled the piece in PhotoPaint. I used object property Multiply for the guitar grid. I was going for a grunge look and feel so I darkened the image using the Tone Curve and upped the saturation for that rusty stone color. I added a film frame from Filter Forge's frames.

----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Peaceful Tones
via FoxyTunes

Painter 8 Portrait - PhotoPaint

I've posted my new song "What Are You Afraid Of?", on My Page at the Acoustic Guitar Community, which is listed on my links section. You can go to that page and listen to it if you would like to. It is listed first on the music player.

Today's image is a digital painting I did in Painter 8 a while ago. I used acrylic brushes for most of the painting. I did this some time ago so I don't have much in the way of explanation of technique. It was done from a photograph that I took.




----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - EGAC_Run_Am7_Em_G_D
via FoxyTunes

Alaskan Roadside Waterfall - PhotoPaint - Paint.NET

Browsing with Picasa 3 I was looking through some photographs of our trip to Alaska to visit family and ran across this photograph.

Roadside waterfalls are common and very picturesque. I opened this in PhotoPaint and resampled for the web. Then I opened in Paint.NET used a painterly filter on it, adjusted the Curves and upped the saturation.

I reopened in PhotoPaint and used KPT's Collection Equalizer on it to get this look. I added a watercolor frame with Filter Forge's frames, and a 10 pixel black border.

Musically I was working on "What Are You Afraid Of?" late yesterday and I am pretty satisfied with the melody and chord progression, bridge and the overall sound of the song. I added some improvised lead to the background and using Audacity I recorded it and saved the song as an mp3.

I am going to add it to My Page on the Acoustic Guitar Community for others to listen to and hopefully enjoy.

----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - What Are You Afraid Of?
via FoxyTunes

Art Nouveau - Vector Design - CorelDraw - PhotoPaint - Paint.NET

I have varied taste in my art works. This image has elements of Art Nouveau ( from Dover Publications) and some vector bits.

I used CorelDRAW's freehand drawing tool and the sprial tool to add some designs to the woman's face and the floral background is echoed with the vector flowers.

I used PhotoPaint and Paint.NET for this piece as well adding a film frame from Filter Forge. I also used a painterly filter on the whole image in Paint.NET to simplify lines.

Just a short post today with a short explanation of this image. No rain today like I thought. Too bad I can't make it back up to Frankenmuth's Auto Fest!


----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Triad Emaj
via FoxyTunes

Rained Out at the Frankenmuth, Michigan Auto Fest 2010

It has been difficult to get good photo-
graphs at this years Custom Car show. Rained out at the Woodward Dream Cruise 2010 and the same happened earlier today at the Frankenmuth, Michigan Auto Fest 2010, rain! We watched as a few die hard car buffs drove by us on Main Street in Frankenmuth, but it was raining too hard to expose my camera without protection of some kind, which I don't have.

This image you see is from the 2009 Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise in Metro Detroit. I used PhotoPaint to crop and adjust the Tone Curve to deepen the image and saved that file. Opening it in Paint.NET I applied the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> for the line work. I used that file in PhotoPaint again and applied a Grunge frame to it from Filter Forge's frames. Then I added the lens flare with KPT's Collection for the flash of brilliant light on the image. I used Filter Forge's frames a second time adding a film frame to the piece. I upped the saturation by 15 to enhance color.

So I have this image for you to enjoy and apologize for no new car photographs from the shows this year. If I had protected equipment that was waterproof and a rain coat we would have gotten some photographs. I imagine it will be sunny and nice tomorrow for the rest of the Auto Fest. Unfortunately I have other plans! The blame goes on the rain.

Industrial Brick Building - Digital Collage - PhotoPaint

This image is a comb-
ination of multiple pieces. I used another background from Mayang's textures, a brick building with old broken windows from an industrial area. I selected some Art Nouveau stained glass pieces and added them to some of the windows. I also used some clipart for a couple more of the windows, all from Dover Pubilcations.

I used PhotoPaint for putting together this digital collage. I added some with the object property Multiply, others I resized them to fit the window size and pasted. The Parking sign I adjusted the opacity so some of the window would show through.

I cut out the woman lute player and pasted her after making the window appear to be open with some object adjustments to it, and placing a black to gray rectangle in her background.

I added the pasted poster Hello Beautiful with an opacity adjustment and pasted all the pieces in place, resizing as needed.

I used the Tone Curve to give the brick wall some depth and upped the saturation for the colors just a tad. I have left the piece at a larger size for your pleasure. The big picture as it were.

----------------
Now playing: Bo Diddely - Bo Diddely
via FoxyTunes

Nonrepresentational Abstract - "Light" Photographs

I worked on this image from a view of making a non-
represent-
ational abstract piece. I started with some "Light" experimental photo-
graphs done by my son, Keir M. Gatzka. He used my DSLR and took photographs of moving traffic at night to produce them.

