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DuirwaighStudios

Angi Sullins and Silas Toball
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Digital Art Wonderland


Our new book Digital Wonderland Is now available! We're going to be
signing 50 copies for sale exclusively on our website.
Get your own signed copy by visiting our site www.duirwaigh.com/index.php?op…


Digital Art Wonderland


Description: Express yourself with art journaling in the 21st Century! Combine online interaction with the mixed-media artist's love of art journaling- and you have the winning combination of Digital Art Wonderland. After an introduction on how digital applications are appropriate for the concept of journaling, you will be guided step-by-step through eight tutorials, each one giving them new techniques for not only scanning original art and doctoring it up digitally, but also the how-to for creating digital art from scratch. In addition, you'll be walked through the process of setting up a blog, adding personal design touches, networking with social media, designing with type, writing styles and more. Plus, for those of us who may not be into blogging, this book provides information on printing digital art.


About the Authors

The art of husband-and-wife team Angi Sullins and Silas Toball has been featured in several publications including Somerset Studio, Somerset Digital and Smashing Magazine. Angi and Silas are veterans in the digital art movement and their website (www.duirwaigh.com) and blogs have won numerous awards including Smashing Magazine's Top Fifty Blog Designs, Pixelatic's Top Stunning Websites, Blogosphere's Top 45 Most Creative Blog Designs and Inspiredology's Top Flourish Designs.



Flaming Muse Online Workshop


Take a workshop with Angi from the comfort of your own home! Flaming Muse: The Workshop is a month-long intensive on creativity and inspiration. Court your muse and fan the flames of your creative fire with Angi! Click here for more info.




Flaming Muse online e-course





Duirwaigh Studios
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Alice in Wonderland


Introducing our new series of artworks which will be part of our book project "Go Ask Alice".

Over the next week or so we will showcase 12 images here on dA.

If you cannot wait, you can see the images already on our web site in the gallery section: www.duirwaigh.com
or join our "Go Ask Alice" group on facebook www.facebook.com/album.php?aid…



Calendar!
There will be a 2011 calendar available in August, available throughout most major bookstores and our web site of course.



Visit our web site and find juicy bits in our store:
www.duirwaigh.com www.duirwaigh.com


Adopt a new friend on eBay
stores.ebay.com/Duirwaigh-Gall…





Flaming Muse


Be sure to check out Angi's audio book:
FLAMING MUSE: MATCHSTICK TALES THAT IGNITE THE SOUL!
we have posted free audio samples here.



More inspiring places


Message from the Muse Blog

Message from the Muse


Angi in Wonderland Blog

Angi in Wonderland


Angi in Wonderland Blog

Cuppa Poetry


Goblin Design Duirwaigh ArtrockCovers
GoblinDesignDuirwaigh GalleryArtrockCovers
<p>
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The Flood

7 min read







Noah's Duirwaigh Ark

and The Flood


When it rains it pours, literally.

It's raning it's pouring the Old Man is Snoring.

Rain rain go away.

I'd been putting this off as long as I could. But since we've returned to Kennesaw, we've had to face some pretty devastating news. Remember the disaster/emergency relief declared for the south last fall? Rains came down and hard, weaving a path of wet destruction for many. Including us. It washed out our roof, our garage, our car, and half the walls in our house.

No problem, I thought. That's why you buy insurance! So for the past few weeks, we've been waiting for the news from the adjuster. And let's just say, our new year didn't start with good news.

We were packing and sorting anyway, for a big move, but now life seems to be shouting GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!

But before we can get out, we're going to have to save our house, our roof, our car. There's no moving away from an animal this wounded. Tens of thousands of dollars in damages and I don't even want to tell you what All-State insurance company is offering. It's embarrassing and I'd rather focus on the positive.

And speaking of positive, we believe firmly that CRISIS is just OPPORTUNITY in disguise. So we'll use this as an opportunity to do something radical. We're going to learn how to ask for, and receive, help. We try to have at least one charity auction per year, and this year, we're the charity. Introducing, THE NOAH's ARK Duirwaigh Relief Fund. You can help any number of ways:

Adopt a new friend on eBay
stores.ebay.com/Duirwaigh-Gall…</p>

Buy something juicy from our store:
www.duirwaigh.com

Send us good mojo!

