What is Digital Alchemy?
What is Digital Alchemy?
Daughters of Winter Solstice
Several years ago I downloaded an app called PicsArt to edit my photos. While PicsArt was (and still is) a great app for editing my own photography, it is also a virtual playground for amateur digital artists. I knew very little about this medium, but I wanted to learn. It took time, patience & plenty of learning curves.
For the love of O
featuring Tenea
featuring O
Five years later, I am now a Master Storyteller on PicsArt.com and have started my own online buisness called Digital Alchemy. If a client wants me to create something specific for them, I will create digital variations of what they want and send high resolution digital images they can print within 24 hours. If a client wants others added to the one of a kind image, all I need is one clear image of that individuals face. I then use blending tools from digital software to create the final product.
The Warrior
You may be thinking, "Wait, is this AI? I don't like AI!"
Yes and no. Mostly, it's me. I use both photoshop and lightroom. I also use Picsart and occasionally Imagine, which is a text to image AI application. I usually start at Imagine to create a background, but use several programs during my process.
I still post to PicsArt at least once a week, which is a requirement to keep my master status ( Picsart masters don't have to pay for a membership! )
The most rewarding edits are the ones I make for friends and family.
One day I was scrolling through social media when I saw that my long-time friend, Liz, had to say goodbye to her beloved dog. She LOVED that little lady. Poochie was in every photo she had posted to Instagram for years. She was always by her side or in her arms. When I saw that Liz had to say goodbye to Poochie, I copied the image she had posted on her Instagram account and used it to create my idea of The Rainbow Bridge, based on the beautiful poem about the loss of a furry best friend, by Edna Clyne-Rekhy.
The Rainbow Bridge
It can be hard to know when it's appropriate to share these images, especially when dealing with loss. I decided to send this image to Liz because my gut told me she would appreciate it, which she did. She said it meant a lot to her, which meant a lot to me. I was friends with Liz and Marty (she's the red hood in the previous edit) when the 3 of us were single moms living in the same apartment complex. We were practically children ourselves, and while other girls our age were out clubbing and partying, we were on our own, raising kids, working and hustling to make ends meet. We were single mom's, but we had each other. We took care of each other and supported one another. I still look back on that time as some of my happiest years and often reflect on how much harder it would have been without those two wonderful women in my life. I found my love of photography and creativity in Liz's Canon Rebel and Marty's new-age, Stevie Nicks loving, spiritual guru vibe, style, and attitude influenced my love of mixed media.
I love creating, but because I suck when it comes to natural ability and what the mainstream considered art (drawing, sculpting, musical instruments or painting) I often felt like a hack calling myself an artist. I had to get past that.
I had to work at it. The technical ability of digital art is not something I was born with. I was simply motivated by the idea of making something I thought was cool.
I am an artist.
Comments
Post a Comment