I created a collage of them using Picasa 3's collage feature and opened that file in PhotoPaint. There I applied Effects> Art Strokes> Conte Crayon> for a textured approach to the "Light" image. I did not adjust the saturation as the colors were dark and mysterious. It held a bit of rectangular feel from the photographs.

Using Filter Forge's Frames I added a Watercolor frame to the piece with a black 10 pixel border. Saving that file I determined that I wanted more texture to it so I opened it in Painter 8 and used Apply Surface Texture> Image Luminance>. Back in PhotoPaint I added my signature and resampled for display on the web.

Musically I found a chord progression for the song "What Are You Afraid Of?" and now am working on the melody and the bridge chords. It is fun to create music and I relish playing my 12-string guitar. I am experimenting with this song dropping the bass E string to D to give it a slightly different taste. I hope to have the song finished soon.

"What Are You Afraid Of?" Digital Visual Collage with a Touch of Song Lyric

I was inspired by a con-
versation online about song writing and the stigma attached to mental and emotional Illnesses. The phrase "What Are You Afraid Of?" came right to mind and I began to write some lyrics. A portion of the end of them are a part of today's image.

I used a Mayang's Rust texture for the background and a clip art frame from Dover Publications, with a photograph of guitars along with a few paint splatters and drippings for this collage. Adding a snippet of the lyrics for good measure.

All the work was done in PhotoPaint. I upped the saturation for color enhancement of the painted rust and used a color photograph I took of two guitars on a precarious angle. I used the object properties of Multiply to add the pieces together.

Now I need some time for the chord progression, melody and chorus and bridge. If the song turns out OK I may (or, may not, depending) post it on My Page at the Acoustic Guitar Community, when it is done and ready for public listening.

I hope the idea comes to fruition as a song and not just a poem.

----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Lil' Miss Lillian Decides
via FoxyTunes

Sunrise and Fog on the Lake - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

Sunrise over Bald Eagle Lake with fog on the lake is today's image. I took a simple approach to this image as it says so much on it's own.

In PhotoPaint I adjusted the Tone Curve to lighten up the greens and the sun and lake fog. I resampled for display on the web in PhotoPaint and saved the file.

I reopened the file in Paint.NET and used a painterly filter on it. I stayed away from doing anything with saturation as the colors were dark enough to make the sun gleaming through the trees true to color.

Using PhotoPaint again I applied Filter Forge's watercolor frame and added a 10 pixel black border to that. Again I used a simple approach to this image in the use of filters to create it. Showing that you can create a great image from a great photograph with a few touches done digitally.

----------------
Now playing: Gordon Lightfoot - Carefree Highway
via FoxyTunes

Bo Diddely and Clapton - Digital Pencil, Watercolor, Pen

I was browsing with Picasa 3 for a photo-
graph to work on today and ran across this one of Bo Diddely and Clapton playing a venue.

I used Paint.NET to turn it into a pencil drawing using Effects> Artistic> Pencil after I had lightened the photo-
graph in PhotoPaint with the Tone Curve tool.

I opened it in Painter 8 and used the Digital Watercolors brushes on it to paint the bulk of the background and basic colors of the clothing. I switched to a Ballpoint pen for some enhancements to the color. I am not taking credit for this work because I don't really know where the photograph came from, and I can't give the credit to the photographer as I would like. If you recognize this please post a comment giving them credit or write me so I can update this post. Thank you for looking!

Digital Visual Collage - Dover Clip Art

Playing around with Digital Collage today I used a photo-
graph and some Dover Publications Clip art on a Mayang's eucalyptus tree texture.

I used PhotoPaint for all phases of this collage. I added a tea cup and a duck for humor on the ornate table clip art.

I really like using the textures from Mayangs, they lend themselves very well to collage. Giving interest to a collage that might not have enough punch to it. The only piece I had to manually cut out and manipulate is the smiling woman's face. I used the Image> Transform> Threshold> to create the face in black adjusting the amount of black used.

----------------
Now playing: Alison Krauss - Rich Woman
via FoxyTunes

Still Life - Dinner Setting - Texture

I was browsing in Picasa 3 for photo-
graphs to do some digital work on and dis-
covered this one which I had taken some time ago. I decided to use it for today's image. It is simply a dinner setting of dishes on a placemat.

I resampled the image to increase the size a bit to 96dpi in PhotoPaint. Taking it into Paint.NET I applied the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> to it at full color and I upped the inking quite a bit. I then applied a painterly filter to it for that painted touch.

Back in PhotoPaint I applied Filter Forge's watercolor frame, with some adjustments to give it a nice feel. I saved my file and opened it in Painter 8 and used Apply Surface Texture> Image Luminance to the piece. This gives it a great texture.

----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Polly Come Home Cover
via FoxyTunes