Author: lemsy

John LeMasney (lemsy) is an artist, graphic designer, and technology creative. He is located in beautiful Nelson County, VA, but works remotely with ease. Contact him at: lemasney@gmail.com to discuss your next creative project.

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portfolio requests

24 of 365 is a painterly self-portrait #GIMP

 

Painterly self-portrait
Painterly self-portrait

 

This self-portrait is a result of a great suggestion by my friend Angel who said:

“Pick any photo image you have (can be yourself) and make it look like an oil painting on canvas.”

Thanks for the suggestion, Angel! I used my webcam to capture images of myself from some interesting angles and lighting situations. Then, I used one as a base image in the GIMP to first color-pick then paint into with different brushes using a Wacom tablet. It was a lot of fun to ruin the perfect forms of photography and replace it with the warmth and approximation of painting. I’ve done this a few times before in different ways, but this was a very direct, very freeing method.

tags: Wacom, self-portrait, image, identity, painterly, 365, daily, postaday2011, GIMP, GNU, GPL, Open source, creative commons, CC-SA

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portfolio

23 of 365 is a memory #GIMP

A memory
A memory

It’s incredibly hard to forget certain moments in your life, and I’m very happy for that sometimes.

tags: memory, reminder, note, lemasney, 365, postaday2011, daily, sharing, gimp, GNU, GPL, Open source, open

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portfolio

22 of 365 is Joaquin Phoenix #GIMP

 

Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix

 

I was really intrigued by Joaquin’s experiment and I hope it works out for him. I like or love most of his work, but I think to make so many people believe you’ve truly gone away is an amazing accomplishment. It seems so obvious now that it was all a rouse, but I don’t think anyone knew for sure when it was going on. Good for him for getting one over on us, and I hope he returns to the screen soon. Anyway, here I brought together his well-known image from “I’m still here” and another photo that was a far more photogenic JP, and used a mask on the photogenic JP to allow his face to appear through his bearded character’s face. I tweaked with adding and removing the mask in transparent strokes until I had what I wanted.

tags: JP, I’m still here, Joaquin Phoenix, GIMP, GNU, GPL, Open source,  365, postaday2011, lemasney

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portfolio

21 of 365 is a short explainer #GIMP

 

What is 365 Sketches about?
What is 365 Sketches about?

 

Many friends see my posts in their daily Facebook stream and wonder what it’s all about. One person pulled me aside and asked me to explain it. I gave a much more detailed explanation in my conversation, but it boiled down to this.

tags: postaday2011, GIMP, GNU, GPL, Open source, lemasney, 365, design, painting, fun

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portfolio requests

20 of 365 is a girl and her dog #GIMP

 

A girl and her dog
A girl and her dog

This is my friend Shannon, who asked me to sketch her and her dog on one of their cross campus tours. I hope she likes it!

 

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portfolio requests

19 of 365 is a virtual ironing #GIMP

Blawenburg Band (original)
Blawenburg Band (original)
Blawenburg Band (modified)
Blawenburg Band (modified)

My friend Laraine wrote me recently with a request:

“I need help with the attached photo…it is the Blawenburg Band at the Hopewell gazebo, being directed by clarinetist, former member and my dear departed friend, Rich Hill, who died this past spring at 51…

I want to use the photo as the cover of a thank you card, 5 x 7,  to people who contributed to a band scholarship in Rich’s honor. I am choosing and writing the thank you cards; I’m secretary of the band.

But the problem with the photo is that Rich’s clothes looked rumpled… (maybe) shadows from the gazebo cut outs…

I feel the spirit of the photo is just right for the memorial thank you’s. (Do you think so?) But Rich looks rumpled…”

He was a bit rumpled, but that was easy enough to take care of with cloning, burning and dodging tools. I moved on to restoring the gazebo, band members and audience members with the burn dodge tool to bring out the shadows, highlights and midtones after doing some work on the picture overall to improve brightness and contrast. A bit overworked perhaps, but I really enjoyed the challenge. Thanks Laraine!

tags: lemasney, 365, dailypost2011, band, Princeton, Blawenburg, Hopewell, NJ, photo restoration, GIMP, GPL, GNU, Open source, Creative Commons, CC-SA