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Mavain — Beauty

Published: 2006-02-23 03:46:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 4175; Favourites: 142; Downloads: 292
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Description This piece is an experiment of sorts. I was attempting to combine the surreal style I've been using on my newer works with the dark macabre style of my older pieces. Honestly it came out better than I had hoped.

Afterthoughts 11/10/06:This is one of the pieces I'm most proud of. It came together quickly, looked better than I first imagined it, and taught me some things in the process. Before I began working on this most of my work was very dark and desaturated. They were very texture heavy. I really wanted to inch away from that, but at the time I wasn't confident on how the end result would turn out. I have about 70gigs of stock photos I've taken over the years sitting on a spare hard drive. I chose a few of those at random, loaded them into Photoshop, and just started arranging. That initial mock-up was very close to this end product, but was, once again, very texture heavy. So, I set about removing the layers upon layers of texture I had added until a nice balance was found. Something of note is that this was the piece that taught me how to use layer masks. It was an accident, really, but left me with one of those "Ah Ha! So that's how it's done!" moments. Also, I have to direct you to the feathers. I took the original picture at the park after finding this feather laying on the river bank. It was really torn up and dirty. I had to bring this up simply because of the amount of work I put into making that damned thing look pretty again.
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Comments: 94

DarkCityxx [2006-02-25 15:57:05 +0000 UTC]

it reminds me very much for a seahorse? i think its the shape.. i do love the style and the colours

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Sapphires-Earthquake [2006-02-25 11:29:28 +0000 UTC]

really kewl i like he colors and everything good job

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xvampirekittyx [2006-02-25 09:20:28 +0000 UTC]

Oh wow. This is nice. Very original and very alluring. I love the background
The only thing is the torso. I can't tell if it's a flat female or buff male, because of the rather large nipples and the shadowing at the top. Also, I love the smoothness of the contour ofthe shape. But the bottom half of the torso, doesn't quite accoplish that when it goes to shell. It seems a little off balanced, but perhaps that's what gives it it's human quality.

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DuskyPixie [2006-02-25 08:31:09 +0000 UTC]

wow that looks like some kind of a snail-human thing--very cool!

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osagelady [2006-02-25 06:32:16 +0000 UTC]

Very different and interesting!

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PaintedPeople [2006-02-25 04:37:34 +0000 UTC]

really nice, I love the bisected shells, there is alot of symbolism about the nature of beauty and the order of nature there

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ghost0022 [2006-02-25 03:38:26 +0000 UTC]

title says it all.

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Atlasrising [2006-02-25 03:35:50 +0000 UTC]

OHhhh yessss.. nice.

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LPCD [2006-02-25 01:06:54 +0000 UTC]

nice composition and great combination of colors

good one

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str4yk1tt3n [2006-02-25 00:27:48 +0000 UTC]

gorgeous.

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Nestalgica [2006-02-25 00:19:55 +0000 UTC]

This is an impressive photomanipulation. Nicely done

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Szelenbaum [2006-02-24 23:26:35 +0000 UTC]

nice

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xHex [2006-02-24 13:51:20 +0000 UTC]

Stunning!

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katronmaster [2006-02-24 04:32:21 +0000 UTC]

Trippy! Not really dark, but a bit more gritty. Awesome design and concept.

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UndeadKitty13 [2006-02-24 04:16:01 +0000 UTC]

eye candy,eye candy,must fav

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PhoenixsAshes [2006-02-24 03:01:42 +0000 UTC]

I like it, looks like it belongs in a muesem.

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PorkMasterGeneral [2006-02-24 00:43:01 +0000 UTC]

I like your choice of tying different elements together for surreal effect. Can't really think of any improvements since I'm not familiar with that style of art.

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pr0jectz [2006-02-24 00:24:20 +0000 UTC]

very impressive work

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Karen360w [2006-02-24 00:08:52 +0000 UTC]

it's very archaic kinda picture but that's good because it gives little something that I would like to see in every single picture. I love it very much!!! Splendid
job!!!

