I really enjoyed working on this particular image. Look at me was a chance to try out some new techniques. I did extensive retouch work to this image including, completely recreating the eyes and lips, whitening the teeth, and smoothing the skin.

I used different adjustment layers to really get the image to pop. The butterfly wings I did myself using a reference. The model in this image was great and had very unique and expressive features that allowed this image to work the way I imagined it.

Roberto Blake Photo Manipulation Look At Me

The model stock from this came from: http://nikxstock.deviantart.com/ and the bubble brushes which I modified came from: http://brusheezy.com

This image all together took about 20 Hours or so in Photoshop using my Wacom tablet. This image actually is pretty popular in my gallery and was featured twice on deviant art. I’m considering making this available as part of a series of iPhone Wallpapers I want to release later this month.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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With the release of the new God of War 3 video game I couldn’t help but notice a great deal of artwork in the online community that relates to the game. Much of it is quite amazing!

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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It’s been a while since I had a featured artist on the blog but I’m really excited about this one. Zach Bush is one of my favorite digital artist on deviantart and his work happened to be featured on the cover of the same issue of Advanced Photoshop Magazine that I happened to appear in this month.

I actually hope to be able to interview him in the near future. Zach’s work is just amazing and he is diverse in his abilities, showcasing talent in photo manipulation, digital painting, and typography. His level of ability is certainly something to aspire to.

Skin Deep by Zach Bush

Skin Deep was featured on the cover of Advanced Photoshop 67, the issue in which I am featured in the readers gallery. Zach also demonstrates a tutorial that allows you to recreate this cover.

The Second Coming by Zach Bush

The Second Coming, was a piece Zach did for a deviantart contest sponsored by the game Darksiders, called “End of Days”. The general idea is to create an image depicting some aspect of the Apocalypse. I really like the direction Zach took as it was dramatically different from the other entries which mostly featured the four horsemen.

The Mad Hatter by Zach Bush

I honestly would love to see a movie or read an Alice in Wonderland story featuring this version of the Mad Hatter. Zach took this already piece of dark fiction to another level with his work. I believe this was featured on DEPTHCORE.

A Soul's Silhouette by Zach Bush

This was a creative piece of photo manipulation where Zach demonstrates his ability to effectively combine several techniques and distinct elements. This is probably my favorite piece from him.

The Return by Zach Bush

Eden by Zach Bush

Morning Mist by Zach Bush

Show your support by posting this article wherever you can, tweeting it and of course commenting!

You can view more of the work of Zach Bush at:
http://zachbush.com
http://zbush.deviantart.com/
http://www.behance.net/zbush

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

Our Farewell by Wishmistress

Scorpio by Mariangelkiss

Gossip Speedart by Kahiro Suzuki

AmalgaMATE III by Michaelo

... by Poison Vectors

Lights of Desire by Manips of an Artist2

Year of the Tiger by Heise

Too Much Heaven by Chrissie Cool

Imagination by anaRasha

Calypso Triumph by Forest Girl

Black Knight and Companion by Sandra

Dark Memories by Lune Bleu

Dreamers by MoonsongWolf

Unformed by GrandPa

Anima Puppet Master by Wen M

Lost Delivery Pong by Trenchmaker

Artbook Cover by Jiuge

Infernal Blight by Alexiuss

Enchanted Swing by Paramorefan1827

Winter by Horaciophd

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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For sometime now I’ve been working on a project I haven’t told many people about, but finally it’s time to let out the secret, if you read the headline of this post then you have probably guessed it, I will be publishing my first Art Book in the first quarter of 2010!

I’m actually very excited about this as went into 2009 with goal originally and have been working toward it slowly all along. The title of this book is “ARTFUL MANIPULATIONS”, a title which I believe is self explainitory. I have spent a great deal of time researching how to best approach this particular project. Even from the beginning self publishing is a very involved process that requires you to make several important and very well thought out decisions, and understand many things you may or may not have dealt with before. Fortunately I have a background in developing projects for print and have even dealth with magazine covers before.

ARTFUL-MANIPULATIONS-COVER

Deciding on what to do about the cover once I decided on the title was something I have been agonizing over for several weeks but a few days ago I finally decided on which concept I liked best and I have to say I’m very satisfied with the results. I wanted something clean and type driven that would stand out in a stack, but I also wanted something fresh and colorful, and uncluttered. I also didn’t want the type to feel flat, I wanted something that felt almost organic, vibrant, stimulating. The answer ultimately came to me int the form of a skittles commerical…

In addition to work you’ve already seen from me, this book is going to feature some never before seen work, some of it completely new, some of it that I had been holding back specifically to place in this publication. I would actually love to do at least two collaboration projects between now and spring to feature in the book, if anyone is interested please get in touch with me about it.

