Insimenator.org

Hi everyone,
I noticed that we have a wonderful photoalbum here. but i wondered if any of you photograph things as a hobby. because i do :D

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43863116@N07/4037206748/in/photostream/

anyone of you have a flickr, deviantart, etc

i thought it would be fun to share our creativity here.
if there is already a topic like this
pardon me

I'll add my input, but only If I can just put the photobucket images straight on here. :D

I have a few Photos! Though a few are for school..others are just for fun :P
I like to draw more than to take photos...but I still enjoy it.

I have a PhotoSIG. My DeviantART I don't use any more ._.


(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg163/DJ_MegaTron/Photos/Fix.jpg)

(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg163/DJ_MegaTron/Photos/Fix2.jpg)

(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg163/DJ_MegaTron/Photos/Fix13.jpg)

(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg163/DJ_MegaTron/Photos/Fix12.jpg)

(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg163/DJ_MegaTron/Photos/Fix6.jpg)

I love your stuff! I have to upload to my PC, and then photobucket, and then I'll post my extreemly amatuer day and night photography from between summer and now.

Thanks very much :D
I'd like to see your photos too o3o. Lol you're probably a lot better than me XD I'm the super amateur. 

Me? Better than you? Yeahh... right.

I'm only 14, a freshmen in high school, and I don't have a real camera just a cheap little one and they are mostly close ups of stuff and I've only done photography for a couple months now so... :rolleyes:

Just a few words of advice for you and anyone else who happens to read this.

One of the most important skills you can learn in life is how to take a compliment graciously. When someone tells you you're good at something, the best response you can give is a simple "Thank you", even if you don't agree. To tell a person their opinion of your work is wrong implies you think they have bad taste and puts them in a position of having to defend themselves and can make them question their own judgment. Do it often and people will think twice about saying anything nice about something you've done.

We're raised being told modesty is important and we take that to mean thinking we're smart, pretty, good at something, or whatever is a bad thing. It's not.

It doesn't matter how old you are, what gender you are, what level of education you have or what equipment you've got. None of these things are guaranteed to make a person good at a thing. If you're good at something, you're good at it and a good shot is a good shot, regardless of the camera.

Well I don't do photography for a hobby as such, since Im studying it at college.
Alas almost 90% of my work are hand printed black and white photographs and I dont have a scanner handy xD
I might go have a sneaeky look around for some digital though sometime.

@Zombiecakes... firstly: LOLCAKES! at your name =P and secondly I love the vibrancy of your photographs! If you wouldnt mind could I use one or more of your photographs as research material for my project? FULL credit will be given. =) And also if you could tell me when and/or where they were taken?

*getsexcited*

*hides in corner*  :-[    Uhm, if you were reffering partially to me joy I'm going to point out that zombie has never seen any of my work. o.O



@Poppieskat let's see some of your work then, eh? Black and white's almost always look good.

Also, maybe some of my work soon if I can find the camera cord... I think the sunset ones I took while in a moving car actually looked pretty cool!  ;D

I was responding to your post, yes, but I was directing it to anyone who's first response to a compliment is to negate it or put down their own efforts. It's a good way to ensure you stop receiving them, so, regardless, the best thing is to say thank you. :)

That picture in your avatar is your work so zombie has seen at least one of your pictures (and it happens to be a great capture). *nods sagely*

Joy's right, Katie.
Your avatar is an example of excellent photography. The focus is really great and the color scheme is balanced quite well. It's a magazine-quality picture.

Ok I found some of my old stuff on DeviantArt, =D
bearing in mind some of them include colour manipulation hehe.

(http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/LemonFlavouredSkittlez/Photography/DSCN4103b.jpg)    (http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/LemonFlavouredSkittlez/Photography/DSCN4106.jpg)

(http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/LemonFlavouredSkittlez/Photography/Flower_Beauty_by_Dezi_Bug_Bzzz.jpg)     (http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/LemonFlavouredSkittlez/Photography/Heart_String_by_Dezi_Bug_Bzzz.jpg)

(http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/LemonFlavouredSkittlez/Photography/Hearts.jpg)       (http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/LemonFlavouredSkittlez/Photography/Inner_.jpg)

(http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/LemonFlavouredSkittlez/Photography/Lily_Rose.png)   (http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii154/LemonFlavouredSkittlez/Photography/GirlBW.jpg)

and one of my favourites can be found on my DA site:
http://dezi-bug-bzzz.deviantart.com/art/Rainbow-Nature-85113907

*mashes fist into head* Duhh.... wow, I totally forgot that I had an avi muchless one of MY pictures lol XD

Well thanks anyways. :]

Wow, poppiskat I'm knocked breathless! Those are GREAT!

Thanks Bretter =)

Wow, PoppieSkat. I had to log into deviantart just to fav the autumn color leaf mask.

http://xordaii.deviantart.com/  is me.

I don't have very much on there that is current, because we have been busy moving over the last two years to a new city then a brand new house (OMG, I finally own a house, that is scary by itself.)

I have been updating my facebook albums, but I can't remember how much of it I made public to non-friends. 

http://www.facebook.com/mafillmore

Thanks xordaii, Ill go add you at Deviant. And that picture never got done, its was an image I did for my photography course 2 years ago, but my computer crashed and all the backup files went missing so i couldnt ever really fade the mask into the skin like i intended =/

Will go check facebook as well dude =D

I don't do any photography.
1. I don't have a camera that I personally own.
2. I don't have the ability to go out and take pictures on my own.

And asking my mom to drive me to all the awesome photo-esque places around here would be a big waste of her time. Not to mention annoy her.
What I can do, though, is draw. That's basically free. (I don't have any quality materials though)
But anyway. Here's what I've been up to. The eye on the right lost it's highlight when I was blending a bit. And it's extremely hard to erase that tiny. I really like how the left eye turned out. This one's not quite done yet. But I hope you guys like how it is so far!  ;D
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/mydrawing.png)
For anyone interested, the source photo is from stock.xchng
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1215436
(I don't think this is hotlinking, since it doesn't go directly to the picture, but if I'm wrong, please correct me.)

