Butterfly

Butterfly

I put two faces together to make a butterfly shape. The red blotches remind me a bit of an earlier lips piece called "Pops" (Surreal Lips, Feb 08). Again, I thought that I was done with this face. I will be done with it when I am done.

Fury

Fury

I thought I was done with this face, but I am posting yet another. This background was initially done with the darker reds etc. on the bottom. When I added the face, I transposed the background layer and flipped it vertically. The red looks like flowing hair.

Still More Faces

Face with Creature


Creature


Pink Tartan


Combo


Combo 2

Still playing with the face in profile. The "Creature" background is an abstract drawing-painting that I worked on tonight. I didn't plan for it to have the "face" added as a layer, but it ended up with one anyway. The black lines and the soft erased areas work with the lines and whites of the face.

"Pink Tartan" is a result of smearing around the colors and erasing out areas of the under layers. I don't see any of the original background showing in it. Not sure I even like this one. I don't use this blog as a place to put my best work, though. I see it as a place to post all of the stuff that I am working on at the time. What works is a decision for later -- if I ever put them on my website or print them for a show. For now...

"Combo" and Combo 2" are a combination of "Punk" from yesterday and "Pink Tartan." Not sure the hair works, but I like the dark red contrasting with the rest of the piece. In the second one, I smeared out the tube paint from the under layer with the palette knife.

Three Different Looks

Beaded Headdress


Punk


Blue Outline

Here are three faces that I worked on tonight. I didn't start new backgrounds; I just kept the faces and added and subtracted different paint effects. The first two use the paint tube similar to "Red" from yesterday. The third one is the light colored marker over paint for a semi-erased look.

Red

Red

I took a second try at the silk face here by smearing it and adding the red tube paint and a layer of white. I like the color of the skin next to the coral-red paint. I enjoy taking a digital piece and altering it while keeping the original intact on my hard drive.

Silk Face

Face on Silk

Face on Silk 2

Silk

This ArtRage background reminds me of a silk scarf. The green in the background is the gold paper found in the paper selection options in "tools" and "layers." Again, I used the paint and a lighter marker over the top to get the partially erased out look of the dark marks. Not sure I am happy with the placement of the face on the first one. The second try I kept the face in the center and flipped the background horizontally.

Blurred Face

Blur

Blur 2

Lots of layers in this one. Lots of transparencies, as well. I like the darker qualities of this face; I kept just the bridge of the nose and the lips at 100% to make those areas brighter. The rest fades in a blur.

The second version of this one is the same except the percentage of the transparencies are smaller. A dark background is also showing through more.

Anne Faces

Anne


Anne No


Anne Stripes

Trying another face. Took a photo and added black and white lines in ArtRage; smeared them around with the palette knife feature. Saved the layer as a PNG image. After opening into an existing background, I duplicated the layer and made the lower image a 50% transparency. The other upper face I kept at 100% but erased out everything but the features. The hair is on a separate layer from the face. ("Anne No" is saved as a jpg without the transparency layer showing.)

For "Anne Stripes" I merged the two face layers from "Anne," saved as a PNG, and imported into another background.

Gray Heart Face

Gray Heart Face


Gray Heart Background

Still using the profile from this past week as a layer. This time I added it to the yellow background with some gray shapes that resemble a heart. I imported the face as a layer then duplicated it. I made the first layer a 50% transparency and erased out much of the upper face layer. I like how the gray shape works with the erased out face. It repeats the contours of the cheekbone.

Black Stipe Face

Black Stripe Face


Background

Still using this face and combining it with different ArtRage backgrounds. This one has a bit of a camouflage feel to it. It starts to disappear into the background while the thick, black lines go through and around the face. So far, I like the green one that I did yesterday best.

Green Face

Green Face

Another one of these profiles added to a different background made with ArtRage. The holes in this face is more in line with the highlights of face.

More Faces

Dark Background


Face With Dark Background


Three Graces

Started with a new background that reminds me a bit of a Chinese landscape. I added the import from the face a did a couple of days ago. In "Three Graces" I duplicated the layers and erased out areas. I am not sure this one is working for me yet. I may try it again.

I get the textured areas in the background by applying paint and then using the marker over the top of the paint. (I use a light value for the marker.) It seems to create an interesting printmaking effect.

Two Faces

Two Faces

Another try with the face from yesterday. I made a sandy background and imported the image from yesterday. I erased out the background and used the image again on another layer with a 75% transparency.

Photo Face With ArtRage

Face

I used a face from the Internet and added a layer of black and white pencil and smeared it around with the pallet knife in ArtRage. It has been a while since I have done any art. I needed a break after working on my technology certificate and finishing out the school year. I plan on working more on incorporating photos into the paint software in the near future.

