Tuesday 27th December 2022
Compliments of the season to all
Over the years I have done a pre-Christmas message for my readers, usually incorporating some hopefully humorous Photoshop manipulation.
I just never got round to that this time due to an accumulation of circumstances.
Having surfaced this morning at around 9:00 am I am now motivated to write. I recognise the symptoms: finding something else to do to override the main, but undesirable task which needs attention, that is clearing up from the aftermath of the family Christmas Day and Boxing Day activities.
With son Will, and daughter Jill and granddaughter Katie we have had an enjoyable get together. As always the most rewarding part was seeing Katie having fun and also appreciating her own natural willingness and pleasure in being helpful and joining in with everything with much cheer.
I have never seen anybody so taken aback at receiving a present that was beyond expectations, as Katie comprehended the contents of an Apple box revealing a new iPad.
The big attraction for Katie was being able to download xxx (can't remember the name at the moment) painting app which is similar to Photoshop Elements and probably more user friendly, but nonetheless sophisticated including the indispensable Layers function. Katie's only previous involvement with xxx has been watching You Tube videos showing how it works and with that knowledge only she was launched straight into action with no problems.
See below two examples using different techniques:
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| This started out as her first experiment and was just a mass of fluffy whites and blues as per the "cloud" now seen in the picture and created with no intention for any representation, merely a doodle. I said to her "make this into a landscape" and within less tan two minutes green grass, a trig point and a sun/moon were added, not a completed picture but just a quick demo to satisfy my suggestion. |
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| This was created using Layers.Katie imported a photo of herself and that was the base layer. A blank white layer is placed on top and then its opacity reduced so that you can see the photo through a virtual mist. The outlines of the photo can then be drawn sufficient to provide the basis for a painting on the white layer. The opacity is then eliminated and you continue to use the app's tool to create the colours using different brushes and many other tools available within the app. |
Great to hear you had a good Xmas, Conrad. Those xxx experiments are interesting.
ReplyDeleteAll good fun, I'm glad you survived it.
ReplyDeleteIs that you at the trigpoint?
Phreerunner - I had a period of doing similar painting projects with Photoshop Elements. It is not easy and hugely absorbing.
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BC - If it is me at the trig it looks like I'm lying down or sitting - not surprising.
xxx - i do hope the novelty wears off quickly and she gets on with developing her own skills, not a modernised painting by numbers sort of thing. Maybe you've seen the uproar being caused by a new essay writing app using AI and all the world's printed knowledge to fool even experienced fake spotters - to get an A+ with no skill - don't let xxx stifle her real talents !
ReplyDeleteGimmer - once you have cribbed the basic outlines from the photo you are on your own with colour selection and composition. There is no way you can compare this with Painting by Numbers. Look at the layers of colours that have been used in varying degrees of opacity to achieve difficult to master skin tones. The finished picture is a long way from the original photo resulting from the vision of the artist, and then there is the choice of presentation/composition deciding what to omit and what to add from and to the original photo. I see not much difference between this and painting a self portrait from looking in a mirror using traditional paints and canvas.
ReplyDeleteI am not trying to say that K is a genius and I am not starry eyed about all this but she obviously has some talent which is worth nurturing.
NB -Although many of his paintings are done from life David Hockney uses "modernised painting" methods with his iPad to create some of the most influential British art during the last eighty years.
Very impressive. Five or six years ago I posted what might have been called A Dummy's Guide To Layers. Where the confidence to do this came from I have no idea. I re-read it recently and can see I got one thing right; as to layers I remain a dummy. The trick is use a process like layers regularly so that mystery becomes a commonplace. In fact, without realising it, I came up with a simple if necessarily limited alternative to layers. Perhaps I am merely stupid.
ReplyDeleteI think Gimmer has got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Layers is simply a tool, as is a paint brush. Art lies in the way tools are used. What could be otherwise more banal than a hammer, chisel and a chunk of stone.
RR - Fair comment. I enjoyed "banal," splendid word, not seen it used for a long time as far s I can remember. If I had a list of favourite words it would need to be there. I daren't use it now in any context that you may read for fear of copycat accusation.
ReplyDeleteBC - I was not aware of such sophisticated possibility from a computer programme However I see little connection between that and efforts produced by humans using the tools of Photoshop and similar (Katie's app for the iPad is called Procreate.) I sent her a message asking for that name and here is her reply:
ReplyDelete"Procreate it is ten pounds but defiantly (sic) worth the money."
There can be mo argument that denies the creation of a work of art from that activity regardless of the quality of the result, subjective or otherwise.
Ho ho - wanna bet ? I can make an argument out of nothing, as you well know !
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