2*N*1

Firstly, the title of this post sounds like a boy band. Secondly, this picture looks way better onscreen than printed out, which I'm disappointed about, but just know that it actually looks pretty cool!

I wanted to try the Underwater Scene/Bubble tutorials because thus far, I had only been doing art-type Photoshop projects, and although those are the main reason I wanted to learn Photoshop, I felt I wasn't getting the full experience of the program. So I decided to try something different! I can't say it was the most fun, or difficult project I've done so far, but it was really useful. I'm so excited that I know how to make brush shapes, I feel so much more competent! I really could have used that skill in the paint bucket picture, and I will definitely be using it in the future. I also liked playing with filters and different things like that in this tutorial, and trying to make the rays look realistic. Attempting to create realistic depth in the picture was cool too, and the "Perception" transforming option was cool, (and a bit of a challenge). I also became even more familiar with the brushes palette, that's always a good thing! It was difficult to make the shark fit in with the background, I messed around with blending options for a while. I also really wanted to make it look like the shark was swimming toward you while you were looking at the picture. I think those two endeavors were pretty successful...much unlike the endeavor of trying to surround the shark with realistic-looking seaweed, but you win some you lose some I suppose. I'm very glad I did this tutorial, I underestimated these parts of Photoshop, and considered them useless, which I wont do anymore, because I know they can be very helpful!

ps. Just in case you were wondering, the shark (which I thought was an eel at first), is called a Frilled Shark, this picture is of one in Japan. It's called a living fossil because this type of shark has been around for 95 million years and has barely changed in that time!! http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/photogalleries/frilled-shark/photo4.html

Style

The "Stylized Character" tutorial was definitely a big hit with me, it was so fun! When I use markers to draw, I usually draw more abstract things, with a lot of intricate detailing, but nothing, usually, that looks realistic. But with this, it was like practice using markers (with much more freedom) on realistic drawings. It was very fun to play with the way different colors worked with one another, and it was really interesting to see the way that the purple and the magenta in the tutorial blended like I really was using markers. I liked the challenge of trying to use the white of the background for some highlights, instead of erasing or painting over with white, it was more difficult, but I think it made for more realistic highlights. In the tutorial, my least favorite part was painting the feathers, it really irked me when they didn't turn out as perfect curves; Photoshop paint may be more forgiving than markers, but I think theres a certain precision that cannot be obtained through the computer. I was very proud of my picture! It was much simpler than the tutorial picture, but that's not because I was lazy! It was supposed to be a stylized drawing, and my style just isn't that...ostentatious. I prefer to focus on colors that work well together, instead of embellishments. One thing that I would have liked to try, and maybe I'll try on my final or another project, is making a pattern with paint, instead of just using a solid color on the dress. Overall though, I'm extremely happy with this project, and I even practiced drawing stylized people like this with the new markers I got for my birthday!