The Final Work gif

I found a way to resize the gif! So here is the complete final. :) God Bless you!

The Final Work

This is my final work of art. I made a gif for it with a bluebird flying across the screen, but the image was too big to save it, so I had to deal with making a PNG instead. This project took a lot of work. I will describe what I did in a list.

1. I made Tod, the red fox to the right, in Illustrator. I took a picture of him and traced over it with Illustrator tools. This took a while.

2. I put a picture of Spyro to the left of the drawing. I tried to give him a shadow, but when I merged the layers of the image, it gave everything a shadow, and that did not look right. So I deleted the shadow.

3. I found a picture of a brick wall for the image background. I did this because I was inspired by the shadow of a bird in flight I saw on a brick wall I was passing a few days ago.

4. I have been getting a LOT closer to Jesus lately, and so I wanted to add the word, "Jesus". I started by painting the word on the wall in white. Once I did this, for some reason I had a desire to add green to the image. So, I outlined some parts of the words in green. Then, I outlined them all in blue and the above look was the effect.

5. I wanted to put a book on the image. I don't know why I wanted to, but I did. So, I found a picture of a blank book online, then had an idea. I wanted to make the book written in, like a child's journal. This was because the Bible says, basically that if any do not become like little children, they will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (children are completely dependent on their parents). So, I drew and wrote like a child to make it look like a child's thoughts.

6. I added a dead tree on one side, and faced it toward the word Jesus. Then, I added hearts to express my love for Jesus.

7. I also added lighting and a clipart of a Christian family to represent my family.

 :) :) :)

Liquify - Just for Fun

Looks like a cat, correct? It is a cat - now. I took a picture of Tod the fox from The Fox and the Hound, then began using the liquify tool in Photoshop. I first just played around with causing Tod to be bloated, to be swirled, or to shrink. Then, I started using the warp tool. At first I was still just playing around and swirling the image, but then, once the black in the image started to separate from the red-orange, I had an idea. I started warping the colors into a shape. It started looking kind of like a cat, so that is what I made it. With the brush size at 100, I made the head and the body. As I started to make the feet, that got difficult to do, so I reduced the size to around 16. With this, I made the feet and smoothed out other parts of the image.

The Honey Bee gif

This is my third gif made in Photoshop. I was allowed to incorporate only certain items in a folder, and I chose to incorporate a honey bee and a radio. The honey bee initially proposed a problem: It was realistic, and therefore hard to animate. So, using Illustrator, I recreated the bee and animated it using that. When I made the bee fly, I had to separate the wings from the body on a separate layer and rotate them. Then, I went back and merged the wings. After the bee was shocked, the gif seemed very empty, since it did not have a background. Therefore, I went and added a honey colored background under the bee and behind the radio. I also added shadows for realism and a brown ledge for the radio to sit on. All in all, this was a very enjoyable gif to make.

Weekly "sketch" - Frifere, the Hummingbird

This is my second gif to have ever made in Photoshop. Like the fox from before, I used illustrator to draw the bird, being sure to drop the stroke entirely. Then, I put it in Photoshop and started to animate it. All I did was use layers to place wings over the body after editing each, and move the body one to three places up or down. It is a very simple gif, and did not take much work. It was still very fun for me though!!

Winter Wonderland

This is a submission for a contest. I was required to implement "fine art emblems" such as dance, art, theater, choir, and band. I was also required to use an eye-catching, creative font. I tried to implement dance with using the dancing reindeer, art by the painting of a Christmas tree on the wall of the stage, the theater by making the events take place in a theater, choir through the singing mice in the foreground, and band through the angels playing trumpets at the back on the stage. This (minus font) was originally done in pencil, but I edited it in Photoshop, Paint, and Corel Paint. Photoshop was used to trace the stage, characters, and background, and for the font. Paint was used to make more space for the font, and Corel was used to add additional embellishment. All in all, not a great piece, but I tried my hardest.

