Bats and bins... #iPhoneArt

One of the images included in this weeks collection of creations, I found when going through my photos, (yes, the 4S has arrived so the change over is occurring.) and was about to delete it. See if you can guess which one and if you agree.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Anyone curious about what apps where used to create a particular image, just leave a question in the comments and I'll answer.

I'm still playing with two lots of images at the moment. Some of the Fluid Motion screen shots from the iPhone cover design I posted last week and the photographs that I took when down at the Albert Dock. Two of the Dock images are included in the above; a close up shot of a dressed up shopper and another from the lobby of the Tate gallery.

Here's the sequence that I went through to achieve the Fluid Motion image that's first in the gallery;

So the apps were, going from left to right, top to bottom -

Fluid Motion, Segmentix, Percolator, then I combined 2 and 3 with HDR Fix to create 4. Lego photo is 5 and the final image is 4 and 5 blended with HDR Fix.

Oh...and Happy Halloween!

See the full gallery on Posterous

(Number 2 is a .gif )

* For some odd reason some of the thumbnails are blank...? I've tried deleting and re-uploading but it makes no difference.

 

Warning - this post contains gifs...

My plan, as I told Spyros earlier in the week, is to do one post a week that gathers together that weeks creative output and goes into detail about the process behind one of the images.
This week has been mostly spent trying to finish my 'Muses' Playgorund' challenge. I've placed it first in this week's gallery and for more information about it, surf over to the playground.

See the full gallery on Posterous

The 'reality sucks' graphic came about from a chat with @ArtDream on Twitter, I'll upload it to Vector magic at some point and add it to my Graphic Words shop.

Like most Apple admirers I'm excited about the 4S, mostly because I'm 'still' using a 3GS. Last weekend I gave up waiting for Orange to ring me and started to research the cheapest way to get one. Most of this was done via the wonderful Money Saving Expert site. In preparation for the day that I get my eager hands on one I dedicde to design a cover for myself. I love the effects that can be achieved with the Fluid Motion app, so started with that. Here's a gif of some of the images I captured. (Yes, this week I discovered Giff Boom.)  

None of the screen captures was just what I was looking for, so I started to layer different ones using Juxtaposer. When I had an image I was pleased with I opened it on my laptop in Paint Shop Pro. Resized it; (to 300dpi which is what most POD sites demand. Although I know that there's a lot of discussion about whether that's actually relevant.) using bicubic sampling at the smoother end of the range, used unsharpen mask and then because I wanted the image smoky and smooth I used the remove noise filter twice. Finally I added the texture of wet fallen leaves and then added some text. Here's the Juxtaposer montage next to an image of a case with the final design on.

I've also been playing with some recent images to make a few gifs with Gif Boom, here they are;

See the full gallery on Posterous

*EDIT - For some reason when viewing with Chrome you have to click on each of the images for the gif to work. It works automatically with FireFox (or did) Let me know if there are any other browser problems, thanks.

The Creative process - Abstract art 2 #iPhoneArt

Here's another abstract, which may (or may not) give you some idea of how I've been feeling recently.

'The Ugly Underneath'

It started with FlowPaper and then I had fun for quite some time with Photo Studio.

The red effect was created by using the mask tool during one of the FX filters. Here's the sequence of images, starting with the original Flowpaper drawing.

Abstract art is a bit like marmite isn't it? Some people love it others see it as an illustration of what's 'wrong' with modern art. Though the word 'modern' is a bit of a misnomer isn't it? I dabbled in the simplification of form before the wonders of the iOS. (Like this.) but never created anything as abstract as the things I've made during the last 12 months or so. Especially since having my icky gallbladder removed. Somehow it releases my subconscious in a way that more figurative images just cannot.

Wikipedia says; "Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.^[1]"

I suppose abstract expressionism describes that side of my creativity better than just abstraction. In fact the Pollock app was the first creative tool that I discovered in the app store. (None iOS peeps can play with it online here.) Here's a piece from the master himself;

"Unformed Figure," oil and enamel on canvas, 52 inches by 6 feet 5 inches, 1953, Museum Ludwig, Cologne"

Art works w/e 9th Oct 2011

See the full gallery on Posterous

From my phone. iPad stuff may follow...or just be added not sure...?
Do not like having to allow location services to add multiple images via the app :(

RiP Steve Jobs - How Apple saved my life...

...does that seem like a theatrically dramatic statement? Maybe it is a tiny bit, but not much.

Who was I? A special needs primary teacher with arty bits when time allowed. Not much time was allowed, but work thankfully had plenty of opportunities for creativity so I didn't miss it too much. Too tired for that.

