Monday Morning Mom Graphic

With Mother's Day coming up soon, I though I'd do another sketch from Saturday in a psp graphic tube.

My sketched version usually looks different than my final "computer" version. Drawing on paper comes so easy. Trying to work the final version into a computer graphic is much harder.

My sketched version has a rounder "O" for a mouth.

This one was made completely with vectors. Again, my favorite: cartoons!

It's Monday morning again, and the start of a brand new week. My co-worker and other regional accounting tech at work is off this week. If you see this post, Mel, have a great week off. (She's the hardest worker I've run across, other than me. And she's good!)

Stay tuned this week. I have gifs for the next four days. The one for Friday is my favorite for this week.

Don't work too hard today! And as always, I'll see you tomorrow!

Sunday Comic Graphics

Sunday morning is just not Sunday without some colorful cartoon pics.

These are two that were sketched yesterday while my computer was down.

I am, of course, very partial to cartoon characters.

They are much easier than "real life", but they are also much more fun to create.

These were done using vectors and turning them into rasters. Mom could be leaning back in her "easy chair", taking a quick nap, while Jr. here, is thinking of what he could be doing while mom is taking a few winks.

Okay! Off to my drawing board to continue creating some artwork for this coming week. You will probably continue to see a few more cartoons this week.

Make it a great Sunday! And, I'll see you tomorrow!

A Hectic Saturday

Yesterday, I mentioned that I was having problems posting as my computer was doing something really crazy. I guess it was looking for something, but couldn't find it. The hour glass would not leave, so the computer just stayed in that searching mode.

I tried posting 3 times before I got my small post up.

My dear hubby has been working on my computer since I got up at almost 4 am.

So my post today is very simple. Saturday and Sunday are my days to get my artwork for the next week together. Therefore, I am very behind. I also do not know what I have available to me on my computer yet.

I spent the day drawing by hand. Since I sketch "in pencil", it does not scan well. Maybe I can try taking some photos of a few of them and posting that way.

On the flowers above, the initial flower is a kaleidoscope of some basic black lines I drew as vectors and converted to raster. I did selections-eclipse-to fill in the colors. Each color was done on a different layer. One way I like to get the color inside the flower where I want it is to just use the smudge tool to work it to the edges. Anything outside the borders can be PUSHED back inside the borders.

I always use a white background when doing this to make sure the colors are where they should be and there's no messiness outside my drawings. Then I added drop shadows on all. Each drop shadow was a different color, but you mainly see it only on the large flower.

Before I merge everything, I delete the white layer; and then merge visible. Turn it into a jpg, and it's finished.

I hope your Saturday was good. It is pretty here today.

See you tomorrow!

Friday Morning Ragdoll Gif

I am having computer problems, so this will be fast.

It is just a little ragdoll gif avatar I made for a group.

Hope you enjoy it.

Till tomorrow, have a great TGIF!

Stars Sparkling Gif

I actually had another gif to put up today, but the size is too large, and because the gif is already small, it would be impossible to read the message if I reduced it.

But here are some small sparkling stars I made to be used as accessories.

When making small gifs such as this, it's nice to save them alone. Then I can add this gif to another gif in Animation Shop by putting 2 gifs together.

I hope you have a great Thursday! See you tomorrow!

More Ways To Use Homespun Graphics

This first little tube could be a sig (signature) tag for posting in groups.

I like to use different pictures for my sig from time to time, so I love developing new ones.

I made this one small for that purpose.

Here is the same graphic used as an envelope. I also
made the opacity a little lighter for this graphic.

This last graphic below was fun.

I took an old photo of my oldest son when he was little. As children do, I found him playing in a bucket with water. I liked the photo and decided to create a tube with it.

And here is the finished creation with the tube.

The weather in our fair city has been absolutely beautiful the last few days.

I just love spring. Summers used to be my favorite, but I no longer enjoy how hot it gets.

The freshness of spring, and the colors of fall are now my favorite times of year.

