Gare's non-Xara Art

[Big Frank]

I think it's just fun to bend stuff that shouldn't or can't be easily bent in the Real World

i agree - it's the clash of real thing with unreal action that causes the eyebrows to raise

good illustration

[Gare]

Thanks, Frank.

I was going to post this on the Displacement Map thread at the Xone, but decided, "Nah, it's too much fun just as an illustration."

The difference is that the edges are crisp, but the transition is smooth with a $29 piece of mapping software.

Um, and a $1,100 modeling program. :(



My Best,

Gary

[Gare]

This is almost a Xara drawing.

I have to disqualify it because I used Corel Painter on the color layer to make the beveled inset colors look glass-like. And the path I drew for the brass caming...I used Path Styler Pro on a vector Xara copy of it in Photoshop.

Still, I think it's great that an artist today can complete a piece using different software.



—gary

[angelize]

sheesh that's an expensive modeling program! I have dabbled with a bit of 3D modeling with Blender which is a free open source program. It may not be as good as yours but hey it's fun to just dabble

Edit: That stained glass is lovely! I did a stained glass piece using only Xara once it came out pretty good although mine had lead caming

[Gare]

We should put our heads together and try to teach some Xara-only steps to creating stained glass caming, regardless of whether it's brass, lead, or Silly Putty.

The look, at least to me, has irregularities: joints need to show some work as though soldering was done inexpertly just to add artistic character, and areas need to gleam, I feel. And to do that, I needed to use Photoshop's Dodge Toning tool. If one is an "anyone but Adobe" sort of designer, you can do the same thing in ArtWeaver, which is free (shareware actually), which has both a Dodge and Burn mode for the Brush tool.

++++++++++++++++++




I can't justify the expense of Luxology modo currently because I haven't invested the time in learning its features as thoroughly as I'd like. But I don't think I would have been able to get the subtle backlighting in post #120 without the program.

Hey, it's only money.


When I run out, I'll make some more.

:)

-g

[Big Frank]

i did this leaded glass beetle back in 2001 using my trusty xaraX

[Gare]

I really like your subject, Frank. A VW Beetle is as iconic as you can get these days, sort of like a light bulb. You've made it that more visually compelling by choosing a stained glass motif.

What I see as a problem for myself in the Photorealism Department, is achieving an unevenness with the caming, as though human hands were responsible for wroughting it. Perhaps I could do this using fractal fills as an overlay with transparency in a blending mode. I guess I copped out and used a program other than Xara, however this thread is about non-Xara Art.

My Best,

Gary

[a4hire]

Great thread and great work Gare. No matter what software you used it's nice to see.

[wizard509]

Great thread and great work Gare. No matter what software you used it's nice to see.

I have to agree with Bruce here.

[Gare]

Thanks Bruce and thanks, Larry—

I really don't know how to reply to someone when they ask me, "So you run the Xara Xone. Why didn't you do that piece in Xara?"

I use Xara Designer every day, it's the hub of all the tools I use, but I don't make work hard for myself when I have an idea that's best expressed using specific tools. That's not being a "loyalist"; that's just masochistic. Funny: for decades, I did what people considered to be pretty accomplished pen and inks, and pencil sketches, and not once did someone ask me whether I used a Ticonderoga, or a Castell-Faber pencil. Now there's so much branding with software, one gets labeled a "Photoshoppist", or a "Xaraist" or whatever!

My agent and I pitched the Xara Official Guide for years, and I think when version 4 was out, I did this as a cover illustration, using both Xara and a modeling program.



I guess the publisher who finally bought the title felt that the "Swiss Army knife" wasn't a good metaphor for the program. I guess you could run with Xara and hurt yourself if you fell.

My Best,

Gary