Weekly "Sketch" - Hoaxes are Easy, so Don't be too Breezy

How To Make a UFO Hoax Using Photoshop This is a link to an article explaining how to make a UFO hoax in Photoshop. It shows how easy it is with a tool like Photoshop to fake something, whether that be UFOs, cryptid creatures, or something as common as dogs and cats. This shows an older version of Photoshop being used than what I have, but there are still easy ways to make hoaxes with the new version. My purposes for posting this link were to show how simple and easy Photoshop is to use for putting images together (kinda glorifying it), and to show that one who might look into Cryptozoology, or one who searches for alien space crafts, needs to be aware that hoaxes are easy to make. This is certainly not to say all the cryptid things claimed to exist do not exist, but is to say that one must be critical when he finds images related to supposed "cryptids", for hoaxes can be extremely easy for someone to make.

The Red Fox Gif

This is the first gif I have ever made in Photoshop. I made the fox in Illustrator, then used Photoshop for the animation, and to make it into a gif file. It was quite fun to animate it, and animating with Photoshop is definitely something I would like to continue doing. The reason the animation in this is not that sloppy (since I am a beginner) is because I have had experience with animations using an application on my DSi from a long time ago called Flipnote Studio. This allowed me to learn how to animate somewhat, and how the fox's head goes down, then back up, can be traced back to the old animating style I learned from watching other people's "flipnotes" on the internet piece of this, called Hatena.
Now, for the complications in creating this piece... Firstly, the stroke of the pen tool in Illustrator is still difficult for me to use, so when I made this fox, I decided to just get rid of it altogether. Secondly, when the fox was being drawn with the pen tool, I did not connect all of the lines together and therefore cresated much empty space in need of orange color. To fix this, I just created one or so orange shapes and hid them over the empty space in the fox. Thirdly, one thing I found frustrating with Photoshop frames is that I could not delete all layers for one frame, yet still have those layers for another. While I could hide layers in one frame and have them show in another, if I deleted a layer, it was gone altogether from all frames. This made it a little more difficult for me to work with the layers and frames. And fourthly, there is one last thing I dislike about using Photoshop's animation feature - there is no "onion skin", allowing you to see on one layer the faded image of the layer before, so you can cause the animation to be smoother without having to cycle between the layers (this was in Flipnote Studio and it was extremely beneficial). Even with these issues, using Photoshop for animation is very fun and easy (though it may take a little bit of time).

Weekly Sketch - Winter Fox

This is a piece inspired by winter. I wanted to make it feel like Christmas is approaching, and used the impressionist brush to give it a scratchy feel (it also helps the trees look more natural). After deciding to make the sky pale, add a pine forest, and make the snow look gloopy (using the "gloop" tool), I felt something was missing. So, I decided to put an animal. I made a red fox. At first, the body seemed to be easy to make fit with the picture (other than the fact that it looks like the layer the fox is on is faded, since the snow seems to show through... I don't think this can be fixed, and I think it is attributed to the "gloop" brush being used underneath, since it seems to have texture). However, after I made the body, the eye seemed harder to make. I ended up reducing the size of the impressionist brush and still using it. The eye stands out nonetheless, but it is more natural than it would have been had I used a simple paint brush.

Weekly Sketch - Light or Dark?

Does the Sun Shine, or the Moon?

When I look at you,
I see the glitter of stars.
When I look at you,
I see the bright sun.
Yet when I look at you,
I see clouds of day.
Yet when I look at you,
I see the bright moon.
Oh bright darkness,
Oh dark light!
Such trouble,
Such strife!
You seem to want to cut my mind
like a knife.
That starry night.
You come in confusion and cause
A turbulent fright.
That starry night.