I hope you all have a great Wednesday. We are now at mid-week, and by the end of today, we will be over the hump.

Have a great day today.

See you tomorrow.

My Creation Process For PSP Graphics

Have you ever looked at a finished tube and wondered how they got there?

For fun, I thought I'd share how I got from the beginning of one of mine to the end.

In the first picture are 4 steps. The top left box was taken from some of the accessories I had in yesterday's post.

The second right top picture is my next step of just drawing some shapes in. To make the rounded window, I made a box and circle, and erased any lines I didn't need.

The bottom left picture shows the door and I'm working some with the shading of the building.

The bottom right picture shows it developing more while working on the window.

This is my finished graphic. It would make a good card front or an item for an envelope.

The cat is from what I call "word art". I often like to use words with colored lines and boxes, and kaleidoscope them to see what I come up with. This cat came from such an experiment. The basic outline was there, and I just had to do a little fill-in work.

He is an unusual cat, I know, but he appealed to me.

I used this graphic to make additional creations, which I will post in another post.

This is just to give you more ideas on how patterns and accessories can be used to give you more finished creations.

I will do another post, so see you shortly.

Artsy PSP Graphic Tubes Or Scrapbooking Items

Hobbies such as scrapbook- ing use many accessory items to finish off their pictures.

People who enjoy psp art also use accessories for their pictures.

To the left is a bunch of accessories I made.

Once you have some accessories, its nice to see how they can be used.

I started off by drawing a pattern from a book that I liked. I kaleidoscoped it and came up with some interesting items.

I put it on a dark background so the individual items would stand out a little bit, making them easier to see.

This frame was made from the items in the above accessories.

In psp, you can leave the layers separated, which is great, because you can then insert a picture beneath the frame, yet on top of the yellow background so the picture looks like it's framed.

After you get your items looking the way you want them, you can then merge visible and have just one finished layer.

Below are 2 frames finished. These show the different items you can put in them.


Tomorrow, I'll show you a few more things I did with these patterns and accessories items.

That's it for this Tuesday. Have a great day!

See you tomorrow!

Monday morning psp art graphic

Fantasy land is just not complete without a fantasy bird.

Again, a kaleidoscope creation to make an usual bird tube.

The tree was done by using point to point selections and filling and using one special effect upon another.

There were areas that didn't turn out on the tree, so I used the areas I did like and cloned those areas to finish the tree off.

Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod is a poem that my step mother used to read to "we 3 girls" upon retiring when I was young.

Hope you have a good Monday! See you tomorrow!

Sunday Art PSP graphic picture and tube

I did this picture of a home along the shore about two weeks ago. I was experiment- ing with textures for the grass, tree, and the sand on the beach. I think it turned out rather well.

I drew the house with vectors so I could work on my perspective drawing.

It looks like a nice place to vacation or live.

There's a nice hill to climb to look out over the ocean.

The house was harder than I thought it would be.

Saturday was beautiful, and we spent the day at the zoo with my daughter and granddaughter. My camera wasn't charged, and I wished I taken my sketch pad!

We only had to pay $5 to park as we drove separately, but got in free on my daughter's family pass which is due to expire.

I don't know who came up with the design to "get into" and "out of" the zoo, but it is horrendous! Only one way in and one way out. It took an hour just to exit it. It wasn't that way the last time I went. It will be a long time before I go there again for that fact alone. And my daughter will not renew her family pass based on this fact, and the fact that you still spend a bundle for everything there. (We took a train ride for $1 each which was reasonable, but just to get a soda or drink is $2 and up. An icee was $2.50!)

This little item is a tube that can be used as a button, or as a pendent on a necklace.

It was just for fun, but might be useful in a creation in the future.

My husband and I prepared our ground for our garden yesterday before we left for the zoo.

Our actual ground digs like it's concrete, so last year, he built me two shadow boxes and we added real dirt. I had some beautiful tomatoes and green peppers, and will do the same this year.

