Textures and Blends - Give me your Thoughts...

[MyKey]

A good friend of mine is releasing a new educational book with a DVD mixed in with some amazing textures and "art" layouts.

While on the plane tonight coming home from Orlando speaking I threw a few together using his layouts and of course my art mixed in.

My question to the board......

What do you think of this type of art?

Give me your honest thoughts and not just on these images but on the concept in general.

Both the good and bad, again be honest let us all learn together.

[ramblinray]

The first thing that comes to mind with these images is, wow, what a great greeting card cover. I'm not sure a bride would want a lot of this type of image to remember her wedding with. A few interspersed with the other normal images would give an overall artsy effect to a wedding album and would probably be quite welcomed. I do like the treatment you have given these. I just wish I could do it as easily as you make it look. You rock dude!

[mivy00]

I tend to agree with Ray. It would look and work great for mailer. Also could be nice as faded into the background of an album. But I am not sure how many brides would by a 16x20 like that .

Although I might......so maybe they would

[Concisus Cognatus]

Ditto on the points made by Ray and Matt. The concept is good for specialized uses, probably not so much for portraits and weddings. Although, there may be some use for it in the seniors market.

BTW, I like all of them and hate you creative people who make things look so danged easy.

[LoungeLizard]

I think in this particular case, the layers/textures, etc., actually take away from the image.

I'm not a fan of textures but I can definitely appreciate the style when they add to the feel of an image. For example, a very subdued parchment or old style cracked texture on the first groom shot (fifth image) would add to it as it would complement the photograph - not compete with it.

From this set, the last one is the closest to not competing with the image itself.

But that's just me.

[luis_relampago]

I do like blending textures for CD covers, posters, flyer's and other artistic work flow that I do. Your renditions are really good in my humble opinion, photoshop lets you decide when to stop or keep going, but also a client decision, and a personal taste. congrats on your renditions and keep up the good work! God Bless.

[fikes0422]

Yeah, I would have to agree with everyone else. It starts to look a bit overdone if every images in an album looked like this. However, I think this is the new trend with seniors now. I like what you've done with your images. #1 is my favorite personally. However, if done too much the textures do start to compete with the image itself...and we lose a sense of all the work you did to accomplish that particular shot.

[AllenAyres]

Would look great on a cover/back, tho I'd want them toned down inside the actual book, or used as background images - it competes with the actual image for your attention and would seem overdone it used a lot.

[bands321]

This type of image is very popular in the digital scrapbooking market. (I love all type of digital and scrapbooking is one of them).

They only thing I would suggest it to clean up the areas around the face. There are ways to make it still blend but not to have the face obstructed.

[Sergey_Z]

A good friend of mine

Can you give me a name?

In my point of view, try to erase little bit a face

Jesh de Rox, Michelle Black, Nichole Van, Ittybitty, Leah and 1Click have nice packs of textures

[Angelo]

I can see an image like this hung above my fireplace, inviting and warm.
It would make a wedding photo artsy.
Great work. I would like to learn how to do something like this.

[KdLaneJr]

I'd like to see all the texture/layers masked so they don't cover the face.

[barP]

nicely done, but personally am not a fan.

i tend to think it's a fad, but hey...if you can make money with it....

wp.

[Ceejay50]

I love textures but you have to use lots of restraint because they can overpower the image. For instance, #3 looks like the cover for a gothic romance; and you'd make lots of $$ for the cover, but hanging on my wall. Nope!

Please let us know the title of the book when the time is appropriate. From what's above I'd love to have most of the textures used here in my arsenal.

[Dobick]

My honest opinion is that the textures tend to dominate these images, and takes a lot away from them. More subtle, and maybe, but in the current state, it seems too strong