"Stone Textured Woman with Dogs - Horse" Digital Collage - Corel

Stone Textured Woman with Dogs - Horse

As I mentioned I would endeavor to create some new Digital Collage works. I had time to do so with today's offering for your viewing.

I started with a Stone Texture from StockVault, I opened it with Corel PSP Pro X3. There I used the Curves tool to lighten the Stone background. I then opened the Woman with the Dogs and Horse. I used the Curves tool again, this time to deepen the colors of this Dover Publications Clip Art. I also increased the Saturation Vibrancy by 33.

Using Corel PhotoPaint, I opened a page of Dover Clip Art with Art Nouveau Designs in black and white. I selected the Bottom Design and cut that out, saving as it's own file. Then I opened the Vines for the Top Design to add some framing to the Woman image.

I copied and pasted these as new layers in PSP, as well as a layer of my signature. I adjusted the size of each one, placed them in position and then Merged all the layers to one.

I saved the large iteration and resized for display in PSP. Saving that I opened it one more time in PhotoPaint. There I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy one more time for a boost to the overall colors. I also compressed the file by 70, as it is a 300 dpi image, smoothing is set to 15 I saved the file once again with these settings.

I have many more pieces of Dover Clip Art Samplers on my external drive, to use for additional Digital Collage Artworks. Also StockVault and Mayang's Textures supply me with many types of backgrounds. Look for more of my Collage work in the near future.

"Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies" Dover Publications - Corel

Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies

"Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies," is the Digital Collage for today. I used my Dover Publications Samplers files for the whole image. I opened the Background in Corel PhotoPaint.

There I applied the Local Equalization tool and the Tone Curve for depth to the floral background. I resampled it to a Medium sized file. I then browsed for more and found the Art Nouveau Butterflies Clip Art (coloring page.)

I opened that in PhotoPaint and also opened up the Art Nouveau Lady, also a Dover Clip Art piece, a model with a hat and dress separately like a paper doll and clothes. I placed the Lady on the new background with the floral and butterflies. I cut out the hat and placed it. Then I did the same with the dress. I grouped the Object (layer) with Create New Object. I then applied the Tone Curve to her for color depth.

I added my signature in blue and bright pink outline. I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy to punch up the colors. I saved this iteration with a new name for the file. At this point the file was 24-bit color at 300 dpi.

I opened the file in Corel PSP Pro X3 to add Image Information: Title, Copyright, Artist, etc. I added the Ornate Frame to the image and applied Saturation Vibrancy to it one more time (set at 33.)

I saved this iteration with the same name. I resized it for display, saving with a different file name.

"Art Deco Plus Art Nouveau Woman - Arch - Chair - Eyes" Corel

Woman - Arch - Chair - Eyes

I scanned in another Plate from Art Deco Designs / Edouard Benedictus' Book as background for this image. I used my Canon MP495 to scan it into Corel PhotoPaint. I browsed in my Dover Publications Sampler folder in Picasa 3.9 and used an Art Nouveau Mucha type Woman for this interior view with a window.

Also I used Dover Clip Art for the Eyes. I erased around this one Eye and applied the property Multiply to it. I then used the Tone Curve on it, duplicated it and flipped it, so I might have two eyes looking in the Window.

I next opened a photograph of a large style Armchair. I used the Scatter Effects tool on it. Then I decreased its color using the Tone Curve tool. I enlarged both the Eyes and Armchair and Woman to fit the interior background. This made them more prominent in the piece.

I merged them all, and added my signature and copyright, saving the large iteration. I resampled the image for display here.

So I ended up with an image which has many differing styles melded into one. A Digital Collage for this days post.

"Rusted Gal Digital Collage" Paint.NET - Corel

Rusted Gal

I began today's creative work by searching my external archives once again. I opened a photograph of a Young Lady in Paint.NET. There I applied the Artistic Ink Sketch without color for a black and white image.

I then searched in my Mayang's Textures folder for some colorful Rust and Paint textures. I found the texture and applied it as a new layer in Paint.NET, saving that image.

I opened with Corel PhotoPaint. Then I began a search through my Dover Publication's Sampler folder for some other collaging ideas. I found the clip art image of the cats and cut and pasted into the image, fit to the image size of the portrait and merged all.

