Digital photography brings out the artist in many of us, and software such as Photoshop and Lightroom add a little extra sparkle to our images.
However, sometimes an atmospheric image can be improved further with a push towards the art world, using specialist painting software.
Akvis ArtWork 7 claims to turn your photos into impressive works of art that, in some instances, can turn a mediocre shot into an atmospheric image that's worth framing and sticking on the wall.
This latest upgrade introduces Gouche - a versatile painting technique that uses dense and intensive colours. Its characteristics are brilliance and opacity. Akvis ArtWork's opacity feature and covering power will, the developer claims, enable you to create outstanding effects that can't be achieved with watercolour paints.
Gouache technique is widely used in decorative painting and when creating colour sketches and drawings.
Akvis ArtWork 7 is available for both PC and Mac platforms, or you can use it as a plug-in for Photoshop. The basic idea is to turn a photo into a painting. The program goes a stage further than the Artistic filters built in to Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, which haven't been updated or extended for many years.
Other effects on offer from ArtWork include Oil, Watercolor, Comics, Pen & Ink, Linocut and Pastel. There are even some extra arty touches such as canvas textures and stylised signatures to add a little flourish to your masterpiece.
Of course, software to turn photos into art is nothing new. Corel Painter has been around for years, but at £279/$429 and with a fairly steep learning curve, it isn't for everyone.
Akvis ArtWork 7 sells for £93/$99 and the latest version includes a Preview feature so you can tweak and assess your opus magnum before printing it out. Version 7 sounds like it could be a fairly essential upgrade, and should have you on your way to the Royal Academy in no time at all.
Source: www.techradar.com
One is amused! The Queen a fan of wacky artist's stuffed animal portraits - Daily Mail
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Charlotte Cory's potty artwork, which fuses Victorian portraiture and taxidermy, is fast becoming a hit with collectors all over the world, including the Queen.
Although some might find the scenes of animals in humanised scenarios disturbing, the British artist has witnessed growing popularity since producing the works and her quirky images can now be found emblazoned on a range of goods from playing cards to tea towels.
Her Majesty herself purchased two pieces to hang on the walls at her home in Windsor Castle and dozens of the pictures have been put together for the first time in a book called You Animal, You.
Furry friends: A bright eyed creature models a tailored three-piece suit
Ms Cory, who also works as a writer, was inspired to create the series after being presented with a stuffed sparrow as a child by her grandmother.
As a teenager she gradually developed a fascination with the animal kingdom drawing and studying different species wherever she went.
Then in 2005 she decided to combine her lifelong fascination in zoology with a growing interest in photography and set up a darkroom at home to develop black and white prints.
In a bid to rescue old stuffed animals and forgotten photographs, she started fusing the two together revamping vintage photographic calling cards, knwon as 'cartes-de-visite' which were a craze in the Victorian era.
A good read? Ms Cory named this piece of artwork The Distinguished Essayist
A dog stands in all her finery while a gentleman badger showcases his top hat
Describing her inspiration she said: 'And yet there is something sadder: stuffed animals in museums, shot long ago not on glass plates but with guns, their very bodies likewise preserved for posterity to gawk at. Where did this moth-eaten tiger sniff his last antelope, over what distant verdure did that dusty parrot flap tremulous emerald wings?
'One day it came to me: why not recycle the dispossessed pictures and the long dead creatures. Grant them all a new lease of life. Better, more colourful, more deserving than before.'
To create the images she takes photographs of stuffed animals and puts them on the bodies of those posing in the vintage carte-de-visite pictures which she purchases from junk shops or antique markets.
To create the images Ms Cory takes photographs of stuffed animals and puts them on the bodies of those posing in the vintage cartes-de-visite pictures
The Queen purchased two pieces to hang on the walls at her home in Windsor Castle
The artist has labelled the creations 'Visitorians' and says initial reactions of laughter often give way to more serious contemplation.
Ms Cory added: 'So I’ve put these ideas together. At first people laugh and think they are quite funny, but then they stop laughing and find them moving.
'I didn’t want to call them 'people' or 'animals' so these are Visitorians. The Queen has bought two of them and I drove to Windsor Castle myself to drop them off.'
The book is published by Black Dog and costs 19.99
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
The third photo, what a freaky looking dog, poor taxidermy...
- Grainne Gillespie, Athlone, Ireland, 08/6/2012 01:24
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