Who was I? A Fibro fighter. Plenty of time to be creative but in too much pain to feel like it and even if I did, what could I do? There're only a finite number of photo ops when you're housebound, the fatigue and pain are too bad to get out art materials let alone have the energy to use them. I have no space free to get them out and leave them out.
Then there's the matter of how do I hold a brush? I know there are awesome artists out there that hold a brush with their teeth but I couldn't clench my jaw like that. So my world continues to shrink and my mind gets quieter and darker.
Then for some odd reason, possibly because I 'was' a gadget freak, I throw financial caution to the wind and buy an iPhone 3GS. Game apps wake my mind a little and not having to hold anything in my hand but the small light phone means I can play comfortably anywhere. Even in bed. Then I realise there're all sorts of creative apps out there...I make this -

I send it to a friend (another #spoonie who's still managing to work / lecture) she wants to buy it on a button, as do some of her students. Can I do that she asks? I vaguely recall Zazzle, from looking at Fibro awareness tees and investigate. Their design tools are intuitive and allow for quite a bit of creativity even without desktop software. The designer in me starts to re-emerge. My muse begins to tap me on the shoulder again.
Maybe twitter isnt just for empathising and sharing with spoonies...? My world starts to open up even though I'm slowly getting more and more housebound. Online art websites like Flickr and iPA point me in the direction of more creative apps than I could ever have dreamed of.

There's no prep involved, no brush or pencil to hold, the cash outlay is small (for apps, let's not discuss Apple pricing.) and I'm having fun! Even though my world of pain is getting worse and we don't know why, my thoughts are filled with creative ideas rather than suicide.

I doubt that even in my darkest hours I'd really have ended it all. Or ever will. But the fact remains that even if Apple and the visions of Steve Jobs didn't actually save my life, they've sure made it liveable.
And for that I thank them.

Goodbye Steve. I will be forever grateful.

Oh and thanks also to Tim Berners-Lee. I salute you Sir. You and Mr Jobs little black NeXT box (see Stephen Fry's recent blog here.) have made my life more manageable in ways you can't possibly have imagined. A quote from Fry's post;

" I will mourn his loss as a man who changed my world completely."

Who am I? I am blessed.

The Creative process - Abstract art #iPhoneArt

I keep aiming for a Sunday post and failing...but my life seems to be ruled right now by my digestive system and my Fibro brain and I suspect that the two aren't mutaully exclusive.

Previously I've focused on iPhone photos and I still have a LOT of images from my day down at the Dock that are waiting to be played with. Yesterday though was a yucky day and my muse tends to leave me alone when my body and brain have me at their mercy. Just before bed I started to play with Flow Paper.

This is a lovely app, @missypoem  (see her Posterous here.) has been doing some lovely sketches with it and a few iPA peeps do great things with it too. 

Find FlowPaper here.

Here's the final image -

'The Road to Nowhere.'

It started with me trying to achieve a smoky effect with Flowpaper. Then I used a few Scratchcam filters, Scratchcam can take a while, not because it's slow but because the filters are so random, though you can save your favourites. Then I started playing with some art effect apps - 

Artista Oil - I love this app and the variety you can achieve with it, but it didn't like my Flowpaper sketch this time so...on to;

Auto Painter - I tried both versions and this DOES take a while, but it's interesting to watch the process. Not happy with any of the results so;

Shock My Pic - I can't link to the iTunes store for this because iTunes search has decided they don't have it...I LOVE this app. SImple but effective and very easy to use. I got a few images that I like with this, for blending with, I tend to use;

HDR fix - Because it's quick and I like the slider to choose the degree of blending of one to the other. There's probably another app that does this and more, but at the moment necessity has made me a creature of habit. Plus when I tried to update apps on my phone last night, it said there wasn't enough room! *Gasp* Please hurry iPhone 5...

Next came filters in Photo Studio and more blending of the results with HDR fix. Then finally, another of my favourites;

Camera+ : Which is ON SALE at the moment, so snap it up if you haven't already got it. In this I used the 'Back light' filter and the framing option. Then I used my preferred Watermarking app;

iWatermark - (sheesh Apple, your 'search' tool sucks) Though the eagle eyed amongst you will know that I usually forget to use it...

Here are some of the images produced in the above process, created as usual with Strip Designer

The first black and white image is the original Flowpaper drawing.

Hope this made a change from the usual Liverpool Tourism advert ;)

NB - I only recently noticed that feedburner wasn't working, my apologies :( it's now fixed (I hope)