I use a kneadable eraser for stuff like that. :) You can form it into the shape you need and erase only what you want.

It's looking good so far, but I do have one question. What pencil are you using? Do you use pencils of different hardness or just one type all the way through? Using different pencils will allow you to get a better range of depth to your drawing. If you used a softer grade pencil in the dark spots of her eyes and along the lash line if would really make her eyes pop. I'd show you some of mine so you could see what I mean, but I don't have a scanner and the only art I have scanned is some line work I did for a project. I'd love to see the finish project!

Thanks!
I would love to get some better art equipment. But I haven't been at Michael's since I got some Prismacolor colored pencils.
So right now I'm pretty limited. A mechanical pencil loaded with #2 and a half decent eraser.

This drawings all #2 and regular printer paper. I need to ask my mom to bring me shopping. I could use that kneadable eraser. :)
I'll definitely try that out when I get my hands on a different grade pencil, the eyes are the focus of this piece!  :D
All the art experience I've had is 3 years of art classes in school. And since Exam week is over, I felt like relaxing by seeing how I am at drawing again.

All the photographs are great!. PoppieSkat, your pics are awesome. Carlwashere, you draw wonderfully. I'd like to post mine but I'm afraid they are not as good as yours by far.  :'(

The other advantage of using pencils of different hardnesses is you do can your blending with the pencils by going from hard (light) to soft (dark) instead of using a smudger, which can tend to make a graphite picture grey. I started drawing when I was a toddler. My mother used to sit me down and make me do it because my right eye was patched in an effort to make my left eye work. It didn't work, I'm still legally blind in my left eye, but I love to draw. I took art all throughout high school and took illustration and life drawing in college. :)

If you ever get a chance to get yourself some good drawing paper, do so. You'll notice an immediate difference in the way your artwork turns out. Oh, and here. I was clicking links (pricing art supplies for myself and always on the lookout for new toys ;)) and I found a site showing exactly what I was talking about regarding the effect you can get with using different pencils of different softness/hardness to do your work. Here (http://toadhollowstudio.com/Paper_Reviews.html). :) The onions were done with one pencil, but the first three pictures were done with a variety of pencil grades, and you can see the depth and range of light tone the artist achieved. You can't get that effect with one pencil.

Thanks Hullabaloo!

Yup, It's official. I need to get my hands on REAL art materials. Those drawings are amazing.
I understand what you mean. It gets blended too much for my liking.

Your like my mom with the eye problem, except the opposite. Her right eye doesn't work and her left is perfect.

I wish I didn't have to drop art classes, but I wanted to double up on language and maybe a couple technical classes.
I'll grab some good art stuff the next chance I get. Then when I'm done, I'll upload here.
The fabric is going to be a challenge, I can see that.  :D

Wow... you drew that?! I'm amazed! That is the best drawing I have seriously ever seen, I mean... no one I know can even draw at all! :eek:

I love it!  :D

Okay, I found it!

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES203.jpg)

I'll admit that one is by far not the best ^

the distant ones aren't any good... hrumph...

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES204.jpg)

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES205.jpg)

then again, maybe that's me being far too critical of my own work, I wouldn't know.

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES206.jpg)

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES209.jpg)

I did the focus really weird on this one:
(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES210.jpg)

Dead flowers outside the senior center:
(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES211.jpg)

nothing is photoshopped or anything by the way ;)

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES212.jpg)

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES213.jpg)

the view of sunshine behind a fire hydrant is always quite a sight:
(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES214.jpg)

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES225.jpg)

something a little bit... different about this shot... I'm drawn to it:
(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES226.jpg)

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES229.jpg)

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES230.jpg)

(http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt246/IM_ALREADY_THERE/TERRORISTPICTURES231.jpg)

That's all for now... might post more later, or tomorrow :D

Thanks Katie! I wonder why this thread wasn't in my unread posts thing... :-\

I love fall! It's so beautiful! Your pictures definitely show that.
Are you by chance taking pictures with a digital camera? With those you gotta trick the camera into focusing, if you don't, it'll focus on whatever's in the middle.

I took some pictures of the foot of snow we just got here in Virginia (Not to mention spend a total of 20 hours outside this weekend  ;D)
I love the snow. Maybe I'll post here a bit later with the pictures, but I have to admit, your pictures are better than the ones I took.  :D

Yeah, I know... I purposely focused all of those... But now looking back at the first one I wish I would have focused it more in the front on the big ones, with my camera it's all a matter of zoom... and settings  :rolleyes:

I have a ton more to show, but I'd have to dig them up first... :D

I met my photography idol today, man, not only is she brilliant she's also beautiful!

That would be who? I would like to know who the beautiful photographer is!  ;D
I'm about to get kicked off, so I only got time to post one pic. I hope you like it!
More later, but I'm not to good with photography!  :p
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/snow.png)

Oh, I also forgot to say thanks! :O

That picture is pretty good, only suggestion I would have (and please don't take this the wrong way) would be clear up the focus a tiny bit on the shed in the back, gives the eyes something more to look at. I truly love this picture!

Her name is Wendy, she took some BRILLIANT pictures of my niece, and she is a close friend of my sister's she was at my niece's party today- I'll go find her site :D

Yeah, I would have loosened the focus, but I was using a digital camera and I don't think it has anything other than auto-focus. Stupid digital camera lol.
I figured out that pressing it down, but not completely, let's it change it's focus without taking a picture. So I did that, but it was still completely focused on the branch. Because it was still autofocus. I wish my parents owned a dslr. (is that what you call those cameras?)