As many of you know, Duirwaigh has been a provider of inspiration for over a decade. We've created inspirational films, music, stories and projects --and labored to keep those musings available for free.




If we've touched you in some way, please consider us a friend in deed, who's now a friend in need. We thank you in advance for any and all kindnesses shown, great and small.

And hey! If you know a roofer, a repairman or a construction crew, send 'em over!





Celebrating our 4th DD!


We invite you to our new portal of inspiration!
Come and join the Too Good and True Tribe on
Duirwaigh Studios!
Duirwaigh Studios by DuirwaighStudios

In our forum you can also post links to Duirwaigh inspired art and if you like our new site you can vote for us here.


Which blog design did you like best?


Which design did you like the most?
Vote for it here on dA or on our web site www.duirwaigh.com.

Duirwaigh Studios by DuirwaighStudios Message from the Muse by DuirwaighStudios Angi in Wonderland by DuirwaighStudios World of Silas Toball by DuirwaighStudios




My Wish for You


Watch our new film "My Wish for You" that is the follow-up of "A Knock at the Door". Enjoy!




My Wish for You




At long last, it's here!

The All-New Duirwaigh portal is NOW LIVE.


Come play with us!

The new website features:

A Community forum
A comment system for all your faves
Free inspiration audio clips
Polls
Games


You can also:

Take a tour of Duirwaigh Studios
Join our Tribe! Read about the contagious goodness that is the Too Good and True,
shop for inspirational books, calendars, greeting cards and more,
Stay inspired with our blogs, all of them permanently moved to the the website.



Flaming Muse


Be sure to check out Angi's audio book:
FLAMING MUSE: MATCHSTICK TALES THAT IGNITE THE SOUL!
we have posted free audio samples here.



More inspiring places


Message from the Muse Blog

Message from the Muse


Angi in Wonderland Blog

Angi in Wonderland


Angi in Wonderland Blog

Cuppa Poetry


Goblin Design Duirwaigh ArtrockCovers
GoblinDesignDuirwaigh GalleryArtrockCovers
<p>

Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In

 


Seven Day Collage Smackdown is finished!




So I'm playing in my collage journal the other day, just placing things this way and that on acrylic-painted Fabriano paper, and I get in a groove. Something manifests that I like. Really like. But I'm thinking "G-yod, I wish I had some Photoshop skills. What could this piece become if I knew my way around alpha channels, masking tools and clone stamps?"

Dang.

So I look up from my desk to gaze at my gorgeous husband Silas, who is, (guess what?) a Photoshop guru. Now I've been with this guy for six years and if I haven't learned Photoshop yet, I ain't gonna learn it. It's my own lazy fault, 'cuz  Silas has been a professional Photoshop teacher since 1997. But marrying a digital art guru has its perks. "Hey! Wanna challenge?"

And thus it begins. Silas takes my journal, scans in the collage and starts playing. An hour into it, I'm so excited by what I see on his screen my brain begins inspiration-reeling with ideas. "Wonder what Aimee would do with this same image?" Aimee is a dear friend and also a highly skilled digital artist in the Duirwaigh crew. So I jump onto my chat program: "Hey Aimee! We've started a collage project and want to challenge you to participate. Did you just hear that? It was the sound of the gauntlet falling to the floor. Pick it up or die of shame."



And with those words, the Seven Day Digital Collage Smackdown was born. Well, to be perfectly clear, it didn't start as a seven day smackdown, but we all liked what we did so much we just kept going. The rules? Each duelist was given a physical mixed-media collage and had one day to shape, mold, stretch, chisel, whittle, arrange, rearrange or derange said piece. Other than the time limit, and the fact that each artist had to use my physical collage as the basis of their work, there really were no limitations. It was like that scene in the movie Grease, when Danny Zuko shows up to drag race that creepy pock-mark faced guy in the souped-up black car with the flames on it? He turns to Danny and says with a snarl: "One rule. There are no rules."

