I Heart Paint.net

So... I absolutely think paint.net (free photoshop) is the most awesome program on earth!
I was playing around with some photos last night and here's the result.

The original photo is just a snapshot I took in my bathroom of all places (hey, it's got the best lighting). I originally wanted to play around with eyes and this is a nice close up.
So yeah... you won't get it unless you've read the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and her daughter. Needless to say... totally addicted and so rushing to the book store to pick up book five in two weeks. Anyway, the point is it's a vampire series in which the vampires have tattoos on their faces. If you're into that sort of thing (i.e. addicted to Twilight) you should check these books out. Be forewarned, if your religiously closed minded (i.e. you think Harry Potter and Golden Compass are evil) don't even bother. So... back to the playing...

I brightened up those eyes amazingly! Then I softened the portrait, cut and pasted a new background, and added some blurs. But then my boredom kicked in and I started hand drawing these swirly tattoos on the face. Basically I just wanted to see how much I could do with the program. After a lot of patience, some more bluring, tinting, etc... I got this awesome gold look. Love it!!

But my eyes are blue, so I thought I'd play around some more with colors. This one makes me think of some water goddess. It looks absolutely awesome with a water reflection on it, but that makes it so big I didn't want to post it.

Playing around a little more, I decided to add another layer of texture to the picture. Messing around with overlays I stumbled onto this look. I love the vintage feel crossed with some foresty fairy look. That shade of green rocks!

Anyway, I was just playing around and thought you all might enjoy a little artsy entertainment on a wonderful Saturday! And if you don't have the cash to fork out for Photoshop, go grab the free program at http://www.paint.net/ because it does some awesome things. It takes a bit to learn it all (I'm still learning new tricks) but if you just play around with it you can have a lot of fun!!