My camera is mostly auto-focus, but in "Scn" mode you can pick the setting, which changes it a little, it also has a small "face-focus" scroll on it, but it hardly works, and I'm still unsure of the direction to turn it... I do the button thing a lot, also different angles get different light, which can change the focus ;)

Haha I feel so technical minded with you guys talking about auto-focus, since im doing a photography course I had to learn how to use the old film cameras with manual focus and aperture (depth of focus) since then ive never looked at photography the same again .. I kind of have to confess that Blak and White film photogrpahy has become one of my most favourite mediums =)

Carlwashere that picture is gorgeous .. Im too impatient to draw faces with pencils. haha

Thanks Dezi!
Joy, These art tools are amazing!!!!! It's definitely worth it! I'll edit in a pic as soon as it's done scanning!
I'm amazed.  ;D
EDIT:
Here we go! I'm just trying these pencils out, trying to get used to multiple grades. I tried using my whole Prismacolor set that I bought (9B - H), but I'm focusing on HB, F, 2B and 3B.I'm using some drawing paper from Strathmore, along with 2 different erasers. A kneedable one (Amazing! I use it a ton!), and a Plastic one(pretty good, I have a plastic eraser on the last drawing but this one is better) I also got some blending tortillons, much better than my fingers. Much less messing up! I'm starting from the right eye and moving details out!  ;D
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/mydrawing2.png)

I can already see a big difference, Carl. This definitely has more depth. When I do shade work, I usually start with the lightest tone and gradually go to the darkest one I use. Don't be afraid to leave some parts white and devoid of pencil. :) Just as a small tip, you really won't use the really dark leads alot. I use them sparingly (in the darkest parts of the eyes and in the the corners of the mouth (in the line separating the upper and lower lips) and not much more. It really makes things pop, though.

Thank you xD Lol
And sure, you can use them for your project..I don't mind :)
For the locations of the photos: The first picture was taken at the local YMCA, maybe around October or November...the others in an abandoned military bunker at a campground during the summer (It was very wet in there ._.) and the last one in a graveyard >_> I had to take a reflection image thing for class, so I used my gasmask to do so.


BTW: Your photos are amazingly awesome ._.;
----
And Carl your drawings are ridiculously good! How long does one usually take you to finish one?

Finish? To be honest, I never get satisfied. So forever...  ;D
But to get to that point, not long at all. Maybe a couple mornings, a few hours in a boring afternoon.
Maybe like 25% of my freetime for half a week... if that makes sense.

Carl, that is amazing!

And before when Poppieskat said that about focusing the cameras, no worries, I'll deal with that in three and a half more years ;)

For my next portraiture, hopefully I'll devote a decent amount of time on it. That's what I'm telling myself right now, telling my impatient self to take it slow and don't expect instant results. So, since I'm revising the way I shade and the way I focus on individual sections, hopefully I'll get something amazing.
As for now, HW has me really bogged down. But I got a day where it took me only 30 minutes to finish HW, since I had a test in one of my homework-heavy subjects and just finished a project in my other homework-loving class, I had a nice light HW day. Needless to day I'm posting here for a reason.  ;D
I got quite far on a drawing of mine, I've moved away from faces until I feel like I could really focus, and feel particularly inspired to draw.
To update here, I felt like drawing a rose, because roses are beautiful, and make for great shading practice. I also want to try my hands out at actually using color in my drawings, but I only have 12 high quality colored pencils, so I have to wait until the weekend to get the colors I want for this particular drawing. So right now, I've only got the outline done... pretty much.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rosestg1.png)
This particular drawing took me, let's see...
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rosestg2.png)
Finished HW at about 4:45... worked on it till about 7:00.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rosestg3.png)
Took a Call of Duty break for about an hour.(killing enemies and drawing roses, hmm. Interesting combo)
And worked on it until about 9:00 until I got distracted by doing stuff on the computer.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rosestg4.png)
So I put it away, and worked on it one more hour this morning before leaving for school, mainly just finishing the outline and making the grid go POOF. Then I noticed I can't blend the colors I want for this little drawing and my mom doesn't feel like driving me to Michael's until the weekend when we're going to pick up my little bro's rental tux. For a wedding. Now that I think about it, this would make a great wedding present. Of course, that's if I color it right. I'd be a good gift for any occasion. Eh. I'll figure something out. Maybe I'll give it away at school, who knows.  ;)

EDIT:
I just finished coloring it, Well not really. I was a little scared to touch the original. And I'm still pretty new to colored pencils. So, to minimize possible damage, I photocopied it and colored that one, for practice. I think it ended rather nicely. Even if the background was a bit rushed... Stupid attention span.

(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/roseclrd1.png)
Here's before any attempt at blending, I just finished coloring the rose at this point.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/roseclrd2.png)
Here's after blending, and I think it looks really good at this point.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/roseclrd3.png)
And then, running out of patience, I quickly dropped a background on it. It looks alright. But It could've been so much better. At least the original isn't damaged. XD

Thats really good Carlwashere =)
I like your little grid technique, even though I can't draw using one.  The background is good, next time you could try to make it a bit lighter and stick to one colour, kind of like making it a pastely colour. =)

I love your flower! :))

Good job, Carl! I like the richness you achieved with the second one. I have to say I like it without the background best, though. :) Here's a tip, if you don't mind me putting my two cents in here. Go take a look a some roses and you'll see a red rose (or a pink rose or any colour rose) isn't all red (or pink, or yellow, or whatever). If you look, you'll see shades of blue, green or other colours in the petals. If you incorporate those into your colour pieces it will add a huge amount of dimension. That principle can be applied to anything you apply colour to. Look at a field of white snow and you won't just see white. Depending on the light and time of day, you'll see shades of blue, grey and even red/yellow hues.

And since we're sharing, I'll show you some of the linework I've done. This is one of the two pieces of my artwork I have scanned and uploaded. This is a character of mine;a demon named Caius in his human guise. His hair bugs me (I messed up the hairline), but that's my only big complaint with it. I've been thinking of doing a colour version of it, but I haven't gotten around to it.

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/Insim%20RP/HoE/CaiusHuman.jpg)

Joy, your amazing. And that demon is hawt! :) Haha

Edit: and is that a heart I see in the smoke, or just a coincidence?