That pretty much sums it up. 'Cept we weren't snarling. Not really. Well, maybe a little. But we were smilin' too.

The Seven Day Digital Collage Smackdown is being showcased on Deviant Art where we'll post the original art once a day for seven days, just as they were created. The physical collage by Angi Sullins, plus the two "smacks" by artists Silas Toball and Aimee Stewart will be shown, and viewers can vote for their favorites and leave comments.

You can read more about the project on:

Message from the Muse www.messagefromthemuse.com
Foxfires www.foxfires.com
Angi in Wonderland www.messagefromthemuse.com/angi_in_wonderland


First day:

Angi: Figment - Mixed Media by DuirwaighStudios   Silas: Figment - Digital by DuirwaighStudios Aimee: Bedazzled - SD 1 by Foxfires



Second day:

Angi: Cirque du Soul by DuirwaighStudios   Silas: Magnificience by DuirwaighStudios Without Words by DuirwaighStudios Aimee: Purveyor of Pranceitude - SD 2 by Foxfires



Third day:

Angi: Possible Garden by DuirwaighStudios   Silas: Eostre by DuirwaighStudios In Flight by DuirwaighStudios Aimee: Wild Blue Yonder - SD 3 by Foxfires



Fourth day:

Angi: Cherrypicker - Mixed Media by DuirwaighStudios   Silas: Cherrypicker - Digital Collage by DuirwaighStudios Aimee: Tooty la Fruity - SD 4 by Foxfires



Fifth day:

Angi: Extra Choice - Unfinished by DuirwaighStudios   Silas: Visionkeeper by DuirwaighStudios Aimee: le jardin des lapins - SD 5 by Foxfires



Sixth day:

Angi: Lollygag by DuirwaighStudios   Silas: Still Life in Motion by DuirwaighStudios Aimee: Whirligig - SD 6 by Foxfires



Seventh and final day:

Angi: Africa by DuirwaighStudios   Silas: Elephant's Bride by DuirwaighStudios Aimee: Afrique - SD 7 by Foxfires



Vote in our poll which day's entries were most exciting for you!



More inspiring places


Message from the Muse Blog

Message from the Muse


Angi in Wonderland Blog

Angi in Wonderland

Angi in Wonderland Blog

Cuppa Poetry


Goblin Design Duirwaigh ArtrockCovers
GoblinDesignDuirwaigh GalleryArtrockCovers
<p>

Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In



Photoshop CS4 - A Brief Review



Photoshop can easily be considered the main hub in the creative workflow of most graphic design or digital illustration projects. Undeniably it has become one of the most influential and most important computer graphic applications in our present time.

Each new version then is being anticipated with a lot of expectations.

Last fall then we had CS4.

I decided once more to jump on the bandwagon after I had deliberately skipped CS3 due to a lack of improvements that would have justified the investment (BTW I have been using Photoshop almost daily since before the introduction of layers...).

Adobe is still on the path of adding new features without taking much care in optimizations. This becomes painfully evident in the fact that in comparison to CS2, CS4 runs considerably slower. At least on a Apple G5. The G5 is still within the range of the System requirements. However, for those who hope to run CS4 on a G5 there will be a harsh disappointment. It runs - barely. Even the most basic actions are so slow that I have to say it is unusable. Where CS2 was working sufficiently fluent, CS4 brings it near to a grinding halt.

On an Intel Mac this looks now different. On my Mac Pro CS4 is quick and performs flawless and makes use of all 8 processor cores. On the plus side we have now extra help by utilizing the GPU on the graphic card. Some filters are performing much faster with this help.
the jagged looks of images in 33% or 66% zoom are history, though some graphic cards, like mine, does only support this on the first 4 opened images. If you open more, you are being thrown back to the past.

