Blending AutoPainter App (or any App that Reduces Resolution) with Original Photo – Tutorial

After much frustration trying to figure out why I could not successfully blend a version of a photo that has been worked on in certain apps with the original photo, I found these apps actually reduce the size of the photo when they save it. Then when you try to blend the altered image with the original image, they can't be aligned.   Although some of these apps create wonderful effects, their low resolutions decrease their usability. One such app is AutoPainter. Here is an easy fix for the problem. In this tutorial, I will be using AutoPainter, but the process will work with any app that reduces the photo resolution when it saves the photo.

I will use this photo of Boston townhouses and make a painted version using AutoPainter.

Tutorial - Blending Autopainter Version with Original Photo

Supplies:

1. Apps:

1. AutoPainter HD, AutoPainter, AutoPainter2, or AutoPainter 3
2. PhotoSize (Danny Goodman)
3. IResize
4. Image Blender

2. IPAD or IPhone

3. Photo in Photos app Camera Roll

Directions

1. Open AutoPainter. Click on folder icon at bottom of screen. Select photo. Select artist style (or art style if using AutoPainter2).  Here I have selected Benson.

2. (optional) If you want to mask area to retain more detail, click on the brush icon. You are taken to a masking screen, where you can use the brush to roughly mask in areas. You have a choice of three brush and three eraser sizes. When you are finished with the masking, click the check mark on the bottom right of the screen. You are taken back to the painting screen.

3. Then click the green circle icon with triangle. The program will start the painting in the style you have chosen. You can click on the "X" icon at the bottom of the screen at any time to stop the painting process if there is a stage you like. Here I let the program completely finish its painting.

Here AutoPainter is further along in its painted rendering of the photo.

4. After AutoPainter is finished with its rendering, click on the down-facing arrow icon at the bottom right of the screen to save the altered photo.

5. Now open PhotoSize. Choose original photo and write down the dimensions. Then choose AutoPainter photo and notice that the resolution has been reduced.

6. Open IResize. Click on Photos at top left of screen and choose the AutoPainter version photo.

7. Click on Resize. Clear out numbers in height and width fields and type in the values from your original photo. Click Resize and Save.

9. Because you have resized the AutoPainter version of the photo, you can now go into Image Blender and both photos will be the same size for blending nicely. Click on the square box on the bottom left of the screen. Then select the original version of photo or the  resized rendered version for the bottom layer. Click on the square box on the bottom right of the screen to add the other version.

9. If you want to mask part of the top layer or move it, tap the screen to bring up the pop-up mask/arrange window. Click on mask or arrange to go into the masking or arranging mode. In the masking mode, you can use an eraser to erase areas where you only want the bottom layer to show. In the arrange mode, you can move and resize the image. Here I am leaving the top image image as is.

10. As you are working in Image Blender, you have more options. If you click and hold on the screen you get another pop-up window with copy, switch, and flatten options. You can switch the top and bottom layers, copy the image you have blended on the screen, then flatten the layers. Then you can add a third image or add the copied image by clicking on the bottom right square. One of your options will be to select from pasteboard. That option will add the copied version. For this image, I am leaving the photos as is.

11.   Moving the slider at the bottom of the screen will determine the opacity of the top layer. Moving it to the right will make the top layer more opaque. Moving it to the left will make it more transparent. Clicking on the Blend button at the top left of the screen gives you many different blending options. You can go down the list selecting them and saving the versions of any you like.

Here is my finished blended photo incorporating the original photo and the resized AutoPainter version.

Illustration Friday - Faded

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "faded". Marnie loved her teddy, bunny, and scottie dog even though they were old and faded. (watercolor on Arches)

A Simple Photo Collage on iPad - Tutorial

Although there are several app options specifically for blending photos and creating photo collages with the iPad, I like using PhotoWizard in conjunction with PhotoForge2 because of the control and accuracy I feel they give me.

