.
Though
the flake images at SnowDays are beautiful on their own, this page demonstrates
how
these
snowflakes can be just the BEGINNING of images that are far more beautiful.
Adding
color
to this artwork, or otherwise manipulating it, can lead to some truly incredible
things!
.
| Shortly
after the first pages of MisterX.ca were published back in 2005, I started
getting snowflake images sent to me that had been COLORED. Although
the flakes at SnowDays are beautiful in their 'black & white' glory,
MANY folks take those creations to a new and colorful level. There
are dozens of different ways to get this accomplished. Various programs
and web sites allow for images to be altered, and how individual artists
decide to manipulate their flake images is as varied as the colors of the
rainbow!
It took me a while, but in march of 2010 I finally invited flakers to send me their various creations for display here. One unexpected result of this were all the amazing letters I received thanking me for all the artistic inspiration I have given to my readers over the years. How very KIND of you folks that sent these letters to me :) MisterX.ca was created to INSPIRE folks with their flakey creations, and when they make a flake with that "wow factor", it inspires others (including me!). So with that thought in mind, let's check out what some folks have come up with by using a 'simple' flake from SnowDays as their starting point and inspiration. Most images below can be clicked on to be seen in a larger format. DEANNA / CA~ One of the first people to send me their 'revamped' snowflake images was Deanna/CA. I was so impressed that I created a page about it so I could share what she had done. It shows some of her earliest colored flakes, and then I updated it to show her "new and improved" images. You can view this early page HERE. Deanna continues to play with PHOTOSHOP to this day, coloring flakes and photographs, and making amazing images of all sorts... 
AN IMAGE FROM MY FIRST PAGE OF DEANNA'S FLAKES. SEE HERE. Deanna later created 2 images from my TROLL FLAKE and sent them my way. I absolutely LOVED them (especially the red, black & yellow version, as it really caught the "feeling" of the SnowDays Troll!). I have used them on several occasions at the site and in my emails. You can click on the below images for the LARGE versions ;) 
     
FLAKEVILLE FRIENDSHIP QUILT~ As I mentioned in my RULES for this 'contest', actual COLOR being added to the new images wasn't really important. What WAS important was the end image and what had been done with the starting image (or in this case, images!). The "Flakeville Friendship Quilt" was an amazing project that was put together by 3 wonderful ladies on 3 different continents. They were: CARMELINA/UK - BERNADETTE/AUS - DIANNE/USA , and they made a 'quilt' in celebration of SnowDays and the friendships made there. The page I made to commemorate this project is still one of the most visited pages at MisterX.ca, and this section wouldn't be complete without including it once again! Please click on the below image for the full story and the super BIG manipulated flakes image ;) 
Link: THE FLAKEVILLE FRIENDSHIP QUILT The DRAGONMINX (aka "MinXi")~ Another flaker who "wowed" me in the early days of this site was THE DRAGONMINX, also known as, (at least to me), "MinXi". She sent me several awesome images and, once again, I created a page about them. I was especially tickled pink because they were from a flake that I had created! After announcing this newer page that I was creating about colored flakes, MinXi sent me the following amazing creation. As we can see, she certainly hasn't lost her touch, and in fact has become even MORE talented since the images I originally published here! MinXi uses Paint Shop Pro 7 to create her colored images.  
(Lost flake number) The above shows the ORIGINAL image, and the NEW colorful one. (Click to enlarge.) MinXi's LinX: MYSPACE PAGE , CEECEES, FACEBOOK, & X's FLAKE REBORN page. EMMI / UK~ Yet another artist who sent me images in the "olden days" was EMMI/UK. Shortly after she acquired Paint Shop Pro, she sent me this image, which (as far as I know) is one of her 1st images ever created with the program. She used one of my flakes to create it, and I thought it looked like a jelly fish!   HAZZKAT~ Hazzkat contributed a couple of beauties for this page, including the below image which she manipulated with Photoshop CS2. I just love this colored flake, as it looks like a piece of jewelry...perhaps a broach inlayed with porcelain or ivory. The shading she used really makes this image 'jump out' at the viewer and adds a wonderful 3-D realism to it. 
HAZZKAT/IN - Flake number 9517617 Hazzkat also sent me the below flake that she created from Joyce Merideth's (aka "JM/IN") flake number 6612856. She added a wonderful teXtured background into the original colored version (seen against white) that also gives this image a great 3-D feel. As most of you well know, I have a "thing" for images against black backgrounds, so whenever I get an image against white, I almost ALWAYS turn it into a negative just to see what it looks like (I know, I'm weird, LOL!). But I was so impressed with this negative that I thought I'd also include it here. To me, it almost looks like it could be a REAL snowflake photographed under a microscope. Hazzkat's kewl teXture is what makes this possible. Whenever you are 'playing' with coloring flakes (or any other images), it is always a good idea to check out its negative 'twin' to see if there is an uneXpected surprise waiting for you! ;)  
JM / IN - 6612856 - Click either image above to view their super-big counterparts. MISTER X~ Well, for someone who loves colored snowflakes so much, you'd think I'd have a LOT of them that I have personally colored. WRONG! I actually have wanted to do some coloring of my own, but I didn't think I had the resources to do it. I do have Paint Shop Pro (thanX to Ria/Illinois), but my poor old puter couldn't handle me installing it, so I have had to live without it (until I get a shiny new one!). Then, after taking submissions for this page, I read on MANY of the flakes sent to me that they were colored in Irfanview, (a FREE program I have been promoting for years and that can be downloaded HERE). At first I thought that this was a typo, but after getting a few different colored flakes from a few different flakers, I thought I better look into it! Sure enough, this program I had been using for many YEARS and promoting vigorously DOES have some very kewl color adding options (not to mention, some very kewl fX options, too!), so I decided to try my own hand at "manipulating" some flakes! First I thought I'd try some effeX that Irfanview offers. Here are some results from my flake number 8564477... 
