Our art

[jsharp]

I thought I'd start a new thread as a "museum" of sorts for all the CW images, sketches, wallpapers, etc. (and for the time being, banners and avatars) that we come up with. Just ask before "borrowing"!

[jsharp]

This will probably be the basis of my next banner, but a bit smaller:



And here's the full-size version of my Caledonia banner:



EDIT: I think I need to add these answers since many of you want to learn the details. This may be techie and boring for everyone else but it'll save us some PMs!

THE VOICE Tech Info:
Everything I do in an older version of Photoshop. The flames on the right side are from a stock photo I purchased (from istockphoto.com - low res is cheap). I used a feathered lasso to copy of chunk of that and flipped it to make the left side. The flames/rays behind her head and shoulders are from one of the brushes in Photoshop called "fuzzy ball," set at about 500+ pixels wide. I sampled colors from the flames to "colorize" Lisa on different layers in different colors, used "outer glow" to make the bright glow around her, made all these things partially opaque at different percentages, stacked them on top of each other (one on top of Lisa which is her in orange and blurred, the others below), and tinkered around with each of those things a dozen time at least. There's also an extremely subtle halo ring around her that's just a circle drawn with a marquee tool using an edge feather.

CALEDONIA Tech Info:
The original screencap of this had teal lighting against the brick wall in the background so I cut out a copy of Lisa and made the entire background a teal duotone. I looked at how Lisa's arms lead your eye to a central point just above her heart and thought about how this song seems to resonate with the heart and comes from Lisa's. So I made the shapes radiate from the same point like a starburst. I started building the rays in teal using the lasso tool, and giving them varying degrees of opacity. The arms also seem to suggest a liberating effect, so i created the arc that is sweeping away from her with the marquee tool. I put a teal glow "behind" her (actually over her) then punched her shape out of the glow with a feathered lasso. This let it bleed onto her a little, looking like the light was actually reflecting on her from behind. I added brightness and contrast to Lisa to make her look like she's glowing from within. That's why she's subtly shiny. Funny thing, I saw the circle with the "c" happening from the get-go. I monkeyed around with fonts for awhile (long and slow trial and error is my m.o.) and here it is.

What is my biggest "secret"? It's spending years learning how to patiently and precisely "cut out" people and objects with the lasso tool - and if necessary doctoring the edges - so that they can be manipulated in a fashion that makes it indetectable that it wasn't originally photographed like that. That's something "The Weekly World News" (Batboy!) doesn't bother with!  It was harder to do this on The Voice because the screen grab was lower res and her left hand wasn't in the spotlight.

Some have suggested the eraser for isolating shapes and people but I don't like the eraser tool for very fine work like that. It may be quicker but it just doesn't give me nearly the precision I want.

[vanni9283]

Let me just acknowedge (and I think I've might have said this before on Lisa's forum), that I get quite a "religious" feeling when I see these photos of Lisa.  This latest one (Lisa with her arms outstreched - the "orangy" one) makes me think of a "priestly" gesture.  It makes me imagine her as a priest declaring before the congregation "The Lord be with you"...lol!!!  Now I know this seems rather silly to think this, but I hope you all don't mind me taking the opportunity to share that with you. 

[jsharp]

It makes me imagine her as a priest declaring before the congregation "The Lord be with you"...lol!!!  Now I know this seems rather silly to think this, but I hope you all don't mind me taking the opportunity to share that with you. 

Not silly at all. The Caledonia one is intended to be very joyful and spiritual - exuberant is the word I'm looking for. I was shooting for crisp, clean, pretty, renewing. Refreshing, if that isn't too corny.

The Voice is far more elemental - it's about power and passion, control and uncontrollability. Lisa has not only merged with the fire, she's also a source of it - the voice of hunger (fire is insatiable) and pain (it burns!). She shares colors and shapes with it. Honestly, very early on I saw it heading toward Dark Phoenix territory. If you're a comics fan, you'll get that. It was unavoidable. But who'd want to avoid comparison to John Byrne?

