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You are here: Home / Kitty Wisdom / Caturday Art: The Doorway Edition

Caturday Art: The Doorway Edition

March 8, 2014 By: Sparkle Cat37 Comments

I really liked all the effects of my Caturday Art last week, but the only problem is that most phone apps — and phone photos — are limited in size. They look fine on a computer screen and a website, and you can make cards with them or stick them on a mug, but you can’t print out anything larger than a 5″x7″ image and have it look good. So I sent my human on a search to find software that at least replicates the gouache effect with photos from the camera. That way I could make T-shirts, larger prints and canvases, if I wanted.

She came back with something called AKVIS ArtWork that had a free 10-day, full-feature demo so we are giving it a spin!

I picked the following image for some experimentation. Incidentally, it is on a card at my Zazzle shop!

This is me, trying to go out into the should-be-catio

My human opened it up in the program and she had a lot of options and adjustments she could make. There is a small square that you can move over any part of the photo you think is important (in this case, my face), and the adjustments are previewed there.

My human is still trying to figure out all these sliders.

Once you’ve made your choices, the program “draws” the image for you! It’s really interesting to watch. My human tried to shoot a video but couldn’t quite make it work. Anyhow, this was the result:

Looks pretty painter-y!

There are more painting effects than just the gouache. It has oil, watercolor, comics, pen and ink, linocut, and pastel. My human did not like the pen and ink effect (she has yet to find a program that will do pen and ink and sketch effects as well as the phone apps she has), and the linocut is pretty much useless for kitties — but it would probably work well on buildings and things like that. She did try one more experiment with the pastel effect, and she added a canvas texture when she was done.

If she wanted, she could make her own paper texture in Photoshop

The whole goal here is to try to make the images look like they weren’t generated from a photograph, and I think they work pretty well. So far, we are really enjoying this software! It is not cheap, but it’s not horribly expensive either (for fancy software, at least). And we have nine more days to play around with it.

For more Caturday Art, visit Athena!

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Comments

  1. Jobi and Fisher says

    March 11, 2014 at 5:30 am

    My favorite of all is the very first photo. Gorgeous!

    Reply
  2. Tiffany & the Cattle Aussies says

    March 10, 2014 at 10:01 am

    Those turned out great-looks like cool software.

    Reply
  3. Connie says

    March 9, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    I really love that first one.. I’m not one for paying for programs, but I might just look into this one..

    Reply
  4. Austin Towers says

    March 9, 2014 at 11:51 am

    That is neat!!

    Reply
  5. Amelia Hughes says

    March 9, 2014 at 11:33 am

    Love the difference and how they look like paintings and drawings!

    Reply
  6. Flynn says

    March 9, 2014 at 10:30 am

    Great effects on an already great photo. The pastel and canvas effect is my favourite.

    Reply
  7. Clooney says

    March 8, 2014 at 11:14 pm

    Those are fabulous pictures, love the effects!

    Reply
  8. Lone Star Cats says

    March 8, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    Very cool photos!

    Reply
  9. Spitty the Kitty says

    March 8, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    Sparkle, You look great no matter WHAT your Human does to you.

    Reply
  10. Harvey Button says

    March 8, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    Oh boy. This looks rather good doesn’t it. I know what you mean about it ‘not looking like a photograph’, maybe we should all ask Sparkle to visit and be our Super Cat Model!

    Harvey

    Reply
  11. Pawesome Cats says

    March 8, 2014 at 7:24 pm

    Your photo effects are great – it looks very much like you’ve had the pastels out and have been drawing Sparkles picture in the doorway!

    Reply
  12. Penelope says

    March 8, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    THOSE IS GORGEOUS! If Mommy had more time these days, she would has a look at that software.
    Kisses
    Nellie

    Reply
  13. Katnip Lounge says

    March 8, 2014 at 4:47 pm

    Fun for free is never bad! Mommy really admires your Human’s talent.

