Skullbonz Art Gallery - May, 5th- Train Set and more

[skullbonz]

Thank You Pixey      

[mottoman]

Your work has so much depth and detail. I admire how you can think of such stunning works. A very enjoyable gallery to view. 

[skullbonz]

Thank you mottoman .

[skullbonz]

After finally getting some time to relax a bit I can post some pictures I have worked on. I added a few newest art pics i was playing around with and had to have a glass of wine,lol.  Or was it the wine that made me make the pictures?  hhmmmm  

 

I also added a few more newest space pictures I made. # 269 was an experiment using the Mandelbrot Fractal plugin to see if I could make continents and it's not bad for a first try and shows it can be done. No other programs were used in any of these,just pdn.  Sorry if my space pics are too colorful but I see space as full of colors and wonders beyond our imagination or understanding where anything is possible.  

 

 

Oh ya, link to the first page of the gallery under my sig.  

Edited June 5, 2014 by skullbonz

[johnnysdream]

Bout time to share some techniques Skullbonz.Sharing is caring.Id sure like to know how you get those nebulas/gas clouds with just PDN.I know how difficult it is.Major props!The updated cannon is awesome and I love the abstract image.The grey one.A cool accident was it?Ya...I bet it was.Great stuff.

[Drydareelin]

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/oo103/TEA_BONZ/Space/263-c_zpseb0f3edb.png

This one is my favourite of the new lot. The lighting of the planets are near-perfect and I really, really like the colours of the Nebula (or galaxy...but it looks like a Nebula to me.)

 

I would beg of you to try a larger image size though -> 1920x1200 is a favourite of mine. Give it a try

And maybe up the contrast slightly..

 

Your other images are great also, but my favourite will forever be the space ones. Keep up the great work!

[Red ochre]

Agree with Drydareelin on that space scape - very impressive!
Other new ones all look good to me too - and I, also would be interested in your knowing your nebula technique - manipulated cloud photos or generated another way? - they look good however they were created!

[skullbonz]

Thank you everyone.        

 

    First I must say that all are made larger than 1920 x 1200 in size so if you are seeing them smaller it is photo bucket's fault or you aren't  using the zoom in function there. As a matter of fact #267 is 3888 x 2592. Most are 2600 x 2000 or larger.

 

    As for showing the techniques for the nebulae it would be a very long tutorial. I use many plugins and layers to make them. Dents and blurs works great to make each layer,some are made with the cloud plugin,some are made with the Movable Gradient plugin, some are custom mini brush clouds,fog or mists,or some are just colored lines or blotches first. Then different blending modes.  I also use other plugins as I go to see what I can get and as you can see I get some interesting results. I don't use any of them in any set order either and as a matter of fact I move them up and down in the layers to see what I get also. Some layers even get deleted because I don't like them. I do a lot of experimenting. Usually one of these has about 20-30 layers before finally merging them all. Some of the planets are 4 or more layers themselves. Most of them I have with different outcomes too but post the outcome I like the best which might not be the one others like better. I could try and do a tutorial but I am not good at that kind of thing.  I'll give it a go though,lol.  

 

    Some plugins I use differently than the author designed it for. For instance to make stars you can make a bunch of white dots on a black background and then use one of the Star glow type plugins. Or you can make white dots on a separate layer and use Red's Cobweb plugin with some tricky adjustments and maybe blending and blurring one or more duplicate layers. As I said earlier about #269 , I made it starting with a mandelbrot fractal using several layers,plugins and tools to get the look before I used Shape 3D to make the sphere and was my first try at using one. I think I am on to something so I will try some more. I don't stick to the same technique all the time so it will be hard to decide which one to try a tute on,lol 

 

    My best advice would be to have a bunch of time,slow down don't try to make them fast and experiment a lot. Think outside of the box.  

    (oh and I counted the plugins,lol,234 of them,I had no idea they were that many,lol)

Edited June 6, 2014 by skullbonz

[Drydareelin]

My apologies about getting the sizes wrong. I really don't like photobucket.

[Pixey]

As always, the space images are so realistic.  I see you had steak and wine for Memorial Day perhaps .  The wood looks very sturdy for chopping.

 

Yes, I concur with the others ...... a tute would be very interesting of the space images.  I love to see how people make their work.  I get used to certain plugins, but forget to try others, so it's always nice to see the results of how using different ones get to the end product

[barbieq25]

All are really well done but this one is my fave of all:

 

 

Well done! You have improved so much. 

 

Would you make me one of those boards, please. I would love a chopping board like that in my kitchen. The mix of woods is great.

[skullbonz]

Drydareelin,, Sorry about PB but I paid for the upgraded account before they changed their links to not work right here.

 

Pixey,,,,I did have steak on Memorial day,lol        No wine though,just soda.   I sat here and tried to start a tutorial on how I do a space scene and it is not as simple as it sounds. I am constantly changing layers,adding layers,deleting layers,moving layers or just trying anything until it looks cool,if that makes any sense,lol. It would be easier if I just posted the pdn file just before I merged all the layers. Merging has to be done from the bottom up to not interfere with the blending modes on some layers and change the whole look.