That you see something else from what I intended is not wrong. In fact, it's a complement! As George MacDonald said:

"A genuine work of art must mean many things; the truer its art, the more things it will mean. If my drawing, on the other hand, is so far from being a work of art that it needs THIS IS A HORSE written under it, what can it matter that neither you nor your child should know what it means? ... But a man may then imagine in your work what he pleases, what you never meant! -- Not what he pleases, but what he can. If he be not a true man, he will draw evil out of the best; we need not mind how he treats any work of art! If he be a true man, he will imagine true things; what matter whether I meant them or not?"

[Reading this a few hours later, I think it makes me sound like Frasier Crane. Sorry.]

[vanni9283]

Anyway, regardless of the feelings I get from seeing these pics, I really enjoy them very much; they are very easy on the eyes in my view.  Thank you for posting them.

[Kelsey]

Here is a link to a bunch of Meav banners that you can use.  Just click on the thumbnails for the full size banner.  Feel free to use and enjoy them!

http://www.skyward-thoughts.com/meav/banners.php

[jsharp]

Here is a link to a bunch of Meav banners that you can use.  Just click on the thumbnails for the full size banner.  Feel free to use and enjoy them!

http://www.skyward-thoughts.com/meav/banners.php

Thanks, Kelsey. I love the site and those banners are different than what I usually do. I have a hard time creating contemporary-looking stuff.

And I'll let Rich clarify what will eventually happen in the avatar/banner department:

Hannah, help is on the way.  Our members are developing and collecting avatars and banners for us.  We will be creating libraries for them so you'll be able to select the one(s) you like best.  We'll make an announcement when they're ready.

[celticdreamer00]

I think you are truely talented and thank you for sharing with us.

[DakotaF.]

i have some non CW art, could i share that?

[OldFatGuy]

i have some non CW art, could i share that?

Hey, Dakota!  Welcome to our new home.  Glad you found us!

We'd love to see more of your art.  (For those of you who don't know him, Dakota's been a regular contributor for a long time, and a very talented guy.)  This thread is intended for CW-related art and photos, but feel free to add your work in an appropriate place under the "Everything Else" heading.

[jsharp]

Hey, Dakota!  Welcome to our new home.  Glad you found us!
We'd love to see more of your art.  (For those of you who don't know him, Dakota's been a regular contributor for a long time, and a very talented guy.)  This thread is intended for CW-related art and photos, but feel free to add your work in an appropriate place under the "Everything Else" heading.

Yeah, that'd be a great idea. Can't wait to see your stuff!

[jsharp]

Here's an idea for artwork:

A few days back I was riffing with Rich and flip8 about dual "citizenship" in lisakelly.org and cwforum (starting HERE) and I made jokes about what a CW "country" would be like. What would the money look like, for instance? Here's my quick take on "our" 100-pound note:



How about others trying their hands at the national flag, the seal, maps, etc? Or should that be a whole new thread? You decide.

[Kelsey]

Here is a link to a bunch of Meav banners that you can use.  Just click on the thumbnails for the full size banner.  Feel free to use and enjoy them!

http://www.skyward-thoughts.com/meav/banners.php

Thanks, Kelsey. I love the site and those banners are different than what I usually do. I have a hard time creating contemporary-looking stuff.

Thank you for complementing the site!  I really enjoy making art, and some of those banners are also made by Erica, the other lady who works on the Meav site with me.

Kelsey

[OldFatGuy]

How about others trying their hands at the national flag, the seal, maps, etc? Or should that be a whole new thread? You decide.

As long as the show and performers are integral elements in the artwork, I see no problem with posting them right here.  Non CW-related themes should probably be placed under the Everthing Else category.  (I managed to sneak in my own non-CW graphic by sticking it in my signature.  Hehehehe.........)

[DakotaF.]

I created a thread under Photos and Images called "Everything Else" for just that reason! I put some links to my artwork there too. ( i didn't put the actual pictures in the thread because there are 6 of them and that would have been big.)