"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.

"In the Spotlight with Tim Behrens" Corel - Plus

Tim Behrens In the Spotlight [click for larger view]

I watched the "In the Spotlight with Tim Behrens" on YouTube and made some screen captures with Picasa 3.9 of his performance. This show is put on by +Artists in the Plus as a Google+ Hangout and streamed to YouTube for viewing after.

The interview was as full of information about Tim's many activities and, of course, his music. He is an accomplished guitarist and pianist, as well as experimenting with Tech gear. His songwriting expertise was featured as he played to the Google+ Hangout audience.

I took one of the screen captures and opened it in Corel PhotoPaint where I cropped it and save as a working jpg file. I reopened from Picasa with Corel PSP Pro X3 and resized the file to a larger work file.

I applied the Digital Camera Noise Removal and the Smart Photo Fix tools to prep the image. I added some Vibrancy with Saturation boosting the colors about a third. Saving that iteration I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and used the Classic Oil setting with Canvas paper. I auto painted the image. Then I used the Image Luminance to add in Surface Texture. I saved that iteration and from Picasa reopened with PSP Pro X3 and added my signature and a jagged edge to the image. Finishing it off with a black border.

If you would like more information and/or to watch the show here are the links:

http://timbehrens.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob6Qq3Bbe3g

"Digital Ink 12-String Guitars Collage" Paint.NET - Corel

Digital Ink 12-String Guitars Collage [click for larger image]

I used multiple photographs of a Drama that I took in 2006. In Picasa 3.9 I created a Superimposed Collage of them. This blended them all into a color filled image with indistinct characters and letters. I opened it next in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted them using the Impressionistic settings. This gave me a good working painterly background for a collage of guitars. I saved this large iteration.

Next I searched for and selected two "12-String Guitars," images. I opened with Paint.NET and used the Ink Sketch with no color and a boost to the inking. I copied and pasted these into Corel PhotoPaint onto the background I made before. I duplicated the guitars and carefully placed them in rows, reversing them as I went.

Using the Font Bleeding Cowboys I typed the title. I used the Effects, Texture, Plastic tool for the three dimensional look of the title. I merged all and saved the large file with my signature. I resampled it for display size and saved that piece.

I used the plug-in Filter Forge's Frames to add a light film frame to complete the image and saved it one more time.

"Digital Collage Painted Martin Guitar" Paint.NET - Corel Painter

Digital Collage Painted Martin Guitar

I selected a "Martin Guitar," photograph from Picasa 3.9 and opened it with Corel PSP Pro X3. There I applied the Smart Photo Fix to it upping the color and softening it. I added some hatching to the image surrounding the guitar and saved the file.

From Picasa I opened with Paint.NET and used the Collage Paint tool to create the next version of the image. Still recognizable as a guitar I saved that file and opened with Corel Painter 11. I then painted the brushstrokes by hand, using the Artists, Sargent brush set for cloning, though I was not cloning at the time. I outlined the guitar and the framing using this brush. I saved that iteration.

Next I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and went two iterations back to the PSP image in Picasa. I copied that to the clipboard and pasted it onto the painted collaged guitar. Using the property Multiply I added back in details of the guitar. I merged these together added my signature in white and saved another iteration.

"Paisley Rectangles" Dover Clip Art - Mayang's Textures - Corel

Paisley Rectangles [click for larger image]

Late post this evening. I browsed to my Recent image folder in Picasa 3.9 and reminded myself I had gotten these four "Paisley," images from my Dover Publication Samplers. I first attempted to use CorelTRACE to create a vector image of the lower left hand image to color in with CorelDRAW. I soon found out it was a tedious job of patient work.

So I browsed to my Mayang's Textures and selected a greens and browns texture. I opened that with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and painted it with the Impressionistic settings Basic paper, Light Contrast color. This gave me a large work space for the paisley images.

Saving that I opened it with Corel PhotoPaint and from Picasa 3.9 I copied and pasted the paisley images one at a time. I rotated each one to lay on it's side to allow all four to share the space. I resized them to fit and used the Tone Curve to darken the line work. Then I merged all.

I saved that and then resampled to a display size and applied my signature to the work. I Like paisley work and Impressionistic work as well, so I enjoyed my play with both styles mixed.