Challenge #146

[Grant]

Raymond Robillard have has presented the challengers with a wonderful case
of crabs to play with this week. Well I exaggerate it is only on crab but
it is a wonderful one all the same.

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Since my hard disk failure I have had some wonder Challenges
suggestions submitted by a few people . I need more suggestions from more
people to be able to mix up the choices. Please send me *your*
suggestions for the Challenges. Part of what makes the Challenge great
is your input. Also please don't forget he Photo Challenge as
presently I have only one suggestion although it is a great one but I do
need more.


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http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Challenge/Challenges.html

Present and Past Challenges will remain Until tomorrow at 7:00 pm the then
the Present will be Past and new images will be posted.

* Important notice to all the new people in this forum. This is not a
close shop you are all invited to submit an image. If you don't think you
are good enough this is your first mistake, I think most have found that
working on the Challenge has improved their personal level. So young and
old, hot shots and cool dudes now is you time to post.
--
Grant

Home Pages: http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Challenge/index.html

Challenge Pages: http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Challenge/Challenges.html

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Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom, while
discouragement often nips it in the bud. Any of us will put out more and
better ideas if our efforts are appreciated.

Alexander Osborn (1888 - 1966)

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[Grant]

While I do like the new look it did cause me some troubles. I got home rather late for posting and then to top it all of I forgot my password and got locked out. Well I am here now and I hope to stay. Hours at work are crazy but i will post images twice a day one in the morning and once in the late evening.

Grant

[Carbone]

Haaaaaaaaaaa... summer.... ;-)

Now, it's winter. I hate winter :-(

Ray

[CarolLHB]

Cool crab, Ray...was he a subject, or dinner??

[Wendy]

Umm ... now what do we do with this one :)


Wendy

[Pauline]

Who has time to work on the challenge? I'm too busy trying to figure out everything on the new forum and I have to still have lunch and a bit of a nap as I'm going out @ 4!! Just too much going on today! Also the teens have the day off school and I have 2 extra kids here. It's very quiet though and everyone is well behaved so no problem.

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

I know just how you feel I spent most of the morning spring cleaning the lounge and trying to get all my tut links working ... next job the Challenge !!


Wendy

[Grant]

The first images are now being posted and again they are all great.

Notes for viewing.

1). Clicking on the thumbnail will open a larger image.
2). Clicking on the larger image will advance you to the next larger image.
3). If you are using Internet explorer F11 will toggle a full screen view

... gives the images a view they deserve.

Grant

[michoumisalade]

Umm ... now what do we do with this one :)


Wendy

Wendy, I bet that you are very hungry when you did it! Appetizing! :)

[michoumisalade]

I really love this sense of humor!
http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Present/146WardGrant2.html

:)

[Wendy]

Hi Michoumisalade,

I do the Challenge every week ... but sometimes I am really pleased with an idea I have ... and this was one of those weeks :)

The whole theme just flowed ... :)


Wendy

[Pauline]

Wendy great job with the challenge!! Themes always work so well for you. I love the way it turned out. I suppose on the last one with the plate in front of the window, you made everything? Window, plate, forks etc? If not I love that view!

I see my avator shows up on all previous posts! That's cool. Of course my favourite animal is what I picked. (he's cuter than me)

[Carbone]

This crab was shot in New Brunswick, two years ago, in Septembre. And Carol, no it wasn't the dinner ;)

I ate so much seafood that I began to hate them at the end... Shrimp flavoured Crest with Fluoride, sort of.. :) So when I saw this crab, I was happy it wasn't in my plate.. hehe!

Ray

[Wendy]

Hi Pauline ...

No I didn't make all of it ... the window is one I shot somewhere and took out the origainl view, added curtains too and a new view.

Knife & Fork came from a previous Challenge, the salade is real but assembled ... plate is one of mine.

I had fun with this through my mind flashed Catch it, Cook it, Dress it and Eat it and the theme flowed from that :)

Wendy

[Pauline]

Well you did a great job Wendy!! I thought about putting him on a plate and stabbing a fork in him, but that's as far as I got. Can't seem to get my act together at all this week!!

I was playing with the 'hair' brushes earlier though. Gave my cousin hair and my daughter and her boyfriend both beards. :D I also just mucked around for a bit with cutouts and gradients. I guess that's a good thing because it helps to understand them, but no real productivity! :(

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

I think that giving people extra hair is fun ... and you have to have some light relief :) :)


Wendy

[Pauline]

The hard part is knowing which one of the brushes to pick. They sure don't look like much when you click on them! Also the size to make them. I think I got the hang of using the face shape as direction, but some brushes are pretty wild and require a 'hair cut' during the process. :p

Wendy I order my books today! All four! :D This is going to be a good Christmas for me!

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

Which ones did you order ??


Wendy

[mrod]

Well...I just sent in an entry for the first time. It's certainly nothing special. My own personal challenge was to see if I could make it appear as though some of the crab's legs were under the snow, and that he (the crab) was scratching his head. I think it sort of worked out. He is a bit dwarfed by the elk, however...

I didn't really see people posting links, so I suppose we wait until Grant is able to post the entries?

Mike

[Wendy]

Hi Mike ...

Grant posts them on his site ... usually he updates it a couple of times a day.

I will check out the images this evening :)

Wendy

[Wendy]

Alex ... another couple of great animations!! You really are the animation king. Now how did you get that effect in No 3 & 4 ... I have been trying to work it out but can't ??

Anne ... that is fun. The colour is great love the way you have done that !!

