"Tired Man Collage" Paint.NET - Corel

Tired Man Collage

This particular image is of a "Tired Man," with Collage items added for interest. The face is from MorgueFile and the paper texture is from StockVault. The others, the woman, ferns, steampunk balloon, are all from Dover Publications Sampler Clipart. 

I did the majority of the layering and placing of the individual pieces of this little Digital Collage in Paint.NET. I started with the man's portrait, I flipped it horizontally first. Then applied the Outline tool for the reverse color. (It was Black and White to begin with.) I added the colored Paper Texture as a second layer. This placed the Portrait in the upper left hand corner, as the texture was a larger file.

Rather than adjust this I decided to search for some Clipart pieces, to make a Digital collage, on my External Hard Drive. After some time I picked the pieces here at random, hoping the viewer would make up a storyline for the resulting image.

I used Multiply as the transparency property on the layers, including my signature. I did some Curves adjusting still in Paint.NET then saved the large iteration.

I reopened that in Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I boosted the colors with Saturation Vibrancy set at 33, and I again touched it up with Curves for depth. I saved again and opened in PhotoPaint, after adding some Image Information.

In PhotoPaint I resampled the piece for display. Saving the Medium sized image compressed by 75 and smoothing at 33, for display here.

After viewing the image of today, click HOME and scroll down - Please don't forget to View my new video slideshow, a retrospective of some of my 2014 artwork along with a soundtrack of an Original song I wrote and recorded, "Reality Show." It is only vocals and my Seagull 12-String guitar, I wrote the lyrics and used an upbeat chord progression for the song. Simple is sometimes better, I did not add any lead or piano to it. 

Click on it and go to YouTube and like it for me, and comment on the Artwork and the song there if you wish! Thank you.

"Woman and Guitar in a Field with Textures" Corel

Woman and Guitar in a Field with Textures

Today I selected two Free photographs from StockVault. One is the Woman with the Guitar in a Field that you see here. I used Corel PSP Pro X3, opening the original photograph, and used two Free Textures from StockVault as well.

I first applied the Threshold tool to the image for a lot of white space. I then used a Vintage Paper Texture for the sepia toning. I added a Stone Wall Texture for some more interesting contrasts. I then used the Wand tool to make selections of the white space and added a light yellow to the new layer I created from the selections.

I added my inverted signature as a layer, as well as used the Image Information tool to add Title, Copyright, etc.

I saved the large iteration after I merged all layers to one. I then decided I wanted to use a light border and a golden frame to complete the image. I saved again and then resized the image for display.

All work was completed in Corel PSP Pro X3 as noted in the EXIF information. I am getting better at using that program, it can do many more things than I have learned at this point. I am looking forward to learning even more. As I have just invested in a faster Computer I cannot afford to upgrade my programs I use for digital creative artworks. I have to pay off the computer in full before investing in newer programs from Corel.

"Bearded Smiling Man with Texture" Corel

Bearded Smiling Man

Due to a truly busy schedule I have not posted in many days. Having some time today allowed me to create this image and post it.

I got the free Man's Portrait from MorgueFile's site and the Vintage stained paper Texture from StockVault's Free Texture Friday. I opened both in Corel PhotoPaint and cropped them and then pasted as New Image from Clipboard.

I took the Man and I used the Threshold tool on it for more white space, also it highlighted his beard and eyes and mouth. I took that and copied to the clipboard and pasted it as a layer onto the Vintage Paper Texture. I used the layer property Multiply to create the transparency, allowing the Texture to show through.

I used the Tone Curve tool to add depth to the paper color. I added a black border using the Papersize tool. I then added my inverted white signature with drag and drop from a open folder window. Resizing the signature to fit the large iteration, I merged the layers to one, I then saved it. I resampled it to display size for the blog and then began my posting and workflow explanation. I used only two layers for this image, not counting my signature.

"Grunge Steampunk Woman Portrait" Corel

Grunge Steampunk Woman Portrait
Vintage Paper

I decided to create a similar image as the recent posts I have done. I chose another Digital Visual Collage with StockVault Woman Portrait and Dover Publications SteamPunk coloring page, along with a Vintage Paper Texture background.

I opened the Young Woman photograph in Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Threshold tool for the white space. I cropped the portrait to fit the Vintage Paper Texture, selecting only a close up of her face.

I then chose the Dover Publication coloring page of a SteamPunk Octopus-like creature with a great border. I applied the property of Multiply to this and fit to the image.

I next used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge on the merged image and that added a great patina to the image. It also deepened the colors creating additional mood.

I added my signature in white and saved the image at 300 DPI. Re-sampling to fit my post I concluded my workflow.