The poetry above is me trying to make Ekphrastic poetry, which is poetry about a painting that reveals deeper meaning of it (though I don't think I've actually drawn on a deeper meaning). The poetry is saying, basically, that the edited Starry Night is confusing, because it does not appear to be clear that it is night, or day.
In this piece, I edited Starry Night to make it brighter, and cause the colors to be more vibrant. I was originally going to make it a German Starry Night, but Corel Paint would not cooperate when I wanted to add the German coat of arms and national flower. I kept trying to paste it, but it either kept making the picture too big, or would not let me put the file on my blog (I originally saved as a Riff file to save the layers, but it would not let me open it after that).

Just Paintin'

This is a drawing I did in Corel Paint. It isn't very good - Don't be deceived. The fiber-like mane, gloopy body, faded vines, grainy ground, and painted sky are mainly due to different brush types. I used the "Fiber brush" for the mane, the "Gloop brush" for the body, and many others for other effects. This piece features a lion. I wanted to make it be in a jungle, surrounded by leaves, but I ended up causing the background to be flat and simple - an all too common mistake of mine. The same green, flat grass and blue sky seem to be the typical background for my drawings. Anyway, this was just me playing around in Corel paint to get to know how it works.

Weekly Sketch - My Favorite Books

This weekly sketch is dedicated to my favorite books. I did not create any of these pictures, but I cut them from other pictures and edited them in an attempt to make them fit in. Most of these pictures are also official illustrations or book covers, while some are not. In the top right, there is an owl from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls holding Soren, who is an owlet. These owls are from the book series Owls of Ga' Hoole by Katheryn Lasky, one of my absolute favorites. Next to the owl on the top left, you can vaguely see an eye. This eye belongs to the "Receiver of Memory" from a book known as The Giver, by Lois Lowry. At the botton left, you can see a mockingbird. This represents the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the center, you can see a book by Mark Twain. This is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In front of it, you can see an orange cat named Firepaw from the Warriors series, by Erin Hunter. In front of him, there is another, smaller cat named Socks, from Socks by Beverly Cleary. I have read this same book around five times. To the far right, you can see a dog named Scruffy, wearing a rope chain. This dog is from a book called Scruffy, by Jack Stoneley. And finally, the background is supposed to be a pile of burning books, from the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. These books are some of, but not all of, my favorite books.

Weekly sketch - "Stabh Arkai - That greedy, selfish soul"

This is a weekly sketch of Stabh Arkai. I drew this on a sheet of notebook paper, then edited it in an app called Sketchbook Express. I was inspired to create this because I wished to do something unexpected. On my weekly sketch of Focus, the cybernetic dragon who is burning books, to the left there is a monitor that shows a quote from Stabh Arkai stating the definition of "E-day". The name "Stabh Arkai" is a random name I came up with just to make someone say what E-day was. Now, I have decided to draw him here. Stabh Arkai is a major influence in the society's decision to burn books and lean on technology. While Stabh is not the ruler, he is so rich that he owns almost all stock in every company, and is powerful because of it. He is very selfish and greedy. It is due to him that so many creatures are now half robotic (Since they are forced to do this... It shows that Stabh Arkai causes despair and pain for others in his greed... like many people today... who need a Saviour to save them from their greed and all other sin, for they cannot escape without Jesus), and why no one wants books anymore. His company is one of the largest, and it is his fault technology has destroyed the kingdom as much as it has done, for he has brainwashed many people to rely solely on technology so he can make much more money (as if he needs it). Here he has a blow torch and mask and is creating a cybernetic plate.

Revision of an Old Cereal Box

This is an old Cocoa Puffs cereal box I traced over using Illustrator pen tools, to make it look new. I found this relatively difficult at times, for the pen tool did not seem to want to cooperate. This was mainly on the letters, and odd shapes. I ended up using line tools on the letters, though even those presented some issues. When I would try to add the middle line in "A"s, or the middle line for "E"s, the line would cause part of the letter to disappear. To solve this, I made the lines separate, then moved them to their proper location. I would like to add that, although the letters were difficult to make, my main problem was the colors and the stroke of the pen tool. When I would select a color for the stroke, then one for the main fill, the stroke became transparent. To solve this, I had to try flipping the colors of the stroke and main part, re-select, flip, etc. I did this for almost everything requiring an outline, and I had great difficulty.