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Mrcrapinson In reply to ??? [2006-02-23 23:17:15 +0000 UTC]

Kewl! The rusty feel makes it amazingly eyecathing and the backround is just exelent.

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manicmonday In reply to ??? [2006-02-23 20:37:54 +0000 UTC]

well experiment sucessful in my mind,i dont know what to look at first everything just radiates beauty,really liking this,simply beautiful,must have taken you hours

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JKam101 [2006-02-23 20:10:35 +0000 UTC]

AWSOME WORK

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dimezanime88 [2006-02-23 16:57:27 +0000 UTC]

Kinda of a scary pic if you ask me!lol Anyways, really great job on the coloring and style, though the concept is unknown to me at the moment.


EDIT: Oly shyt, that's a girl's body! Really nice job on the manipulation!

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serekan [2006-02-23 16:30:08 +0000 UTC]

It's beautiful!
I love how the shell parts look...and the colors you used give it a very nice feeling.
great job!

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rakie [2006-02-23 16:03:16 +0000 UTC]

Wow, it looks fantastic, great job!

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dream4a13thhour [2006-02-23 14:27:38 +0000 UTC]

holy crap thats cool- im really surprised no one is paying you for these

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J-Kalika [2006-02-23 14:00:18 +0000 UTC]

it's got a very interesting concept to it.... somehow to me it looks... almost like a winged seahorse made with seashells..... very lovely

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Mavain In reply to J-Kalika [2006-02-23 14:11:34 +0000 UTC]

thats exactly what my girlfriend said..

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kanine5 [2006-02-23 13:05:04 +0000 UTC]

Love this . is it somekind of shell or something?

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Mavain In reply to kanine5 [2006-02-23 13:06:34 +0000 UTC]

a nautilus shell

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kanine5 In reply to Mavain [2006-02-23 13:14:20 +0000 UTC]

cool, where do you find them? Wish i had one. Nice Job.

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MangoSmoothie [2006-02-23 12:47:00 +0000 UTC]

Brilliant! One fav for you.

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Zethara [2006-02-23 11:47:24 +0000 UTC]

WOW! This is absolutely wonderful!!! I love the curves and the way you made everything flow so well together!! And of course I adoooooooore the orangy goodness in it! The curve of the body just astounds me... Everything blends so well!

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Lucid-Raven [2006-02-23 11:45:22 +0000 UTC]

This is stunning The flow and curves of it are so very impressive, and the colors you used give it a dark and inviting feel.

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SwitchDeath [2006-02-23 10:32:08 +0000 UTC]

i like it!
Great

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10am [2006-02-23 10:23:26 +0000 UTC]

If I wasn't about to die from overexertion, i'd cry, laugh and yell at this amazing work...
Beautiful and encaptures so many emotions, depending on how you look at it, but then again, maybe that's the lack of ozygen to my brain speaking...

In any case,
AMAZING!!!

10am...

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Meitti [2006-02-23 08:52:46 +0000 UTC]

yeh, the "material" of it looks kinda soft, which is cool.

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ironflower [2006-02-23 08:18:03 +0000 UTC]

That is truly a dark piece indeed.
I do love the whisps of black, and I hadn't realised there was a torso mixed in there until close inspection.
Good concept, Well done!

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Kiketsu [2006-02-23 06:56:25 +0000 UTC]

wow. this is really good and extremely creative! the coloring is beautiful, the details are amazing, and its just an all around good picture. a lot of kudos for you!

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OrangeClockwork [2006-02-23 04:27:08 +0000 UTC]

I think you did a wonderful work here, sweet

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Farffingale [2006-02-23 04:00:38 +0000 UTC]

i have no idea how you made that, but its truly amazing

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redwin12 [2006-02-23 03:48:18 +0000 UTC]

definitely a fave, the tones and colrs are amazing, and just the whole image is really cool.

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hawaii929 [2006-02-23 03:47:01 +0000 UTC]

wow cool i got to fav it

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