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

[skullbonz]

Thank you Helen,Barbieq25,Welshblue and Red Ochre for your kind comments. It means a lot to me coming from the four of who I consider four of the best on here.

 

As for the grass with the Christmas tree,I was thinking somewhere warm around that time,lol.

 

I just swapped a couple pics with a couple new ones.  

 

http://forums.getpai...3-update/page-1

[barbieq25]

I love your work because it is so colourful & your ideas a just fabulous. 

 

 

 

 

 

These are just so fabulous! \\Links from PB seem to be working now

 

[HELEN]

That's a cool-looking planet. Sometimes I wonder if it's possible to orbit right on the ring of Saturn. Great job on the supernova explosion--sorry that I give names for your images, but that's what came to mind first.  The exploding effect looks very real. Oooh..oooh..the butterflies that barbie showed right above are so gorgeous. I was supposed to go to a butterfly exploration museum where live butterflies fly all over the place, but it got cancelled and I never went there. I would imagine the butterflies as beautiful as you have in your image. 

[Pixey]

Wow!  That's one one hot Christmas Tree   Your work is so colourful and such a pleasure to look at.  Great work indeed!

[skullbonz]

Thank you,thank you,thank you,thank you.  

 

It is hard to believe that I found Paint.net two years ago on January 5th, 2011,kind of like a birthday,lol. After many years of struggling with other programs,some pay versions and some free versions,PDN has proven to be for me anyway the easiest,best and most informative program out there along with the great community that serves it. Although I have dabbled in art my whole life it is just a hobby for now and over the years I have self taught myself until PDN came along opening doors I never imagined in the computer art world. Nor did I ever imagine that in a short two years I would get such kind comments from such high caliber artists like yourselves,Thank you again,all of you.

 

My very first successful tutorial back in the beginning was the "Jewel" tutorial by Barbieq25 so I hold a special place in my heart for her and always will. Of course the rest of you who write tutorials and make plugins are also way up there in my book too but without her encouragement and patient guidance I may have moved on and never discovered the potential of this program. 

 

Because I am self taught I am able to think outside of the box quite a bit,I also get riled at times when I don't understand something and open my big mouth before thinking about it. For that I apologize to any I have offended over the years. Just treat me like the little brother who won't shut up next time and tell me to go sit in the corner for a time out,lol.

 

Helen,I love when you name my pictures because I suck  at the name thing. I use a number system which is easier for me to sort out. In the Explosion pic,,#82-e,,I struggled with which version was the best to post. This was the first version that all the rest were made from,I didn't think it was colorful enough,heh,heh,but I am my worst critic,lol.

     

     

 

 

I have gotten many comments on the Christmas tree and I thank you for that. Across the road from my house there is a small tree I have been watching grow since a seedling and hate to ever see it cut down. So this year I decided to decorate it on my computer using Paint.net and save the tree.  So if you liked that one you might like this one.  

 

    

Edited January 7, 2013 by skullbonz

[skullbonz]

I am still not sure how the New thumbnail links at photo bucket work here to get the thumb instead of the full picture but I will keep trying to sort that out. Any hints would be appreciated,lol.

[barbieq25]

Skullbonz, happy PDN birthday! Odd saying that because I started with PDN on my birthday a few years ago. Time sure flies & it has been a pleasure to see your works. Rest assured that your encouragement goes a long way too & that you inspire each one of us with your works. 

 

To add to what Welshy said - click on the button to the right of the "POST" on "More Reply Options" & then choose the options Welshy said. On photobucket where it has that little cog thingy, it has an option to "Get Media Links" - choose the thumbnail one by clicking in that box & a yellow label pops ups & says "copied". Easiest way to paste the copied into is to use CTRL + V to paste it into your post & then do the preview as Welshy said.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Love the more subtle version of the explosion too, Very nice compilation with the Christmas tree too. Love the sign on the right side too

[skullbonz]

  I can not believe it was as simple as what Welshblue said to do,lol,I just previewed first and bang they worked. I Never preview first,lol. Thanks Welsh and also ya,I think it is time you came out into to the Light again,lol.  But I do love your dark pics man. 

 

  Thank you Barbie and Welsh for your comments and encouragement.

 

   I had a little fun and added an alien to one of the new ones,lol. In the other two I am experimenting making nebulas in odd shapes lately using dents,blurs and blending modes. Blending modes is awesome and no end to the results. But it also depends on what layers you are blending,different colors do different things,real cool. I am looking for that depth effect and also a controlled shape. I kind of feel I am on the right track after seeing the blue one. What do you think? 

 

       http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/21233-skullbonz-art-gallery-update-january-42013-update/page-1

Edited January 10, 2013 by skullbonz

[barbieq25]

Love the new ones. That last space one is a bit scary like a nuclear energy field or something...

 

The alien's legs are a crack up. I love it so much! Well done.

[Pixey]

Hi little brother - the atmospheric explosion is extremely colourful and vibrant.  And, what an absolutely delightful space alien - it looks like a microphone with a head and legs ..... and the planet is super!

[HELEN]

The alien fits so well with the planet. I'm glad you had a chance to take a snapshot of him. Superb work with the planet! 

[skullbonz]

Lol,Thank you girls. It was tricky getting that little bugger to stand still long enough for me to snap his picture,heh,heh.  

[Drydareelin]

Really nice spacescapes You seem to snag the lighting brilliantly

[DrewDale]

You have some really top work going on in here skullbonz, really nice use of colours and depth to your works

[barbieq25]

Love your new sig! Very cool!

[HELEN]

I just came here to comment about your sig. It's loverly.

