RESULT Weekly APPstract #6

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Welcome to MobiTog’s Weekly APPstract Challenge ​

Rules:
1. Interpret the theme
2. Using apps
3. Tell us something about your interpretation

One week: Friday to Friday
Winner: judges next round and chooses theme (or no theme) for that round


Please see: Rules & Guidelines for MobiChallenges HERE


This week:
Judge: FundyBrian
Theme: No Theme (see Brian’s posts for his optional theme suggestions

 

This is a shameless theft of terse ’ beautiful ceiling and light thing image from #5, combined with Fragment Shift and Union with my Hipsta DE of a TV series (Fortitude, if anyone is interested) on my DH’ big Sony tablet.

(Come to think on it, ‘shameless theft of someone else’s image’ could make for an interesting theme . . .)

 

Is your head still spinning, dear?

 

Looking forward to what FundyBrian has in store for us regarding the theme.....

 

Gorgeous...

 

Hello APPstractionists. First I want to thank zenjenny for this great challenge. It’s a big plunge into the unknown for me and it is a wonderfully nurturing environment to stumble around in and learn from people more tuned in to the abstract genre. But it’s also zenjenny’s fault that I’m spending so much time trying to make something interesting for APPstract that I don’t have as much time left for the other things I usually take part in.

I think I will leave the theme wide open again but with an added (non compulsory) twist for those who would like to give it a try. I would like you to say in advance what you are going to create and something about your interpretation of the subject. Not one of those obscure made up word jumbles generated by that art description program. And then a day or two later when you post your finished piece we can see how close you came to realizing your objective.

You probably know I am fond of the concept of creating with intention. I realize that a lot of the time abstracts are made as a result of a lot of stumbling around until something interesting happens. However, think back two weeks when JillyG saw a painting at the museum and set out to make her own creation of something along the same lines. That really speaks of intention. I’m wondering how much intention can be put into the creation of abstracts.

 

I’m curious to know what are your favourite go-to apps for creating APPstracts. And maybe add a few words about what features you like about those apps.

Currently the Apps I am using the most are:
• Procreate - dreamscape painting, shape brushes, overall backgrounds.
• Affinity Photo - all photo editing and layers
• Affinity Designer - For easily laying down geometric shapes and combining them in layers, layer modes.
• aremaC - for the uncontrolled unexpected crazy outcomes, effects I have seen nowhere else.
• Decim8 - shaking things up, random results, lots of tries, occasional interesting results.
• Painnt - finishing up, providing a consistent overall look and style. Very slow working app, though. “Processing...”

And to a lesser degree:
• Clip2Comic - simplifying, outlining
• BeCasso - similar to Clip2Comic and Painnt.
• Distressed FX - sometimes for creating textured background to start on, later on for adding texture when the image feels too smooth and open.
• Imaengine - vectorizing, posterizing.
• PhotoTropedelic - zany vector renditions.
• Glitché - very seldom, sometimes it works.
• Aerograph - simpler flat art.
• KaleidaCam - several kaleidoscopic effects and mirrors.
• Haiku - Sometimes makes fairly abstract painting effects.

OK that was more than I expected.

As a result of working on APPstracts I have made a new category of apps.
I used to have 4 groups: Camera apps, Photo Editing apps, Drawing apps, Painting apps. In among them were distributed the “other” out-there apps. Now I have gathered together all the image wreckers, twisters, and fractures that are not conventional photo editing apps. Decim8, Circular, Percolator, Tangled FX, Imaengine, PhotoTropodelic, Glitché, Aerograph, aremaC, KaleidaCam, Haiku, StripeImager, Aura Painter, InkWork, Clip2Comic, Mextures, Hyperspective, Distressed FX, etc. You get the picture. All the madness in one place.

 

Looks like I’m going first with image making plans.

I want to make something depicting meditation outdoors, probably at the shore. Even though it will be an abstract I don’t want it to look too fragmented or hectic. Something calm. It isn’t a good time of year here to get someone to pose outdoors looking summery. The question will be whether I can make it look calm and together at the same time as abstract, but not psychedelic.

I want to make something depicting winter, looking cold but also beautiful. Something that even makes the air look cold. Something starting with snow, or ice-covered landscape, and not winter sports. Although.... an abstract depicting winter outdoor activities might be interesting, too.

If I have time, I want to try making an abstract in which my primary effect will be made using (misusing or abusing) the curves adjustment. No idea of subject matter as yet, so to me, this idea isn’t well enough formed to be an intention. It would need a subject and what is to be expressed in order to become a plan.

Also, I really like APPstracts that have a sense of depth or 3D rather than everything being on a flat plane so I will be working on that, too.

That should keep me busy.

 

I use iColorama almost exclusively, because it does virtually anything/everything. Pixlr because you can add frames and shapes, but it has a slider to adjust transparency, and you can erase parts, giving one lots of control. Sometimes Repix.... again, I like that you can erase parts. I used to have more “out there” apps but I’ve cleaned house as I really don’t ever use them.

Whew! I’m glad it’s optional. I never have anything in mind when I create an abstract. The few times I’ve tried planning one, I always ended up deleting everything. I might have colors in mind, but that’s usually the extent of it.

 

like RoseCat, I rarely have solid plans with very app-Ed abstracts: more ‘I wonder what would happen if...’ and the process becomes more purposeful when i feel (see) something happening. Emerging from the mists, asitwere.

However I’m always up for an art-y Challenge, so I had a think about times I have had an idea of something I’d like to create. I thought of two — a Snow White/Rose Red series I was drawing/collaging on paper, and a line from a Dylan song I’ve often imagined making an image for.

So today I gathered a few images to get me started (see below) - and for the first time ever I’m going to reverse the order of my Artistic Process So remember, if I go mad, it’s FundyBrian ’s fault.

 

Just earlier this morning I moved iColorama out of my photo editing apps into the new wrecking, altering category for APPstracts. It certainly has a lot of tools for effects but I would never use it for regular photo editing. For one thing, it doesn’t have RAW development, which I think of as a basic necessity for any photo editing app. I really like some of the simplifying, smoothing functions. Sometimes I think simplifying an image to its basic form is the key to abstraction.

But what if you did happen to have something you wanted to express in a abstract, imagine how you would go about it. I think it is a big step up in an abstract if it expresses something rather than just being an interesting pattern.

 

I like that the abstract could mean different things to different people. That’s why I rarely if ever title them. They come out of me and are created organically, so I like the meaning to be organic as well.

 

I’ll have to remember that... I always use Snapseed for all the fine tuning. I forget you can do that in IC too.

 

Oh yes!!! I forgot that one.... it’s my go-to for all layering.

 

Yes, I can understand your perspective.

 

This should be interesting.

 

I certainly appreciate you giving the idea a try.