IPad Photo Collage Tutorial

For this tutorial, you need:

1. Apps

1. PhotoWizard
2. PhotoForge2
3. Photogene - optional (for adding shadows)
4. PhotoSync or Photo Transfer - optional (to get photos into iPad if they are on iPhone)

2. IPad

3. Two or more photos in your Photos app Camera Roll for combining for the collage

4. Stylus - optional (my favorite stylus is the Wacom Bamboo Stylus because of its slightly smaller tip, but your finger will work also.)

I will be using a photo of a sheep and one of a man in a park. Here is a photo of a toy sheep I made with batting, pipe cleaners, and embroidery floss. I took the photo with my iPhone, then transferred it to the iPad using the Transfer Photo app.

I want to add it to this photo

Directions

1. First I import the sheep photo into the PhotoWizard app. Here you can delete the background, leaving a clean selection of the sheep.

PhotoWizard has powerful selection tools, similar to ones in Photoshop. Click on the little mask icon in the top tool bar to enter the Masking mode. A large tab appears at the right side of the screen. Tapping on the tab will bring up a menu with the selection tools.

Masking mode selection mode menu

The Magic Wand will select neighboring similar pixels to mask. Color Range will mask pixels that match the color of the pixels where you tap. There is also a lasso selection tool and both rectangle and ellipse selection tools. The lasso tool is also very useful.

2. Here I use the Magic Wand to select most of the background. Tap on Magic Wand to select it, then tap on photo in area you want to delete. The Magic Wand will select areas in the photo that are similar to the pixels you tapped on. These pixels will be masked and appear transparent.

If you click on the settings symbol at bottom right of screen, you get a pop-up box with settings for the selected tool. Here you see the settings for the Magic Wand. I leave the settings at the default to start. Then I can reduce the threshold as I get closer to the object to try to avoid masking parts of it. Reducing the threshold reduces the number of pixels selected.

Here I have started to tap on the background. A tap will select areas of the photo that have similar pixels to the ones you tapped and mask them so they don't show. Any areas showing the grey and white checkerboard have been masked. This selection method will pick pixels that are right up against an object giving a cleaner, more accurate edge than just using the brush by itself.

3. Use the Magic Wand until you start getting masked areas in places you don't want. In the photo below, you can see part of one of the front legs is missing.

4. Then click the Undo button (left facing curved arrow) at the top left side of the tool bar. Keep clicking the Undo button until the desired part of the image shows again. If you do too many clicks, you can click the Redo button (right facing curved arrow).

5. You can also use the lasso selection tool to draw around an area to mask. (See below.). This is especially helpful for large background areas that can be selected all at once or a background area with a lot of small patches of pixels to be masked. All pixels within the lasso will be masked. When I feel I can't use the Magic Wand any more without masking parts of the sheep, I try to capture large parts of the background that have little areas of still visible pixels with the Lasso tool.

6. Then I switch to the Brush tool (still in the masking mode).

Showing Brush settings in the Masking mode

Because I will be working up close to the edges of the sheep, I decrease the size of the brush and increase the softness. This gives me more accuracy and makes a softer, more realistic edge around the sheep.

I start brushing in the background using my finger or a stylus. Then I gradually move closer to the object edge moving my stylus in a parellel direction to the object edge. This way, when I get close to the object, I can gradually shave away the background until only the object is showing. I do a pinch out with my fingers to get a magnified view of the area I am working on. (A note - doing a pinch out usually takes you out of the brush mode, so you then may have to reselect the brush and redo any brush settings you have made as they will have reset to the default settings.)

7. After you are satisfied with your selection, click on the filters icon (looks like two horizontal slider bars) at the top of the screen. This takes you back to the main screen mode where you can save the photo as a masked ping. I use export at maximum size.

sheep mask complete

The saved photo will show in the photos app as having a black background, but the background will appear transparent in programs supporting .png transparencies.

8. Now I go into the PhotoForge2 app where I can add the sheep to the photo with the man in the park. I import the man photo.

9. Click on the layers icon (3rd icon from right at bottom of screen - looks like a stack of papers) and a thumbnail of the photo shows as a layer on the right side of the screen. Then I click on "New Layer" above the thumbnail.