One of the hardest decisions I had to make was the size of the book dimension wise. The overall size does effect the price, and being this is my first book I didn’t want to make it too expensive, however I also wanted to be sure that the images would be large enough for people to really enjoy and feel it was worthwile. Ultimately I went with a landscape format of 10X8. My next choice would have been a square format of 12×12 unfortunately that would have nearly doubled the price, but I’m looking at that for my next self published book and will increase the number of images dramatically to compensate.

Of course we come to the main decision, go directly to a printer, or go through a website? Ultimately I decided to go with Blurb.com, part of that decision was influenced by a great article I read in Advanced Photoshop Magazine, issue 62. It had a lot of useful infomration, much of which I had come across in my own research but some great advice none the less. Ultimately Blurb.com would allow me to complete this project in more or less the way I had imagined it with little additional effort and with minimal cost, which for me was the main factor. If it were not for the additional artwork yet to be completed this project would take less than a month overall which is excellent.

So that is pretty much it for now, once the book is released I will be launching the micro-site for it, which is already mostly developed. I will keep you posted on that project as well. I would love to hear feedback about what images of mine you think should go in the book, or any questions you may have. I can’t wait to release this project and share it with you!

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Maybe some of you are as tired as I am of the same list over and over featuring the same artwork by the same people. So here you go some new fresh eye candy from you from some digital artist many of you have never seen or heard of who produce some of the most amazing digital artist in the deviant art community.

Be sure to show these people how much you love their artwork by commenting and visiting their pages!

If you are digital artist and you want to be featured, or you want to recommend another artist to be featured please drop me a comment and a link to their work!

And don’t forget that there is a second page to this post to keep it from taking forever to load!

1. Bahomout by Genzoman

http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Bahamut-137575338

2. Apophis the Destroyer by Genzoman

http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Apophis-the-destroyer-137356584

3. Golden Dragon Departure by Genzoman

http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Golden-dragon-departure-141133751

4. Avatar Katara Fire Nation by Genzoman

http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Avatar-Katara-Fire-nation-131769427

