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.

Experiment 112: Abstract flight

Created in Photoshop CS3 Extended using a Wacom Intuos 3

Another experiment using gradients and the Warp tool, this time with a somewhat manipulated photo in the background.

Experiment 111: Inner light

Created in Artrage 2.5.20 using a Wacom Intuos 3

Just playing around a little, I liked it enough to keep it though and thought I'd "show it to the world" here. There's something about these kind of caves with light in the end of the tunnel :-) I'll not be surprised if I'll make more on that theme.

A Special Experiment: Ayer, Hoy y Siempre (Yesterday, Today and Always)

Created in Photoshop CS3 (elements created in Apophysis 2.02 and Blender 2.47)

Taking a step away from the usual stuff in that this one actually was more of a finished piece, or three if you see it that way -- they do belong together though so I see it as one piece. At the same time it was an experiment in many ways though, so I still think it's worthy of a place here.  Hope you enjoy looking at it, and please click the lower image to see a higher resolution version, it makes a lot of difference. (The framed prints are from Zazzle.com by the way, though I framed them myself. Was cheaper to buy frames here than from them, especially as it most probably would have added some to the shipping cost.)