[dug]

Some super cool new additions to your gallery.I like the wee bit humor in there, art doesn't have to be serious all the time.

 

Nice new sig.

[skullbonz]

Thank you all for your comments,I am having so much fun with this program. I just bought the book so now my next step will be to make a donation as soon as I can afford to and remember to get that card,lol. 

 

Thanks on the sig.    I was going to enter it in the sig contest but can never grab a spot at the right time,lol.  Some people just love making sigs and have a boatload of them so they seem to hang out waiting for a spot to open up instead of giving someone else a shot at it. I for one don't really like making sigs because they are too small to see details and you lose the effect you started with when you shrink it down,so I mostly go with big pics. My current sig looked real cool full size,lol. 

 

 

Added a few art pics.         http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/21233-skullbonz-art-gallery-update-january-13th2013-update/page-1

Edited January 14, 2013 by skullbonz

[blackpenny]

Wow, great work, skullbonz! I'm getting lost in your gallery.

 

I love the alien!

[barbieq25]

I love the skulls! The globe looks fantastic! What a great job you did with this one.

 

With the sigs, you just need to get your entry in before the closing date. No need to wait for a spot to open

Sigs are not really my thing either but I did quite a few for people in my crochet group on Facebook. I've now had requests for paid commissions. 

 

So I officially invite you to enter the current comp here.

I think with your abilities you will nail this one. ---- Hang on, I never win one! What am I saying?? I'm going to lose again

 

Seriously, Skullbonz, put in an entry please?

[skullbonz]

Thank you blackpenny.  Thank you also Barbie and I will try that  one out,some of the themes scare me off,lol,but this one might be one I could do. One of my grandmothers was Indian.

 

I have discovered a cool way to make nebulas or clouds in any shape from lines or squiggles. I also am trying to take a lead from Helen and trying to name some of my scenes,lol. The Bonz Eye Nebula I started with squiggly lines in a circle shape a layer for each color,5 I think,each a different thickness. With a few of the awesome plugins and layer blending it turned out like this.  The other one I named is the Plasma Mining Camp # A 79.  Helen will have to come up with the other ones name,lol,I am at a loss.  2 out of 3 isn't bad though,lol.

 

      

 

     

 

     

[barbieq25]

What a nice trio! Love the blue swirly one most of all. Feels like it is sucking me in. 

 

I have to put my thinking cap on for the comp. I hope you will join in

[HELEN]

Oooh the skull is stunning! Reminds me of Ash's skull that he made a while ago. Great job on that. It looks awesome. I like the globe with the flowers: it gives off a magical feel to it. By the way, your spacescapes are amazing! The very first one looks like the planet is abandoned; the textures are stunning. The second one is really good and seems as if you took a photo of a nebular explosion. I could jump into the blue plasma. I think that it's moving, too...

Again, awesome works!

[sashwilko]

I agree with Welshblue, the crystal ball is awesome, but the ball doesn't really seem to fit the stand (not that I'm any better at pdn to add critique)  still a great work all the same. 

The skull is really good, I love the concept of it. Your space work is something I envy, its something I seem to stall on.

 

Very impressive new works

[skullbonz]

Thank you all for your comments,it shows me that I might have finally mastered some of paint.net in two years,lol. I look back at my first creations and think how crude. And some of the newer ones I am making are freaking me out,lol.

 

Yes Barbie i entered into the sig contest. I hope it's alright,I'm not used to working that small,it's an art.  

 

Welsh I will let you in on a couple little secrets,lol. First I found a real easy way to make cool looking snow globes. You pick the picture you want part of in the globe and use the donut plugin,adjust the inner and external radii to surround the scene you want inside the center with both radii close together. When you get the scene you want,don't worry about size yet,then adjust the distance between inner and outer radii until you get the distortion level you want. Then use the eliptical select,surround your globe with it,invert and delete.There is your globe but now you need to do the reflections to make it appear round. (I learned that in Barbieq25's jewel tutorial.  )  Then just shrink it down to whatever size you want it to be. Snow is another story,I do it with Shapes/snowflake,go figure,lol,white,then tile image at 5-10 each side,then use jitter at an angle and adjust to look good. Put that over the donut image,under the reflections. Or use the whole image of the snow,use shape 3D and half sphere so the snow has distortion on the edges and place that layer under the reflections. My daughter loves the things and has a pretty good size collection so I had to figure out how to make them,lol.

 

The wood,ahem,well uuhhh,ahem,well I cheat. Making wood textures for so many kinds of wood is a lot of work so I took the easy way out. Textures in general are either hard to find or copyrighted on the internet also. I decided that with my pretty good canon camera I could make my own texture library,specially with 2 tb of space,lol. When i was making a texture collection of different substances I noticed that around my house there were a lot of different looking wood. So I started taking pictures of the wood,most of which I would try to keep one board in the shot,easier to use later in shape  3D to make as many boards as you want,kind of like your own saw mill,lol. Any thickness,width or length and the sides look real also. When making something like a floor start from the back and work towards the front like a real floor so your layer placement is important. When you make your board in shape 3D before leaving make sure it is set where you want it to go with the proper angle the floor is headed. repeat for each board. Merge them all when done and then check out the brightness and contrast. To make shaped wood,use shape 3D first,any one of the 3 shapes.get it about how you want it and then go use the gridwarp plugin,some real trippy shapes of wood,lol.  

 

I hope you don't think lesser of me for coming clean on the cheat,lol,but I must also tell you while I'm confessing that all my planets are rock textures,heh,heh,and i own them all.