10. Tap on the little photos icon that appears. This will take you to your photos. I select the masked .png version of the sheep photo. This takes you to a layer editing screen. You can't see the first layer, but if you click on the second icon from the right on the top right of the screen, the first layer appears underneath the sheep. Now you can size and position the sheep in relation to the man.

11. Click on The first icon at the top right of the screen to get the layer edit pop-up menu. Choose Translate and you can move and resize the object the way you want it. (Two fingers to resize, one finger to move.)

When you have the object placed and sized the way you want it, click the check icon on the top left of the screen. You are taken back to the main editing screen.

12. You have the option to change the blend mode and opacity in PhotoForge2. Click on the second layer to get a pop-out menu of small icons. Clicking on the bottom icon brings up an opacity and blend mode box. For this photo, I reduced the opacity some so that the white sheep wouldn't pop out of the finished photo so much and kept the blend mode at normal. You can experiment with different blend modes and opacities to see what you like for your photo.

13. If you are happy with the collaged photo, you can now save it. Depending on your photo, your collage may now be finished.

I decided I wanted to give the sheep a shadow to make it look like it is standing more realistically on the ground. An easy way to do this is to use the Burn/Dodge mode in the Photogene app.

14 . If you want to add shadows, import the saved photo of the man and sheep into Photogene. Then click on the Retouches icon on the bottom of the screen. This brings up a Retouches menu on the right. Under Masking Overlays choose Burn.

A Brush and an Intensity icon will appear. These adjust the size, softness, and darkness of the Burn brush.

15 . Paint in the shadows. I added a shadow for the man, also. A low intensity makes a more realistic shadow here. When you are happy with the shadows, you can save the photo.

Here is the finished photo collage of the man walking his toy sheep in the park. You can use this technique as a start for more complex photo collages.

ToonCamera - playing Around With the iPhone

I recently got an iPhone and have been trying out lots of photography apps.  A new favorite is ToonCamera.  You can shoot movies or take photos in a few cartoon and sketch styles.  There are also basic adjustments you can make to the styles.  The view finder shows the cartoon style, so you can see what the finished image will look like as you shoot.  A very fun, easy-to-use app reasonably priced. Here is a short video I shot of our dog Chloe.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIdCh6CMHnE+w=600]

IF - Return

This week's Illustration Friday topic is Return.  Serge and his family hurried to return home after a hard day in the fields.  Drawn and painted on my iPad.

Homeschooling and a Journey to College

As promised quite awhile ago, here is my final homeschooling post.  (Our daughter is now a sophomore in college.)

Our daughter was homeschooled from age three all the way through high school. She knew she wanted to go to college at an early age, so although our homeschooling style was very unstructured and eclectic, we made sure she covered the requirements she would need to get into college. We kept records of any projects she did, outside classes she took, and requested letters from teachers describing the classes and how our daughter did in the classes.

We joined a homeschool support group when our daughter was three, and at one time belonged to three groups.  We did most activities with one group, but went on field trips and occasionally joined in on  activities with the others.  We also joined a homeschool co-op when she was nine and attended one to two days a week for several years.  Our daughter had the opportunity to teach a Circus Skills class there.

Although homeschooling is legal in the U.S., the various states and even towns have their own homeschooling regulations. Our town's public school did not allow homeschoolers to participate in any classes or activities, so she could not take AP classes there. We were able to find online AP classes for calculus, history, and English literature. Our daughter took junior college or university classes in English, math, science, history, and language and took SAT subject tests or AP tests in those subjects. We found out that taking the PSAT test specifically in October of the junior year of high school was a requirement in order to compete for the National Merit Scholarship.

For more about our high school homeschooling see post, Homeschooling a Teen.

-----------------------------

If your child has a goal of attending college, do research to find out what your child needs as requirements for the goals she/he has. What we did that worked for us:

1. Start gathering information early.  Books and homeschool support groups are wonderful resources.

2.  Keep good detailed records of any and all classes and activities that could possibly come under the heading of homeschooling. Think outside the box.   For example, a trip to an art museum could go under "Art" or "history".  Playing regularly scheduled basketball with homeschool friends counts as P.E.  Playing games such as "Yahtzee" and "Hare & Tortoise"" teach math skills. I kept a record for each year subdivided into "subjects".

