When the going gets tough...

the tough get, errr....creative?

I've been so honored by the responses I've gotten through the internet from my blog and re-posts from others about the paper cuts! I've received several requests for commissions and I now have 3 in the works! Each one brings a new set of challenges and so far they've all been pretty straightforward, with one caveat...

...not all photos are created equal.

I mentioned in my step-by-step  blog, that finding a good photo is the first part of the paper cut process. You have to manipulate it slightly in Photoshop to separate out the layers and then you may begin cutting, the photo doesn't have to be perfect (since you eliminate background info and distracting elements anyway), but what happens when the photo a client gives is awful? Well, this was the situation I was faced with for my very first commission. The woman lives in Canada and her horses are back home in England (more on how she found me and our serendipitous internet meeting later)...she knew exactly which horses she wanted for the first round (she's having me do two more in January) and after a little back and forth via email she finally sent me the photos she'd like to me to use. She admitted they weren't the best, but hoped there was some way I could make them work. I'm not going to sugarcoat it...it was tough. At first glance, not only were they small file sizes, but they weren't very good photos from a technical stand point (poor lighting, composition, etc). And likely, low resolution scans of photographs. This was a factor I had simply overlooked when embarking on doing commission work...so after struggling with the files a little and doing some magic in Photoshop, I managed to make them into a posterized image I could work with. I decided if I was going to make this work, I should start with the most challenging one first...and here he is...

this is Frankie (what a cutie!)...I massively improved on the original file and this was just about all I could get out of it

I used Frankie as a chance to play around with adding another layer of tonality. This time I used 4 layers and I really like how he came out. I took a quick picture of the finished cut out against a bright color so you could see. He and the other piece will be mounted on a neutral handmade paper to be framed with the others I complete.

I may clean up a few areas before he completely finished. What a sweet face!

What helped Frankie is that he oozes personality. So despite being a black underexposed pony in a dark stall, I managed to improvise a little and get a lot out of the original photo.

What do you guys think?

RIP Rowley

I made this for my best friend's dog Rowley who sadly passed away a few weeks ago. I've known him since I was a sophomore in college and as one of 4 dogs they had, he ran that household...even putting their Lab/Chow in his place. He was a Grade-A snuggler and he and I were bonded for life because I dog sat overnight for him the very first day he came home from the shelter.  Their little pack will not be the same without him.

Original photo -- I knew he's be a challenge because I'm emotionally attached to him, and he's a mostly black dog!

Finished! Mounted onto some handmade neutral paper and matted with cream 4-ply

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I used leftover paper I had from Gogo's which got the job done, but I might have picked slightly different ones if I was starting from scratch. She doesn't know that I've been making these so I hope she's pleasantly surprised when she receives hers in the mail tomorrow!

I have several commission requests underway! It's super exciting. I'm hoping to play around with a few techniques while I work on them (specifically adding a fourth layer) and maybe introducing some textured papers.