Stone Kitty!

This project turned out exactly how I thought it would, the cat looks just like it was sculpted thousands of years ago by the ancient Egyptians!  I was really impressed with how well the final image came out.  (While I was messing around trying to find a background I could set the cat in I tried to make it look like it was coming out of the sands of time in the Sahara, it didn't work very well but I thought it was a funny idea.) :)

There was nothing that took longer than I thought it would, I was actually really surprised with how simple it was to turn the cat to stone.  In the tutorial there were many steps and it made it seem like it would take a long time, but with my own project, I suppose because of the image I chose, many steps were omitted.  I was actually glad I had to add on the shadows in a bunch of different places because otherwise it was too easy!

If I were to do this project again I would spend more time choosing stone textures and I would probably take time to choose some different water marks and such to really make my image stand out and look old and worn.  If I had had the time I would have put more thought and care into the project in general messing around with the different textures I could use.  (That's not to say I didn't put care in this image!)

For my project I'm most proud of the shadows that I created to make certain parts of cat stand out or look more realistic after I added the stone texture.  I'm also happy with the stone texture I ended up using, I like the big crack coming from the tip of its ear that runs down its back, I think it adds interesting detail and helps it look authentic.

I think I've done really well in this class so far, I'm so disappointed that this is my last project!  I really wish I had the time to continue in this class and learn to do all of the projects because its so fun to create new and interesting things.  I like the cool ideas I start to come up with for my own project while I'm completing the tutorials.  I've learned so much in the course of this class, I feel comfortable with the tools I'm using and can really venture out and mess with different settings to see the different results I get.  I've really enjoyed being in this class in general and creating such cool projects, I can't wait to begin the website!

Just Because

The Smoking Elephant

If I had to pick something of which I was most proud I would have to say the elephant because I think that the way that it came out is really awesome.  I think it looks good and you can actually tell what it is!  I also really liked the smoke coming from the elephants trunk, which was a last minute touch. 

Originally I was planning to do a horse running out of the smoke but it turned out to be difficult to draw, which I guess I should have expected but I didn't.  This is also why I was so surprised about how well the elephant came out because the tiny circle paintbrush is hard to control and maneuver.

It took a little longer to create the final image because with the way the woman in the photograph is facing, when I added the smokey elephant you couldn't see it with the bright light coming from behind it.  Therefore, I had to darken the whole picture, brighten the elephant, and then come in over the mask and paint back the brightness of the woman so she and the smoke image would stand out.  I also blurred the background behind the elephant as another way to help it stand out. 

If I were to do his project again I would take more time to distort the smoke before adding the elephant because I didn't realize until the end that I just blurred the smoke and I think I could have made the image look more realistic by twirling and waving the smoke also.  When I realized this I actually came back in and took my original smoke drawing and distorted it but it was just too late to add it to the final image, there was no room for it. 

Although this project was fairly simple and didn't take me very much time, I thought my creativity was about a 7 or 8 because I took the time to draw the elephant.  I thought I really put a lot of thought to how the final image would come out when choosing the different elements involved in creating this project. 

Square Balloons?

During this unit I think I was supposed to learn how to photoshop objects in order to make them look square or any other shape.  I thought I was easily able to learn how to do this and I thought my project idea portrayed this concept well.  Overall the process was fairly easy and I found I didn't have to rely on the tutorial as much as I usually do. 

The only thing that came up unexpected was the highlights originally on the balloons.  I had to come up with ways to move them around and hide the old ones so that they worked with the square shape I was trying to create, but after I got a general idea of where they needed to be placed it was simple to rearrange them. 

I'm most proud of using an object with a background, I thought it gave a kick to the final image that square balloons in a blank space wouldn't have given. 

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate this project at about an 8 because it was a fun project, it was fairly simple to get a grasp of, and I thought my final image came out well.  The only thing was that there was a limited amount of ideas you could use and many of my original ideas got cut because they wouldn't have come out right. :( I think it  would have been interesting to see the square globe for example.

My favorite part of this project was liquefying the balloons and the apple, it was really cool to see it morph into the outline.  My least favorite part was that I was limited to using the balloons idea because the liquefy tool messes up any distinct lines on objects.  I also didn't like the highlights, although they were easier than the ones on the chocolate moon because I knew where to place them, I still don't think I'm very good at them yet.  All I need is practice!