3. Call colleges and talk to admissions offices. Ask specific questions such as which they prefer for high-school science classes -- AP classes online, but without labs or lab classes at a local junior college. What do they require for languages? Are AP tests important? How many SAT subject tests are required and are there any specific ones they want applicants to take?

4.  Utilize the College Board. It's a huge wealth of information.  We signed up to be able to use all the resources.  You can check out information on various colleges, find out test dates for SATs, APs, SATIIs and register online for most tests.  They have practice test questions and AP course and exam  description downloads.  The store has an online study course our daughter took - much cheaper than the Kaplan tests, for example.  We also bought AP recent exam books and other study material for the exams.

5. Have child take SAT subject tests right after she has finished taking the equivalent of high school requirement for each subject even if it is in 8th grade. Most colleges require 2 - 3 SAT subject tests. Some schools have a preference or even a requirement for specific ones.

6.  If child is interested in competing for the National Merit Scholarships, find out the date as early as possible and make sure she is signed up before the deadline to take the required PSAT test in October of her/his junior year in high school.  There some schools such as University of Oklahoma who offer free-ride scholarships to National Merit Scholarship finalists.

7.  Take outside graded classes and subject-specific standardized tests if possible.  Our daughter took outside graded classes every year during high school.  Colleges like to see outside class grades and standardized test scores in addition to independent work done at home.  (Our daughter took the National Latin Exams and the Le Grand Concours {National French Exam})

8.  Join a support group.  It's great for socialization and comradeship for both child and parents.  We had our own science and math fairs, history days, and just fun board game days.  Families can also get together to work on projects or study subjects together.

9.  Get out of the house.  We went on field trips to historical spots, science centers, art museums, factories, farms, the Perkins School for the Blind (a fascinating tour at the school Helen Keller attended -- we even got to try writing some braille.)  During the summers we went to the beach or a swimming park with our homeschool group.  We played volleyball together at a local park.  During the winters we went swimming at an indoor pool, played in a gym, went ice-skating.  We did rock climbing.  Some families in our group even organized group skiing lessons.  Any work and/or volunteer experience is also invaluable.

Good luck on your journey!

Illustration Friday -Swamp

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "Swamp.  Herbert was a swamp dweller, but this evening he couldn't find any of his friends.

This was drawn and painted on the IPad using OmniSketch and ArtRage.

Kelly Kilmer Workshops and Art Journaling

Last week (December 29 and 30) I took 2 days worth of Kelly Kilmer art journaling workshops at Ink About It, a rubber stamp store in Westford, MA.  Kelly was a wonderful teacher and the classes were great fun.

I learned how to make two simple journals with 40 pages each.  One was made of a smooth 140 lb. paper and had decorative tape covered cover pages. (See above.)

The second journal was a hardback journal with a sewn signature and a variety of papers used for the pages.

We made each journal in a very short amount of time which was very liberating.

The rest of the workshop was spent working on some of the pages.  Kelly had inspiring ideas on designing journal pages and also a ton of writing prompts.  We tried out lots of supplies (many were new to me) -- various pens, decorative papers and tapes, stamps, and transparencies.  The way Kelly paced the classes so that we worked very quickly without too much planning  made art journaling seem like a doable rather than an overwhelming process.

Suzette, New Miniature Mohair Bear

I finished a new bear.  Suzette is a 3 1/4" miniature made of a hand-dyed sparse German Schulte mohair.  She is wearing a pearl cotton headband with a satin rose.

She is sold, but you can see some more photos and description here in my Etsy shop.

Illustration Friday - Highlight

The "highlight" of Josie and Ralph's day was sitting in the parlor together watching the boats come back into harbor before dinner.

I decided to do participate in this week's Illustration Friday "Highlight" challenge using my new IPad and some IPad art apps.  For this little sketch, I used IDraw, a vector drawing program for the drawing and Art Rage, a  paint program for the color.  I'm having so much fun drawing on the IPad. Will write more about it in some future posts.