    Reply
  14. The Island Cats says

    March 8, 2014 at 4:15 pm

    That’s pretty cool, Sparkle. Your human finds the neatest stuff.

    Reply
  15. Pasha says

    March 8, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    That was very nice Sparkle!

    Reply
  16. Melissa says

    March 8, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    I always learn so much from your Art posts, Sparkle!

    Reply
  17. Sue Brandes says

    March 8, 2014 at 2:34 pm

    I love all of those. Very pretty.

    Reply
  18. Kwee Cats says

    March 8, 2014 at 1:18 pm

    That’s a great photo to start with. And a really neat program you guys used. At the end, it didn’t look like a photo to us – you did great!

    Reply
  19. Maggie says

    March 8, 2014 at 11:15 am

    The original photograph is so nice, it’s hard to improve. The painterly one is very nice though!

    Reply
  20. madi and mom says

    March 8, 2014 at 10:03 am

    Give your human a raise she did a great job!
    Hugs madi your bfff

    Reply
  21. speedyrabbit says

    March 8, 2014 at 9:17 am

    look just fabulous SParkle just like you!xx Speedy

    Reply
  22. Cathy Keisha says

    March 8, 2014 at 9:12 am

    Those effects look great. I did find a sketch effect I liked. TW used it to make my t-shirt for last year’s Blogpaws. If I remember it, I’ll let you know. I’ll have to wait till tomorrow to do my art cos I had to do a campaign today.

    Reply
  23. Alice Marie says

    March 8, 2014 at 8:49 am

    Oh that looks like fun….and it’s such a wonderful photo to begin with!

    Reply
  24. Grace says

    March 8, 2014 at 8:24 am

    The original; photo is so superb it would be difficult to make it any better but the last 2 shots have a charm of their own!

    Reply
  25. Layla Morgan Wilde (Cat Wisdom 101) says

    March 8, 2014 at 8:18 am

    These are cool effects but I like the original photo best with the purrfect Sparkle.

    Reply
  26. Kitty Cat Chronicles says

    March 8, 2014 at 8:08 am

    Cool picture, Sparkle. We definitely like the painting effect

    Reply
  27. Kitties Blue says

    March 8, 2014 at 8:01 am

    Sparkle, those are both so meowvolous, we don’t know which we like better. Dad just bought Mom Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 for her birthday. We hope she can do some cool stuff with it. Right now we are just using free apps. We think you achieved your goal with those not looking like photographs. Have a great weekend. Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

    Reply
  28. Caren Gittleman says

    March 8, 2014 at 7:35 am

    love love love that photo!! Was really sorry not to see you (and a few others) not listed as a finalist for the Nose-to-Nose awards, you deserve to be there 😥

    Reply
  29. Brian says

    March 8, 2014 at 6:15 am

    We love that one Sparkle. We will have to check that program out too!

    Reply
  30. Sometimes, Cats Herd You says

    March 8, 2014 at 6:01 am

    Oh, those are really nice! You’re right, those are nice effects that don’t look like they are computer-generated. That program is a great find.

    Reply
  31. The Florida Furkids says

    March 8, 2014 at 4:40 am

    Very nice effects. Mom is going to look at that program.

    The Florida Furkids

    Reply
  32. Katie Bella says

    March 8, 2014 at 4:17 am

    Sparkle you lend beauty to ANY program!

    Reply
  33. Hannah and Lucy says

    March 8, 2014 at 4:11 am

    We love your “new” look Sparkle.
    Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

    Reply
  34. Marg says

    March 8, 2014 at 3:17 am

    That must be so much fun to do all that. I like that picture a lot. Take care.

    Reply
  35. The Kitties of Purring Pines says

    March 8, 2014 at 2:55 am

    That’s soooooo cool!

    Reply
  36. Athena says

    March 8, 2014 at 2:22 am

    That looks amazing! Think I’ll get my mum to try it out 🙂

    Reply
  37. d'Artagnan Rumblepurr says

    March 8, 2014 at 12:42 am

    Ooo that’s really cool!

    Reply

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