 

Barbieq25,,,, Thank you very much, I was just looking at my first works when I was making jewels from you're tutes and thinking how much I have learned since then. I love this program and am constantly finding new ways to do things but the new version is going to slow me down a bit until I get the hang of it. It's a bit different than the old one so some of the tools are not there or moved and some of the plugins I use a lot won't work in it which makes it an alien software to me right now,lol.  Oh and I could make you a real cutting board.

Edited June 9, 2014 by skullbonz

[HELEN]

I love your new spacescapes, Skull. You seriously have to invite me to go to space.

 

By the way, the cutting board with the knife and wine glass is superb! Great black and white design, too!

[skullbonz]

Thank you so much Helen. I'll let you know when the ship is ready.  

[skullbonz]

   I tried to write a tutorial on the latest space pic but gave up after I changed it for the 4th time,lol.  The best I can say is that I started with a couple layers of some Strange Attractor images with the black Grim Reapered out of them, four or five layers of Gradients Galore-1-2-1 with the black transparent and colors switched and a couple layers of Custom Mini Brushes-cloud brushes. Then I used different Blurs and Dent settings on each along with some Blending Modes on some along with a few more plugins and color changes. I had 18 layers before I merged, some consisting of multiple layers themselves and had used about 20 plugins all together.  I do a lot of changing when I make a space pic so it is hard to keep track of what I have done. I also only have a small idea of what I want at the end when I start. I change it so much sometimes that when I get done it is nothing like what I wanted in the beginning. Then there are times when it turns out better than I expected. I have made parts of nebulae out of many colored images made by several different plugins and have no set way to make them. I try anything and see what it looks like, if it looks good I keep it, if not I delete it. In doing this I find some things to work pretty good and use them in layers in other space pics I make. Add a wild imagination and the results are crazy,lol.    

 

  Sorry, no tute but if someone tells me how to post a pdn file I can post that and you will see all my layers and settings.    

[Red ochre]

Hey Skull' - don't worry!

I have similar difficulties trying to do tut's - I work/play with Pdn in a 'free' way too - and find it very difficult to explain if someone asks.

Personally I was just curious because I know you sometimes use self photographed textures for wood etc. and was very impressed with the cloud/nebula textures and wondered if they started as photos - you have given plenty of tips on how you achieved the effect for those that are familiar with Pdn and a full tut' would take forever to write and complete!

Some things lend themselves to tutorials and some things don't!

BTW. If you ever need to distribute a Pdn file 'Dropbox' is very useful (& free) - EER recommended it for swapping code files.

Thanks for trying - the pointers you have given already are useful!

[skullbonz]

  Thanks Red,I had drop box for a long time and only used it when I first downloaded it so I uninstalled it from my pc a few weeks back,lol. I could redownload it though if someone was interested in the pdn file. 

 

  I do use my own picture textures for some things but mostly planets. Pictures I took of all sorts of rock faces work awesome for planets along with several plugins. In this picture I used an image of a sunset to make the planet,lol.  No sky pictures were used for the nebula,all made in pdn.  Once in awhile I will use one of a sky or sunset as an overlay over parts or all of the image using one of the blending modes and get some cool effects.  Also if you zoom in on the bigger glowing stars you will see that I used the Cobweb plugin on dots with a little Gaussian Blur and a light blue drop shadow at about half transparency. There is about a half a dozen or more ways to make stars in pdn.  The rocks are chunks of a rock picture that I laid across the screen from left to right at full size with some Bevel added. Then I just shrunk it down and duplicated that layer a bunch of times and moved where I wanted them,one row in front of the planet and a smaller one behind it. 

 

   I hope my explanations help some people in some way.    

[skullbonz]

I just added two versions of the same image. I made the one with the ship in it first and when I used TR's Scatter , Gaussian Blur and the Dents plugins on the planet I had the idea to make it flaming with no ship so I did it,lol.  

 

( Link for gallery under sig)   

[barbieq25]

The meteor is great!

[Seerose]

That's a pretty good gallery. I'm impressed.

[Pixey]

Wowzers!  That 2nd one, the planet on fire is absolutely riviting.  Great piece indeed you did yourself proud!

[DrewDale]

Two of the same, not only a great title, but both amazing creations, stunning detail and choice of colours are a staple of your works and a complete pleasure to look at too

[skullbonz]

Thank you Barbie,Seerose,Pixey and Drew for your comments and very sorry I have not thanked you sooner.

 

I just added my newest space pic I call "Far off Worlds" which took some time to make but I like the outcome.

 

I also have been slacking posting in the regular art department so I added some of my art experiments, or doodles I like to call them.  

[HELEN]

Oh, wow, Skull! I feel like a doofus for not commenting (very, very, very, very busy lately) and I could hit my head against the wall for missing such gorgeous works. Your latest "doodles," wow! Only if others could see the immense talent you have.

 

And your latest spacescape....you're really making me jealous that I can't go there. Everything is so perfect and shiny and sparkly and just beautiful. 

 

Yet once again, you create such stunning and fantastic masterpieces--as I mentioned before they remind me of Welsh's (whom I miss). 

[barbieq25]

Great new additions! I've commented on my faves in your PB account. Just easier for me