The Copper Lopstere

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[Bard Judith]

I am quite happy with how the Copper Lopstere turned out! My latest creation for the Santharian Dream.... a crustacean whose shell is infused with actual copper ore, which oxidizes and distresses in his saltwater habitat to create spectacular armour... which entry, please see!    Seth, the Trysters, Oysters, and Gnackers are next up.....


Please check him out on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150671184448587&set=a.59670773586.71407.517153586&type=1&theaterfor optimal size viewing - he should not be seen at maximum closeup as he gets too pixilated.  (Try about sixty percent, Art...)

[Athviaro Shyu-eck-Silfayr]

So many pictures recently...Aura for both Judith and Seeker.

[Artimidor Federkiel]

And yesterday I was already wondering whether I have any picture at all for this week's update... And by today I have goats, a stag, the Auturian Woods and a copper lopstere - one image more beautiful than the other...

Once again a great one, Judy, too bad I've used up my aura today already for the goat pic... But another one is coming of course! It looks really magnificent, and I wonder especially how fast you could do this one as it's not a very simple creature to say the least, but you did it all with the proper colours, textures, shadows, even with water bubbles and very water-like looking distorted background... Wow!

I also think the Facebook version size looks quite ok - doesn't really look pixilated for me. Maybe that's because Facebook reduces the size of the uploaded pic already somewhat. At any rate: Wonderful addition in an area where we sorely lack illustrations as of yet! Bravo!

[Deklitch Hardin]

Great picture again Bard. I guess I'll just have to 'like' it in Facebook.

[Seeker]

Like Art I am also amazed by the speed with which you got this one done.  It seemed like you just told us that you would think about doing some custaceans and then five minutes later here is one already done.  I love it when you are in the painting mood and all your tools are readily available to you. 

The part I love the most about the picture are the claws.  They colors and textures you used there are really cool.  well done.  I am going to attempt to give you another Aura right now but not sure if I can.  I am in a different time zone than normal.

[Altario Shialt-eck-Gorrin]

   Auried.

Suddenly craving surf and turf....and souvlaki.

[Bard Judith]

(looks slightly guilty)   Well, I did 'cheat' on this one...depending on how you define it.  Let's see if you agree, in which case I lose some of my credit and glory...not to mention all those lovely yummy aura points, but hey, maybe I get points for effort!

a) I used a reference illustration for the lob's body, so that proportions, legs, etc. are all correct.  I make no secret of it - and  have always used ref pics - but some real artists consider this 'cheating' and no more artistic than tracing or colour-by-number.   The original was an old engraving, which I found somehow appropriate.

b) I use various Photoshop brushes, stamps, textures, etc. to help create the effects I want.  For example, I don't 'handdraw' every leaf or blade of grass - I use a brush tool with a scatter effect and a colour variation.  Of course, it does take some skill to make it look convincing, and then to hand-dodge or burn the result for depth.  In the case of backgrounds, I often use simple 3-D modeling programs (and their stone, brick, etc. textures) which then still require hand detailing.   The lobster's great shell colouration is materially assisted by a distressed copper texture, for example.  In the case of this picture, it took five separate layers of textures, all combined beneath the body overlay, trimmed meticulously and then shaded by hand.

c)  For the water background, I found a wonderful Photoshop tutorial that walked me through the steps of creating certain effects.   Of course, I still had to do all the work, tweak some of the settings they suggested, and so on... a chance to stretch my ability with the program and learn some new techniques!  Apparently this is exactly what all these filters, settings, and auto-renders are FOR. 

d)  The bubbles, which are, I must say, pretty convincing, are all my own.  Made the original bubbles, created a stamp from them, set the transparency, scattered them at appropriate sizes, etc. 

So....what do you think?  Is this legitimate art, taking up three non-stop hours of my time and a constant grip on the digital stylus, deserving of laudation?   Or is it colour-by-numbers and break the canvas over my head? 

[Deklitch Hardin]

It is more than legitimate, Judith ... and if anyone disagrees with me, they can talk to Tharoc about it!

Oh, and I was eventually able to give you another aura for this painting

[Artimidor Federkiel]

*haha* As you can see it takes much more than just a reference to create a true piece of art, which some Photoshop dabblers haven't managed to grasp yet.

Of course first you need the talent, also inspiration and a good eye. And then the means of course, and the experience to use them. And once you've gained all the expertise you need - which takes months, even years to actually acquire - there will be a point where you can work very efficiently and produce a masterwork in its own right pretty quickly. But all that is a long process, and we're happy that you've got there already, Judy...  

[Seeker]

Judy I use similar techniques and struggle with the same questions.  I judge by the recognition rule.  If someone can look at my work and say that it is obviously copied from such and such, then it is a bit embarrassing.  So I try to make sure the reference work doesn,t shine too brightly in the end result.  However there are a couple of pictures I have up on the site that every time i look at them I think to myself that they look too much like the reference and I dont like that.  But that is just motivation for me to put more creativity in the next one. 

I would hold myself to a more strict standard if I ever wanted to sell something.  I would be extra careful.  Now I am going to give you the Aura that I couldnt earlier.

[Altario Shialt-eck-Gorrin]

I was one that thought that, until I tried to do it myself.  I can't come close to making it look good, or something not resembling a ref pic that was simply altered.  Yours look great, they look Santhed, and I'm jealous of your artistic ability.

[Bard Judith]

(looks rather moistly-eyed around)  Thank you, guys.  These comments mean even more than the accompanying aura.  I thrive on affirmation and am running on scant fumes in RL, so this is much appreciated.

(stifles a sniffle and picks up her stylus again)  Next up....molluscs!

[Ta`lia of the Seven Jewels]

Lovely picture!

[Rayne (Alýr)]

I agree with Seeker: if there is a close resemblance to the source, than it is a bit embarrassing (as a side-note, this also pertains in regards to legality: things like copyright infringements and plagiarizing. If someone can identify the source image/work, then there may be an issue).

If you just want to use the general form of something, I would suggest hopping over to Illustrator; if you have it trace an image, you can usually depart a good deal from the original while keeping the basics you want, like the outline. If you flatten transparency, you can just take the line, allowing you to use it as its own layer in Photoshop, if you prefer.

It does look fantastic! I should really migrate over to Photoshop and play around. It's been a while since I got to use it for anything fun!

[Bard Judith]

...so here's the source.

 Since it's from Wikimedia Commons, a freely licensed image repository, copyright infringements do not apply.  

  The form/outline is indeed the same; however, I do my own 'tracing' so that I can alter on the go in terms of positioning, widths, foreshortenings, etc.  I'll leave it up to my peers as to whether this is a valid use of sources and if originality has suffered in the process.  

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Lobster_(PSF).png

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