Weekly sketch

This is a picture I drew of Toothless. This was the first picture I drew on my phone, and it was not very good at first. Later, I revised it and added shading, highlights, the blue glow from his mouth (supposed to mean he is about to shoot fire), his eyes being more vibrant, the background, and some other slight revisions here and there. I was inspired by speed drawing I saw on YouTube awhile back to revise this picture and try to make it look more "realistic". Though it does not in any way look realistic, I did make it look better than it did. All in all, not a great piece, but I think it is decent.

E-day post

For this picture, I had to take three photos in order that I could show the details which were hard to see and read. This picture depicts a cybernetic dragon named Focus burning books. Why is it burning books? Because the society has decided to destroy all things natural and revert to technology. On the top right, there is a monitor showing a quote by the developer of a company called Electronic Development Inc. The quote reads, "E-day: A day assigned for students to learn their subjects via their electronic devices." The day this event occurs is on E-day. At the bottom of the picture, there is a shaded mammalian-dragon like creature. The creature is starving,  but living for technology, it does not care. It makes the remark that it spent three days studying on its electronic box (phone), and that it is its life. In the flames, there are many books burning, of them: "Don Quixote", "History? Mystery? Rowen Oak", "Fahrenheit 451", and many more. I tried to make it ironic that Fahrenheit is being burned, for in that book, the government forces all its citizens to burn books. 

The Portrait of a Person

Here is the portrait of a person I made in illustrator. I selected each different shape of color with the pen tool, then filled them each in with the main color of the shape selected.

In the midst of trouble, He is my Comforter.

In the midst of trouble, I will be delivered.
In the midst of trouble, through every endeavor,
I will be delivered.
When mountains fall,
and the brave all stall,
when the floods come crashing down,
and the plagues come to every town;
when the darkness reigns,
and I am in chains;
I will always be delivered.
For there is One Who is greater
Than all of these things;
for there is One Who loves me,
to Whom my heart sings,
and He will deliver me.
He will always deliver me.
He is a shield to those,
who He rose;
He is the Protector of all,
who trust in Him.
He will never let His children fall,
we trust in Him.
We will be safe...
we will always be safe.
This is why I Love Him,
He has saved me.
This is why I Love Him,
He has Loved me.
He Loves you,
He wants to protect you.
Go to Him.
He can save you from your sin.
Let Him heal you,
for He is true.

