I was asked to analyze the creation of a specific piece of art for an interview, and it was good for me to do so, but it was difficult to take it apart, step by step, after the fact. Once I finished, however, I realized that I had quite accurate a recollection of the process. In addition,I read today in another artist's blog that she was frustrated with creating the step-by-step art pieces for the illustrations of a book she is writing, and I completely understand!
So I'm choosing to post a piece tonight that is simple for me deconstruct, and perhaps helpful to someone for me to do so. Here is "Island Queen".
The background is an original watercolor...swirls and dots in a random pattern. I scanned it and started with that layer. Next I added the Island Queen's face. She was the design on the cover of a piece of antique sheet music from my collection. I used the Enhance/Color options to make the ribbons and flowers deeper in hue, then "posterized" (Photoshop filter) her. Next I searched for something that would be a "natural" border; i.e., something I could drag over and use without too much modification. I found it -- a scan of an old cigar box! I "removed" the parts I didn't want, using the "magic wand" and "select" tools, and dragged my border over onto my image. All I had to do to make it fit was adjust it slightly for size. *Note that I left some areas of the box which appeared to add texture to my painted background.
Last, I added the letters. I had found some antique letter stamps (lucky me!), and I arranged them appropriately (upside-down) on my scanner bed and scanned them. I saved the words as a .jpg file, removed the background, and dragged them over to my Queen! I posterized the letters to give them depth, then flattened the image and signed my name.
Island Queen reigns.
Hope everyone had a great Sunday!
Lynda
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