Hiding In Cyber Space

I have had several requests for information on how I created my latest self portrait.  So, here goes.

I had this painting.  

It had been crying for embellishment of some kind.

While I am a sympathy crier, I'm also someone who hates to cry.   Go figure.

So, I just had to make it stop.

Autodesk SketchBook to the rescue.

The following are the steps I took to get the finished selfie.

1.  Upload photo of painting.

This was by far the easiest step in the process.  This became layer one.

2.  Upload selfie photo.

This was the hardest step.  First, because taking selfies is something I hate doing.  Second, lining up the two layers so that my eye was just where I wanted it was tricky and took several tries.  Once I was satisfied with placement, I set the selfie layer at about half opacity; just enough to be able to see both layers.  I erased  the parts of the selfie I wanted hidden behind the... curtain?...  waterfall?  I'm leaving that up to the viewer.

Here is layer 2 alone

3.  Draw in details.

I will admit, this step felt like cheating.  I was just tracing, after all.  But after thinking about it   for a second   for a while  too long, I decided this project wasn't about my ability to draw; it was about composition and combining media.

All three layers together.

I have to say, I find "cyber arting" to be quite satisfying. It lets you have your cake and eat it too. I have a finished piece, but my original painting is untouched, ready for another go.

I've titled this Hiding In Cyber Space, but maybe it should be Thinking Of An Encore. 

Suffering for your Art

Those that know me, know how I feel about having my picture taken.

And selfies?  Just, no.

Yep, the pain is real.

But, a couple years ago, I really wanted to do a portrait quilt.  And so many artsy people do self-portraits.  Time to bite the bullet.

I used Roxio photo editor to simulate the fabric I had in mind to use for the hair.

Oops. It wasn't until I had applied the fusible web to the fabric that I realized I forgot to reverse the image.

Trying out border ideas.

In the end, I went with a simple, straight border.



Okay. That wasn't toooo bad.

Fast forward to the present.  Let's try this again.

This time I used acrylic paint and a digital drawing program called Autodesk SketchBook.

For this picture I poured paint on freezer paper and let it dry, creating paint skins that can be peeled off and used as collage material.  I laid the pieces over the selfie printout and took a picture.  In Autodesk, I traced over the face and glasses and then erased the photo underneath.
The finished product is only in digital form at this point.  For now.