Lips The Movie

Lips

I created this video on a Mac in iMovie using Garageband music software. I also created the claymation portions of the video in Windows Movie Maker and saved them as avi files so I could incorporate them in iMovie.

The claymation lips are from my earlier ArtRage digital art (Surreal Lips, Feb 08; Three Lips With Sticks, April 08; and Stage Lips, Feb 08). I printed out the images without the lips and used Sculpy clay material for the black and white lips. To get the illusion of the lips on sticks standing up, I placed everything on a slanted board with the camera and tripod parallel to the image. I took about 200 pictures total for all three claymation sections.

The timing of the music I made in Garageband was just luck. I couldn't tell how long the various tracks were, so I just went by what sounded good. I am happy with it.

White Dog

White Dog


White Dog 2

I haven't spent too much time on ArtRage for a while. Played around tonight and made a little dog. Not sure if it will become part of a series or not, but I made a PNG layer file for future possible use.

Powder Blue Face

Powder Blue


Powder Blue Half Face

Playing around with an ArtRage abstract and added a couple of women's faces to it. The powder blue color is a top layer from the abstraction.

At first, the abstract work did not remind me of a face until I dropped the two faces into the different layers. Now I see a face even when there isn't one there. It reminds me of John Merrick wearing the sack on his head in the movie The Elephant Man.

Three Lips With Sticks

Lips On Sticks

They fit better with the lollipop lips series that I worked on a while back (Surreal Lips and Stage Lips, Feb 08). Instead of floating in the sky, they now sway on very long lollipop sticks.

Three Lips

Three Lips

I am still in re-hash mode. I have used the lips import yet again (Lips, Feb 08). This time without the lollipop stick. These are floating lips in a blue-gray textured sky. Maybe they are flying in formation. I wonder what they would look like with long sticks.

Headdress

Headdress


Headdress 2

I played around with a couple of different backgrounds for these two ArtRages. The "headdress" areas are just random abstract shapes. I added the three quarter profile layer (Three Quarter, Mar 08) then flipped and tilted it down a bit in the transform layer option.

Flower Power

Petals

This ArtRage is brighter than many I have been working on lately. Maybe it is the sunshine and nicer walking weather. This one reuses the lower profile from an earlier digital artwork called "Shoulder" (Two New Lower Profiles, Jan 08). It is an imported layer that I flipped horizontally in the transform layer option. The "flower petals" are also duplicates that I flipped both horizontally and vertically to get four identical shapes.

Saint

Saint

Another "Three Quarter" face with tube lines in an under layer. It has a bit of a nun's habit look that reminds me of an old favorite - "Song of Bernadette." It reminds me of the end of the movie when the bitter old nun realizes the suffering of Bernadette and carries her around before she dies. Gets me every time.

Another Three Quarter Face

Three Quarter Alt.


Background Three Quarter Alt.

Another version of "Three Quarter" from a few days ago (Three Quarter, Mar 08). This one has a simple, warm background with two imported layers of the earlier face. One is a transparency of only 60% while the upper layer of the face is at 100%; both are partially erased out so the under layers show.

Disturbing Face

Disturb

Getting a bit darker again with the imagery. Somewhere in there is the face from an earlier image called "Forward" (Forward, Jan 08). I added black paint around the features and made an under layer with the paint tube feature on ArtRage, similar to "Caged" (Caged - Using Tube of Paint, Feb 08) only with a different mood.

Three Quarter

Three Quarter

This ArtRage is much more painterly than many of my other faces. It is more female as well. I am also stressing the black and white of the lips less. It has a sadness that the others do not have; it is more about the eyes. It reminds me of a girl that I have seen a couple of times at the local Target. She wears makeup like a goth, porcelain doll.

Lips Again

Lips With Lines


Porcupine

Back to lip exports for these two ArtRages. They are more about texture and dark values this time. I think I will try more of the hole punch lips.

Tilt

Tilt

I am not in love with this image or the one before, but I do not feel done with them either. I keep bringing this unfocused-eyed face back and working on it. I started "Tilt" with another face underneath and brought in the exported layer from the ArtRage done earlier (Gray, Mar 08).

Gray

Gray

Pulled out the old forward face from a while back (Forward, Jan 08). Mixed up some gray colors and lots of layers. I like the balance of whites, blacks, and grays. There is a bit of a hairdo thing going that reminds me of Gary Oldman's in The Fifth Element.

More Profiles - This Time in the Desert

Desert


Desert 2

Here are two side profiles added to an abstract ArtRage that reminds me of the desert. The yellow gold in the abstract looks good with the yellows in the reversed profiles. The second version may look better than the first because the larger profile on the right has better contrast around the features. However, I do like the first one's overall look; the movement of the patterns is nice.