Of course, I don't mind, Can't get better if you don't know how to improve right? I was stuck with Just Crimson Red for all of the rose, mixed with white to make it a little pink-ish. I was too impatient to wait for my new set colored pencils to arrive, so I used the ones I had, my small 12 prismacolor set. (Best colored pencils ever, my personal favorite!) I just got my 72 set (a lot cheaper buying at Dick Blick's  ;D) for $45, and have now started coloring the original. (with 4 various shades of red, but with my partial colorblindness I doubt I'd make it a nice match, but hey, it's the way I see it.)
I just looked at some picture I took of the snow earlier this year, and you're right, there is a bunch of colors just thrown in there.

That's extremely good! Your way better at proportion than I am.  :D
I can't see where you messed up the hairline, to be honest.
If you want to, you could layout the colors digitally before working on the original. I'm pretty scared of touching originals, So I tend to practice on a photocopy or practice blending on a separate sheet of paper. I've seen some people who scan their linework and color it digitally, with GIMP or Photoshop. I think that's what I would personally do. 

Does he have a backstory? I have a feeling it's interesting.  ;D

*armflail* OMG you are seriously the first person who has noticed there's something hidden in the cigarette smoke! It's not a heart, no, but I can see where you get that. It's a very simplified/stylized demon head. Kind of a reference to his true identity. ;)

Carl, yes, he does have a back story but it is HUGELY long. LOL. When/if I do the colour version it'll be done via tracing paper and tranfser it to a clean page, the old-fashioned way. I'm not much of a digital artist. This picture was done with pencils and my Copic pens. *pets pens*. The only digital work I did on this was to just touch up a few spot on the black tattoo where the scan made it look uneven.

And thanks, you two. I've been scribbling out artwork for years (many, many years). My dad was an artist, which helped, but I got started when I was five. I had surgery on my left eye to try and fix it and had a patch on my right eye in an attempt to force my left one to work. My mother would sit me at the table with pencil and paper and tell me to draw, hoping it would give my eye a further nudge and make it work. I'm still blind in that eye, but I'm also still drawing. :D

Oh my gosh, now that you say it I see it! :)

*turns head upside down, sideways, and at an angle*
Ah ha! Now I see it! I saw the heart first, after Katie mentioned it, then I saw the little demon head. His horns look like the side of the heart in a way right? That's ingenious.  :p

You got it right, Carl. LOL. Thanks. :D

I've been drawing another rose. (And a bunch of drawings of people, but that's irrelevant because I'm slowly getting better at those.)
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rose.png)
Anyway, I'm going to do this one completely with graphite. I got some charcoal pencils also, But I'm going to use those as a background for a portrait I'm drawing.
Spring break has given me some MUCH needed time for what I want to do, and sadly it's all going to end soon. Keep moving on, I guess.  :p
I'm working on 5 drawings pretty simultaneously right now, all at different stages too. The rose and one other picture are around the same stage of completion I guess you could call it. But I'm certain that this rose will be finished far before any of the others. Because all the other ones I'm working on right now are all portraits. XD
They take forever, but I'm determined not to rush this time. So I'm taking my time. And it has been well more than worth it. Much more detailed than the drawings I've posted here. Longer yes, but its more than made up by the dramatic change in quality.
   
But back on this rose, I really like flowers. Kind of an effeminate thing about me I guess. I'm going to take my time on this one also. I'm not in a rush, which makes me wonder why I always act like a have a due date on these things. It's for myself and no one else. So I don't why I feel like someone is pushing my back. Anyway, enough babbling. I'm going to get back to this petal. The one that's just getting started. Oh, and the backgrounds supposed to be like that. With the dark spots every now and then.  ;D

I have yet more advice. Save the background shading for last and don't do it all one shade of grey or one direction. You can get good texture and depth by changing the direction of your pencil and changing the depth of black.  It will also give the illusion that the rose isn't just floating in an empty space but is actually set somewhere with shape behind it. Generally, what I do is contrast it against the foreground. For example, if I'm shading in the background behind an area that's light, I'll make that area darker and vice versa. The darkness or lightness of my foreground will determine the darkness or lightness of my background. What I really need to do is borrow my mother's scanner and scan in some artwork to show what I mean, if this doesn't make sense. Experiment with it and see what looks better. I don't do a solid background, per se, as much as I do a very close and rather haphazard cross-hatch.

Sometimes, though, it will work for you to fade your foreground into the background in some spots (make them the same colour), especially if you want to give the appearance of your subject coming out of the shadow (or light).

I really think you have a lot of potential Carl. I love seeing what you experiment with. :) There's a certain freshness to it I like.

When I was in school (both high school and college), my drawing instructor used to get us doing blind contour drawing. It's meant to improve getting your hand to work in coordination with what you are seeing, and to prevent you from falling into the trap of over thinking every line you put down. You learn to draw what you see rather that what you think you should see, if that makes sense. There's a ton of stuff on google. Some say it's OK to look at the paper to place your pencil back down when you have to lift and reposition it, but I'm of the teaching that you don't look until you're done. I still do it from time to time.

Ugh, sorry for the long essay. LOL. I love art and love passing on what I know. If it gets too much, do tell me and I'll just keep it to myself. ;)

No problem. Any advice helps, and your advice is pointing me in the right direction anyway right?
I went from my regular writing pencil and printer paper to a very respectable set of tools, If it wasn't for your advice I'd still be confused as to why I can't make this as dark as I want it too be.

