Images - First selection for 2011

I should probably not even wish a happy new year to all since we're in february, but anyway. here's a (late) first post for this new year. I've been preparing and gathering quite a lot of new images for a second book that will happen sometimes this year. there's still a lot to do but it's already coming along fine. I will probably have a section dedicated to specific methods i have been using these last years and i hope it'll be a nice helper for some, or at least a visual stimulation that will give more food to any creative process. More soon.

On the custom shapes front, i have been experimenting here and there. The medieval interlude posted above, as i call them, has been done using this technique a lot. it totally gives a fast and effective result. Very exciting. However, the images done this way need to be counter balanced with smoother brush work and visual junctions in order to cut some of the obligatory harsh edges given by custom shapes. One way to do this is to use the smudge tool in order to erases some of these edges. the blue space piece was done the same way, but i skipped the last smoothing steps a bit, and it shows. The more textured piece is just a basic sketch that transformed itself into a more achieved image. More weirdness soon.