Possum Roadkill

Me too ! I just tried my first glass piece and it is much harder than anything else ! Amazing image Ash !

The WIP for both the guitar and banjo were blue texture backgrounds, but the completed image is not about them being a guitar or banjo as an instrument or I would have drawn the entire instrument. Funny thing, some people like it, some don't, and I'm not sure which side I'm on. So what would you suggest? @ Topezia - That is so beautiful ! Wonderful blending of colors. What kind of background would you suggest for the bluegrass instruments? @ Goonfella - I saw the updated image in your gallery. WOW ! I didn't think it could be that much better, but it is ! It looks great as your sig and avatar too. @ Yellowman - Thanks ! Seems like I worked on it forever ! @ Sharp - Beautiful star scape. I first saw it in your tut. I can't wait to give it a try. It looks great with the planet, but I do agree that the starfield could use some color. Maybe in the gaseous clouds? The planet is really nice. Great texture on it. @ A Fleeting Glimpse - Thanks, and I agree the five string does sound the best of all. No, I do wish I did play the banjo. That is an awesome image ! It is amazingly like the album cover. A while back I did a photo manipulation from a tut I found on a PS site. Ash made the comment that I should try the image without the photos. So this is my first attempt at doing so.

What do you think? My first attempt at it....

My mistake, making the changes really did improve it. Fantastic ! That is one of the best ever on the board, no doubt. It looks so real ! Great job !

As long as you do a better job ... me no care :wink: Great job on your latest image, neat idea and neat execution. Well don't hold your breath for that. I have a long way before I ever do anything as good as your stuff ! Oh, Which of my latest?

Thats a good point. There are a lot of possabilities for this piece. I really like the flames in front.

The swan is so beautiful. I echo Oma's comment. It does look like the old style of animation artwork you would see in the Warner Brothers and MGM toons from the 1930's and 1940's. I can almost see it come to life on the silver screen.

That is a really cool effect.

I knew that once you took flight you would soar into the wild blue of your imagination. You have done so well while I have been away. Beautiful work !

I finally got back to work after a few days of fighting with a forum hosting company and have finished the Bluegrass instruments piece. I have been knocking ideas around for what kind of background to do and decided to do a Smokey Mountain abstract kind of thing. I don't know, it sure could have turned out better. It's the idea I was shooting for, but I guess I got a little rusty and didn't pull it off like I see it in my head. Maybe I'll return to it later.....but now I have some water to work on..... :wink:

That's OK, with six billion people and counting, I'm sure there are hundreds of millions of people who don't. Welcome to the club ! Possum does his best Homer Simpson and says "D' Oh !" Thanks for pointing that out ! I am such a doofus ! I'll get that fixed then we can all pretend we did not see Possum's momentary loss of reason. Always on my back aren't you ! j/k !!! Yes, I agree that would be so cool. I think I can.... I think I can..... OK I'll give it a try ! (BTW, I got my new forum up and running. Thanks for listening to me gripe. :oops: I'm not picking a fight here, but aren't you going to say why ? To me that just comes across as rude. Couldn't you have just left his gallery and not said anything ? That really hacks me off. Apologies to the admins/ mods and board members; but I had to say it. Possum Roadkill has put a lot of work into showing what can be made with Paint.NET and he deserves better than that. Thanks Welshblue, but some people just don't appreciate the same things. I understand that now. I don't need everyone's validation to keep me going, just the support from good friends like you. Thank you. You are a fine artist and a fine person and I'm glad that I have gotten to know you and appreciate your work. And occasionally steal ideas from you !

Actually, it is missing some shadows, but not where you think. Since the light is coming from lower right. Ask me via PM or something if you still free like fixing it, Goon. It looks like the solar panels are glowing so maybe a reflection of that glow? Maybe? Possibly? Heck what do I know ! It's FREAKIN' AWESOME GOON ! WOW ! Yes there are some shadows missing, but as dark as the image is in total, don't you think it would spoil the image over all to add more darkness? Hmmmm? I don't know, I'd leave it as is myself. Possum said in a tiny voice....... I finished my bluegrass instruments tonight....

Thanks ! And thanks for turning me on to it. I know it will be fun to experiment with ! @ Oma ! WOW ! I left some comments in your gallery on this one. BEAUTIFUL !!!

Beautiful ! I think Goonfella is rubbing off on you ! I love the shiny stuff, love it so much !

Man that is soooooo freaking cool ! Long time trekie and that is spot on ! Awesome ! If I live to be a hundred and two, I'll never catch up with you ! Your stuff just keeps getting better and better. Congrats on another great work !

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. I'm getting better, but when you're as ugly as I am there is no way but up ! Seriously, the doctor said I'm healing up pretty good, so I get to see him in three weeks and I should be Ok by then. I usually don't do this kind of photo manipulation, I usually do some pretty goofy stuff, but I though this was a pretty cool tut I found here. http://aviary.com/tutorial?tutorial=wat ... eview=1&p= and this is what I did with it. There is more info in the Photo Manip section of the board where I posted it. I just thought I'd share it here with you guys. It was really a lot of fun and pretty challenging for me.

@ RHoward Man those eyes creep me out ! Pretty good job on colorization. Just a thought, the nose looks a little too red/dark maybe? But who am I to say anything I sure couldn't do that. I found a tut for PShop a while back and thought I'd like to give it a try. My results aren't as good as the person who wrote the tut, but this is my first attempt... Link to the tut http://aviary.com/tutorial?tutorial=wat ... eview=1&p= What was done was pretty cool... I also found this image and it was my inspiration...there was no explanation or even who produced it.... The stock images I used.... My resluts... I know, I know, there are many many flaws to the final image, but hey I did it in one night.... I'm tired....my dog ate my homework....I did it with one hand tied behind my back.... and one eye closed....(not really... J/K) So what do you think? Anyone want to give it a try? I know some of you guys/gals who do the photo manip stuff all the time will smoke me on this one, so give it a try. IT WAS FUN !!!!