I get what you mean about the background/foreground thing. It helps it pop out more. Which is always good.  :p
I'm hoping for a high contrast on this picture, (i.e, the darkest part of the rose is lighter then the lightest part of the background)
But I don't want to make the background too dark too fast. It's much easier to darken then lighten, I learned that pretty fast.  ;D

Blind contour drawing, I remember doing stuff like that. It's one part of art that my color blindness has helped me. Because of my partial color blindness, I'm apparently more sensitive to shapes than most. I'm very good with outlines, in my opinion. The way I do my outlines, when I'm not gridding, is pretty much following a line it's whole path. The way I do it works great for roses and such, because they have hard lines with subtle shading inside of it.
When I started this drawing, I had that high contrast idea set in my mind. So originally, I planned to use the softest side of the scale, 7-9B for the background, and H & F for the rose. Trying this out on a different sheet, even with the H&F grades, it was still to dark for my liking. I figured I would have to shade the rose mainly with graphite picked up with blenders. I usually start with the subject first, but because I didn't want to touch it with a pencil, I ended up doing the background first, so I could have something for the stump to pick up you know? But I think I should of used a different paper to pick graphite off of.  :-\
So far, this picture is exclusively 9B. I'm going to try and make myself use less pressure on the pencil. I'm trying to avoid pressure changing, instead going for the same pressure but staying longer where I want it darker. Hopefully that makes sense.

My papers are too large for my scanner, which explains the dark shadow along the paper. I need a bigger scanner.
I haves tons of papers that aren't even used for drawings. They're covered in pretty much just scribbles. Includes a lot of me trying erasing techniques, different ways of using the pencil, different shading styles.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/scribblesheet.png)
Here's one of many little scribble sheets. I like to call them that.  :D
The two things in the upper left are me trying to figure out how I'm going to go about shading hair. The one in the grid looks much nicer than what I would have done if I just kept drawing. You can see me messing with ways on how to blend two colored pencils together, and a lot of me just trying to keep pressure consistent. I drew left to right, you can see the pressure equalized a lot toward the middle of the picture. The smudgy little marks near the color pencil were applied with a blender, to see if I could shade the rose in that way. I'm thinking that's the way I'm going to move on with this rose.

Being aware of the pressure you're using is good, but using 9B exclusively might make your drawing look muddy, especially because it's such a soft lead. Instead, I would use a harder lead for lighter shading and a softer lead for darker.

Another exercise you might have fun with is negative space drawing. We did that a lot in college. The goal is to become aware of the space around an object and doesn't just help you become more aware, again, of drawing what you see rather than what you think you should see, but helps you with composition. This (http://drawsketch.about.com/od/learntodraw/ss/negativespace.htm) is a good site about it but there are lots of sources on the internet.

Lol, no, no. You misunderstood me about the 9B. So far all I've used is the 9B, I do plan on using more than that grade.  ;D
I was just saying that's all I used so far, that's all. :)
I like working with negative space, I've been wanting to work with sillouettes (sp?) lately, but there's only how much time I have. When I was taking art classes, which I stopped for the first time this year due to schedule constraints, I always worked on the background first. Pretty stupid of me, but I always ended up with nice backgrounds and subjects rushed as the due date approached. Maybe it's this mentality that makes me work like I do. Regardless, ever since I moved art from
my classes to my freetime, I've been much happier about it. I mean, when I took classes I would be happy if I simply finished before the due date. Of course, my art teahers were never strict with due dates, but that feeling of falling behind is still there. Even now, I still have the urge to time myself. I'm really trying to work against that. Now, my priorities are shifting toward quality, instead of number of works produced. I think it's a good choice, I just have to get past my short attention span now.

I hope it's okay to DP on this thread since I have an update.

I'm figuring that I won't have as much time to work on this as I wanted. With school back at full speed and homework eating up my afternoon (I'm supposed to be doing ALG2 HW right now)
Anyway, with that all back, I don't think I'll have much time to work on this, might as well show how far I've gotten. It's actually a bit farther than this, but this is the latest scan I have. If I turn on my scanner it will be pretty obvious I'm not working as I should. Especially since it's almost 10:30.
Most of the progress was done on my last day of spring break. None at all today. School. PSSH.  :rolleyes:
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rose1.png)
Quite a bit has changed since this scan, I've fixed some highlights, lightened some areas just a hair.
Still moving on the background, adding more contrast to it as I use it as a double purpose for my source for blending. I'm petal hopping. Most of the petals are blender applied with H lead finalizing tones and reaching the hard cut edges.
I've got an interesting plan for the background Joy, don't be disappointed that it's all in one direction so far. I've saved up charcoal from my pencils (that stuff gets everywhere) and I'm trying out different effects on a separate sheet.  ;D

EDIT: It wasn't until the end of the week, but I finally got time to work on this. Progress is being made.  :p
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rose2.png)
Looks only like a tiny bit of progress. But it's progress, and I'm over the most detailed oriented part of the rose. Fixing the shading on the petals around the center right now. I'm really happy how the center turned out. Took quite a bit of time, but the detail is extremely nice. It's the part of it that I was pretty worried about. So I'm pretty happy how it's going. I might actually finish this drawing. 

Instead of drawing the comics I'm supposed to, I drew this! what can I say, they are awesome :3
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h44/RowdyRuffBabe/You__re_Crazy_____by_KyleTheArtist.jpg)
http://kyletheartist.deviantart.com/art/You-re-Crazy-162409395 (http://kyletheartist.deviantart.com/art/You-re-Crazy-162409395)

lol. Its the twins! XD
I thought they were awesome in the movie. How'd you draw this? Was it like completely in photoshop?

pencil sketch, scanning(or in my case taking a picture, because I lack scanner) and then photoshop. SO for majority, yes it is complitely photoshop.

Glad you like them, they were my fave :3

I suppose I could post one of my drawings too...seeing as how I enjoy drawing more than my photos ._.;

Most recent thing I did >> about 3 days worth of Photoshop and doodling in class <_<
(http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/Zombie-Cakes/STUFF/rawg2.jpg)
One of my Sims, also buuuut....that is not important ^^;

That's pretty fricken sweet.   :D
5 Stars!  ;D

Thank you, appreciate it greatly  :D

Sweet mother...That is awesome! Now that picture will always come to mind when I play Wolfenstein XD

Some pics I took of the bearded irises in my garden. I love my garden! LOL

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/Miscellaneous/beardedirisyellow2449x600.jpg)

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/Miscellaneous/Beardediris1403x600.jpg)

Those are really good pictures!  :D

I agree!  :D
I'll jump in on this. Forgive my amateurishness with a camera.
I guess I'll also post some new pictures of what I've been doing artistically between all the exams and homework.