5. Ifrit by Genzoman

http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Ifrit-105872278

6. Atargatis by Genzoman

Atargatis by GENZOMAN

http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Atargatis-99388179

7. Autumn Fae by Lillucyka

http://lillucyka.deviantart.com/art/Autumn-fae-99957322

8. Dreaming of Love by Lillucyka

http://lillucyka.deviantart.com/art/Dreaming-of-Love-128746500

9. Touch of Magic by Lillucyka

http://lillucyka.deviantart.com/art/Touch-of-magic-133075608

10. Breezy Day by Artgerm

http://artgerm.deviantart.com/art/Breezy-Day-139817701

11. Samurai Spirit by Artgerm

http://artgerm.deviantart.com/art/Samurai-Spirit-7962452

12. Masquerade by Alena Lazreva

http://alenalazareva.deviantart.com/art/Masquerade-136317242

13. Kiss of Vampire by Alena Lazareva

http://alenalazareva.deviantart.com/art/Kiss-of-vampire-138388628

14. Veronika by Alena Lazareva

http://alenalazareva.deviantart.com/art/Veronika-137022484

15. Aliens by Kyle Lambert

http://kyle-lambert.deviantart.com/art/Aliens-Painting-114330807

16. President Obama by Kyle Lambert

http://kyle-lambert.deviantart.com/art/President-Obama-Painting-114887652

17. Transformers Revenge Megan Fox by Kyle Lambert

Transformers Revenge Megan Fox by Kyle Lambert

http://kyle-lambert.deviantart.com/art/Transformers-Revenge-Megan-Fox-121647920

18. The Night Birds Song by Wroth

http://wroth.deviantart.com/art/The-Night-Bird-s-Song-133663751

19. Autumn Fairytale by Cosmosue

Autumn Fairytale by Cosmosue and 3ddream

http://cosmosue.deviantart.com/art/Autumn-Fairytale-94189136

http://3ddream.deviantart.com/art/Autumn-Fairytale-94187641

20. Caroline by MisaCharisma

Misa Charisma

http://misacharisma.deviantart.com/art/MisaCharisma-Digital-Painting-91848585

21. The Suns Consolation by BenF

The Sun Consolaion by Ben F

http://benf.deviantart.com/art/The-sun-s-consolation-141921184

22. So Very Broken by Outlawrave

So Very Broken by Roberto Blake

http://outlawrave.deviantart.com/art/So-Very-Broken-136223655

GO TO PAGE 2 OF THIS POST

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Lady Huntress of Autumn is my latest digital painting, I’ve been working on this on and off for a good deal of the week. I’ve been working on this one for different contest. The work on this image was quite extensive, but it was fun to try some new things with it.
The model stock comes from http://sariennstock.deviantart.com/

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Using the artistic nude stock of Marcus J Ranum usually has wonderful results.
“So Very Broken” is my latest digital painting. Marcus J Ranum’s stock image are amazing, they are of great quality, size and composition. I have been wanting to use this particular one for quite some time. I wanted to create an image using warm colors while still trying to convey a feeling of nearly infinite sorrow, as a way of dramatically contrasting color and emotion.

Inspiration and Technique
I’ve drawn a lot of my inspiration for the digital painting style from different members of the Deviant Art community. When trying to develop the concept for this image I had a variety of ideas I wanted to try out for this image. The answer came from something I was writing in a short story which is where the title and theme of this image comes from. I used the word broken repetitively in the background, you can see it without looking to hard. I liked using type in an image this way I feel it added another dimension to the piece.

Typography is very difficult to use well in this kind of image, but in terms of what it lent to eye direction, visual balance, and even the texture of the piece it is hard to imagine the image without it. I debated the use of the chain in this piece but decided on it for similar reasons to the type, without it somehow the balance of the image felt off, and it reinforced the themes of the overall composition well enough.

Building up the textures for this image was something I handled manually using a wacom tablet and various types of brushes. I don’t remember how many hours it took to do the brushwork, but it consisted of over 20 layers. There was also additional work involved in retouching the model. As for the overall positioning I felt the original pose of the model dictated that well enough.

I’m very satisfied with the results I’ve gotten from stepping into this type of digital artwork and think I will work up a quite few more pieces like this in the near future, I’m currently working on a very interesting piece with another piece of Marcus J Ranum’s stock. Truth be told I think his stock is one of the most suited to this type of artwork.

If anyone out there has some interesting unrestricted stock resources they can make me aware of that would be great, as I’m always on the look out for new resources. Also any free grunge brushes would be helpful. I’m also looking for any additional advice or inspiration regarding digital painting as I continue to develop this particular skill and style.

You can also view “So Very Broken” on my Deviant Art account. Please free free to leave me comments here as well as Deviant Art letting me know what you think of my work on this image. Ive also posted this image on Photoshop Creative.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing an amazing Digital Artist who specializes in Digital Painting. She is Russian based artist and designer Alena Lazareva and you may be familiar with her work from DeviantArt, Advanced Photoshop, Photoshop Createive, or ImageFX. Her images are nothing short of mystical and it was a real treat to get to talk to her about her work!

Could you tell us about yourself, where you’re from and how you got started in the design field?

Hello ! My name is Alena. I am 29 years old. I live in Russia.
I have been drawing since childhood. I studied at the School of Art at the artist. There I drew pictures in oils and watercolor, is now engaged in graphic design. My first acquaintance with Photoshop was in 2006. Then I went to the computer graphics courses, and began to paint in Photoshop. Now I draw in Photoshop every day and improve my skills. My interests: art, photography, computer graphics.

Sad_fairy_by_AlenaLazareva

A lot of your designs involve painting with light, is there any particular reason you gravitate toward this particular style?

In my artworks mythical creatures, fairies, elves, mermaids … The effect of light in the paintings give a sense of magic, magical world. Light – is the warmth and magic.

Fairy_by_AlenaLazareva

Were there any barriers you’ve had to overcome in entering the field and trying to develop as an artist?

At first, I did not have enough skills in the field of graphic design. Was it difficult to translate the plan. I went to courses graphic design, it really helped me. now improve their skills every day.

What has been your most valuable resources as a designer?

I think, valuable resources in the design of this creative thinking, a fantasy artist and good technique in creating artworks.

What would you say is the hardest part of being a designer?

The designer should strive to learn new skills, get acquainted with the artwork of other artists. And most importantly, the designer must have creative thinking!

