"Yellow Burnt Guitars Steampunk Grunge" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint Plus

Yellow Guitars Steampunk Grunge

Today' image is built out of a number of pieces. I started with a scratched Yellow metal paint texture from Mayang's Textures for the background. I added a quad guitar piece, which I used the Color Burn property on. Then I added some sheet music that I got from my Dover Publications Sampler folder.

I also found a scrolled Sign in the Dover Clip Art and added that using the property Multiply, enlarging it to be prominent. I went to my Leonardo folder for the Head and cut and pasted that into the piece. I added an old camera, a sausage hand cranked tool, a measuring tool and the couple at a table. These also came from my Dover Clip Art.

I added my signature and saved the large file, resampled for display here all in Corel PhotoPaint. Of course, I used Picasa 3.9 for browsing and selecting the pieces for the image.

Please feel free to read my new additions to the blog, my "About" page, which is an upgraded discussion explaining who and what I'm about. And the "My Art For Sale" page which describes how you can collect a piece of my artwork printed as a poster or on products. Thanks for your interest!

Listening --- Edward Sparks --- I Won't Go There

"It's A Mannequin" HDR Cinema - Picasa 3.9 - Corel PSP Pro X3 - Corel PhotoPaint

HDR Cinema Mannequin

Browsing in Picasa 3.9 I saw this photograph of a mannequin's face that I once had painted in Painter 8. I was the original image before I painted it. I decided to play with the image. In Picasa 3.9 I applied the HDR effect and made some adjustments to it in strength and radius. I then applied the Cinema effect which gave me this narrowly focused view of the face and it's angular features. I ended up with an Art Deco appearance to the piece.

I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and resized it to a larger size then used a film frame and then the ornate frame features on it. I saved the large file and opened with Corel PhotoPaint. Here I added my signature and used the Tone Curve just a bit for depth. I resampled the image to display here on the blog.

I really like Picasa 3.9's newer features and it makes it simpler to get a good HDR effect, as well as other effects. I did find out that as long as my external drive is connected I can add the My Pictures folder to be searched by Picasa and it would add all my saved photographs and images. I don't leave the external drive connected at all time so I have not done this as of yet. But it is a possibility to do so.

Listening --- Guess Who --- She's Come Undone

"Acoustic Magazine No.5" Fake Cover - Corel PhotoPaint - Picasa 3.9

Acoustic Magazine No.5

Yesterday I worked on this piece. "Acoustic Magazine No.5," is another parody of a faked magazine cover. It is essentially a Digital Collage that pretends to be a magazine cover. I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to my Mayang's Textures folder for a background texture. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and began browsing for more pieces to make up this cover.

I used scanned in images from my Canon MP495 All in One. On the background I used the Tone Curve for depth and a bit of increased saturation. I copied, pasted, erased and placed the images. I gave the main guitar player Elvis Costello like glasses and eyes and added the shoulders to the arms and guitar.

I used bright colors as accents to the blue in the background for my text boxes. I used the fonts Bleeding Cowboys, and Arial, as well as one I believe was Avantgarde MdBt. I centered by eye and dragged the text to fit the box sizes for a elongated style.

Listening --- Otis Taylor --- Mexican Cowboy

"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

"Oriental Grunge" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Dover Clip Art

Oriental Grunge

Late in the day, I love this floral grunge piece I used for the background. I opened with Corel's PhotoPaint and built this "Oriental Grunge," Digital Collage. After selecting the background I browsed my Dover Publication's Sampler folder in Picasa 3.9. I found the pieces you see here.

I cut out the woman from an image and pasted her after using the Tone Curve and boosting the color saturation of her. I also found the large plant like piece which offsets the woman. I applied the property Subtract to that and placed it in the collage.

I found another oriental lady and placed it as a "picture on the wall." I then, still using Dover Clip Art placed the scrolling frame. I put a black border using Papersize, centering it around the image.

Oh, yes, I must mention I did my clean up of my Hard Drive, making certain I kept the image folders I wanted for such a work as today. Textures, Clip Art, and some other items for inspiration. I saved all the photographs and images on my external Hard Drive and still have them for use if so required, but I regained a good amount of storage back on my work PC's Drive.

My workflow will alter a little to accommodate this change. Now if I can figure a way to have Picasa browse my external Drive, hmmm.

Listening --- Freddy Jones Band --- Better Tomorrow