Experiment 131: Pig or The Ghost of Motivations Past

Created in Artrage 2.5 using a Wacom Intuos 3

Decided it was time to play around in Artrage again, it was a while since the last time I did that. And after some playing around this creature started to appear.

While on the topic of Artrage I've got to say that I'm really looking forward to the next version that's just been announced, sounds really interesting.

Experiment 130: Underwater scene

Created in Photoshop CS4 using a Wacom Intuos 3

Have been working on and off on this for some weeks now, and while there are some things I'd probably do differently in case I'd start all over I'm satisfied with it the way it is so now I post it here :-)

Experiment 129: Purple and gold mask

Mask created in papier maché.

Experiment 128: Split Personality

Some plaster sculptures. The above was begun like eight years ago, but I didn't finish it until today. The below was created a couple of years ago, but I like it more. I have some more things I'm working on though, and wanted to finish the above before continuing on with new things.

Experiment 127: Mother of cities

Created using my camera, Photoshop CS4 Extended and my Intuos 3

Another example of seeing things... I took an object, photographed it, and manipulated the image a bit (adding the sky) and now it's something completely different.

Special Experiment: Coloring a flower...

This is a bit special, though it might not look too special compared to some of the images on here... The thing is that I've not come up the idea for this image myself, it's based on a drawing by a friend of mine, Amish, who drew this: http://img194.imageshack.us/i/drawingforrhods.jpg/ and since I found it kinda intruiging I asked him if I could try and color it. And the above image is the result.

Experiment 126: Dancing petals

Created in Photoshop CS4 Extended

Another "happy accident", or perhaps not all that accidental, a lot of fun experimenting before I got to this though. (If anyone is interested I can provide a bit more detailed description ;-) )

Experiment 125: Waiting for the storm

Created in Photoshop CS4 Extended using a Wacom Intuos 3

After seeing a tutorial I got inspired to create a drawing, and this is the result. As I really haven't done much like this I'm really satisfied with it. I want to add that I've "cheated" a bit when creating the lines, I took a photo of myself and traced which I used as a basis. Naturally I've edited the lines a bit, I don't have that kind of beard etc. I recommend clicking the image to see the larger version as some details are lost in this smaller image.

Experiment 124: It flashes by

Created in Adobe Flash CS4

As a continuation on my last post I bring you this (very) simple flash file. It's my first attempt at creating something in Flash, so please be gentle on me :) Feel free to guess what it is I'm working on in this project, though I guess later posts will make it far easier (I'm deliberately only showing things which doesn't really give away anything). No prices, but it could be fun to be the one who guessed right ;-)

Experiment 123: Bright memories of the future

A digital photograph enhanced with the help of Photoshop CS4 and a Wacom Intuos 3

It's been a while since the last experiment, but this is just the first of several images of a bit larger experiment... There's more to come in other words. And just to clarify, the image is not only an experiment in itself, but the subject matter is a bit of experimenting for the future...

Experiment 122: Desert sun

Created in Artrage 2.5 using a Wacom Intuos 3

Playing around a bit in Artrage. Inspired by a tutorial on the Artrage forums.

Experiment 121: Flow or control

Created using Photoshop CS4 Extended and Artrage 2.5 using a Wacom Intuos 3

Played around a bit in Photoshop with a pretty basic round paint brush and a bit more intricate smudge brush. Then over to Artrage for some pencil fun :-) Seems like this weeks trend.

Experiment 120: Purple flower

Created in Photoshop CS4 Extended and Artrage 2.5 using a Wacom Intuos 3

After watching the latest video tutorial about custom brushes from Planet Photoshop I got inspired to play a bit with custom brushes and ended up with some interesting shapes. When I wanted to add some pencil strokes I had to use another program though. Perhaps it's possible to get a good simulation of an ordinary pencil in Photoshop too, but I don't know an easy way so instead I used Artrage (a really nice program for simulation of different kinds of natural paint, without having to clean any brushes etc ;-) ).

Experiment 119: Eternity stops time (longer version...)

Created in Adobe Photoshop CS4 using a Wacom Intuos 3

Wrote a little poem and thought I'd make an image as a background for it :-) The tip for how to make the clouds was found on Abduzeedo .

Experiment 118: Eternity stops time in the middle of now

Created in Photoshop CS4 Extended using a Wacom Intuos 3

This was truly an experiment in the best sense of the word, I started out painting a little with just one of the default brushes and then applying some filters, copying layers, painting a bit more and changing blend modes and so on, this was the end result.

Ett matigt experiment (In Swedish)

Jag kanske borde ändra beskrivningen på vad bloggen innehåller, har varit många inlägg på sistone som inte stämmer överens med vad det står i beskrivningen. För tillfället får den stå kvar dock, men om det fortsätter så här får jag kanske ändra det. 

Jag gillar att laga mat, och även om det kan vara skönt att ha ett recept att följa så är det kul att experimentera lite. Idag tänkte jag dela med mig av ett experiment som jag gjorde i söndags. Jag har i och för sig gjort det tidigare, men det var så gott så jag ville testa igen och se om det var en tillfällighet ;-) Jag misstänker dock att det kan bli ännu bättre, så om det är någon som har något tips på vad jag kan göra bättre till en annan gång så tar jag tacksamt emot dem.