Until tomorrow, have a great Sunday. Our weather is supposed to be even more beautiful today.

Butterflies for Saturday

Good morning,

It's going to be a beautiful day outside today. Lots of sunshine and warm.

This butterflies picture was just a fun exercise in playing with drop shadows. This effect causes the butterflies to look like they're placed above the design underneath.

It is rather simple, but appealing to the eye.

This would make a great front cover to a card or used as an accessory to stationary.

Each butterfly is the same, but duplicated, colorized, tilted and repositioned to get the effect I wanted.

The fun thing about doing graphic art psp tubes is that you can do so many things with them to achieve any look you wish. You can learn many interesting things by simply putting "free psp tubes tutorials" into your web browser in different search engines to come up with many different tutorials.

I bought an inexpensive hard-cover, spiral notebook at the dollar store just for psp notes. Using little stickies, you can make your own tabs and label each for different categories you want to learn and reuse. You can also jot down websites that point you back to lessons you want to remember or revisit.

I also collect pictures from all sources. I love to keep magazines, shopping catalogues, or take my camera with me on some outings for outside pictures, so I have a plethora of different items from which to draw.

For doing gifs (animation), use your camera to take pictures of one item from different angles. They are useful for creating frame to frame pictures to animate.

Hope your enjoy your day.

See you tomorrow!

TGIF Art PSP Graphic

Do you like to do newsletters or stationary for your family or just add little pictures to your email?

I do.

Here's an idea for sharing the current day in your emails, whether it's a local friend or one far away.

And because it's Friday, many people you meet today will be saying, "Thank God It's Friday"!

I work for a very large company, and we are allowed to work "flex time". I start my work day at 6 am, and usually work overtime every day, as many of my co-workers do. But come Friday, everyone likes to get out at 3.

So -- here's to Friday! See you tomorrow!

Wee hours psp tube and my 7th anniversary

Good morning, everyone!

In the first picture, I used a kaleido-
scope for the moon. Fancy moon, but I thought it was pretty.

Using vectors, I created a tube for my home, and put a little yellow light in my tiny home office. Since I like to work and post my blog in the wee hours, I thought it would make a good picture.

And because this is also my seventh wedding anniversary, I did this little dog to commemorate it to my hubby. Happy anniversary, sweetie! I hope we have many more together!

We are finally at the end of our week, and staring at two wonderful days off again. The weeks just go faster and faster.

Columbus is looking at two beautifully warm and sunny days this weekend. People will, no doubt, be out beginning to plant flowers and work in their yards. Day by day, our temperature is creeping back up, and they are speculating that we will have 70 degrees and up, with sunshine for the next two days. Very nice.

Have a great Friday. I'll see you tomorrow.

More Fantasy Art PSP - Gif and Tube

In this gif, I have lots of kaleidoscopes as my art psp tubes. Of course, the obvious is the pulsing tube in the center.

In the world of fantasy space, tubes can be whatever your heart desires.

These tubes were made several months ago. One is an insecure robot with his doll. (In fantasy, robots are allowed the privilege of dolls, too.) Most of him is lifted out of a kaleidoscope.

His "piglet" friend was taken from a kaleidoscope as well.

In a land of fantasy, you are free to create whatever stirs your passions. While I am still experimenting with this, it is worlds of fun!

The week is winding down everywhere, and everyone is looking forward to the weekend.

PSP art tubes can be created to help you express yourself with what you're feeling today, or at any given moment.

The weather in Columbus is warming up again. We are very thankful for that. With the warmth, comes the enthusiasts venturing outdoors to mow their grass. It makes for a wonderful smell in the air.

Hoping you all have a really great Thursday. Until tomorrow ... be safe!

Fantasy Art PSP Tubes

Good morning!

What is it? What is it?

It's my version of fantasy. And he thinks earthlings are strange.

This is a fantasy turtle.

As usual, he had a kaleidoscope beginning. I had to do some cutting and pasting, and filling in with color, and he was my final result.

