"Where We Live" PicsArt App Collage

I am not sleepy, yet. So playing with the new Tablet and the PicsÀrt App, I have created a collage.
It's probably too large for the blog. I'm still trying out the different Apps.

These photos are of our own yard, and  part of the neighbors yard,  too.

I altered the curves for some depth of the colors. I did not do much more.

"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.

"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.

"Leftovers from the 2013 Dream Cruise" Collage - Picasa - Corel

Vintage Tidbits Collage

I had some more photographs left over from the 2013 Woodward Ave Dream Cruise, I opened Picasa 3.9 and selected four, two with headlights, two back ends, of some of the cars I had photographed.

I picked build Collage in Picasa, made some appropriate selections for the Digital Collage and had Picasa make it. Being that the overall collage was a large piece I opened Corel PhotoPaint and resampled to a workable size.

Once in PhotoPaint I applied the Adjust, Local Equalization tool for texture and an HDR look. Getting back color depth and punch I used the Tone Curve Luminosity curve and pulled it down in the center of the graph. Then I selected Effects, Filter Forge's Photo Effects, Vibrancy for additional punch to the colors.

I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I applied the Sharpen High Pass Sharpen Overlay. Back in PhotoPaint I added my signature in white, and saved again with some compression for display.

"Series 66 #5" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Series 66 #5

"Series 66 #5," image was created with the same programs and hardware I used in the previous images in this group. This all Digital Collage was done using Corel Products.

I am keeping this post short as it is later than I usually post and evening time is quickly running away.

If you want to review techniques please refer to the other "Series 66," posts for details.

Listening --- Joe Cocker --- Feeling Alright

"Series 66 #1" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Series 66 #1

"Series 66 #1," is a Digital Collage done using scanning with my Canon MP495 and a number of different sources. I created this face using the disparate parts from these sources. It is much like regular collage work only you cut and paste on the computer. I used Corel's PhotoPaint and Canon's scanning software.

I have a man's nose and mouth, drawn woman's eyes that I duplicated and flipped, a man's hair and ears and a woman's eyebrows. The jaw line was taken from another source and carefully trimmed and sized for the image.

I added the distinctive type of DaVinci for some texture at the bottom of the image, with a drink and a symbol on top of the writing.I saved the large file and resampled for display after adding my signature.

Listening --- Bob Dylan --- Series of Dreams

"Acoustic Magazine No. 2" Fake Cover - Corel PhotoPaint

Acoustic Magazine No. 2

I liked doing the first "issue" of "Acoustic Magazine," so I did a second. I scanned in ripped pieces and cutouts from old magazines and created issue No. 2., though both lack real magazine content. I only do fake covers.

I used Corel PhotoPaint for the project and after placing all pieces and text phrases I merged then used the Tone Curve for some depth to the colors. I did use the same fonts as the previous fake cover.

I saved the large file before resampling for displaying here. I think it is a nice parody. Some tongue in cheek humor here for you to enjoy.

Listening --- Alan Jackson --- Gone Country

"Duress" - Art Deco - Chivalry - Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Duress

I created a digital collage from some Dover Clip Art samplers for "Duress." I browsed my Dover Publications folder in Picasa 3 and found an Art Deco background I liked. I increased the size of the Art Deco piece by 96dpi. Then I selected the armor placing it and borders top and bottom with Victorian like scrolling. I liked the simple design.

The armor reminded me of the threat of force and and Chivalry, along with "Duress," coming to my mind. I used a font style named Berlin Sans FB Demi for the text and placed it right in the middle of the collage. I made sure I had the right definition and selected the text and copied and pasted it upon the larger word, using the same font.

I used the Tone Curve to add depth and also upped the saturation before adding the text and definition. I did all this in PhotoPaint, adding for a finish my signature and a twenty pixel border of black.

Listening --- Pat Benatar --- Invincible

"Self Worth" - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

Self Worth

I've been scouring some of my Journals of writings for Poetry to publish here as grunge posters. I ran across this one from March 24th, 1996 entitled "Self Worth." 

I opened CorelDRAW and NexusFont, a font finding program and found this one called Century Schoolbook Bold Italic. In my Journal the poem was written with the verses angling down the page. So I duplicated the style here with type.

I went and found a grunge background from my folders in Picasa 3 and copied and pasted it, then rotated it for a portrait display. I placed it behind the text.

Next I wanted a shadow behind the main text phrases so I grouped the text in it's angled state and duplicated it, using a yellow on brown. Grouping the background and the text I copied to the clipboard and opened with File New From Clipboard in PhotoPaint at 75% it's original size for working purposes.

I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge to the image to make it stained and framed. I added my signature, saving the large file then resampling to display size.