P.S. Please don't call me a pansy.  ;D

(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/DSC02061.png)
Anyway, my grandpa plants and takes care of roses right in front the general view of my window, which is why they get drawn a lot by me.
They're what I see right outside my window!
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/DSC02060.png)
He takes pretty good care of them in my opinion. Very good care. They're rather beautiful.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/DSC02059.png)
The one on the right is the one I'm drawing. It's the closest to the window.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/DSC02057.png)
Here's a view of that entire plant.

Oh one more thing, I got a nice picture of a frog. Looks pretty sweet. It's awesome and clear also. Even if it centered.
Because from what I know, that's pretty much death in photography.
I think it's a cool picture.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/DSC02056.png)
Captain froggy!  :D
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/DSC02115.png)
Here's a nice overview of my art desk. You can see the paper I use if you look hard enough. XD
It's sitting on top of my computer. That's a mouse pad at the edge of the picture.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/DSC02113.png)
And some of my more active projects.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/cpdrawing.png)
This is the first portrait I'm doing in color. I'm finally putting that set I got to good use.  ;D
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/bwdrawing.png)
And a pretty much done portrait in b&w.
I think it's pretty dang good.   :p

Thank you! I love playing with my camera. I have a few more to share (not of my garden, though), I just have to finish getting them off my camera and cleaning them up.

Carl, that colour portrait you're doing is looking promising! I can see you playing with the colours, which is awesome! The hair in the b&w portrait is really good. The variation in texture and light, especially at the front of the hairline, is well done! I also love that frog! LOL.

Those were really good too!!

I like the drawing in b&w of the girl, it's really good!

Here's some more of my photos. I love to wander around and take pictures of trees and landscapes, since I live in such a beautiful area. I won't plaster them all in here out of respect for those of you with slower connections.

We have a lot of old growth forests around here and these were taken in a park with a lot of old, interesting trees. I had to get some close ups of a lot them because the old twisted trunks made some awesomely interesting shapes. Note: all the colours you see are really there. The only editing I did was to fix the lighting and contrast.

(http://i40.tinypic.com/295vodv.jpg)
This tree was actually about five feet in diameter and had long ago fallen over. The roots were about three feet tall. LOL. So I had to climb up to take a picture of this hollowed out section.

(http://i40.tinypic.com/m92aut.jpg)
Another old tree I thought was interesting. I'm not squatting down to take a picture of the top of the arch in the trunk. I'm just over 5.7", so you can get an idea how tall it was. You can see in the top right had corner the stabilizing rod they put in.

(http://i43.tinypic.com/2jeqtmp.jpg)
The same tree, around the other side, close up.

(http://i43.tinypic.com/sqpg8h.jpg)
Another tree, close up.

(http://i43.tinypic.com/xaw0m1.jpg)
Same tree, further back. I love the shapes in the trunk. It looks, to me like a bunch of faces.

Like I said, I have more, but I won't put them all in one post.

<3 Trees.

 :D

those are great!

Thank you! I have more trees. These are taken when my mother and I went on a hike in a forest nearby (less than twenty minutes away from my house) on Mother's Day. Again, there's no colour manipulation, just light and contrast fixes.

(http://i44.tinypic.com/2ugpcsg.jpg)
A tree blown over by one of the many wind storms we get.

(http://i44.tinypic.com/xe4x9j.jpg)
Evidence of the logging that used to take place here. On some of the stumps you can still see pieces of the cable they used with the steam donkeys to haul away the logs. A spark from one of the pieces of equipment started a fire in 1931 and when they finally got it out, they stopped logging. It's now a protected research forest.

(http://i43.tinypic.com/176amp.jpg)
A lightning struck tree.

(http://i42.tinypic.com/zoc55l.jpg)
Same tree, different angle.

(http://i42.tinypic.com/e6yvja.jpg)
The sun shining through the canopy

(http://i44.tinypic.com/23hkbo5.jpg)
The same. I love the reddish halo that showed up around the edge of the photo.


And that's it, until my next excursion.

I love that last one the most! I love when the sun does odd things to a picture!

Your really good!  :D

Wow. That's amazingly scenic!  ;D
I REALLY like the moss covered tree. It's so awesome.
Those are some HUGE trees.
I wish they had big old tree like those where I lived. But what we have here is pretty much a young forest.
There's a lot of trees, but most are not NEARLY as old as the ones in your picture.

Thanks Katie!

gorgeous pictures everyone! Especially the forest and truck ones!

Carlwashere- I so wish I could draw like you, your amazing!

Ok, I'm not going to re size them because I like them big. So here are the links:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/inthedaylight011.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/dahbeach072.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/thisisnowhere007.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/Iwontletthisgo006.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/withluck.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/inthebackofmymind060.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/11410014.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/DecemberBlizz024.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll99/TwE321/Photograpghy/hurryup010.jpg

They really aren't that big... I only saw the first, it's too ificult to see, expecially on slow browsers...

Actually, anything over 600 x 600 is too big to post here without resizing. ;)  A lot of those pictures are.

They're lovely, Hatters. I especially like the picture of the barbed wire.

Think so? Thanks!

I like the window shots myself.
I also really like the shot with your hand in the sun. But I've been out for a BIG part of my weekend, but I haven't had enough of the sun yet!
Eh, I'm going to be forced in a sunless classroom in about... 17 hours anyway.
I've done a good bit of work on that colored pencil drawing, looks pretty amazing so far.
I'll update when I get a picture of it.  :p

Love the pictures Carlie and joy!

