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Cool way to show progression in art skillz.
Thanks! Though I think the collage shows improvement in my work, I suspect my art skill peaked in high school in the ???80s (before the 'z' was added).
What this image really reflects is my evolving computer proficiency and the progression of technology.
1999 ??? The first photo I ever manipped. I was using a paint program called Color Mac Cheese and a lo-res 256-color gif as a base. I was very frustrated with the hair.
2000 ??? Photoshop 4! I was able to use some digital effects like the glow of the lasso and the texture of the metal. I also angled the stars on her bottoms to match the tilt of her body. I attempted to erase her bikini top using the clone tool, without much success ??? you can still see the straps.
2001 ??? I discovered Webshots photo gallery and was able to do some deliberate casting for my base model. I had gotten better at replacing clothing with bare skin, but I still wasn???t daring enough to recolor hair again. I tried creating the metal bits from scratch instead of recoloring parts of the base pic, so they look more solid, but a bit dull and chunky.
2002 ??? I stumbled onto the wonders of Google Images and for the first time felt that I could take my time to find the perfect model, pose and image quality. I was getting better at metal and rope textures, but my proudest accomplishment was separating those strands of hair from the background using a mask. All thanks to Photoshop 7.
2003 ??? This is a Frankensteined piece, and it was colorized from black and white ??? two techniques I had not done before that year. I attempted the boots for the first time and manipped the breastplate and lasso from real objects that I photographed myself. This was the year I got my own digital camera.
2004 ??? I posed and shot my own base pic using my wife as the model. My goal was to do a scene with a bullet defection. I returned to the technique of making the metal from scratch ??? with greater success than before. I also put a seam in the costume.
2005 (Lucy Pinder as Wonder Woman on another page) ??? Since this one is such a close-up, I reworked the skin, colored the hair and lips, used a photo base for the metalwork, and spent more time than usual on the costume fabric. If you look closely, you will see the weave of the material, stitching and puckering on the seams, and piping along the top edge.
I would encourage other long-time artists to make similar collages. It is a fun trip down memory lane.