Surreal image

Make surreal art with masks.

     This project took a little longer than expected. Some of the instructions were not clear, or maybe my version of photoshop is different.
     When I first seen this tutorial it really didn't interest me, but I looked it over and thought what the hell why not. Once I started I couldn't stop. This kind of imagery almost forces you to be creative.
     When I downloaded the image file ( it took awhile ) so that was a warning to me that there was a lot of images. This piece has 18 different images blended into it.

Valley of the Gnomes

I couldn't resist putting myself into the picture.

Out of bounds

Play with out of bounds effects.

     This image was relatively simple, But still a great lesson plan. This image used 5 images, and the use of masks to blend them.

     The top two images were cut in half with a mask to create the background.

     This image used for the smoke around the wheels, and the image on the right is used out of the smoke stack. The train was used twice.

once in full color and again for the sepia or vintage look on the 

train cars.

     The fun part was creating the shine of the headlights. "pretty cool".

Fractal tiger

Photoshop Creative tutorial.

Following the tutorial from the Photoshop Creative magazine. This is the image I created.

     This image was created using relatively straightforward techniques. The one tool that was used is the infamous "Pen tool". I have used this tool in Illustrator, and just love it, but never had a lot of use for it in photoshop until today. Some of the other tools used are the brush tool, and the smudge tool was used to create the effects of the hair strands. Most noticeable on the glowing edges and outline.   

El Nino, A strengthening El Niño could have big impacts on Wisconsin this winter.

Poster inspiration comes when you least expect it.