I'm not completly sure if poetry is creative enough.. I think it is.
Just be warned... If you don't like sorta depressing poems that mention slightly mature content, then I suggest not reading the poems titled 'Please', 'Hiding', 'Creeping Darkness' and 'Despair'
Most of my work is pretty dark.. And I should have more up soon. I'm on a roll recently.

Thank you! Poetry definitely qualifies as "creative stuff", so feel free to share!

Awesomeness! I think its easier for me to just post a link to my DA gallery..
http://deadly-nightshade666.deviantart.com/
:D I hope you guys like them.

Rise! Rise ! Rise!  :D
I loved this thread, might as well give it an update. I think I've gotten tons better since my last update here.
I have a new rendition of my last rose drawing. Done on a much smaller piece of paper than the first, and frankly, with a lot more skill.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rosescaled.png)
It's on a tiny piece of paper... Haha. 2.5" X 3.5" (6.35x8.89cm)
 ;D
Edit, one more thing, I wrote about how I started on it and why, on Deviantart. There's also a full size version there.
Here's (http://carlwashere.deviantart.com/#/d2wunvi) a link!

I will help contribute to this thread's re-animation >:3
But yes, that rose is amazing, I could never do anything with color pencils or any kind of marker, etc. even if I tried (Which is why I reverted to digital art). Especially on a canvas of that size. A lot of credit goes to you for doing such a thing xD

New contribution:
My angry, waffle obsessed, pyro Sim in more of a cartoony style as an ID for deviantART to go along with my icon...I enjoy drawing this guy >>

(http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/Zombie-Cakes/waffle_now_by_zombie_cakes-d2aqhjp.png)

Not really a photograph or a drawing but I am an aspiring Graphic Artist so I guess these fit in this thread:

(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2009/244/c/5/Fire_Flakes_by_Aquarious2008.jpg)
(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs46/f/2009/235/6/d/Betrayed_by_Aquarious2008.jpg)
(http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs48/f/2009/235/d/5/__Take_my_Hand___by_Aquarious2008.jpg)
(http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs47/f/2009/235/6/8/Water_by_Aquarious2008.jpg)
(http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs48/f/2009/235/6/3/Sasuke_by_Aquarious2008.jpg)
(http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/096/b/4/Sakura_sig_by_Aquarious2008.jpg)
(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk174/Aquarious2008/lunapic-1232228970704532.gif)
(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk174/Aquarious2008/Soul-Eater.jpg)
(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk174/Aquarious2008/with-hand-1.gif)
(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk174/Aquarious2008/Untitled-1-5.gif)
(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk174/Aquarious2008/death.jpg)

Zombie Cakes, Trust me Digital art is just as respectable as any traditional form. Personally, I can't do it.
I like that drawing, he looks all serious, and he's about to roast the stuffing out of someone. Then. Waffle.  :D

Those sigs are pretty awesome Aquarius! For some odd reason, I think you like Avatar and Naruto. ;D

Yes, Im what you'd call an Avatard lol

Ahahaha Avatard. I love that. My friend's uncle keeps telling us that we have frappatardia. (my friend has tachycardia.... ahaha)

My first attempt at..space


(http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk174/Aquarious2008/Space.jpg)

IDK, I kinda liked it up until I did the lens flare effect to make stars. They look...out of place

The extra stars looks a bit too big, and too similar both in size and shine. Maybe a bit too evenly placed out, too.
But I like the rest  ;D

I'll second what theraven said regarding the stars being too uniformly spaced and shaped. I would suggest going to the NASA site and taking a look at some of the images they have in their gallery. You could also go to the Hubble site to do the same. :) What program are you using? There are some good brushes for Gimp and Photoshop that can add some fairly realistic stars/sparkles with irregular flare patterns (like you tend to see in outer space). You could maybe use those in conjunction with the lens flares you have, just make them different sizes.

Gimp brushes (http://www.gimp.wisdomplug.com/category/Brushes/star-gimp-brushes/)
Photoshop brushes (http://designm.ag/resources/photoshop-space-brushes/)

Other than that, I can see what you're trying to accomplish here and it's got a lot of potential. A good trick with laying everything out is to look at the negative space. Something I learned when I was in college was to stand back a bit and let my eyes unfocus so I could concentrate on the space around the objects rather that just the objects themselves. When you do this, you can get a good idea of how well your composition uses the space. If I were to suggest anything in addition to what you have, it would be maybe some sort of nebulous gas cloud somewhere on the right hand side just to add a bit of weight on that side.

Edit: To fix my broken coding and nitpicky spelling stuff.

Thanks. I have photoshop but it's on my laptop, which is acting like b[beep] right now and wont turn on. So I'm currently using GIMP on the family desktop. It's so similar to photoshop and yet...different. Yeah like I said before, I liked it up until I added the stars. I wouldnt have added them in the first place but I felt like I was missing something

The bigger and shinier, the closer they look. Try to dim a couple, space them differently (now they're spaced as though they are ends on similar shaped triangles), shrink down some, and maybe add some of the the effects Joy mentioned.

It will look much more like stars if you do that ;)

Check out the gimp brushes I linked to there. They look pretty dang cool and could really make your image pop, I think, if used right.

I did. I went to that person's Deviantart page and downloaded a bunch of brushes and they're amazing. I can not thank you enough for giving me those links!

Just as a little more advice, May I suggest blurring the edges of the planet? Objects rarely create perfect lines, and a blurred edge would help toward a more 3d appearance.
Additionally, When objects are farther away, color becomes less notable. Look at pictures of valleys and such, far in the background, the colors are almost nonexistant.
As a result, blurring and weakening the color of some stars would help create more of a sense of depth.
Genius using the lens filter though. I wouldn't of thought of that. Looks nice.

My new desktop background!
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/desktopscaled.png)

OMG that's beautiful! You made it yourself?

Yeah. For the most part. I only used one brush. (the big thing in the side) Everything else i did from scratch. I was trying to go for simple. XD

That's more than simple. That's awesome!

