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Friday, April 3, 2009

"Swan Lake"

This week’s Sunday Postcard Art challenge was “Swan Lake”. My postcard consists of several layers. One of the tools I use is Serif PhotoPlus Version 6.03. I created the lake water in it using a Gradient Fill with Difference. I added an Art Deco border (that I colored) on top of the water, set to “Overlay.” I added a postcard size rose on top of that, set to “Dodge,” to create the surreal appearance of it floating under the water. The foreground is two swans and a lily pad. While I create all of the layers in PhotoPlus, I export them (in this case, as a background and foreground image) and overlay them using a different program, to create the final postcard image.

FYI: It looks like Serif has a newer version of PhotoPlus on their website: Free Image & Photo Editing Software Download – PhotoPlus SE.

Technical notes to myself: I fixed some of the problems I was having when switching between image manipulation programs and image formats (gif, jpg, bmp). Color resolution loss and colored pixels appearing where they shouldn’t are no longer a problem, but there are still circumstances when they can occur, so I need to be aware of that. I’m also still seeing a “ghost affect” from pixels near the edges of the items I’m “pasting” into the postcard. They should get “whited out” but they’re not (even though they look white). This is an ongoing problem I’m having with jpg files, but the “ghost affect” doesn’t always show up, which is good. (To see the edge affect that’s causing these problems, “fill” the jpg image and observe that there is a square edge all around the image, that doesn’t fill.)

12 comments:

DMG said...

This postcard doesn't look like the work of a novice to me! It's lovely. I wish I knew how create digital art, especially if I could paint something as ethereal as this.

Mandy Chilvers said...

great work

Femmy said...

beautiful card!!

~*~Patty Szymkowicz said...

Lovely postcard, the swans are beautiful

Yvonne said...

Lovely! Colour is fantastic.

indybev said...

Thanks for sharing your process AND your talent! This is beautiful.

Buffy said...

Beautiful,the color is gorgeous.

Kris Dickinson said...

So wonderful! Great composition and design! - Kris

Louise (KardKrazy) said...

I'm so digitally challenged, your narration was all Greek to me...LOL....but I love and appreciate what a beautiful piece you've created!

http://truutske.blogspot.com said...

Love your beautiful swans.
The flowers background is great!!

http://fatmasplace.wordpress.com/ said...

really beautiful. thanks for taking part

Mary said...

What a lovely card! The layering gives it depth and the colors are so saturated and rich. Wonderful imagery.