Listening --- Archie Roach --- Life is Worth Living

"Multiple Exposure Self Portrait" - Picasa 3 - PSP Pro X3 - Painter 11 - PhotoPaint

Self-Portrait

I began this image in Picasa 3 where I selected numerous thumbnails in the Faces folder of myself. I used the Ctrl Click to select them, then I used the Collage feature of Picasa 3 and superimposed all of them to one image. It was like making a multiple exposure photograph. I selected Create Collage 8.5x11 and let the program work. Saving that large file I continued.

I next took the Collage into PSP Pro X3 and applied the Smart Photo fix tool and the Hue/Saturation tool Vibrancy. Then I Posterized it, saving that iteration. I opened with Painter 11 from Picasa 3 and began painting a clone with Camel Oil brushes varying the size. I only took some of the detail and painted the line work.

After I was pretty satisfied with the painting, I selected a guitar texture and painted with the Chalk brush, which gives the background a touch of texture.

In PhotoPaint I selected the Tone curve for some depth to the already full colors. And then I resampled it to a 150dpi image sized for display here. I added my signature and saved that file.

Listening --- Led Zeppelin --- Good Times, Bad Times

"Up Close and Personal" - Digital Collage - Picasa 3 - PSP Pro X3 - PhotoPaint

Up Close and Personal

Busy day, short post. I created this collage in Picasa 3 of close up photographs of custom cars. I applied my High Contrast workflow to the image for display here. I used PhotoPaint and PSP Pro X3 for the effects and Filter Forge for the film frame.

I really like how easy it is to create these types of collages in Picasa 3, you browse to your folder containing the images and use Ctrl Click to select them from all the photographs. Then you can pick the type of collage you want like the Mosaic one I chose here. You can shuffle the photographs til you get a balance you like and then click Create Collage. I selected what it calls HDTV size and dimensions.

Digital Collage - Change of Face - PhotoPaint - PSP Pro X3

Change of Face

Late last night I was up so I worked on this digital collage. I scanned in some pieces from old magazines, using my Canon MP495 All-in-one. The dpi was at 300 for each scan, so they were very full of color and texture. I also added a butterfly clip art piece from Dover Publications Clip Art and a vector "dance" piece I did in 1996. So, old parts new collage.

I opened them all in PhotoPaint and cut and selected the pieces to place. I used a peacock as the background and added the face and the differing eyes and mouth. I endeavored to make an interesting image, as I do so enjoy digital collage creating. The title comes from my altering the facial features with differing pieces, thus: "Change of Face."

I saved the file in iterative saves at differing sizes. I opened the last save from Picasa 3 with Corel's PSP Pro X3. Here I looked for something delightfully digital. I found the framing section and found this classic museum like frame. I added it and it gives the image a distinctive flare. I did resample in PhotoPaint for the final image to show here on the blog.

Listening --- The Temptations --- Smiling Faces Sometimes

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

Painter 11 Portrait - Corel PhotoPaint - Picasa 3 - Filter Forge

Click for Larger Image

I recently spent some time with my Grandson and took a few Photographs of him. I browsed in Picasa 3 to the dated folder containing these and selected one closeup. I went to Create Picture Collage in Picasa 3 and created a large file of the closeup as a single image in the collage.

I opened the image in Painter 11 and did a Quick Clone to duplicate the image ready to paint. Using the Auto Van Gogh brush I applied it to the clone. Afterward I wanted to push the background to the back visually so I chose the Grainy Water Blender and painted the background with it.

I decided it need more grain so I selected a Suminagashi 2 Grainagashi brush and painted on the background with the clone tab selected.  I also applied the Soft Cloner Brush to the eyes and then used the Grainagashi brush around the eyes and mouth and nostrils.

To bring out more clarity in detail for the eyes I selected the Straight cloner brush and painted the iris and pupil.

I saved this very large file as a jpg format. I closed Painter 11 and using Picasa 3 went to the folder where I had saved it and opened with PhotoPaint. I resampled the image for the web. Using Filter Forge's frames I added a small frame variation with rounded corners and three colors, adjusting the width of each color. I saved that file as a jpg with my signature as an iterative save.

Listening --- Led Zeppelin --- The Rain Song

Overcoat - 223 - Firehose - Store Front - Book - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint

Click for Larger Image

Busy again tomorrow I have posted a second time today. I have been scavenging pieces of found art for collage work. I discovered these images torn from a large format LAN magazine from the late 1980's.

I opened PhotoPaint and scanned in five images using the built in Tone Curve to deepen the color of each scan. I copied to the clipboard and pasted into CorelDRAW and resized placed each one into a collage. I placed a black rectangle around them. Grouping them I copied to the clipboard again and opened as New from Clipboard into PhotoPaint.

I added the text naming each piece after it's subject matter with the exception of the "Open" image. I used the typefaces Orpheus Demo - Overcoat; Time New Yorker - 223; FuturaBlack BT - firehose; and DirtyUncle - book, adding each one to the finished piece.