Photoshop is pretty much learning how to the tools work and how you can use them together to get what you want. There's no one "Make this Awesome" button. XD
You'll catch up to me, and probably get ahead, in no time. If you want to know how I did anything, don't be afraid to shoot me a PM.  ;)
Anyway, I finished this!
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/carl565777/rosefinalscaled.png)

Yes, I'm posting in an old thread, but it's with something new. I thought I'd share more of my art with you all and I can now safely do so since Christmas has passed and my sister (who lurks here) has opened her present. For her, I did a drawing of her dog, Angus. It's clickable thumbnail because it's a bit large.

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/My%20Crafts%20and%20Junk/th_AngusArtwm.jpg) (http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/My%20Crafts%20and%20Junk/?action=view&current=AngusArtwm.jpg)

Joy, that is wonderful, I'd no idea that you had such a talent! Soooo cute, I'm gonna die of it!

Wow, Joy! That's incredible. Looks very accurate, not that I have seen Angus before, but that looks very much like a dog to me. You have some serious talent.

Thank you, both. :) I had a lot of fun with it and my sister, who would be the one to ask, says it's a perfect likeness. Angus is a Cocker Spaniel and is simply an amazing dog. He had a stroke lately and so his face is kind of lopsided now, so this is him pre-stroke.

Necromancy is bad, mmmk! *wags her finger at Joy*

Humor aside, that's quite an awesome sketch, Joy. Puts my awesome stick figure skills to shame. Hah!

WOW, Joy! That's an awesome sketch!

Necromancy is bad only if you have nothing new to add to the thread. Says so in our rules, so there! Nyah! ;) Ha ha ha.

Kidding aside, thank you Jenna and Theraven. :)

That's incredible!

Such amazing detail.

Fantastic work, Oh Queen Of Caffine!

Why, thank you, Ed! :D

That's an awesome photo, theraven. Fireworks (and lightning) can be tricky to catch.

Thanks :)

I have more arty stuff! :) This is a scan of another picture I did for Christmas. My eldest sister loves fairies, so this is what she got. Pardon the mucked up coloring in the wing - the scanner just wouldn't cooperate.

(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g54/caffeinatedjoy/My%20Crafts%20and%20Junk/scan0002.jpg)

Wow, Joy, that's so awesome!  :eek:

I guess this falls in the category of "other creative stuff" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShLL0JCBemw

I to am a photographer.here is some of my wokr

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5202/5293983749_43b562e20a.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5293983749/)
country snow (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5293983749/) by Melinda Carter (http://www.flickr.com/people/m_carter_photography/), on Flickr

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/5181991737_53bf46b576.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5181991737/)
100_4335 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5181991737/) by Melinda Carter (http://www.flickr.com/people/m_carter_photography/), on Flickr

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/4988494773_6641636852.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/4988494773/)
101_3262 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/4988494773/) by Melinda Carter (http://www.flickr.com/people/m_carter_photography/), on Flickr

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5047/5376352560_e688fc5c4d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5376352560/)
My Boy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5376352560/) by Melinda Carter (http://www.flickr.com/people/m_carter_photography/), on Flickr

if you would like to see more here is my flickr...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/



some more of my abandonment

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5246/5379032560_c7d47a2c3b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5379032560/)
100_4350 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5379032560/) by Melinda Carter (http://www.flickr.com/people/m_carter_photography/), on Flickr

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5085/5354835394_2b6fa464bc.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5354835394/)
black and white (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/5354835394/) by Melinda Carter (http://www.flickr.com/people/m_carter_photography/), on Flickr

I love this old school
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4144/4964483320_58361653bf.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/4964483320/)
101_3056 copy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/4964483320/) by Melinda Carter (http://www.flickr.com/people/m_carter_photography/), on Flickr

and one more i hope it's not to many
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/4963692216_d1a491066d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/4963692216/)
almost lost (http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_carter_photography/4963692216/) by Melinda Carter (http://www.flickr.com/people/m_carter_photography/), on Flickr

Lovely photos, lilmissemo. I love the first one, with all the snow and frost around the old building. I've always thought there was a certain unkempt beauty in old buildings that aren't so kept up.

caffeinated.joy that looks amazing! I would love to draw like that. And lilmissemo the child (i assume) in the field is very eye catching, really pulls you in! =]

I do photography, and I guess although I've not been published or employed as one, you could say I'm not so amateur anymore, as I've actually done a degree in the subject. Here's an example of my photography:

(http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/150/i/2011/023/2/c/flower_01_by_beansprut-d37vhfh.jpg)

I do digital art too;

(http://th07.deviantart.net/fs71/150/i/2011/034/1/f/dragon_on_a_bridge_by_beansprut-d38ozfk.jpg)

And traditional art;
(http://th01.deviantart.net/fs38/150/i/2008/362/9/8/Johnny_Depp_2_by_Beansprut.jpg)

If anyones interested you can look at those in full, and others at my DeviantArt (http://"http://beansprut.deviantart.com/") page or on my own webpage: RKG-Photography (http://"http://www.applecrackers.co.uk/bonanza-studios/RGP/index.html") which I made myself! (just a tiny bit proud of that >_< )

EDIT: Which links? The ones just above? Erm, well www.beansprut.deviantart.com and www.applecrackers.co.uk (then look under the banner and see RKG-Photography, as thats where my site is hosted. If its the pictures (or in fact the links!), then I don't know why they aren't working as they all show up and work for me =/

Just an FYI, ladyrose; you might want to check your links. They throw a "server not found error". Thank you for the compliment. :) I've been drawing for more years than I care to admit. ;)

Oh my gosh, that fairy is gorgeous, Joy! Beautiful colors. She really caught my eye  ;D
and, lilmissemo, your photos are amazing. I absolutely love the first, third, sixth and eight one. Great stuff!

I have a few more doodles I thought I'd post. Haven't had much time to really sit down and finish anything. v.v
(http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/Zombie-Cakes/Untitled-1-11.png) (http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/Zombie-Cakes/fi.jpg)
I have issues, yes lol