The poetry above summarizes why I created this piece. I created this to remind everyone that sorrow is only for a moment, for those who live for the Lord and Jesus Christ. I sometimes find myself terrified of the whole world, of everything around me, and I will remind myself that Jesus is always with me, and sorrow will not win.
This piece was done in Photoshop... I drew the background to have the shadows of three different creatures who are endangering the one in the center, which is sorrowful, even though there are reminders all around it that there is no need for sorrow, for sorrow cannot win. The creature is sad because it is scared, though it need not be, just as followers of Christ do not need to. I made the text out of the line tool to give it the feel that it was written on the wall. The creature is neon green so that it stands out, just like the "t" in "the" is made white to appear to be glowing, for it is a Cross, and is giving light, just as what the Cross symbolizes (Jesus's death and Resurrection to free us from our sin) gives Light. The word joy is also glowing to emphasize the fact that joy will come, after all of this is over... Joy will come. And these evil, painful, and terrible things that are suffered now will only be for a moment, for those who choose to Love the Lord Jesus and accept His Love, the Love He longs to give us (He Loves you). Then joy will be, and all those who give their lives to Jesus to save them from their sin (for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God) and love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength will be Loved, and we will live with greater joy than imaginable forever. We will be in Heaven with our Savior, Jesus, and our Father, God (Jesus and God are One Person, but Jesus is also God's Son. I think it is kind of like how water is one substance, but has solid, liquid, and vaporous forms, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are the same God, but are different "forms") We are already Loved more than we can imagine, all people are Loved, but we must choose to be Saved through Jesus's Blood, for He died for all people, and all are able to be Saved now. We must accept our Savior wholeheartedly. Through Jesus, and Jesus only, can we have pure joy that lasts forever. Through Jesus, and Jesus only, can we Love God and Love Him. ONLY Jesus can Save us from our sins because we have no power whatsoever against our sin. In order to follow God, we have to accept Jesus so that His Blood, shed for us, can cleanse us from sin and bridge the huge gap between us and God. Jesus is the only One Who can reconcile us to God. Trusting in Jesus, and truly Loving Him is what keeps us from sinning and being far from God. I believe sin is the absence of God, that is why it is so terrible. Because God is Love, God is all things truly good. Without God, there is no comfort, peace, life, joy, hope, faith, truth, harmony, especially no Love, and no things good. God IS Love, and the only reason people go to hell is because they reject Jesus, they reject God, and since God is just, and gives us free will, He removes Himself from any who do not want Him, because they do not want Him. Therefore, that is why people go to hell. I do not believe they are sent there, but hell is the only place where God completely is not. I believe if God removes Himself from someone, because they do not want Him, that's where hell is. I believe that hell is the absolute absence of God. God does NOT want people to go there. He LOVES you! He Loves you more than you can imagine! Accept Him now, for He's here right now, and it is not too late yet. Don't wait until it is too late. Jesus Loves you NOW.

Art poster

Weekly Sketch

In this, I was just feeling creative and decided to start experimenting. I used different brush types and opacity, and tried to kind of create a "feathery" feel to the piece. I added a Cross and a heart to emphasize the idea of Love being central to the work, and I added an animal just for fun.

This was originally a collage I made in my art class with newspapers, centered around a theme. I edited it in an app called Sketchbook Express, adding highlights, fixing the text, and making the colors vibrant. The theme of this artwork is trust. This artwork is based on trust. Where you see an old farmer toiling in the field, he must trust his work will yield food. Where you see the bird riding the rhino, it must trust the rhino will not go berserk and harm it. Where you see the air balloon, you can understand that someone may be afraid to go high up in the sky, or to do something risky, but they must trust everything will be alright. Where you see the dog on top of its doghouse, which is floating in water, it must trust it will be safe. Where you see a person catching fish in ocean water, he has to trust he will catch something. Where you see a woman and her child, you can see the child must trust his mother. Where you see a little child finding food, she must trust she will find enough for her. Where you see the many birds, you must know they have to trust they will not fall, like we must trust we will not fall in our Father's care. Where you see "Trust He will help", this means to trust Jesus will help, if you go to him. Where you see "Trust in Him with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding" it means to trust in Jesus with all your heart, and to not try to lean on your own self or your own knowledge and wisdom for your protection, for it will fail you... But Jesus will never fail you. Where you see the golden mist, this is symbolic of the Light of Christ, which can be trusted, for It is true, when no false light is trustworthy. Where you see the green vine, this is symbolic of the Life one gains from following Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the.Life.  With this in mind, one can understand they can trust Jesus at all times, if they only accept Him as their Savior... For He died not just for all people, but for each individual.

The First Illustrator Artwork

This is my first piece of art made in illustrator. It is not very good, but I tried.

My Influence Map

Illustration Friday entry

Cohesive Whole

This is the very first piece of artwork I made for my blog. I tried to incorporate many images from online and put them together in a "cohesive whole". The name also holds a deeper meaning. It refers to the "cohesive whole" of the Body of Christ, the Church. I do not mean a pretty building styled with gold and intricate portraits made in stained glass when I say "Church" - I mean Christians when I say Church.