June 05 Contest Discussion

[T Paul]

Add your comments, questions or general discussion about the June Contest entries as well as the contest itself here. This is also a great place to share your techniques or ask others about theirs.

[CJ Swartz]

T Paul -- are there any restrictions as to methodology for this month's contest?

My question is wide-open, but let me throw in a couple of specific questions to start it off.

May we use parts of the image rather than the whole for the illustration?

May we use any filter effect that we choose, any brushstroke technique we choose, etc. to create our chosen result?

[T Paul]

Photo Art: taking a photo and turning it into art.

I thought long and hard, but Photo Art just isn’t easy to develop guidelines for. So the main restriction is that your entry should not be the sole result of running a single filter…i.e. just push a button and voila instant results!! Now I’m not saying you can’t use filters, just make sure that your steps are not just one step of applied such and such filter, end of story.

So… cut, paste, combine filters, add layers, experiment with brushes, textures and so on. The goal is to create a Children’s Book Illustration. Maybe it’s a graphic, pen and ink, watercolor, marker, color pencil, or a combination of medium...there are so many options! This is where you can really create your own style!! Need some inspiration, do a Google search, check out your local bookstore, etc.

I’m hoping that this contest produces some very creative results!

Now for the question of do you have to use the whole image...no you don't. You can use parts of the image.

[cazubi]

I also have a question. Is this to be illustrated as if it were, say, one page, or part of a story in a children's book?

Cathy

[T Paul]

You can design your entry as a single page such as the Front Cover Design, or as a scene from within the book. You can add other characters, backgrounds and so on. This is where that creativity comes in.

[Janet Petty]

Almost totally off the subject but not quite:

Does anyone out there remember a series of cute "Ladybird" children's stories from about 20 years ago? I used to have several of them as educational materials for my young children. The books are long gone from my home; and this thread has reminded me how adorable they were.

Janet

[T Paul]

Not sure if they are the same thing, but Amazon.com has several children's book by Ladybird Books.

[Flora]

Boy, voting for this is going to be much harder than for the previous contests!!
All the entries I've seen are simply terrific!!!

[Kraellin]

i totally agree, flora. i think the contest is 'easier', technically, this time, but the voting is going to be far more difficult. the level of creativity around here is incredibly good. i already find myself wanting to see the entire books

K.

[Ms Bay]

I am still having problems with the quality of my pictures when I upload them. I create them in sRGB and the colors are bright and crisp, but when I save them to the web I am still loosing some of that color crispness. Could it be my monitor settings and every one else sees the rich colors that I see in my CS program? Everyone else's posted pictures are beautiful color!

[Marthig]

Ms Bay !

I loved your scene, it is so nice ! I am preparing something too but I think yours is a winner !

Rgds - Martha


Haven't noticed the other entries, one prettier than the other, all winners IMHO

[Ms Bay]

How sweet, thank you for the compliment!

[MargaretM]

What fun watching all these great entries roll in. ALL GREAT! Have a question for Cazubi or anyone else who might know. I just invested in Painter 9 and am looking for some tutorials on it. I see a couple of good books on it, but only available in July. Any ideas would be welcome.
Margaret.

[Racc Iria]

Ms. Bay... I used to have the same color problems as you're having. I design graphics for video and web and would always get the color shift thing happening. It looked great in Photoshop, but wasn't the same when it got to video or on the web. Then I read the following in the Photoshop help file:

Color Management Off

Does not turn the Photoshop color management system off (the color management system cannot be turned off entirely). Instead, this option tells the color management system to use passive color management techniques to emulate the behavior of applications that do not support color management. Although working space profiles are considered when converting colors between color spaces, Color Management Off does not tag documents with profiles. You can use this option for content that will be output on video or as on-screen presentations. Do not use this option if you work mostly with documents that are tagged with color profiles.

Turning off color management is not a good idea when printing is the goal, but if you're just going to the computer screen (or to video) then turning it off and creating images with it off will save you a lot of headaches. I know it sounds crazy, but it works.

--Racc

[Ms Bay]

Thanks Racc for your help. I uploaded again using your suggestion, but it still looks the same (it looked good in save for web). Are the key words here "when creating", because mine was already done? I'll try it on the next photo project.