I also found an Art Nouveau design which I placed and flipped vertically, used the Tone Curve to darken and the property Multiply adding that. I also found a group of jewelry pieces and selected a Cameo for an earring. I added that with cutting and pasting, and resized it a bit, placed it on the earlobe and merged.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance and a Film frame.

I added my signature in white by inverting the black and white PNG file. Saving the cropped image at a large size I then resampled to display size.

"Art Nouveau - Gypsy Muse Young Lady" Mayang's Textures - Paint.NET - Corel

Art Nouveau  - Gypsy Muse Young Lady

I was able to get an image of a "Gypsy Muse Young Lady," and decided to use this image as Digital Art.

I opened from Picasa 3.9 with Paint.NET and applied the Oil Paint effect on the image. Setting the paint brush size up and the coarseness setting up for texture in the strokes.

I went to my external hard drive folder for Mayang's Textures of an Art Nouveau floral. I rotated it and fit to size to the Young Lady image. I used Corel PhotoPaint to do this. I also used the property Multiply to add transparency. I adjusted the Opacity to let the Young Lady show through. This added much with a Art Nouveau texture.

I used Filter Forge Photo Effects Vibrance to add punch to the colors and applied the Tone Curve for depth. I added my signature in white and resampled to display size.

"Art Nouveau Digital Collage" Corel - Plus

Art Nouveau Digital Collage

Yesterday I enjoyed using my Dover Publications Sampler images for an Art Deco image. I decided as I browsed the folder in Picasa 3.9 to create an Art Nouveau Digital Collage.

I opened in Corel PhotoPaint. I selected a Floral background and a border piece and cut and pasted the border onto the Floral. I duplicated it four times after applying the Multiply property, for the left hand side. Continuing my browsing and came upon two woman's faces in circular form, still Art Nouveau style.

I cut and pasted these onto the Floral background. I used the masking tool to cut them out and using the Multiply property again on them for transparency. I resized them to balance the composition. I merged these to the background.

I opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 to resize, add a matte and a Golden Picture Frame. This image was saved and reopened in PhotoPaint. I added my signature and resampled it to display size.

I really am a fan of Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles and enjoy creating Digital Collages using Picasa and my Corel programs. I have books of plates of both that I can scan in and use as well. I keep my playful attitude toward creating Digital Artworks.

"Self-Portrait Digital Collage" Corel - Plus - Logitech

gatzkART - Self-Portrait

Today I updated my Logitech C260 Camera's software and was playing around with it. I took a couple of hi-res photographs of myself. I decided to do a self-portrait collage with one of them.

I opened the photograph with Corel PSP Pro X3 and applied the workflow I use for digital camera photographs, Noise Removal and Smart Photo Fix. I also applied the Skin Softening tool to the photograph.

I saved that iteration. I opened both Corel PhotoPaint and CorelDRAW and also Picasa 3.9. I used Picasa to locate a Art Nouveau background and other clip art pieces, in my Dover Clip Art folder. I used the Local equalization on the background. Added another yellow based floral on it, adjusting the Opacity.

I opened the self-portrait and cut my self out of the image and copied that to the clipboard. I pasted it on the background and used Multiply and Opacity for transparency.

I used a drop cap "G" for the word "GatzkART," and used DRAW for the text. I also altered the Opacity of the word and the Tone Curve of the capital "G" changing it's depth (I also changed it to green to match the "atzkART" portion.

Using my Dover Clip Art Samplers I added the women and a couple of designs in black using the property Multiply and the Tone Curve to darken them.

I added a small green border in PhotoPaint using Papersize, and then my signature in black. I merged all layers (objects) to the background to finish.

"Design for Life - Live for Design" Again - CorelDRAW - Plus

Design for Life - Live for Design [click on for larger view]

Continuing with the "Design for Life - Live for Design" phrase I selected in CorelDRAW the fonts Bodoni MT Black and Arial Narrow. Using them I created all capital rectangles of the phrase. I duplicated the Bodoni phrase and used Red as my main color and a black shadow behind.