Another new thing that got implemented is that we finally have a work area with a grey background, saving us from the visual confusions of underlying open Finder windows. Plus we have Tabs now which helps keeping our screen uncluttered. But it also seems that the concept has not been thought through properly. dragging a layer from one tab to another is not possible. You have to exit the full screen mode to divide the tabs across two windows before you can drag layers between them. It pretty much defies the whole point of having the full screen mode. If there is another way to drag layers to another tab within the same window, I would love to hear about it.

This brings me to another point. The manual. Because there no longer is one. No printed manual and not even a PDF. Nothing (At least I could not find it on the installation disc). You have to get online to access the help pages and they are not as easy and efficient to navigate as a PDF or a physical book would be. It is hard to find answers to specific questions. At an upgrade price of $350 I would have expected a proper manual. At least a PDF.

Another question arises in me why on earth does Adobe keep adding new features, blowing up the application into a gigantic balloon that most likely makes most computers gasp at the prospect of having to launch Photoshop?
I think it is high time to implement the principles of modular architecture on the user level. I would like to see an option in the preferences to choose certain main features or groups of features to not being loaded on the next start. Do I need 3D features or animation each time I want to work on a photograph? I doubt it. Why not giving me the option to not load it at the next session and trade in some more freed up resources?

There are numerous new features in CS4 which I am sure are being described in detail on many places on the web for you to read about. But there are also some that seemingly never change or being improved. I would have loved to see improvement in the "create warped text" dialog. More variations and ways to further customize it.
Other built-in filters still give you only a thumbnail sized preview when by now it should easily possible to implement a live preview.

The enhanced Quick Selection tool is great, sometimes it surpasses the Magic Wand and is, well - quick and fun to use.

Nice is the new dialog that lets you edit edges of selection. This has proven to be very handy.

Another useful improvement comes with the mask mode which is now much easier to use.

The animation feature is great, but does it really belong into Photoshop? Maybe an "After Effects Light" would have been a good idea. Even though on the other hand it is kinda nice making little slideshows right here and then within Photoshop where I just had edited the images. I am also still trying to figure out how to easily fade in and out layers. This would seem to be a basic requirement, but so far I haven't seen a corresponding function in the menus (I haven't spent a lot of time on it though). Nice is the option to have a sound track enabling you to time images to the audio.

One major bug has still been carried over into CS4 is this: When you work on a large image in high resolution. When you then resize it into a small image for making a web ready file and go to "save for web" you may end up waiting forever before the panel comes up. There is a workaround though: mark a small area within the image you want to export as jpg and copy it into the clipboard. After that going to "save for web" will not take much time at all. An unnecessary bug that should have wiped out by now.

In conclusion I would say that Adobe needs to do more homework. As being one of the biggest software manufacturers I would have expected more. Not more features, but more streamlining of the existing features instead of piling on a few more gadgets. Oh, and write a manual.
A lot of money they ask for an upgrade which is best spent every second new upgrade as single steps contain too much hot air in my opinion. Again this latest upgrade to CS4 is a mixed bag at best and for those who still work on a G5 it is plain unusable.

I also think more competition would be good. In this sense the merge of Macromedia and Adobe was a disaster. Hence I suggest supporting alternative manufacturers of image editing software such as Pixelmator by obtaining a license of their software - it does not break the bank and supports the developers in their goal of eventually creating a more serious alternative to PS.

Apple on the other hand seems to be on the right path with Snow Leopard. Efficiency not features is the motto for this new version. I wish Adobe did the same thing.




Celebrating our 2nd DD


We happily announce that today we got our 2nd Daily Deviation. Thank you everybody visiting - Be inspired!




More inspiring places


Message from the Muse Blog

Message from the Muse


Angi in Wonderland Blog

Angi in Wonderland

Angi in Wonderland Blog

Cuppa Poetry


Goblin Design Duirwaigh ArtrockCovers
GoblinDesignDuirwaigh GalleryArtrockCovers
<p>

Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Featured

New Book and Online Workshop! by DuirwaighStudios, journal

Alice in Wonderland by DuirwaighStudios, journal

The Flood by DuirwaighStudios, journal

Seven Day Collage Smackdown finished! by DuirwaighStudios, journal

Photoshop CS4 - A Brief Review by DuirwaighStudios, journal