Are there any other designers or artist that you draw inspiration or advice from?
I always liked works of KAGAYA. They inspire…me .It is a great artist – illustrator .

So far what would you say is your favorite piece you’ve that you have created, and why?
My favourite artworks : Angels, Paradisial bird, black angel. But very favourite artwork Mermaid!

Mermaid_by_AlenaLazareva

If you could use design to influence or change the world in a positive way, how would you go about it?
Arouse in people a good feeling ! It would be a project consisting of paintings by artists. These pictures would show human feelings, kindness, love, friendship … The project would remind all people of good qualities, which should be in every man.

What do you hope to achieve design wise in the next 5 years?

I plan to improve their skills in design, improve their digital painting technique, to master new knowledge in graphic design. And also think of interesting subjects for his paintings, and to please all his artworks. I also would like to participate in different competitions and get acquainted with the artwork of digital artists.

Paradisial_bird_by_AlenaLazareva

Thanks for a wonderful interview Alena. Be sure to check out Alena’s various galleries and the links below and show her some love and support by commenting, and rating her images!

Photoshop Creative Gallery
Advanced Photoshop Gallery
DeviantArt Gallery
DeviantArt Portfolio
ImagineFX Gallery

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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Roberto Blake Digital Painting- Lady Snowflake

Lady Snowflake is probably my most solid “digital painting” work to date. The brush work took hours to get just right, but I was happy with the results from that effort. I’m going to be entering this in Photoshop Creative’s Forum Challenge, “Seasons”. It took a lot to get the right blend of painterly effects while keeping the sharp details in the face and hair as much as possible. I also wanted to create the illusion of motion or wind while using those elements to manipulate eye direction back to the central figure. Despite the winter theme of this image, I didn’t want the model to come off as frigid, or “cold”, there were subtle things I did in the retouch work to accomplish this.

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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The online community is full of amazing, talented digital artist, and today I’m happy to showcase some fantastic photo-manipulation work I’ve seen on DeviantArt. Photo Manipulation is one of the most interesting and diverse forms of digital art work. There is no end to the different images an artist can develop using simple photography as a base.

Some of these digital artist you may have seen before in magazines or on other websites, others are relatively unknown but no less talented. Please give them some feedback about their work and don’t forget to visit their DeviantArt pages when you have a chance. These 20 Photo Manipulatons are nothing short of “Top Tier”.

1. Sentient by Conzpiracy

http://conzpiracy.deviantart.com/

2. Noir by Queedo

http://queedo.deviantart.com/

3. Mermaid by Alena Lazereva

http://alenalazareva.deviantart.com/

4. Painted by Hart3uk

http://hart3uk.deviantart.com/

5. Evolution in Progess by Vanority and Buffalotbill

http://vanority.deviantart.com/
http://buffalotbill.deviantart.com/

6. Global Warming Evolution by Pepey

http://pepey.deviantart.com/

7. Fire Angel by Vanority and Buffalotbill

http://vanority.deviantart.com/
http://buffalotbill.deviantart.com/

8. Ocean by Novemberxnight

http://novemberxnight.deviantart.com/

9. Explosive Beauty by xScriibleDoodlex

http://xscriibledoodlex.deviantart.com/

10. Niyo by Karen McDade

Niyo by Karen McDade

http://karenmcdade.deviantart.com/

11. Dancing Glow by VCell

http://vcell.deviantart.com/

12. Iva II by Ivangel

http://ivangel.deviantart.com/

13. Splash by Jmlam

http://jmlan.deviantart.com/

14. Fly to Eternity by Doneandonov

http://doneandonov.deviantart.com/

15. Making Magic by Wicked Juggalo Girl

http://wicked-juggalo-girl.deviantart.com/

16. Violet Sensation by Dean Site

http://dean-site.deviantart.com/

17. Viento by Dazegrafix

http://dazegrafix.deviantart.com/

18. Lets Go by MDesignN

http://mdesignn.deviantart.com/

19. Cutting Myself on Scraps by Mg3000

http://mg3000.deviantart.com/

20. Bill in His True Form by Demonicangel04

http://demonicangel04.deviantart.com/

21. Summoner by Roberto Blake

http://robertoblake.com/blog

Remember to leave comments and show your appreciation for these amazing digital artist and their work!

Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake is a Professional Graphics Designer and Photographer, living in Fayetteville NC, has work been working with Photoshop® for over 8 years now, and Flash® for the past 5 years.

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