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By: Anthony Palmieri
October 2, 2007

Abstract:

Turn your pet picture into a painting. Imagine that pictures of your Shih Tzu, Yorkshire Terrier, Pekingese or other beloved pet are transformed into a work of art. Home PC's and the evolution of software and inexpensive printers expands the capabilities for even the home user making this a possibility. By spending a little bit of money on graphics programs, and a computer, coupled with a bit of creativity, you can turn your digital pictures into much more than just photographs. This evolution has enabled people to express their personality into family pictures as well as other loves such as cars, and pets.

Create a Painting of your Pet and make it your own Masterpiece

An artist used a brush, a pencil, clay or some other medium to create their own masterpiece. When you consign one of these professionals you are not just paying for the final product, but for their experience and talent. Often people art to express their personality, their loves, hobbies and other things. In any case the creative nature that we have comes to the surface once we have the tools and have developed ability to accomplish this. One area that has continued to grow as a result of technological advancement is with computer enhanced graphics. Faster home computers coupled with programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have taken the high end graphics work once limited to corporations to smaller businesses. The most basic photo manipulation is to correct flaws in the picture, which can be expanded to the more advanced creation of fantasy scenes, such as overlaying multiple images and the addition of special effects.

Now be creative and think how a person can simulate a painting without being an artist. Can it be done? To the purist, anything but the real thing is not art. Does that mean that a cubic zirconia is not real? Why do people purchase them? Well, part of the reason is cost, and an imitation is must much less expensive. So here is the question; can you enjoy something that is not 100% real? I think so.

Lets take advantage of technology. Purchase a graphics program such as Photoshop, and a filter set that enables you to transform a photograph into a painting like image. You will have to experiment with various settings to get it realistic and that will take trial and error to get it just right. Print it out and you are almost there, but the problem is you now you have a 2 dimensional print. Touch a painting, and you will feel a texture from the brush. That texture is a 3rd dimension that adds depth, and various reflections and shadows bringing the picture to life. Can we do this with a print? Yes.

Using various shellacs and varnishes applied to the surface of a print, you can simulate a painting, and add that 3rd dimension. This surface texture must be added in steps. Remember that you are applying a liquid to a paper, and the paper will have a tendency to want to wrinkle and curl. A little bit of wrinkle is actually good, since a real painting will not be perfectly flat. The first coat should be thin and cover the entire surface. This provides a sealer coat. After that coat is fully dry, add a second, third and even 4th coating. With these coatings the focus is to create the brush strokes, and the texture. To make it realistic, you need to paint the picture with the coating as if you are actually painting it. For example if you have a vertical post you need to dray the brush up and down, not across. It becomes a bit more challenging when you are trying to paint a pet. There are many contours, and angles, the fur is fluffy and curved and you need to match the image.

 

This article gives you an idea of how to get started to create your own simulated painting.
Some owners would rather purchase a custom picture of their pet . So, this desire for creativity by these pet owners has spurred an industry that caters directly to them. The pet lover is a proud group that loves to express their love for their pets. These owners take their pets to the experts for advice on how to train them, expert groomers for that perfect coat and the list goes on. Now another option that expends beyond standard photography provides a second level of creativity. One company that understands this area extremely well is Palmieri Concepts. and they have done a wonderful job of these conversions. Besides the founders being a pet owners for many years, and having a house full of pets, this company has spent years talking with owners and listening to them to understand their needs and wants before it even became a company. Often the owners knew they wanted something different, but was not sure exactly what or how to accomplish it. By listening to them, and understanding what could be done, their needs were met. Some of the nontraditional examples included the idea of having fantasy backgrounds such as a dog floating on a rainbow, to taking a color photograph and making it look like an old black and white.

For the serious owner, most have a special wall in their house or office with pictures and posters of their pets and even similar ones. Often these pictures were done in the traditional style of "point-shoot-develop-print-frame". The custom graphics companies that specialize in the photography industry have now taken the "develop" stage to the next level with custom image enhancements. These enhancements could be as simple as a picture of your pet overlaid on a family photograph, or even a key element such as the dog tag with their name on it. By combining this level of graphics, a plain photograph is transformed from just a photograph to an expression of personality.
There are many examples of what I have described on line and www.PalmieriConcepts.com in the Pets section has a selection of examples that will give you many ideas that you can incorporate into your own works. The pictures there of the Shih Tzu, Yorkshire Terrier, Pekingese are my inspiration to do this