Sullivan New Miniature Mohair Bear in Etsy Shop

I have added my new little Sullivan, a hand dyed and hand shaded miniature mohair bear, to my Etsy shop.  Sullivan is 3 1/4" tall and is dyed a pretty ochre color.  He is made of a sparse Schulte German mohair with hand shaded detailing.

Sullivan has big brown glass eyes and a distressed grey-blue silk ribbon scarf.  He would love for you to visit him on his Etsy page here.

Sadie and Olivia, New Bear and Bunny in Etsy Shop

I have added a new bear and  bunny to my Etsy shop.  They would love for you to come visit. :)

Sadie is a 6 3/4" hand dyed and hand shaded mohair bear with glass eyes and embroidered nose, mouth, and claws.  Sadie is wearing a vintage rayon ribbon headband.  She is made of an aged, sparse Schulte German mohair that I dyed a dusty rose color.  You can visit her here.

Olivia is a 7 " hand-dyed wool bunny with glass eyes and embroidered nose.  She is made of a lovely short Schulte German wool that I dyed a nice tangerine shade.

She has long, curly whiskers and is wearing a vintage flower by her ear. She can stand by herself.  You can visit her here.

Last Day for Chance to Win Beautiful Essie's Dolls Book!

Browsing through some doll blogs, I found that doll artist, Esther Verschoor is having a give away for a book on her wonderful dolls.  Today is the last day to submit a chance to win a beautiful book by Essie's Dolls, Vanessie by Esther Verschoor. Essie is a talented doll artist who makes dark art dolls.  She is from the Netherlands and is a member of the DABIDA doll organization there.  You can find her give-away post here.

Thrift Shopping in St. Louis

We were in St. Louis visiting friends and relatives.  As always when I visit a place, I love checking out the thrift and antique shops and flea markets.  This time I was on a mission to find vintage clothing or fabric to use for bear and doll clothing. St. Louis has two antique areas that I like to visit.  One is the Central West End and the other is Cherokee Street. Cherokee Street is less high-end than the Central West End and it is easier to find bargains.  There were several second-hand clothing stores there, but I didn't find anything for the dolls/bears.  I did buy a pair of cute earrings for my daughter (a modern combination of new and retro).

I also found some fun t-shirts and a small bag for my daughter at a Salvation Army store, and a vintage Japanese stuffed dog (for me) with a red beret at a thrift store near our hotel.

W.I.P. - Work in Progress, New Teddy and Rabbit

Here are two new critters, works-in-progress.  The first is a hand-dyed mohair teddy being stuffed with excelsior.

And here is a hand-dyed wool rabbit that I have pinned together to get a better idea of how it will look when finished.  I have eyes temporarily placed and am trying out nose thread colors.

It's so much fun when the pieces get to the place where their personality begins to show through. :)

Blogs Around the World - How to Read Wonderful Blogs in Other Languages

I love reading all kinds of craft blogs and especially enjoy learning about artists from other countries.  Until recently if a blog was in another language and didn't have a translation option, I would pore over the images and try to guess what the blogger might be saying.  Finally I found a Google translation bookmark that can be added to your favorites and will translate any page by clicking on it there.  The link is here.

Just pick the button for the language you want to translate to and drag it into your favorites in the sidebar.  Then when you find a blog in another language, click on the bookmarklet in your sidebar and it will translate the blog for you.  If you click on "older posts" on the blog, the next page will be translated also. The English translation definitely is good enough to give you the idea of what they are saying.

Here are some blogs in other languages that I have been able to enjoy using the Google translate bookmarklet:

Fieltromania

Lolita Blahnik

Sara Morante

Japan Couture Addicts

Vintage traeume

Takiyaje Live Journal

AK Doll OOAK Doll

Projects Around the House - More DollHouse Work

This is the last summer before my daughter leaves for college.  She will be a freshman at MIT in the fall.  We are a homeschooling family, and I will especially miss times my daughter and I spent working on various projects together. (More about our experience applying to colleges as a homeschooler in an upcoming post.)

