This is another Photomanipulation exercise.“Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception (in contrast to mere enhancement or correction), through analog or digital means. . I wanted my illusion to start developing a theme to run through this project, and to do that I had to start having a look at the use of exchanging textures to achieve my chosen theme: anthropomorphism.

The 'Illusion' here was to use Arnie and mr. Bear to come up with some creature that resemble bear-like feature whilst having the physical abilities of people. for this exercise I easily enough started with cutting and selections much like the previous exercise. Then, instead of turning to brushes, I used this tool- the Stamp clone. It recreates a part of an image, onto another area. I've previously used the stamp to stretch out textures across a canvas when the resolution was too small, and that's how I came up with the idea for it. I used darker and lighter areas on the bear's fur, and using selection to restrict the stamp, I etched out the figure's muscular tones out of the fur. 

Photomanipulation Exercise I

I picked out a photo I wanted for my Blog profile, and I started off by choosing a picture, a trip I took in the summer to Paris to meet some relatives. So once I decided where I wanted it to go, I isolated myself by using the pen tool to mark a path around myself and turning it to a selection (right click)  and inversing the selection (on the 'select' menu) I put up a tonal gradient to have a different background and then went on Image > Mode > and Grayscale to make myself monochrome (now on step 2) The next step I just carried on with myselection and used different brushes and some colour temperature knowledge to paint some background colours! (step 3) and to the right of the third image, you'll see the various brush types I used for this exercise.

This is a show of the process of my 20 minute tonal work in my first Ipad session. As you can see, I start off with a sketch, then refine it a little, usually around the face if it's quick then I progress to  blocking in colours, before adding tonal values. Beyond the stages in this painting is where I'd start colouring  using the overlay layer. It is noticeable that even with a medium where blocking in of shapes is more common, I still remain with a more linear style in my work. I find it difficult to stray from that, and that raises the question. Do I need to do more blocking in, or should I just stick with with a linear way of work through and through?

 This is my first use of the IPad for drawing. I hardly knew that it could be better for much more than Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja! On several layers, I did these one minute drawings, just to get a feel for the stylus. Being used to a tablet, I thought it'd come almost naturally to me, but apparently, Ipad and graphics tablet are very different tools! I felt that there was a lot less response from the Ipad, and I think this may be to blame on the stylus used though. 

 After the first exercise, I then had a 20 min opportunity to get a tonal approach to the new media. Again I felt a struggle to get the exact strokes I wanted. Perhaps with more patience I can achieve a little more accuracy, after all that's how I first tackled the issue I had with tablets and Photoshop! I also started to play with the array of brushes I had on Brushes, the app used for this. 

Finally I had a longer attempt which I took to colour a portrait this time, too. The use of colours in digital media for me is perhaps what I find most appealing, as well as how you can apply colour-  with Photoshop, I could use a layer in overlay mode to put on colour on top of a tonal drawing, and brushes allows the same to be done, which is brilliant! Again, I think it'll take a while to get used to it again.