ABOVE: What I got using the "ZOOM BLUR" effect in IRFANVIEW. BELOW: Same flake, same program! This effect is called "RAIN DROP", and I used the effect several times over to get this image. 
ABOVE: My first colored image using the "FLOOD FILL" option in IRFANVIEW (after clicking on "SHOW PAINT DIALOG"). Needless to say, I was quite impressed with my first attempts at flake image manipulation, so I continued my "x"periments with some other flake images. I took a close up of a face I had cut on flake number 8724928, and with a few easy clicks, I came up with an awesome colored version. To me, it looks like a comic book illustration...  ..   ..  ..
 ..
 .. 
ABOVE: This 'blizzard' of open flakes falling at SnowDays was created by simply copying and pasting with Irfanview. How it was done: I took 5 different screen shots of SnowDays (while there were 2 flakes falling opened). I opened the first screen shot, and then the second. I copied a flake from the second, went back to the first window, then pasted it onto the original image (being careful to place it in roughly the same area horizontally (so the background color would match). I used the horizontal lines of the background as a reference. This wouldn't be so important on a pure black night sky. Then I repeated the process with the 2nd flake on the 2nd screen shot, and the other flakes from the other screen shots. Click the above image to see a larger version. If you look REALLY closely, you may be able to see which flakes were pasted on. ;) How kewl! If you wanted to, you could create an image of SnowDays with ALL your favorite flake images falling opened! PM / ARK~ PM's another artist (besides myself) who had NO "x"perience in coloring snowflakes, but thought she'd try her luck at it for this page. I'm very glad she did! She used a couple of flakes by Suzy Snowflake/ Antarctica for inspiration and came up with the following images. The first one, "Pansies", was created using Irfanview and the paint program provided in Windows. 
ABOVE: Suzy's original Pansies snowflake from SnowDays. BELOW: PM's new 'Andy Warhol inspired' colored creation.  
ABOVE: Suzy's Easter inspired PEEPS flake. BELOW: PM's new PEEPS in all their sunny-marshmellowy goodness!  RIA / ILLINOIS~ I was delighted that Ria was able to take some time out of her current busy schedule to "whip up" a couple of colored flakes for this page. Ria has quite a bit of "x"perience with Paint Shop Pro, even winning awards for some of her images, and although she uses an older version of the program, she ALWAYS comes up with some amazing digital artwork. I had a "vision" of an image I would like to appear on my front page, and it was Ria that I asked to make it a reality. In the right hands, Paint Shop Pro is truly an amazing program! I asked Ria if she could take my "metallic snowflake" logo and place it "in front" of my "universal vorteX" fractal image, and sure enough....she DID IT! Ria was the artist that made my now "famous" front page image for me. As you have seen, she flawlessly turned 2 separate images into ONE: 
ABOVE: RIA / ILLINOIS makes my front page "vision" become a reality for me by using her skillz in Paint Shop Pro. Below we see Ria's own original flake that she used for inspiration, and the 2 new versions she created from it using PSP 7, (using many plugins, such as embossing, kyota color, laquer, and illumination) .... 
ABOVE: The beautiful, yet "plain-jane" version that Ria created at SnowDays, (#8290532) BELOW: The 2 colored versions Ria created from it. (Be sure to click on them for their full sized glory shots!)  
RIA is a multi-talented artist that worX in MANY mediums. Learn more about her & her artwork at FLORIA'S HAVEN. (visit: FloriasHaven.com) AMETHYSTE~ Another person who certainly knows her way around a paint program is my friend Amethyste. She had never attempted coloring flakes from SnowDays, but also wanted to try it out for this page. As it turned out, she LOVED making the following images, and I'm sure you'll agree that she came up with some beauties... 
(above: #7756647) Hi again MisterX... I used one of my favorites I've cut to do this one. I love this idea of being able to add color to these snowflakes.... (below: Amethyste's other submissions & comments)
MERRIPAT (featuring flakeworX by FROGAHOLIC)~ Well, here are some amazing images from a great team effort! Merripat (aka Mary Siebert) colored some fantastic flakes by Frogaholic (aka Phyllis Hesse). These images are too numerous to place on this page, so I created a separate one for them ;)  ....
Click HERE to see this collection, (and for some "x"tra linX!) JEANNE / TENNESSEE~ No one submitted as many images for this page as Jeanne did. In fact, Jeanne sent me over 70 colored flakes! (I think she discovered that coloring snowflakes is quite fun, lol!). Eventually, Jeanne and I settled on displaying 40 of these flakes, and once again I created an individual page to show them off on. Jeanne used Irfanview, plus various effects at Photobucket to make them. Many of Jeanne's awesome colored creations also have subtle animations added to them. 
Click HERE to see Jeanne's collection, (and for some "x"tra linX!) 
So
there you have it! Truly some INCREDIBLE colored images, as varied
as the artists who created them. No
Have
Fun!
|