This summer my daughter and I are trying to finish our dollhouse.  This is a dollhouse from a Buttercup kit we started on a few years ago and have been slowly working on it together as her time permits. (You can view the original post about the dollhouse here.)  Now the outside is almost finished.

We covered the rectangular and round exterior windows with a thin layer of moss and then covered the moss with small seashells.  We used reindeer moss on the long arched side and front windows, but were undecided about how to finish the outside of the front door -- with a different moss than the adjacent arched windows, with seashells, or with twigs.  After much discussion and trying out different materials, we settled on twigs with a background of the reindeer moss.

Here is our progress on the door so far.  We used an X-acto mitre box and saw kit to cut twigs to the length of the door.  Then we glued them side-by-side over the moss.  The moss covers the bare door so the wood doesn't show between the twigs.  Here are some detail photos of us at work:

We found tiny hinges at A.C. Moore.  The hinges had teeny brass nails that we finally we able to hammer into the wood.  We will remove small sections of the moss on the house where the other part of the hinge will go and then glue back on the moss to cover the hinges.

We are trying to decide on a doorknob for the door.  This is one possibility that we like.

Teddy Bear Picnic Event at the Country Plus Shop, Hopkinton, MA

I am excited to have some of my bears represented at a wonderful event, Teddy Bear Picnic at the Country Plus Shop in Hopkinton, Massachusetts on Friday August 6 and Saturday August 7.  Marie Poole of Basically Bears will be showing my bears along with other wonderful bear artists including Vicki Stephan "Raspberies", Louise Bernier "Bear Witness", Tonni Bears, Sheryl Wells, Frances Harper, and Karen Seal.

Bear artists "Raspberies", Louise Bernier "Bear Witness", Jill Kenny "JK Bears", and Donna Bjerke "Bjerke Bears" will be making special appearances at the event.

Please come visit if you are in the area!!

Lucien and Dani, New Bear and Panda in Etsy Shop and on BearPile

Lucien is a sweet hand-dyed and hand-shaded bear made of sparse Schulte German mohair.  He is 7" tall and is wearing an antiqued copper necklace with a vintage brass bell.  He is in my Etsy shop and can be viewed here and on my BearPile gallery. Lucien has been sold.

Here is Dani:

Dani is a 6" panda made of hand-dyed and hand-shaded Schulte German mohair.  She is wearing a linen string collar with a rusty jingle bell.  She is listed in my Etsy shop and can be viewed here.  Dani has been sold.

I hope you can come visit them!

Chuck Berry and Blueberry Hill

Chuck Berry, rock and roll legend also known as "The Father of Rock and Roll", was born in St. Louis and still lives in a suburb of St. Louis today. He and the St. Louis landmark restaurant and music club, Blueberry Hill, have a strong connection going back many years.

Chuck Berry has been performing at Blueberry Hill for the past twelve years. He celebrated his 80th birthday there with a special standing-room only concert. And at the age of 83, he still performs a concert there one Wednesday a month. His concerts sell out, so buy tickets in advance.

Blueberry Hill is a perfect place to visit if you are a rock and roll fan. Located in the historic Delmar Loop area, there are shops and galleries to explore and the St. Louis "Walk of Fame" with stars of famous St. Louisans dotting the sidewalk. You can start your afternoon exploring the area and end off the evening with a casual dinner at Blueberry Hill.

When you enter the club, you are enveloped with rock and roll and pop-culture nostalgia. The walls are covered with memorabilia from Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, pop-culture memorabilia, and vintage jukeboxes.

The food is casual, but delicious. Some of the Blueberry Hill specialties are the famous St. Louis Toasted Ravioli appetizers, chicken wings, and hamburgers. Waiters are friendly and can tell you about Chuck Berry's next concert date.

The next time you visit St. Louis, check out Blueberry Hill and the Delmar Loop.  If you are lucky, you can even catch a memorable Chuck Berry performance.  You can learn more about the Delmar Loop area here.