Ben ... Like the starry sky in No 2 and the multi coloured No 3 ... bit No 1 I just can't get ...

Bob ... Now that makes a great poster and just how did you get that overlay effect with the shell and the crab ... its very good!!

Brian ... Nice effect there .. good work on the coloured overlay and tilting the R really lifts the image. Nice work !

Carol ... What a good effect you have achieved. I am assuming that you took parts of the crab and replicated them but the way they are positioned is quite intricate ... how did you do that ??

Chris .. That rocks ... beautiful reflections in there and that little touch of colour is perfect. Now how did you do that reflection??? No 2 is so funny I haven't stopped laughing yet ... nice work on it

Cliff ... Oh very nice. Excellent background ... is all separate gradients? and nice work on cooking the crab ... but how did you do that border???

Dave ... Scary ... not too sure that I would like to meet that on a dark night!. Good work with No 2 ... all those crabs are nicely blended in.

Don ... Now that is different ... did you use a grunge brush on the top?. It really is very effectively done. Well done!

Gary ... When I stop laughing I will tell you just how much I like this one. Well done blending the face into the shell and that mustache is a master stroke :)

Gerald ... Nice work inserting the other crab into the image and clever the way you have moved the crab into a new position. Took me a while to see that as you have done it so well !

Kev ... Well when I saw that my eyes popped out !!! It is so funny ... nice one Kev !! ... I'll speak to you later :)

Malcolm ... Wow that makes a beautiful image ... it really does look as though it was there. Well matched and blended !

Marilyn ... You do things with such style!! it really is so good ... just excellent the way you have her draped across the shell. No 2 is simply stunning ... and I have all sorts of questions about it. From how did you do that base blue effect (glass distort??) to how did you do your water drops and how did you do those brilliant little bubbles ??? ... just outstanding !!

Mike ... Nice theme there ... its hard to tell who looks the most surprised :)

Nancy ... That has to be the most beautiful texture and colour set I have seen in a long time. It positively glows ... your eye gets drawn into it almost as though it is a cave. Its brilliant!

Pat ... Now that is an interesting effect on the shell .. how did you do it. Nice breakout too!

Pauline ... A very original theme and really well done. Good shadows !! The crab just looks like one of the metal icons used in monopoly !!

Richard ... Another unusual one .. it looks like something from outer space!! ... Nicely done

Rita ... I love the multi coloured crabs. Its a great idea ... I especially like the one half in the bucket.

Robin ... Oh that is a beautiful effect .. please tell how you did it. Great choice of colours too.

Tab ... What a riot of colours. I especially like some of the paint effects you have put into there ... nice work! No 2 is very intricate and has some really good effects in there.

Tawana ... now that is an original idea ... Nicely done and good attention to the details in it :) ... I also like the effect you have achieved in No 2 ... how did you do that background paint effect?

Terry ... Well done putting him into a new image in No 1... !! but No 2 is amazing I would love to know how you did that?

Tom ... I like the way you have overlaid the pattern onto the crab and some nice little touches in there

Tony ... Good work on sorting out all those legs and getting the shadows to fall in the right places. It must have been quite complex to do ... it a good effect !!

Ward ... Lovely fun image and those little shoes are just so good ... nice continuation of the theme into no 2. He certainly needs quite a few pairs!


Wendy

[Grant]

Wendy

Once again thank you for doing these post, I suspect you have no idea how much I appreciate your kind and thoughtful work.

[Pauline]

We all love Wendy's comments!! :)

[ktnoon60]

Hi Wendy,
Once again thanks for the comments. The water ripples were done with the Redfield water ripple plugin.Your theme for this weeks challenge was great and well done.
Kt

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

... and that you for the comments. I enjoyed this one the theme just suggested itself and then I went with it. The trouble with that is that you can never find enough bits to do it all ... so at 1.30 am one morning I was making tiles and steam !!

That Plug in is just brilliant ... but it is Windows only

Oh I am sad .... http://smileyonline.free.fr/images/gif/col%E8re/vignette2/thumbnails/sad210_gif.gif

Wendy

[CarolLHB]

Thank you, Wendy! Can't stop making snowflakes...:D

Actually after getting the crab looking the way I wanted it, I copied and pasted it a bunch of times, with each on it's own layer and moved them around into the circle shape. Then I duped the whole file and merged them into one layer, resized and brought them back to the original as one circle 2 more times. It was the only way I could think of to make sure the three rings of crabs were exactly the same. Was there a better way to do that?

Anyway, it was so much fun-dedicated to Ray, the Snowflake King!!

BTW, the entry just before me, by Brian, is my son-he'll apppreciate your comments on his first challenge. He's just starting to study graphic design.

Thanks for taking the time to comment on the challenges!:)

[Tom M]

Thanks Wendy.
Have you ever noticed that you have a tendency to want to eat the Challenge image?:rolleyes::cool:;):D

[Wendy]

Tom ...

Oh that did amuse me ... especially since I first though of making this weeks into a boiled egg (I have decided not to !!!)

Wendy

[Wendy]

Hi Carol ..

Thanks for the information ... yes those snowflakes are really addictive if you are not careful they take over your life :)

I didn't know that it was your son ... its a nice effective looking image and I thought the tilt on the R added something just that bit extra to it. He has a good eye for the effect !!


Wendy

[CarolLHB]

He'll be thrilled that you said so:) !

[Wendy]

Now I do hope that everyone has been over to see the Challenge entries ... and did you see the one that Kev did ... my he has been quiet since then.

Come on Kev ... it was so funny :D :D

Wendy