Hello my good friend, sorry for the long delay in my response. I was out of action for a few days. Thanks for the compliments from you as well. Anyone who compares my style to your's is giving me a great compliment. You work has had a great influence on me so I can understand where the similarities come from. I'm glad someone noticed that piece. I used it in another piece, but it was originally intended for something else that I may try again in the future. My grandmother used to have some wall art from Japan I believe it was. It was molded plaster of dancers. They were holding leaves like fans and I wanted to re-create the feel of those plaster wall hangings. I was pretty happy with this image so maybe someday I'll add to it. I finished my Possum Banjo ! It's in the artwork section and also in Realistic Images.

I don't do a lot of sigs now and I really like all of the ones above me. You guys really have a knack for sigs. I take a different tact on doing sigs. I do them from members of my club for our club message board. Here are the latests two that I did the past couple of nights. This one is for Sassy J. She sorta likes white tigers... This one is for Slopjoky. A slopjoky is a sloppy painter. Slop is a professional painter, as in buildings...

@ emanda1964 Wow ! That is so beautiful ! I noticed that you don't have a sig or avatar. You might consider using this image to fashion a matching set. @ Yellowman, You never cease to amaze me. Beautiful and intricate images. Stunning ! @ Frontcannon Nice image. Very stark but bold. Nice use of red as contrast. I would like to see more of the interior (small middle) part in the lower right. It looks very detailed but is small for my old eyes. @ Goonfella, I downloaded the Drost plug-in and this is my first attempt at using it. I was playing around with some of the abalone texture and messed it up. I didn't want to throw it away because my wife said the colors were "pretty". So this was my salvage attempt. She liked it. That's enough for me....

I've been out of action for a few days. CAUTION: A Political statement follows....Whoever says we need a complete reform of our healthcare in the US has not spent the last few days in a hospital....please give me a break ! Leave it alone ! I was treated like royalty, and I'm well below middle class income... Anyway, WOW ! I've really missed some great stuff... @ Oma, My hibiscus is starting to bloom. Have you been in my garden? Beautiful flower ! @ Welsh Blue, Wow ! another stunning gun and this time a revolver ! So much more challenging ! Beautiful job on the finish, I can feel the weight in my hand and the touch of the cold steel. Now all you need is the white hat ! (And maybe a white horse) @ RHoward You are off to a good start on your machine gun. It's looking really good. Pay close attention to how Welsh Blue treats his metal and wood finishes and you will have a stunning piece. @horsey_girl163460 How cute ! Very nice job and keep at it. Try the cutting out images tut with the pen tool and try the feather tool afterward. Also I have found that the alias plug-in before the feather sometimes improves the cleanup of the edges of a cutout. It takes a while to get the hang of it, but it is soooo worth the effort and practice to get a good cutout. BTW, your horse is beautiful. I had horses a long long time ago when I was young. They are wonderful animals and will be your best friend if you let them. Keep at it, I can't wait to see your next image ! @ nemo Your grass looks so real ! Amazing ! You should add an insect or a worm to it. Really ! It looks like a photograph, but I know it's not. Aaaagghhh it's blowing my mind! Oh and the foot, really nice. I had a good laugh when I saw that. What a creative sig ! You sir deserve an award ! @ Leif, Very nice images. Your Marilyn is so very very good. I love the retro style you did them in. Is the other image a young Carrol Channing? I'm probably wrong, because I'm getting soft in the head, but it looks like a photo I saw of her from the 1940's. Anyway, I blather, very very good job. So clean and sharp. Nice. Now this is what I have been working on a little at a time while I've been getting back on my feet. This is the second part of the string instruments for Bluegrass Music piece I am working on. Still a WIP, but so very close now...For you poor souls who don't know anything about Bluegrass here is a link to a really good band. I recommend "Lisa's Joy" and "Can't Find My Way". I've used them both in video projects since this is an Open Source music site. http://www.archive.org/details/bustedhearts This is the Possum Banjo.

Oma those are just stunning ! I'm away for a couple of days and come back to find you have been very very busy. All are beautiful but I believe I like the middle two the best.

Beautiful ! I think the balls look like they are inside of the box. Very very nice.

@ Goonfella AWESOME ! That is sooo cool ! can you link me to the plugin? I can see Jupiter and another planet in there, but wow the rest of it is amazing and I have no idea how you did all of that.

I don't need any help in losing my hair ! It's getting pretty thin on top without any help. Abalone has always fascinated me, I have a really big one (half shell) that is about 9 inches that my grandmother gave me years ago. My grandparents moved to Florida when they retired a very long time ago and she always collected shells. I know she didn't find this one because it's the wrong part of the country, so someone must have given it to her, but she did have a wonderful collection of tropical and sub tropical sea shells. I have quite a few of them still. I'm glad you enjoyed "Toad". One of my all time favorite bands. I used to sing and play keyboards in bands when I was young, but time has a way of taking things away from you. Now I only sing when only my dogs are around, no one else could stand it. :shock: Wow thanks for the compliment ! It's no wonder, he has been a big influence on me. He is one of my favorites and among the tops on this forum, so to be compared to him is a great honor indeed. Here is a little clue as to what I've been doing this week. The full size image is in my gallery and a smaller preview in the "Realistic Images" topic. I hope you all enjoy it.