His shoes are a little "strange", but after all, he is fantasy. Maybe that's why he looks a little bewildered.

See you tomorrow!

Experimenting with photos to create art psp tubes

Good morning!

I started with the face of a cat photo, and colorized the eyes and lips. I added hair and a body to make a "sort of cat-girl".

It was a fun exercise.

As my kaleidoscope fascination grew, I took my "cat girl" tube and experimented with it.

That gave me my kaleidoscope star animation. It was made from my "cat girl". You can easily see most of the same colors in the star as in the cat-girl tube.

After I make any art psp tube, I love to duplicate it, and then kaleidoscope it. These give me the most detailed tubes to use for other designs. When I add the new creation to a composition using the original tube, it has the same color scheme as the rest. These make great "accents" for my finished work.

Any shading or texturizing you do to the original art psp tube becomes more interesting when kaleidoscoped, as well.

Today is my one-year anniversary at my new job. I was a "contractor" with this company for 8 months before becoming a permanent employee.

As a contractor, I did one job. Upon being hired permanently, I was picked up by a different department for a one-year probationary period. Today marks the end of my one-year probation. Hooray!

Hoping you have an exciting Tuesday.

See you tomorrow.

Kaleidoscope art psp tubing

This art psp tube I made was used in yesterday's SunRise Chatbox Gif also.

Being in Columbus, Ohio, where the weather changes can be dramatic from day to day, I have to remind myself that spring, indeed, is coming.

This kalei was cut apart and sections were taken that resemble what I want a feature to look like. Cut apart pieces are like puzzle pieces that I can then move around, reassemble, and colorize. Special effects can be added, as well.

Since I've always been partial to puzzles, this way of developing an art psp tube is right up my alley.

Even though this is, again, the first day of our work week, I hope you make it a great day.

See you tomorrow.

New addition to my blog

While visiting another blog, I happened upon a chatbox - which is truly funny, since my first post this morning was my Sunrise Chatbox Gif.

I went to C Box, and got the box. You can get it free (see box), or you can get the premium box for $2 a month. I upgraded.

Please leave me a chat.

By the way, that actually says C Box up there. I know, I know. The C looks like a G! Should've chosen a better font.

For those that already left a chat ... thank you.

See you tomorrow!

Sunrise Chatbox Gif

Many websites now have "chats" on them. My current website does.

This little gif came from one of my kalei's. The eyes, mouth, eyebrows, and rising sun are all from the same one.

I saw it, and then just felt the need to do something with that kaleidoscope -- as I usually do. I am a hopeless "kaleidoscope nut". They provide endless possibilities for creating new tubes.

Maybe you aren't an early bird, and wouldn't think of chatting in the wee hours of the morning. But, I know many that do.

So if you'd like a gif like this for your webpage, please be my guest. Just don't claim it as your own. You might mention my blog as a courtesy for enjoying the free gif.

Enjoy today. And I'll see you tomorrow!

Saturday's graphics

TGYF is always followed by the best day of the week:

SATURDAY!

The first graphic is one I made a long time ago. The envelope and stationary are blanks, so I just added a phrase. It makes a nice item to use in emails or on webpages.

The second graphic is a logo. Doing logos is fun.

Logos are best when they are kept simple. Of course, if you are a company, you would want to settle on one logo to be used on everything, so that it would become recognizable after a time.

Kaleidoscopes probably appear in 95% of the graphics I make. I just love them. Can you spot them?

The answer is yes. You can in these two graphics. I did nothing to hide them, but used them as accessories to my projects.

Have a great Saturday. And ... I'll see you tomorrow.

Baby's First Birthday Gif

This little baby was started on Wednesday.

I've worked on him for the last three mornings.

He is 8 frames, and while I did optimize him to cut down on darkening and graining that sometimes happens when it's converted to a gif, I sharpened him before converting. The sharpening before converting usually causes a little graining.

