Stampington & Co, publishers of Somerset Studio and Belle Armoire magazines among others, is accepting entries for an annual special publication called Somerset Digital Studio. The deadline is October15, so fire up your computer and get going!   Here’s all the important information.

Digital artwork is HOT right now and we’re super excited about the premier of a new publication that will feature all digital designs. Somerset Digital Studio will focus on all things digital — scrapbook pages, ATCs, collages, cards, invitations, calendars, clothing, heritage pieces — anything that is unique, distinctive, artistic and created digitally. In order to be considered for …read more

BigHugeLabs has some of the most fun free toys available to jazz up your photos.  I already showed you the deMotivational poster that I made for my daughter and her friends:

It was a hit!  So that prompted me to go back and see what else BigHugeLabs had to offer.  It’s really amazing, and could also turn into an incredible time suck!  But I’m not going to apologize for that.  If you’d like to see more photos that I warped, you can visit them here, but I’d suggest that you simply grab some of your own photos and go play.  My …read more

Technique Tuesday!
Putting together the series of postcards and clip art that became Jim’s Story was a lot of fun!  I used Photoshop, but I think you could do something similar with another good image editing program.  If you missed any of the postcards, the links are below, along with a link to step by step instructions to combine cartoon or clip art images with vintage pictures.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Step by step instructions

Make Art Monday!
A few years ago, I became obsessed with a man I named Jim. As a young man, Jim moved to my town early in the 1900s, to take a job working for the railroad.

The thing is, Jim never existed. But that didn’t stop me from coming up with an entire series of postcards that Jim sent home, telling his parents about his adventures in his new town.
You can see more of Jim’s postcards home at the links below, and tomorrow I’ll explain how to combine cartoon imagery with old pictures, digitally.
Part one
Part two
Part three

Dear Mom and Dad,
The town …read more

Once I get started messing around with Photoshop, I can’t seem to stop. One idea leads to the next, to the next, to the next.
Recently I was playing around with ideas about borders that can be custom-made to suit the style of the digital work you need to “frame”. One of those experiments was the glowing blurred border from a couple of weeks ago. Today, it’s a border with an inner edge that looks burned. My example shown here is fairly simple and crude so that you can easily see the effects. With a bit more work and finesse, …read more

Technique Tuesday!
Start with a beautiful picture taken on a clear sunny day.

Add a touch of menace.

Why would you want to do this?  I don’t really know, but it’s fun to know how!  With Photoshop, there are always multiple ways to accomplish tasks, but here’s how I did it:
Step by step instructions

Make Art Monday!
You all know that I love Photoshop and am totally devoted to it.  You also know that there are times when you may need to do photo editing away from home.  Then it’s great to know about online editors.

At  Art + Creativity, there are links to ten more online toys tools that you can use to jazz up your pictures.  The list includes Animoto, which I told you about before…a very fun way to turn some shots into a short music video

So, wasn’t it fun playing with Big Huge Labs (de)motivational toy?   Want another?  Despair, Inc, the folks who have brought you some of the most recognizable demotivational posters for years now, also have a lab where you can create your own.
Warning: Looking through the Despair gallery is one of the biggest time sucks out there!  But it’s worth the trip 

Image: Despair, Inc

Tell me how much you HATE those motivational posters that are always so prominently featured in the Sky Mall catalog?  (Can you tell we’ve been traveling a bit lately?)
Well, Big Huge Labs to the rescue!!  Thank heavens, a service that will let you make your own.  You can even buy copies if you want!  Here’s what I did with a recent picture from my daughter’s college graduation.

Life Images is now going to be an annual photography publication by Stampington & Company. The next deadline is August 15, 2009.  The issues usually have a special theme or challenge, and this upcoming volume will especially be featuring work done with Polaroid emulsions.  Another theme will be photos that illustrate this quote by Henri Matisse: “Color helps to express light, not only the physical phenomenon, but the only light that really exists, that in the artist’s brain.”

Life Images will feature the very best of your most artistic, emotionally moving, or expressive photos along with a few of …read more