I wanted to capture the thought that although this tragedy happened on US soil, it is a tragedy for all of humanity. A graphic artist I am NOT, but this is what I ended up with.

First, I spent literally hours combing the various newspaper sites, webshots and yahoo photos for pictures that evoked the theme.

I found a picture of the remains of the WTC that showed skeleton remains and used that as my bottom layer. Then I took a picture of the smoke billowing out of the towers and masked it on the top and bottom to give me just the smoke. Put that on another layer.

Found a picture of the hands holding the earth at webshots, but the earth wasn't positioned to show N. America, so I selected out the hands and copied to my piece. Added shadows under the hands to simulate the same direction that the light appeared to be coming from.

Now I had to make an earth the way I wanted since I wasn't able to find a good picture highlighting N. America. Found some great shots at livingearth.com, but had to piece together Canada, US/Mexico and S. America. Then transformed Canada and S. America to look like they were on a sphere. Made a round selection around all of it centering the US. Filled in the missing areas with blue (for the ocean.) Unfortunately, there were no clouds, so I found another photo of the earth with clouds, selected only the clouds and copied them over. Then used a round gradient mask on all of it to give it a rounded feel. Put it all behind the hands.

Selected the approximate boundaries of the US and pasted a flag into it (below the clouds).

Found a bunch of photos of people from around the world praying, resized and placed around the globe.

Jeanie

Great poster. It captures the solidarity of the nation as so many countries unite together and take a moment out to prayer for the United States in their time of tragedy. Very positive imagery. I really like how you used the American flag to fill in the shape of the Untied States. Well done!

-T

Jeanie
Wow, another fantastic poster. I agree with T about the flag as the US and the world showing unity of nations. Loved the faces around the earth. Very well done and very uplifting. Thank you for joining in the parade with yet another outstanding tribute!!!
DJ

Thanks, T and DJ. I was afraid it was too busy, but there was so much that I wanted to convey. I'm glad you think it works. -Jeanie

Excellent job!!!! I've submitted one which is on the same thought as yours, although yours is much more detailed and polished. It's a beautiful sentiment that you've captured so well.

Jeanie,

It Works! Even more than that -- it's beautiful, inspiring, and comforting.

The process you followed to create it shows your determination to say exactly what is in your mind and heart - you worked long and hard AND succeeded beautifully!
Carolyn

Lorraine, I really wanted to put in the names of the countries which the small photos were from (like yours), but couldn't do it without creating clutter, so I decided the pictures around the photo of the earth would have to speak for themselves.

CJ, I think the reason it took so long was that the whole idea evolved as I worked on it. I backed up a LOT as the pieces became clearer in my mind. And in the end, I do think it expresses what I'm feeling in my heart.

Thank you both for your encouragement! -Jeanie

Of all the posters submitted, this is my favorite. It has nice balance, under the circumstances. Well done :)

Jeanie,

Fantastic job!

Ed

I was directed to this forum by a post in the Adobe forum. All of the artistic tributes are powerful, but I joined this forum specifically because I wanted to thank you for sharing this image.

I printed out a copy to share with my family (that doesn't infringe on copywrite issues, does it?)

Don't pretend to understand all the legal and moral issues of copywrited material, but these forum images speak so eloquently. I hope than can be shared with a wider audience. They are needed.

Ingrid

Mig, Ed and Ingrid - Thank you so much for your encouragement! It was (and is) truly my hope that my image can help in some small way with the healing process. I'm glad you felt compelled to share it with your family, Ingrid. -Jeanie