CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Last week, while listening to downloaded lectures, I added more green to my rosebuds, using the techniques described on the 6th. I will be moving all how-to-dos for Gimp over to my art blog, and posting a summary of pics here on the Thursday of each week. This is what I achieved this week: On Monday, March 3, after work: And on Friday, March 7, after work: What can I say? I need more practice, but I will get better... if I can make enough time to practice.

One of the things I was curious about was how to insert different backgrounds into an image once I had isolated it... and I wanted to see what some of the effects in Gimp did when used as backgrounds. Last week, I explored the Blend and Bucket Fill tools in the Toolbox dock, and the Difference Clouds and Plasma effects under the Render-Clouds option in the Filters drop-down. This week, I wanted to look at some of what might be done with the Colorize option under the Colors tab. BEFORE: What you Need: I usually have the following dockable dialogues visible as I work: Toolbox, Brushes,Tool Options and Layers-Gradients. You will need to be able to see these to work through the following steps. I have assumed that you already know how to resize an image using the drop-down menu under image. Please let me know if you don't, and I will write another post to explain it. How to Colorize an Image Background: Make sure you have a coloured background. (I used my P...

So, for a very long time I've been saying I'm going to re-develop my drawing skills. I *did* make a start on it in January, but I still haven't managed to coordinate the time factor to really get into it. That's going to be a challenge this year, but we'll see how it goes. It only took a month to start pulling the writing schedule into a vague sense of shape. In the meantime, I started with still life and grey lead to get the feel of it again. Here is my first picture in far too many years.

So, here it is. First attempt, unedited, in chalk pastel, which I've only used three times in the last 12 months. I obviously need a lot more practice in this media so don't laugh too hard. I have a long way to go :-) For the real thing, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/Peacockspiderman/videos