I just used Arial Narrow on its own to complete the phrase. I duplicated again with the phrase placed within the other making one large rectangle. Grouping that I duplicated it and made it a smaller size. I ended up with the phrase five times.

I browsed for an Art Nouveau background in my Dover Publications Samplers and found one I liked. I lined up the five to dominate the floral design. I grouped the entire thing and copied it to the clipboard.

I opened as New from the Clipboard in Corel PhotoPaint. I saved that iteration as a jpg file. There I used the plugin Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge to add a linen effect to the piece. I had also added my signature very small in the lower left hand corner.  Saving that as a different large iteration I resampled in PhotoPaint for display size and saved another file.

"Design For Life - Live For Design" Art Nouveau - CorelDRAW - Plus

Design for Life - Live for Design [click for larger view]

I browsed in my Dover Publications folder using Picasa 3.9 and found this Art Nouveau floral square. I copied to the clipboard and pasted into CorelDRAW. In DRAW I lengthened it into a rectangle and converted to a bitmap. I adjusted the colors to a subtle Sepia tone overall.

I selected the Font AucoinExtBl, then designed the two phrases: Design For Life and Live For Design. I have used these before for image pieces. I applied Force Justify to create a square look for the phrases, adjusting line spacing to 70% the original.

I grouped the objects and copied to the clipboard and opened with New from Clipboard in Corel PhotoPaint. There I resampled for display size and added my signature in white.

"Old-Fashioned Transportation" Corel - Plus

Old-Fashioned Transportation

A quickly imagined and executed image for today. "Old-Fashioned Transportation," is the Theme. I have multiple pieces of Clip Art from Dover Publications and I chose two for this image. Browsing my Dover folder in Picasa 3.9 I found a great Art Nouveau piece with differing colors and accents.

I opened this image with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted using Detailed Watercolor settings. I saved this iteration and reopened with Corel PSP Pro X3 to resize it to a display size.

Saving again I opened it with Corel PhotoPaint where I copied to the clipboard from Picasa the Transportation Clip Art page, also from Dover. I pasted as New From Clipboard into Corel PhotoPaint. I painted out the little numbers from under each little piece of clip art and removed the page designation. I then copied and pasted it onto the background of painted Art Nouveau.

I then typed the theme in all capitals still in PhotoPaint. I saved that iteration. Reopening in PSP Pro X3 I added the signature with Visible Watermark and then the Platinum Picture Frame to finish off the image.

As we recently compared Old-Fashioned Communication to today's we compare Transportation today. The more things change the more they stay the same. (sic) We have faster cars with computer run installations. But accidents still happen, our batteries wear down, tires wear out or are damaged, we need glass repairs, Insurance, and Parking. Cars repairs and upkeep still is around and more and more cars are on the road each year as other countries build infrastructure for them.

We are dependent upon our Transportation - Automobiles, Trucks, Buses (need I mention Subways) to get around. When we are without a vehicle we become dependent upon the grace of others for such movement from one place to the other. Car pooling is a good thing and sharing a ride, safely, with others can express kindness. Though sharing is a kindness, I don't recommend picking up hitchhikers these days, sorry!

1,002nd Post to gatzkART! We still don't have a WINNER for our CONTEST as of yet. So I am extending the time limit to a week from the 1,000th Post. Enter and win!

"Casanovas' Flowers Lie!" Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Casanovas' Flowers Lie!

I used Picasa 3.9 to browse to my Mayang's Textures folder and selected a painted rusty texture. I opened it with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted using Impressionistic Hatch Random brushstrokes set at 80% size and 40% Amount.

I saved that file and opened with Corel PhotoPaint, rotating it 90 degrees right. This gave me a portrait size texture to work with. I used Picasa again and went to my Dover Clip Art folder and searched for images there.

I found a floral for coloring and I copied and pasted it onto the texture. I resized it and applied the Tone Curve to darken it. Continuing to search in Picasa, Dover Clip Art I found a grouping of women and selected the one who looked sad and in despair. I changed the color with Image, Color Replace and placed it on the texture and floral.

I wanted to play upon the sadness shown and searched further in Dover Clip Art. I found the man's face that looked like a Casanova. I copied and pasted him onto the texture, used feather curves on him and altered his Opacity.