This creation involved many layers. I often do all my shading on a separate layer. If I like it, I merge it down to the previous layer. If I'm not sure, I leave it on its own layer and click its visibility on and off after I have most of the rest completed.

The hair, curl on the forehead, and flower are kalei's.

He was fun to make.

See you tomorrow!!

A girl named Pony "tube"

This little tube of "Pony" was made with vectors.

Vectors allow you to actually draw using shapes. You can make outlines to fill later or over and over again with different colors, or you can make them color-filled from the beginning.

The original tube is bigger, but reduced for my blog.

I like to experiment with different styles of shading. This one is done very simply.

It is raining big time this morning in Columbus, Ohio. While the weather is beginning to warm up more and more, it is still one "lousy-looking" day out there.

Hopefully by next week, spring will have returned.

Till tomorrow, have a great Thursday!

Example of a tube

Today, I am sharing a clock I "tubed".

This was picture of a children's clock I found on the web somewhere. I thought it was very cute, so I tubed it. It just screamed to be animated, so that's what I did.

I made the frame, and the animation (4 frames). The clock was only tubed.

When you tube, you are basically taking a picture, and cleaning it up. Out comes the background that originally surrounded it. You might also "touch-up" the actual picture.

You can take the red out of a person's eyes in a tubed photograph. You can make the eyes bluer. Or greener. Enhance or change it easily in PSP.

See you tomorrow!

Busy Little Bee Animation

This little animation is 17 frames.

Some kaleidoscopes were used, of course. The flower. The antennae on the little bee, and for texturizing his wings.

On the wings, I just clone sections of the kalei that I want to be in the area I need to texturize.

Again, I optimized it to keep any dark areas from settling in upon finishing up the gif.

See you tomorrow!

Jumping Enter Gif and Butterfly Logo Tube

This enter gif was made using a kaleidoscope. The sun and the hole in the ground came from the same one. I had to divide it out into two rasters so I could move each one around. The hole is a squished circle.

The whole idea for this one came all at once. The gif is 14 frames.



This butterfly logo also came from a kaleidoscope. I just love kaleidoscopes.

In them, I see pictures! I start with the basic shapes I see, and before I know it, I have a tube.

It does take time to develop each one, but the results are pretty nice.

Both of these tubes took much longer than some of my past tubes. As time goes on, I find myself spending more time on detail and final results.

Have a great Monday, and I'll see you tomorrow.

New Life

Easter time is a day of reflection. For many, it is a time of celebration and the promise of a resurrection day for all. It is a very joyous morning.

This gif was made using vectors and some kaleidoscope items. It is 21 frames long. The original gif is larger, but resized to fit my blog.

The vectors are the egg, the stem of the flower and it's leaves. Also the center of the smaller flower and the crack in the egg.

The kaleidoscopes are the flowers, and the emerging spot before the cracking of the egg.

The chick was painted in behind everything in layers using the paintbrush, airbrush, shading and texturing.

The frames were prepared as an optimized gif which helps keep the gif free of dark spots that become over-emphasized when finishing it up.

This gif was a lot of fun to create!

Happy Easter, everyone. See you tomorrow.

Easter Morning 2007

to all. Whether you are off to church or off to spend time gathering Easter eggs with the children, I hope today is one of great blessings for you all.

And in honor of today, I am posting a second gif.

Have a wonderful day, and I'll see you in a moment!

Preparing for Easter Sunday!

Good morning.

We had snow yesterday. The huge snowflakes, and lots of them. It started to cover the yard, and then diminished to tiny flakes.

Until spring returns here, I keep making flowers.

This flower was an experiment.

With today, comes shopping. Off to the grocery early this morning, so I thought this little purse would be a good post for today.



Easter is just around the corner.

Lots to get done today. I'll still take the early morning hours to draw, draw, draw.

I'm sure a lot of you are having family in this weekend for Easter. Easter egg hunts, meals to share, and games for the kids. So have a great time!

Until tomorrow, make it a wonderful Saturday.