I resized the image for display and added my signature to complete the collage.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- After Midnight Cover

A Journey Called Collage - Lesson #4 - Corel Painter 11

Click for Larger Image

My taking the course A Journey Called Collage at Digital Art Academy afforded me a chance to learn more of the functions of Corel Painter 11. I thoroughly enjoyed this self-paced class and was rewarded with new knowledge.

I selected to do a Self-portrait collage as my final piece and that is what I am displaying today. I used many layers and textures for this piece in Painter. I also used composite ways to place the images in place.

Since I am a guitar player the guitar was included as a backdrop and in the images used. If you want to know the techniques, you'll have to take the class!

We lost my boyhood images in a fire so I used images from 1969, the year I graduated from High School which is far back enough, and more recent photographs.

Tweet this if you like the results, and come and visit gatzkART! often and view and read about my Digital Visual Art and Music.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Art for Arts Sake

Vintage Dresses - Vectors - CorelDRAW - PhotoPaint

Click for Larger Image

A Vintage plus Vector graphic image is the focus of today's piece. I opened Picasa 3 and browsed my recent pictures and found a catalog display of some vintage dresses from my Dover Sampler. I took the image and opened in PhotoPaint and applied the Image> Transform> Threshold> to create the black and white base image.

I duplicated the image and filled it with red. I then took the back and white image and copied and pasted it to the red filled background. Applying the property Multiply I got rid of the white and merged the two together.

Once I had the red and black piece I copied to the clipboard, opened CorelDRAW and pasted it into a new landscape workspace. I used the freehand drawing tool to create the first yellow curve. I adjusted the curve with the bezier tool to make it more uniform.

I then duplicated it once, shrank it down to size to fit within the other curve then using duplicate I created the other curves automatically. I added the yellow orb and grouped them all together. I duplicated that grouping and rotated it to fit the opposite corner.

I grouped the entire image and copied it to the clipboard. switching to PhotoPaint I opened it with File> New from Clipboard>, added my name and copyright in Arial Rounded MT Bold.

I deliberately kept the image simple using only bright colors to make the black fashion standout. I saved the larger image and resampled for display here.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Hello, Hello

Digital Art Academy Digital Collage in Painter Lesson 2

My second lesson Digital Collage piece is being shared today. Digital Art Academy's Journey in Collage is taking me places I have not yet gone in Corel Painter 11. I am enjoying the making of collages as I always have liked the process.

Learning new techniques is much fun, along with their own frustrations on doing them correctly. I am enjoying the lesson plan for working in Painter. I like learning new things!

I selected a number of pieces of Dover Clip Art for placing in this collage. And used some of the artwork supplied by DAA.

Listening --- dj matrix --- Castles in the Sky

Goal 700 Posts Hit - Art Deco - Urgent - Design for Life

Art Deco is the basis for today's image. I scanned in a design plate from Stephen Calloway's Art Deco Interior and Panel Designs. I started with a very large image which I cropped in PhotoPaint.

I added the URGENT stamp, the stacked In Box, and the Woman Designer as well as the Hand Drawing with a Quill Pen from North Light's Spot Illustrations clip art book. Each one scanned in and then cropped and altered with the object property Multiply for transparency.

The URGENT stamp was black and white and I used the Color Replace tool to make it red. I also cut out the right side border design and added it to the left side by cut and paste to balance out the panel.

I added the text using the font 321Impact. I at first thought of the adage Design or Die but changed that to a positive note of Design for Life.

I boosted the colors with the Tone Curve and added a Filter Forge film frame.

A recent visit to Border's Bookstore and viewing of Art magazines has inspired me to do some of these colorful digital collages. Stampington's Somerset Digital Studio was full of impressive design collages that I really enjoyed reading about.

Listening --- Peter Frampton --- I'm In You

Creativity - Art Nouveau - Collage - PhotoPaint - CorelDRAW

Today's image began with a scan of an Art Nouveau pattern from R. Beauclair's large format book of patterns. I scanned it in as a large file and opened it in PhotoPaint, where I cropped the pattern I wanted. I used the Tune Blur Directional Blur to soften the image for the background.

I next scanned in the woman's thoughtful gaze piece from North Light's Spot Illustrations clip art book and placed it. I used the object (or layer) property of Multiply for transparency.

To add flavor I selected a Victorian Decorative Initial from a Dover clip art series book and scanned that in for the word Creativity. I added the phrase with another font in PhotoPaint.

I also chose another spot illustration from North Light, the hand and the stop watch to give a feeling of the racing thoughts of the creative process that I have when working on a new piece.

I then took the whole piece into CorelDRAW and added the color filled right hand border, filling the rectangles with sky and color. This added a more up to date feel to the piece. I used the black line to outline the image.

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Now playing: Eric Clapton - Bell Bottom Blues
via FoxyTunes