Playing with shareware....

Okay so I played with a program called ArtRage2 last night... how fun.!!! But let me tell you, drawing with a mouse instead of a tablet is a chunk of work. Keeping in mind that I did these with a mouse, and that is challenging at best, my rough results are posted below..... (the oil paint brush strokes sorta show up in the sun/moon combo in the reduced size image). I could kick some serious butt and really have some fun with this program if I had a tablet.......... guess who's poking around on ebay in a another window?!? I want everyone to note: I DO love color, but I do NOT always create art in shockingly bright colors ;p

And I need to note here one important fact about ArtRage...you don't need great talent to use it, it offers a trace pad option, so you can load a picture and it makes it a tinted background for you to paint over, then you delete the lower image. This makes the program a great learning tool for those trying to learn to draw or paint!




Yup, this program is one I am going to invest in buying the full version of! I cannot believe I have had it down loaded and not installed since Nov. My bad! The pastel sun above is going to become an embellished art quilt one day..... I really like how it turned out!

I've also been playing with another program called Basic Photo Filter, it's shareware... and it's free to use for an unlimited time
http://www.photofiltre.com/
They also have an upgraded version that's closer to Photoshop or Illustrator in what they call the Photo Filter Studio version found here: http://www.photofiltre-studio.com/frames-en.htm
The studio version is free to try for 30 days and then you need to register it to keep using it. Cost:$25 EUR or about $33 USD

Tips and tricks for both versions can found here: http://frontpagesolutions.com/photofiltre/tutorials.htm

And here is my business card, modified slightly using the basic version:



Note: The wildbohemian web site isn't up right now, it hasn't been up for over 2 years, but it IS going back up by January...