Emerging Artists Connect Presents: Photography & Acoustic Showcase!

I am going to have a few picture put up in this show. It's open for everyone who are interested! Here're some info:






This is our VERY FIRST ALL AGES event! (Anyone under 15 will have to be accompanied by an adult.) So come, network, listen to good music check out some awesome photography and eat the famous Waltz Astoria Red velvet cake!! (It is seriously the most delicious cake EVAR!!!)

ALL AGES

$8 Adv. Ticket ($8 @ Door 'Til 7:30)
$10 Door price.

Time	Sunday, May 29 · 6:00pm - 11:00pm

@ Waltz-Astoria
23-14 Ditmars Boulevard
Astoria, New York.






Looking forward to see you guys there!

Goddess of Nature

I grabbed some pictures from the internet and also used two pictures that I took to do this photo collage...

Here I got some picture frame, textures, and flowers images from the internet...

frame

texture

flower1

flower2

flower3

flower4

flower5

And one picture I took for my friends, and another picture I took on a trip...

1. Open my friend's picture in Camera Raw - adjust color temperature, exposure, fill light, brightness, and contrast

2. Open my friend's image. Select the girl out. Open the picture frame image, and select the frame out, and then drag the selected frame to the girl's image. Adjust their size, and add an brightness/contrast adjustment layer to adjust the girl's brightness.

3. Open the image with many branches. Use Magic Wand to select some branches out.

4. Open the texture image. I'll use it as background.

5. Select my friend's picture with the frame and drag it on top of the texture image.

6. Drag the branches on top of the texture image. Resize them, and also  add drop shadow for them.

7. Make a comp layer, and use clone stamp tool to clone with different opacity on the intersection area of the hair and the branches to make them blend in more.

8. Open the flowers images to select them and place them on the branches.

9. Adjust Hue/Saturation, Photo Filter, and Levels with adjustment layers

10. Make a comp. Add some blank layers with color mode, and use brush to add some colors to the eyelid and lips.

11. Add one more Hue/Saturation adjustment layer with mask to lower down the saturation of the flowers.

12. Add one more layer with the texture to make the whole thing blend in more.

FINAL:

Live Painting in Illustrator

We've been learning Live Tracing and Live Painting in Illustrator CS5. Here's my try on it.

I got this montage drawing on the internet, and it was rasterized...

Montage Drawing

1. Open a new document in Illustrator, and place the file onto it.

2. Go to [Object] --> [Live Trace] --> [Tracing Options]

3. Adjust the tracing options until it looks the way you want.

4. After adjusting tracing options, select the image, go to [Object] --> [Live Paint] --> [Make]

5. Since I want to color it, so I need to close up the small gaps. Go to [Object] --> [Live Paint] --> [Gap Options] --> [Close gaps with paths]

6. Open [SWATCHES], then open [Swatch Library], choose the color palettes you want.

7. Get the Live Paint Bucket to fill in the areas with the color you want.

FINAL:

Second Part of CD Cover

This is the second part of the CD cover I have been doing. I saved the previous part as PSD file, and place it in Illustrator. Now I am going to render the type in Illustrator. 

1. Type in the the text.

2. Go to "Window", open the "Appearance" panel.

3. Adding new stroke by clicking the black square box at the lower left corner of the panel.

4. Change the color of the stroke by clicking on the arrow.

5. Go to "Window", open "Brush Libraries," select any kinds of brush you want. You can add as many stroke as you want to the text with different colors and point sizes. 

FINAL:

First Part of the CD Cover

This time, I decided to do a CD Cover for my favorite Japanese artist, Miyavi. So I figure out, instead of creating a story-like cover, a cover with wild watercolor splash fits more into his character. And here we go...

Miyavi

1. Open a new document. Set a gradient overlay background.

2. Experience with different brushes with various sizes, flow, and opacity.

3. Select his upper body out with quick selection tool, and then drag him on top of the brush layers.

4. Add a Hue/Saturation and a Curve adjustment layers as clipping mask to create contrast.

5. Add some more strokes around the body and head.

Here's what I got so far, and I'll add some more vector components and type to it later on.

Birthday Girl

There's a story behind this picture...It happens on the birthday of a five-year old girl:

"Okay, I am ready! I dress up nicely as a little princess. I already prepare a basket for you guys to put in extra gifts! Daddy and mommy already bought a beautiful cake for me last night! I am sitting in front of our house and waiting for you guys to come!  10:00pm, 11:00pm, 11:30pm, 11:45pm, 11:50pm, 11:55pm, 11:58pm, 11:59pm, 12:00AM......WHERE IS DADDY? WHERE IS MOMMY?? WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS??? I have been waiting for you all day long...My birthday has already past!!! I am gonna finish the entire yummy cake by myself! My birthday wish is each one of you will be as unhappy as I am on your birthdays!! Who told you all forgot my birthday??! No No No...It must be a dream... It must be just a sad ending of one of those scary fairy tales......"

Birthday Cake

Girl

Night Sky

Street Light

1. A picture of a sad girl sitting on the stairs.

2. A picture of a cute birthday cake.

3. Select the girl out, make her smaller, and put it on top of the cake layer.

4. Add shadow of the girl on the cake.

5. A starry sky picture.

6. Put the picture of the girl and cake on top of the starry sky layer.

7. Add the street lamps on top of the cake. Add some shadows below them. Distort them. And also use a yellow brush to brush on the lamps to make them looking like glowing.

8. Make a layer copy of the starry night, average blur it, put it on top of the cake,girl,lamps layer as soft light mode.

9. Add a warm photo filter, and mask out the sky.

10. Add a Sumi-e filter to make it look like children's book's illustration. Mask out the girl and add a brightness adjustment layer to the girl to brighten her.

DONE!