Mar 1, 2010

There Was a Crooked Man....









Well I had a go at this the other day and screwed it up bigtime, so that was my task for today... to salvage what I'd made.  You can see that I am absorbing a few influences from the excellent artists who post their work on blogs, especially spindlemaker..... In answer to an anonymous comment by a friend, that is a crooked walking stick in the crooked man's hand.... Please click for big.

PS my anonymous friend is a wonderful artist and taught me at college and well worth having a look at:
His name Robert Birch.  Please click his name to view his work.



The small image on the bottom is an experiment in style. Instead of outlining the figure with a black 'pen' in photoshop I used the 'burn tool' set to burn medium tones. I think it worked slightly better because it maintained the underlying colour.

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As always, thankyou for looking. Apologies for being frivilous.





16 comments:

  1. Hi Andrew,
    just stopping by to wish you a not-so-crooked day :D

    Oh, I saw the crooked man yesterday.
    He often comes to my clover field late at night.
    He found a one-leaf clover, but he dropped it on the road.
    He found a two-leaf clover, but it slipped into the shadows.
    He found a three-leaf clover, but a witch hid it away.

    It was me, the witch.
    :))

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  2. btw, i loved your previous post too.
    it tells me about something clearly than before.
    i just know now.
    and i have to be careful.


    toodles!

    x

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  3. This is what's going to happen to me soon if I don't take my calcium!

    How are you today Andrew? I like these versions better. The old man looks more approachable.

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  4. Andrew, you are too kind! I am humble and happy if you find my work inspiring. I still you´re work must be magic, I simply don´t understand how you can make such beautiful images, so filled with moods (and slightly disturbing stories :-)
    Thank you!

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  5. Hi Mita that's a beautiful poem. It's annoying when people are so multiskilled! :) (insert smiley face here)

    Hi Ces, thanks for that, and thanks for putting the Black Unicorn on your blog. I'm still not happy with the crooked man, but it's all a learning experience. And take your calcium!

    Hi Janne, no trouble, your work has it's own wonderful harmonic ring to it and I admire how you seize different elements and use them so organically

    err I mean you do good stuff with lots of different stuff! :)

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  6. Hi Andrew - I like the second man as well, he seems to blend in more with his environment. You are certainly quite prolific lately!

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  7. Hi Andrew, the wondrous adventure dispenser of endless fantasy ... this one is especially nice, I think! Not sure whether I like the "experimental" version with the burn tool more or less than the pen outline version — both are wonderful in their own way. Do you ever set your "outline" layer to "multiply" in Photoshop? You can get great control over line quality, playing with levels on that ...

    The expression on this old geezer's face is pretty priceless. Love the inset image in the background, too—

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  9. ahh let's try that again!

    Hya,

    :)

    Thanks for those comments. I appreciate your advice as far as style and what you like better.

    Susan, I'm only slightly prolific at the moment, I've been gnawing at this for a while.... You see, the surf has been terrible for the last three days.... and I need to get these things out of my system :)

    Mita, I am off to get my dictionary :)

    Hya Justin, thanks for that advice...

    I've been searching for a way to get my fingerprint back on the work I do... dirty it up more, and getting the lines spilling over. I know what you mean with 'multiply' thankyou (as you know it comes in handy for texturing a mesh and seeing the underlying polygons).

    I think I need to have two layers of pen overlay and hit one with the blur tool, then play with the lost and found edges - as you would in traditional work.... well I think that's what I need.

    My modus operanda with layer parameters has been to get my layer and use the up and down arrows and watch what happens as the parameter changes (in other words I don't know what I am doing :) )!

    I've been finding 'overlay' pretty handy. And Pin light for a bit of grunge...

    thanks again

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  10. Well, it looks like you know what you are doing and that is what counts. I always loved this poem and love the image that you have created. His expression is too funny.

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  11. i was just saying a little "hello..." :))
    ok ok, i continue to work now.


    Toodles!
    X


    *toodles: casual version of the French expression à tout à l'heure, meaning "goodbye!"
    (oh yes, im also an online dictionary...)

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  12. Ahhh, I love the second one, the last variation. But again, I am a texture freak. Sorry for the big... khm... walking stick being gone though :D

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  13. Hi, Thanks Karen, I have been examining your excellent work and noting how you outline your colours in black, so I'd thought I'd try a similar but different style. I've always admired how monet painted his water lilies with splashes of colour that were outlined with darker outlines that didn't quite match the area of the colour - it gave off a vibration I think.

    Mita: hello and bonjour to you to. :) I have been watching your work, thankyou for sharing it. It is inspiring. Very ethereal. It's a rare gift. But you guessed that? The ghosts of children past.

    Hya Kinga: Thanks very much. I'm glad I found your blog too. It's good to see eclectic in style! Wonderful work the last one with the faces and the 3d real world aspect.

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  14. Frivolous?!? Frivolous? I hardly think so! Absolutely gorgeous, yes--in color and texture. It's really cool to take these nursery rhymes and put them into this visual form. I never realized how truly terrifying this one was (I clicked on the first image to make it larger), and it IS terrifying. His face should strike major fear into any child. I love the figure, and the layering of textures, and the most lovely colors. I like the bottom one the best where you said you tried a new technique. It's softer, but still with the luscious color/texture.... wow.

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  15. "eclectic in style"... hmmm... in other words: "can't find her own voice" :D (Not true though.)

    Yours is - on the other hand - very consistent and graceful and playful: I am envious (halfly joking, halfly not). Especially love when I notice your wicked (spooky) touch like in this one. (I feel at home?)

    Thanks for visiting my blog, always appreciated, really.

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Hya! Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I appreciate your time and thoughts.