I finished off the piece with the Art Nouveau frame from Dover as well. Added the word's that "Casanova's Flowers Lie!" I adjusted the Opacity of the lettering.

I merged all layers and added my signature. I saved that large file. I reopened the file with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added the mat, which I cropped, then the black frame. I saved that file then resized for display here.

Listening --- Local TV News

"No. 1 In Style" Art Nouveau - Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

No. 1 In Style

Selecting an Art Nouveau pattern from "Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs by R. Beauclair I began today's image, a Digital Collage. Using my Canon MP495 I scanned in the background pattern into Corel PhotoPaint. There I applied the Tone Curve for a slight boost to the color. Using the Tune Blur, Directional Smooth I blended the colors a tad.

I searched my Dover Clip Art for a Vintage Woman's clothing style to fit the Flapper style. I applied that to the background centering her.

Next I referred to old magazines for the No.1 and the words IN and STYLE. I placed them using the Color Burn property, with the exception of the black type there I used the property Multiply.

"Meet the Happy New Me, No. 1 In Style," became the theme of the over all piece. I saved the large file and then resampled for display here with my signature.

Listening to --- Sheryl Crowe --- Mother Nature's Son

"Money" Digital Collage - Art Nouveau - Corel PhotoPaint

MONEY

I am following up on yesterday's image with another Digital Collage. This time for the background I selected an Art Nouveau pattern from the book, "Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs by R. Beauclair." I scanned this in with my Canon MP495 into Corel PhotoPaint.

There I applied the Tone Curve and Filter Forge's Photo Effect Vibrance to give the colors some punch. From there I began to add to the background bits and pieces of scanned material. I used the theme, "There's More To Life Than Money."

I kept the Digital Collage simple and straightforward. After I merged the pieces all with the background I ran the Tune Blur, Directional Blur twice to smooth out the image.

Still in PhotoPaint I went to Image, Paper Size and added a 40 pixel brown border to frame the image. I saved the large iteration with my signature added, and resampled for display.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Draw Closer

"Art Nouveau Grunge" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Filter Forge - Dover Clip Art

Art Nouveau Grunge

Earlier today in my workflow and posting. Using Picasa 3.9 I browsed to my Dover Publications Sampler folder and looked for some Art Nouveau clip art. I found a great floral background and opened with Corel PhotoPaint. I adjusted the size by increasing to 128dpi and used that for the background.

I browsed some more and found a couple of pieces, one of a woman's face in a circular style, and the second an embellishment, both Art Nouveau. I copied and pasted them and used the property Multiply on them for transparency. Then I applied Replace Color on both using a purplish or puce color.

Before I merged them I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effect Grunge variation changing some of the settings to enhance the stain, lessen the grunge. I merged all pieces and added my signature. I saved this large file and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

Here I added a wooden like mat and the golden frame using the Picture Frame feature. I saved that iteration and then resized it in PSP for display here.

Listening --- Rusty Truck --- Cold Ground

"Brain Drain" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint Plus

Brain Drain

Hectic times mean less time for blogging and It's been hectic here lately. Before running some errands today (printer needed ink as usual) I opened up Picasa 3 and browsed to my Mayang's Textures folder and found one to begin a piece.

I opened in Corel's PhotoPaint and upped the color saturation and used the Tone Curve for depth on the texture background. In Picasa I went to my Dover Publications folder and selected some clipart for this image.

I choose the head shot of the brain, A clock mechanism, and a measuring tool. I also found an Art Nouveau banner.

I used various methods of placing these into a digital collage onto the textured background. I had to cut and paste and erase according to each piece. I used the property Add for the banner and typed in the words for some humor to the image. "Brain Drain."

After I did my play on words, I saved the large file and opened that with Corel's PSP Pro X3 and added the stained glass frame. I resized the image and saved for display with my signature added.

