Maker Faire was awesome! so many things to see, almost needed two days to see it all. You can see all of the Maker Faire photos on Flicker, just follow this LINK. And yes, we saw Adam Savage!

Then I graduated. All of my family and some friends came up to see the ceremony. The ceremony its self was a bit long, but the key note speaker was pretty good. Even though it was on the morning the weather felt really hot! See more photos HERE!

Last but not least is Fanime. I didn’t take as many photos as I normally do, probably because I just wanted to enjoy the con. There were plenty of really good cosplayers. Tim got his wall scroll and I got m  BAAU Down book making us quite happy! Check out just a tad more photos HERE.

Tonight I was messing around with photoshop and illustrator and I thought I’d share what I was up to. Above is the final result of tonight and I’m quite pleased with it. I’ve never done any illustrations like this, I always try to make the images look too realistic when working from a photo. Maybe this was easier because I was working with a photo of my self. The closest I got to the flat illustration look it this.

Here’s the progression of experiments that I worked on tonight:

Original photo: heavily rotated and a bit cropped (mostly on the sides)

Version 1: messing around with cropping and filters in photoshop. The main things I wanted for this image was to get the color in the scarf to come out, get the green in my eyes to pop and the color of my glasses to be more prominent.

Version 2: About the same as above but in black with a background color, still experimenting. Tim called this on a Andy Warhol Megan. It’s interesting, but I wasn’t content with it.

New cropped photo: it’s still from the original photo, but it has been edited a bit more. I like the highly saturated and contrasting look to this photo. I changed to crop because I felt like the scarf was working in the illustrations and I liked emphasizing the curls on the left.

Version 3: The more I look at this version, the more I like it. Out of all the photoshop experiments I like this on the best. I made the previous photo black and white; messed with the dodging and burning to get the hair the way I want it; and messed with filters.

Now you know what I do with my “college Friday night” a but dorky, I know. But once I get a streak of inspiration to do something I need to use it as much as I can, you never know when another will come your way. I love the result I got tonight (first image)! I find it interesting that I worked with photos of myself and not someone else. I’m such a narcissist!

I hope you enjoyed the blog post, sorry its a bit long at least there are pretty pictures.

I’m not going to show my drawing because it looks like crap next to the vectorized images, even though the teacher likes it. First image is part of b (actually made this morning!) and the other 2 are for part b, I need to decide which one I want to develop a little more. Which one do you like better?

All works are copyrighted and all rights go to Megan Berry

Oro by =Mella-pink

I love Gustav Klimt’s works and see it be other artist’s inspiration is amazing. That how you know you are a great artist, if people start to copy your work. This photomilipuation is quite amazing and pulls emotion out of you.

I just watched Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus the lady we know her photos but not her story. I enjoyed this film because it is was not an exact biography about the woman but an imaginary recreation of what she might have felt during her life.  I highly recommend this film, its very much an artistic film like The Fall (also very good).  I applaude Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr for their wonderful performance in this film.

Synesthesia from Terri Timely on Vimeo.

“syn·es·the·sia syn·aes·the·sia (sĭn’ĭs-thē’zhə)

n.

A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.

A sensation felt in one part of the body as a result of stimulus applied to another, as in referred pain.

The description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another.”

Herb & Dorthy is the the cutest documentary about a couple who collected art over the years. Their house is filled with all kinda of art, they don’t care what style it is just as long as they like it. What I liked about this cute old couple is that they got to know the artist, called them every week just to seek whats new and what they are up to. Here’s the trailer, unfortunately its only playing in in select theaters but I’ll be looking for it on dvd.

HERB & DOROTHY Trailer from Herb & Dorothy on Vimeo.

La Chanze by Amy Arbus in her actors collection

Puddle by Amy Arbus in her rites and rituals b/w collection

Street art: Sulukule Sergi by Oydalar

zen and the art of playlist $12

Horseshoe crab’s uses a combination of cardboard, acyclic paint ans sharpie maskers to make these deliciously cute mix media eco illustrations. Most of heritems are under $20, and if you just want something small there are pieces that are just $3! (Perfect for a starving college student like myself.)

I had a great privilege to ask the owner or horseshoe crab a couple of questions:

Which piece is your favorite?

*glances around at all the paintings, pokes at her accordion*
Well, I don’t think it’s possible to have a favorite! Each piece is a friend who decided to make themselves known in paint. some of them let me know that they’d love to go traveling and poke at someone new while others decide to hang around with me.
It’s so hard to say who I love best, much like having three best friends simultaneously, or loving gnocchi and hijiki salad with equal passion. I have to admit that I really love my tributes to brooklyn. there’s something about realizing all the possibilities when you have so many people in one place – imagine the fun and good vibes if people wanted to play more. whenever I visit a city I arrive with so much love, and I pass it along in so many random creative ways. Every bit of love matters, and spreads like ripples on a pond. <3

Why the use of cardboard?

Well, a few years ago I was inspired by someone who could make just about anything out of cardboard. this was an artistic epiphany for me – realizing that one doesn’t need to have lots of money to purchase art supplies in order to make art that can be enjoyed beyond the secret pages of a notebook. And besides, cardboard is so fun to collect – it’s been everywhere! You can get Chinese vegetable boxes, bike wheel boxes, florist cartons.. you name it! you get to see where it’s been, who handled it before you – and then give it a new life! Cardboard dumpsters are fun to play in and no one will ever tell you that you can’t take your fill. Cardboard also has an amazing texture and personality – there’s a reason why cardboard boxes were my best friends when i was little! Secret submarine dinosaur cave space ship ahoy!

What is your favorite material to use?

I really love Sharpie Paint markers. I hadn’t expected the love affair to be so passionate and to last this long, but it’s true – they are truly amazing. When I’m feeling more patient and dreamy, I love my long handled acrylic paint brushes. I sit in a circle of cans of discount mis-tint paint and put on a good album. Music is by far the most sacred material included in any art I do & I often write the album or song I was listening to when a piece was painted. Mm.. Mice Parade.

What is your inspiration in making art?

My inner child said so. The conversation pretty much went like this:
Inner Child: Hey Amy, when was the last time you hung out with the T-Rex with the bowler hat? You guys have the same favorite flavor of ice cream and he knows where all the good tree forts are.
Me: Yeah, whatever. I like feeling like this.
Inner Child: *gets a wild look in her eye, picks up a stick* What? Boring and grown up? Come on! There’s adventure to be had! *gets distracted* Whoa! Did you see that bug?!
Me: *looks up from self-inflicted blankness* Wow.. that is a cool bug!
Inner Child: *grins wildly and rolls around on the grass*
Me: *gets up and rolls around on the grass*
*eventually goes inside after playing with a katydid, finds some paper, and welcomes home all her old friends*

Any advice for the artists and crafters out there?

Be yourself! Do whatever makes you feel excited, inspired and daring! Art is breath and dream and adventure all rolled into one. Don’t let other people’s opinions get between you and a good time when it comes to art! Who knows what amazing things will happen if you relax and let yourself play with all the colors at the same time, or do a painting using your knees? At the very least your pants will look awesome after and you’ll have a good story to tell.

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