Ingredienser:

Skinkstek

Bacon

Bananer

Soltorkade tomater

Kokosmjölk

Skinksteken skar jag i bitar som jag sedan lindade in i bacon. Sedan lade jag dem i en ugnsfast form, skar bananen i bitar som jag strödde över och klippte sönder de soltorkade tomaterna i mindre bitar och lade ovanpå. Slutligen hällde jag på kokosmjölken och satte in alltihop i ugnen. Till detta åt jag sedan ris, men det skulle nog passa bra även med någon form av potatis eller pasta.

Som sagt så är det fortfarande ett experiment, så jag har inga exakta mått eller liknande. Som jag gjorde i söndags så hade jag ugnen på 225 grader och det var väl inne en dryg halvtimme eller något sådant, jag tog inte tiden. Jag misstänker att det antingen var för varmt/var inne för länge, i vilket fall smakade inte baconen så mycket. Dessutom känns det som att det skulle behövas något mer för att göra smaken lite mer jämn så att säga. Det är hur gott som helst när man får med bananbitar/soltorkade tomater, men när man enbart har kött blir det lite enformigt som det är nu. Om man inte gör något mer för att få smak på det bör man i vilket fall se till att ha ordentligt med bananer/soltorkade tomater. Det är väl dessutom nyttigare om man har mer sånt, så det finns nog enbart fördelar med det.

Testa gärna själv (här gäller inte Don't try this at home ;-) ) och kom jättegärna med tips på hur det går att förbättra den här rätten, vad den nu ska kallas.

Experiment 117: Medieval birds

Created in Photoshop CS4 Extended using a Wacom Intuos 3

Recently I happened to stumble upon a list of online versions of Medieval Manuscripts and since I really like that kind of style I started to take a look at a few of them (I cannot say I can read Medieval Latin so I'm mostly looking at the pictures ;-) ). After a while happened to find an interesting pattern, and thought I'd do something with it. I've more or less just traced the pattern and put it on a different background, so why do I call it an experiment? Well, one thing about the original image is that the library where the manuscript is put its exlibris on the image (as you can see in the original ), the most important reason is that compared to doing the stuff I usually do, which is far more loose and mostly just throwing lines around and see what I get, this is something I'm not used to. Doing something interesting with a pattern that already exists, and trying to "make it my own". (Not in the sense that I'm trying to say that I'm the original creator, but in the sense that I've added something of my own style, something of myself, in this picture.)

I gotta add that it was kinda contemplative to sit there tracing those lines too, so it sure was a nice experience. I can recommend it ;-)

Something different again

I have something that I'm working on, but as I'm not finished I'd thought I'd post something else while I work on that. Some years ago I designed the look of the dragon-and-food and my mother (or rather her sewing machine) did the work :-) (The Swedish words on top means "Erik's kitchen")

Experiment 116: A Brilliant Future

Created in Illustrator CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended using a Wacom Intuos 3

Began experimenting with Illustrator's warp tool and after a while and some time in Photoshop this is the result. And though my mistakes show up in the large view (seen by clicking on the above image) I recommend that you take a look at it as the preview doesn't really show some of the nicer details.

And now for something completely different

(I'm too lazy right now to write this in both Swedish and English so it's just Swedish for now =) )

Fick en liten utmaning av Örjan som gick ut på att man ska ta den sjätte bilden, i den sjätte mappen man förvarar foton i och lägga upp den i bloggen. Sen ska man visst utmana sex andra, men jag får se om jag kommer upp i så många. Dessutom ska man visst skriva lite om bilden man valt också, men det kommer sist, först ska jag utmana vidare:

Anna-Maria - Min syster tar så mycket kort så hon kan helt klart få utmaningen, ska bli spännande att se vad som kommer fram.

Så till förklaringen

Jag hade en tanke att göra en lampskärm i papier maché till lampan som är i min julstjärna, tyckte den skulle kunna få vara uppe större del av året, men jag känner inget behov av att ha julstjärnan uppe hela året. Det blev dock aldrig något av det utan det blev typ så mycket som jag gjorde ovan, kanske framförallt eftersom jag höll på med en rätt stor hylla i papier maché, men jag gjorde en snabb (!) 3D-bild nu idag så ni kan se ungefär hur jag tänkte mig att lampan skulle bli.

Har mina funderingar på att ta några bilder på hyllan, blev helt ok, även om den knappast är speciellt rak, är lite klurigt med stora ytor i papier maché =) Får se om jag kommer på någon mer att utmana, men just nu ska jag iväg en stund så det får bli senare i så fall.

Experiment 115: Red flower, icy leaves

Created in Adobe Illustrator CS4 using a Wacom Intuos 3

I gotta say I enjoy the mesh tool in Illustrator, and combining it with the transform effect like I do here one can get some really nice results. Expect to see more like this ;-)

Experiment 114: Carrot motorcycle

Created in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended using a Wacom Intuos, a scanner and a carrot

I was a bit bored and wanted to play around a bit in Photoshop so I asked a friend to say three words, the words were carrot, motorcycle and monotone and that got me inspired enough to end up with the above image.

Experiment 113: Sandwich moon over pillow sea

Created in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended using a Wacom Intuos 3

Long time no experiment, so I thought I'd play around a bit with scanning in relatively unusual stuff and creating something with that. Apart from the things created directly in Photoshop (the stars among other things) there are scanned textures from three things: a slice of bread, a pillow and a wooden stand for kitchen knives. A fun experiment, which I can recommend as a way to get fresh ideas (it's of course a good thing if the bread is fresh, and I suggest putting some plastic wrap on the scanner if you're scanning something potentially messy ;) ) and to add something unique.