I placed a QR Code in the image as well, for some fun. It really directs you to me and my blog and a bit more information.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Blind Guide

"Steampunk Experiment II" Corel PhotoPaint

Steampunk Experiment II

I discovered this diamonds light grunge texture online, I love the colors. I opened it with Corel's PhotoPaint and went to Picasa 3 and browsed to my Leonardo folder for some diagrams and lettering. These are DaVinci drawings. I enlarged them and darkened them,after copying and pasting into the background, using the Tone Curve. I applied the property Color Burn to them each, lining them up. I then searched my Dover Publications sampler folder and found four more pieces to add to my Steampunk Theme. 

I used Color Burn on the flute players and Subtract on the car, I made the car smaller and lined it up with the DaVinci drawing. I added the harp player keeping the color. I feathered that piece. The Art Nouveau woman in the circle I added next shrinking it to size.

I like the DaVinci influence for Steampunk, adding his genius makes for a great image. The music themed images and the car don't fit at all until you add the Steampunk Theme.

I added a 70 pixel brown border and used Filter Forge's film frame to frame the piece. This was all to size from the beginning size of the background texture. (Adding 70 pixels made it slightly larger.) All in all not the largest image I've worked on. I completed it with my digital signature.

Listening --- Jethro Tull --- Thick as a Brick

"The Dancer and Her Mother" Corel PhotoPaint Corel PSP Pro X3

The Dancer and Her Mother

I had gotten this colorful coffee stained crumpled paper texture (off the web) for a background and this is where I began today. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and upped the saturation for a boost to the colors. I browsed in Picasa 3 to my Dover Publications sampler folder. I found these sketches of an old woman and a Dancer and cut them out to place them on the background texture. I used the property Multiply for transparency and applied the Tone Curve to darken the sketches.

I altered their sizes to fit and placed them. Also from Dover I used sketches of hands in the same manner, placing them on the collage. I found an Art Nouveau banner and placed that as the bottom of the piece. I also used some sheet music to match the Dancer theme.

I saved my large file with my signature and opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 where I added the ornate frame. I feel that the ornate frame adds credence to the digital collage process and results. I resized for display here and saved that file.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Dance Away

"And It Was Mine" - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

And It Was Mine

I browsed in Picasa 3 folders to my Dover Publications Clip Art and searched for an Art Nouveau piece. Copying that to the clipboard I then opened CorelDRAW and pasted it into DRAW. I resized the floral clip art and turned to my Journals for some phrase. "And It Was Mine," is what I found.

I incorporated that full phrase using Dauphin font as the typography, which has a pleasant feel to it. I center justified both text excerpts, placing them on the digital page. I added using the rectangle tool two layers of enhancing colors.

I opened PhotoPaint and copied and pasted using File New From Clipboard at 75% the original file size, at 300dpi. I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effect Vibrance on it and then switched to the Grunge effects and added stain and a light frame.

Listening --- Pearl Jam --- I Am Mine

"My New Heroes Are" - Art Nouveau - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint

Heroes

Again in my Journals I found this quote that was written by me in 1994. I opened CorelDRAW and using my Canon MP495 All in One, I scanned in a piece of Art Nouveau design, cropping it from other designs in the scan. The design came from the over-sized book Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs by R. Beauclair. I resized it to fit the page, and used NexusFont to find the Metro Nouveau font for the quote.

I centered the text phrase and added the date to the large file, I grouped the text and background and copied to the clipboard. Opening PhotoPaint I added my signature. I used the Tone Curve for some depth and increased the color saturation just a bit. I resampled for sharing here.

Listening --- Foo Fighters --- My Hero

6 - Note Scales - Art Nouveau - Grunge Collage - PhotoPaint

I enjoy collage and I like the Art Nouveau period, and I like grunge like effects. Using Picasa 3 I browsed my folders for some corresponding pieces.

I found a painted rust background for a beginning. A view of a young lady playing a guitar like instrument complete with Ex Libris, which I subsequently erased. A 12-string guitar and some 6- Note Scales in musical notation. Some of these came from my Dover Publications clipart collection.

I opened PhotoPaint and combined the individual pieces using the object property of Multiply for transparency, with the exception of the musical scales where I used Color Burn.

I did use Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder on the guitar image to reduce it to rough line art, altered it's angle and then added it to the background.

I added a sixty pixel white border then selected it with the wand. After that I applied the 3D Bevel feature to it creating a frame for the collaged image.


Listening --- Beck --- Bottle of Blues