Haydn Russell's Digital Art Gallery

Overview: This light bulb solar system image is my favorite creation to date. It combines simplistic subjects, realistic shadowing, surrealism, and the knowledge I've learned in Photoshop to create a truly unique product. It displays that planets of our solar system revolving around a hanging bulb, creating a miniature surreal image of a planetary system on a much grander scale.  Process: The process used to create this image was repetitive, but also explored new techniques which I had not tried previously. First, I used a PNG of the solar system and duplicated it several times, then I proceeded to mask each layer so that only the single desired planet of each layer was showing. With this done I arranged the planets around the bulb to get a basic layout to work off of (During this I also masked Jupiter behind the bulb). Next, I used the perspective warp tool on a few of the planets to help add a sense of depth and to make it appear like they were revolving around the bulb. T...

Overview: This image is a vector graphic I created in Adobe Illustrator. As this was my first project in Adobe Illustrator, I followed a tutorial  on YouTube. The final image came out very well and is a good start to using the tools I learned while studying the program. Process: The above image is a combination of dozens of layers, each with their own unique properties. The simplest items were perhaps the small blue stars and meteor-objects as they are simply filled in polygons that have been resized and rearranged. The two small planets located on either side of the subject were also simple, they are a combination of the same shape resized with each having a slightly lowered opacity than the one inside of them. Throughout the entirety of the image, the theme of utilizing gradients is heavily present. Each of the smaller planets have gradients, the two "moons" on the ring have gradients, and each of the flowing layers within the glass planet itself have gradients. These a...

Overview: The two images shown are a before (left) and after (right) of an exploration and practice I did using the brush tools in Photoshop. I completed this project independently before I created this blog in an attempt to learn the different tools available to me within the program. It is not my finest creation, but I believe that it displays the growth in my talent throughout the previous months.  Process: The process in the image above was done using only the brush tool, ripple filter, and multiple layers. While using the brush I held the Alt. key which allowed me select a color to paint with. I then went to each piece in the image and painted over them with the correct colors, adding layers so that I could paint roughly in certain places and simply hide the rough edges under the more refin ed pieces. One important lesson I learned in doing this assignment was how to use the brush settings. I used different brush hardnesses depending on what section I was painting, su...

Overview: The above image was created using multiple hues of a single color. It shows a unique image that is simplistic and different from anything I have created before. Due to the nature of the image the final project only took me about half an hour to complete.  Process: The image was created using only a few of the tools found within Photoshop 2018. The main tool was the lasso which was used to created the outline of each landscape. The foreground uses the original color, a dark red that was randomly selected. After outlining the foreground with the lasso it was then filled using the paint bucket tool. I then repeated the process on a layer placed below and filled it with a lighter hue of the foreground color. This was repeated until the general outline was finished. Next I rendered a tree in a separate document and used it to define a custom brush. Once done the tree could be placed anywhere in the image easily and in any color I wanted, providing more detail. To edit the s...

Overview: The above image was a new type of graphic exploration that I have never done before. It implements a free to use 3-D model and stock photos that were used as a part of this tutorial  by  Nemanja  Sekulic. This tutorial provided the general guidelines but the finer details of the project I left up to my own determination. This assignment took me around three hours to complete and allowed me to learn how to use the 3-D work space in Photoshop. Process: As mentioned before, the guidelines for the process and the assets for the project were part of a tutorial. The focus of the project was realistically panting the train in the image. To do this I opened the 3-D work space layout and proceeded to open the train file. Next the train layer was dragged to the book image and placed. With the two combined I then positioned the train using the movement tool until the wheels were above the horizon line (which darkened them in the 3-D landscape) and it ali...

Overview: The image above is a surreal composite create from five different images. It demonstrates color matching techniques as well as the inclusion of details in order to make it seem more real. If you look closely you can notice that each shadow is angled in sufferance to the sun, there are foot prints behind the wanderer, and each piece has been color matched so that they blend together easier. Process: This project took about four hours to create, but a portion of that time was due to researching the different processes and tips on how to improve them. The impetus behind the image's creation was seeing landscape creations similar to this with warped dimensions. To achieve this effect I used the perspective warp utility and created ninety degree angles. After doing this the sky did not match so I created a protruding gradient from each side and then used the mixing brush tool to blend them all together. With the background created I then used the pen tool to pull the model...

Overview: The above image is a custom neon sign which I created to explore the process used to create such an image. After travelling to New York City during the summer I began to enjoy these sort of neon signs much more, so I decided to try to create my own using Photoshop. I was unsure what I wanted the sign to say, so I used the Photoshop logo, my name, and the words "digital graphics". The circles are used to unite all three subjects into one cohesive sign. Process: To create this sign I followed this tutorial . One important note is that the fonts used for both "Haydn Russell" and "Digital Graphics" are found within the description of the tutorial. However, they are simply preference and unneeded for the final product. The first step in the process was creating a background. I used a simple brick wall which I then adjusted using the levels adjustment to achieve a darkened room effect. Next I selected the type tool, selected the newly added neon fo...

Overview: The two above images are  panorama scenes distorted to appear as small worlds. These images were inspired by multiple similar ones that were created using drones. The first image (left) uses a panorama by Norbert Lease which can be found here . The second image (right) uses a panorama by Holger Vaga which can be found here . Process: Each image above took less than five minutes to create. Using a this tutorial, I was able to do four simple steps to create each of the images. First, the image must be made into a square which was done using Image>Image Size, unlinking the width and height, and setting the width to the same value as the height. The next step is to create a gradient over the sky using the color value from the top of the image (taken using the eyedropper tool). This extends from the top of the image down to the top of the tallest building or landscape feature. This is done so that when the image is distorted the corners are still filled with the pro...

Overview: Above (from left to right) is the original portrait, the first word portrait I created, and the final rendition of the project. Though it appears small and hard to read with the image at this condensed size, the full size image is an essay that I wrote on what I believe in that has had the opacity of the words adjusted to create my profile.  Process: The process to create the final image you see above is similar to that which I used to create my first edition, but there are a few differences. The first is that I used a much longer essay so I could make the words smaller yet still take up the same amount of space. This allowed for each word to provide more detail so you could see more of the face and less of the words. To help with this affect I changed the blending options of the text layer to screen so that there was a subtle effect so that the colors were transferred more efficiently and accurately. Finally, to achieve the desired brightness I duplicated the text la...

Overview:This image is my personal rendition of the previously posted double exposure lesson. Using a portrait image of myself taken by Lucas Russell I created the above image. Instead of a nature scene I used the New York City skyline. This image was more for a practice without pre-made stock images rather than meaning and theme. Process: The process for making this image was slightly more complex than the Double Exposure Exploration . The first step was taking my own portrait which was done with the assistance of my brother. The most challenge piece of that step was achieving a studio lighting effect so I was evenly illuminated, the sub par success of this is displayed in the shadow around the left eye. Once in Photoshop I created a layer w/ layer mask of the original image. Next I placed the desaturated New York City skyline image over the layer w/ layer mask and created a clipping mask so it fit within the shape of the head. Once this was done I copied the portrait layer...