It's Good Friday!

It's Good Friday, and many people are taking the day off.

It's not a holiday where I work, although we may take it as a religious holiday. So the halls of my office will be "bare" today, I'm sure.

My little butterfly sweetheart to the left is a little creation I came up with yesterday. He's colorful, and sweet. And he's ready for spring!

In Ohio, we've gone, overnight, back to winter. On Tuesday, we had 80 degrees, and had snow flurries by Wednesday with strong gusts of bitterly cold wind. Our wind chill factor had us drop back into the teens -- and it's cold.

All the better for this bright little creature I've made to share today. He adds a little touch of spring to my life!

Here's my "June" character in a new creation also.

While it's not Mother's Day yet, she would look great on the front of any card.

In my case, I am the "mother" of my family. With no parents of my own left to celebrate, I re-live memories on special days for parents, and I hope to be the best mom I can be for my own grown children.

My husband is still fortunate though, to have his mother still living, and in fairly good health. While she lives far awhile with many other family members, they keep in touch by phone.

Have a really great Friday.

My comments section is open to post to, if you wish. If you leave a comment, it will not post right away, but comes to my email. In this way, I can edit, publish, or reject a comment.

Blogger 2 is a terrific new program!

See you tomorrow.

Pixel Tubes

My drawing adventures led me into the world of pixels.

Pixels are very small, and while the outline is created one pixel at a time, I learned as I had with making patterns that once the outline is drawn, you can select the shapes and fill instantly. After filling, you simple use your special effects to shade by choosing the cutout function.

Because they are so small, you have to work "zoomed in", but they do come out so adorable.

Pixels are great for putting in emails.


After making the first little pink mouse, it was easy to add a cookie to him. I just drew the arms around front instead of at this side. Because I made a pattern for him, I could easily change his coloring this time.

I've done several pixels, and over time, I will display more. I am constantly trying new ways of creating my art.

Graph paper would be one way to design a pixel. But using PSP, you can simply snap on the grid which gives you kind of a computerized graph paper.

Have a great day.

See you tomorrow!

Ah! More Tubes

Hump day! That's Wednesday.

Here's a little rambling snail. I was experiment-ing with making textures, and found his shell to be interesting.

I started playing with it first, and then thought it could be used for a "shell creature".

Below, you'll see a girl set for her prom. She took much more time to create than the snail.

I once had a dress in black in white like this, but in a short style. It didn't have the red trim on it, but because I like red, and thought it would define the dress more, I added it.

When she was finished, I decided she needed a wrist corsage. And there it is.

Drawing is so much fun.

You can do anything with it!

And that it's for today!

Make it a great "HUMP" day!

Back Yard

This picture started out with just making ONE fence post.

Of course, once I had one, I decided to make a group of three.

Then I thought it would be nice to curve the top.

Then it needed something in front of it.

I made some unusual-looking bushes, and added some flower tubes I'd already made and had stashed away.

ThenI needed dirt and grass which I made. Actually, I had made grass, so could just add that.

Then I thought I'd put a house behind it. I once had a patio like this in an apartment.

Then the curtain came. An experiment. And then I had this girl tube I'd made.

Next, the wall looked a little empty. Viola! A light! With a glow.

Tubes can also be made from photographs. I often find pictures to use that say, "Tubed by ...."

You can take your trusty camera with you and take some wonderful pictures.

At this time of year, with the flowers just beginning to bloom, you can do some beautiful flower tubes.

You can do your children, grandchildren, pets, and attractive items you find around your house.

A tube is usually ONE item, although you'll find tubes that may have "a couple" in them, such as two lovers embracing.

It is amazing what is out there!

I started out "collecting" tubes. From there, I wanted to make tubes, and that's when I discovered that it could be done using vectors.

I've made tubes as well as just patterns, which can then be filled with any color you decide.

Right now, I am playing with textures, shading, and composition. It is all great fun!

That's it! See you tomorrow!