A very long time ago, Olga’s very fancy and not-even-that-old computer went to a better place. (The motherboard died, there’s no bringing that sucker back.) And sadly, a few pieces of artwork that she didn’t back up went with it. (I can’t say it enough, back up your stuff, cousins!)

One of the lost pieces was Undomiel Rising. I haven’t been able to do anything with this image because as we all know, web-sized graphics just don’t print well. I considered the piece long gone and buried… Until last week, when I found a lone printout among old papers.

Lo and behold! “I could do something with this!” I thought. I could make some postcards. The printout is big enough that I could scale it down and still get a print-quality file. So I set out to rescue the image.

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First order of business is to get a high-resolution version of the image back on the computer. (Normally I wouldn’t recommend re-scanning artwork, but in this case it’ll be used at half the print size, so we can get away with some line quality loss.)
Minimum print resolution is 300dpi, and to capture as much detail as possible I scanned the print at twice the size - 600dpi.

Here is the scanned file. Egads! It looks just dreadful enough to warrant the use of “egads.” Time for some Photoshop magic.

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Cleanup the scan, removing any dust, lint or weird scratches. The Clone Stamp tool can take care of these.

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Sharpen the scan by using the Unsharp Mask filter. It gives you best control of the filter, while allowing to see the results in a preview window.

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Now let’s fix the colors. At this stage I convert the file to CMYK mode. This is the mode used for printing - because it correlates to the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK inks used in the 4-color printing process. When correcting color, this is the mode that makes the most sense to me. (If you’re editing an image for the web, RBG mode will be fine.)

My image scanned with a very heavy yellow overtone, so I use Levels to balance out the colors.

In Yellow channel move the right slider to lighten up the amount of yellow in the image. Cyan channel: move left slider to add intensity.

Likewise, I added some intensity in the Magenta and the overall CMYK channels.

And here is my final image.

That’s what I’m talking about!

Reduced to a smaller size the difference in quality between this one and the original becomes truly negligible. Young Arwen Undomiel is now ready to be shared with the world on some lovely postcards. ^_^

If you ever wondered what a post-apocalyptic, twilight-zone, “everyone’s suddenly and inexplicably missing” Seattle looks like, walk on Alki in the middle of the night. All the lights are on, the sprinklers come on automatically, but there’s no one around. As if the whole city was suddenly abandoned.

Quite eerie. :D And just as beautiful.

(took me a while to realize that the halo above downtown is city lights reflected on the low clouds.)

I can’t believe I have not heard of Kay Nielsen until this year. But as soon as I laid eyes on his work, it’s been true love 4ever. Months later he continues to inspire me.

And my latest ACEO feels almost like a direct ripoff copy. ^_^* Imitation is the best form of flattery, right? Needless to say, I had SO much fun with this one. I inked it with brown and gray Micron pens, and then painted it with watercolors on bristol paper. (Which, in hindsight, is not very good for watercolors at all. Live and learn!)

The Gift - princess with a perfume bottle

available as an ACEO in my Etsy shop.

Which is kinda like Friday for some of us. :D

This video makes me happy, and makes me want to share the happiness. (It also makes me wish for Discovery & SciFi channels. XD)

Shopping for clothes has always been a chore with me. It’s a tedious process of going through racks of lame/unrealistic outfits that would or would not fit despite the correct size. Every trip is a compromise in quality vs price, and the number of things that fits my style varies with the capricious turns of the fashion world.

Shopping for art supplies, however, has always been like a trip to the candy store. ^_^ Since I’m not big into candy, supplies are my guilty pleasure.

I am teaching myself some rudimentary watercolor techniques, so today I went to Daniel Smith to pick up some necessities. Just walking around the store has such a calming and grounding effect. A sense of Zen, if you will. And it is good for keeping up with the new things in the industry. Iridescent watercolor paints, anyone?

So I got some artist’s tape and gum eraser, a sponge, new brushes of course, a giant roll of gummed tape (for stretching watercolor paper), and a tiny jar of art maskoid. OMG, I am in love with this stuff! Whenever I attempted watercolor in the past I had trouble keeping my colors separate at the hard edges. “How do the pros do it!?” I’d wonder. And now thanks to one pro in particular, I know - masking fluid. The v.secret weapon of color separation. LOL

Feels like I’ve discovered a whole new world of possibilities. ^_^

P.S.: Do check out Dustin Nguyen’s blog or DA gallery. Not only is he an awesome artist, but a kind and generous person to boot!