Inspired when I close my eyes...

Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I posted something here. I have not been well, and was giving myself a little break from blogging, designing and making tutorials so I can recover quickly.

I just wanted to share a thought with you all. As I said in my previous post, when I close my eyes before I sleep, I see wonderful artwork and designs form in my head. Designs that I have never seen before. And very often, I don't remember them the next morning. Some things I try to hold on to so I can implement later, but 90% of it is gone with my sleep.

I had a nice chat with my friend last night, and he said that if he could, he would stop sleeping completely just so that he would not waste time and get more productive instead. I totally agree with him. As for me, I would want to close my eyes just so I could have all those visuals, and then resume working on them without sleeping.

If only we could do that...!

I shared my experience with another friend today, and she said that she got the same visuals when she was in the shower, and sometimes before sleeping as well.

I feel that this is an amazing thing; a gift that we should be grateful for and not let go of.

Image from: http://astrodynamics.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/inspiration.jpg

From what I analyze from it, I feel that this happens when we are really passionate about something we do. While we are stressed, we force our minds to generate ideas; but ideas don't really come that way. At least not for me. Ideas come when we are at our most relaxed state of mind. Sleeping, shower, meditation are some of the ways we achieve a state of relaxation, and that is how the ideas and visuals start flowing in.

What I suggest is that if you have similar experiences, keep a notepad or cell phone next to you at all times. When you get them, jot them down to refer to them later on. Trust me, we can achieve a lot of success if we listened to the creativity of our subconscious mind :-)

As for those who don't get these visuals, it is completely fine as well, the main thing is being PASSIONATE about something. Life is meaningless if we go along our daily routines without loving what we do.

I hope I didn't bore anyone here. I just had to share this, who knows, it might just motivate someone :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Design Obsession

Hi Guys,

I don't know whether this is a good or a bad thing, but lately, all I have been thinking about is Design. My friends think this is a good thing, but I still wonder.

Let me explain why,

When I close my eyes, I see a new design in my head and its really beautiful - something I have never done before.

When I sleep, I dream of working on some design.

When I go out, all I notice is the signage and ads everywhere.

In my free time, I am checking out commercials on Youtube.

When I am out taking a walk or having lunch, I am composing logos in my head; probably looking like a maniac with occasional hand gestures.

Sometimes I end up feeling really tired as a result, and that is why I feel it is not always a good thing. This is why I decided to take a break for a few days from working on my page and video tutorials. Tonight I'm supposed to rest and watch a movie, but here I am blogging about my design obsession and editing my latest video.

I wouldn't mind all the above if I wasn't feeling tired or stressed out. I guess,working nearly 11-12 hours a day on my job plus giving additional hours to my page and Youtube channel is really wearing me out.

So if over the next few days, I blog or post lesser things on my page, it's because I am TRYING to get some rest :-)

Just thought of sharing this with whoever reads my blog!

Have a great weekend everyone!

XoXo
Nooreen
designaholism@gmail.com

Angelina Jolie Portrait using Mesh Tool in Adobe Illustrator

Hello all, as you know, I am really interested in exploring the Gradient Mesh Tool in Adobe Illustrator, and although I am not a pro at it yet, I try to challenge myself as much as possible so that with practice I can get better.

This time I decided to make a Mesh Tool portrait of Angelina Jolie's beautiful picture. I can't say I got it perfect, but I think am pretty close.

Here's the original image:

image from: http://top-people.starmedia.com/tmp/swotti/cacheYW5NZWXPBMEGAM9SAWU=UGVVCGXLLVBLB3BSZQ==/imgangelina%20jolie3.jpg

And here's my final.

I have skipped the details on the hands for now, as I wanted to focus mainly on the face. I feel there are still a few things missing in this image, a few minor things that add to her beauty, one day I will fix that hopefully.

For those interested to see the making of this image in video, I will be uploading it on Youtube tomorrow, and will post the video here as well.

Below is the before and after of the image together with the wireframe preview.

 

This rendering took me 4 hours to do. I spent an hour on it everyday since Sunday.

Hope you like it!

Feel free to give your comments and suggestions! :)

Don't forget to Like my page on facebook and to Subscribe to my channel on Youtube!

Have a great day!

Photoshop Morphing: LIBRA: A mix of Lion and Zebra

Hello everyone!
Last night, Just before I fell asleep, I suddenly thought of Zebras (don't ask me why...lol). Then as usual, linked it with Photoshop and decided to Morph it with a lion the next day.
Today, I stuck to this plan and did so.

I took this image:

Image from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/African_Lion_Panthera_leo_Male_Pittsburgh_2800px.jpg

and this one:

 Image from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Grevy%27s_Zebra_1.jpg

...and ended up with...*drumroll*...The Libra! hehe

This one was just for kicks. 

Disclaimer: I didn't mean to offend the lions by stripping off their dignity. I hope they have a sense of humour to accept this :)

Have a great evening everyone!

Extreme Transformation of a Man with a Skin Disease using Adobe Photoshop

Hello all!

Today I will post a photo enhancement I did of a man with a skin disease...I felt very touched by the picture and did my best to make it as perfect as possible while maintaining the natural look.

image from: http://www.rosacea-ltd.com/man_with_rosacea.jpg

I started off using the patch tool to clear out the skin, and then using selective color, I reduced the redness

Next, I enhanced the color a bit

Lastly, I brought down the hairline a bit and darkened the eye brows to complete the look. With some additional color adjustment, the man looked natural, younger and healthier :)

Here's the before and after

I truly hope that whoever this person is, has found a remedy for this skin condition and now really looks like that :)

Have a good night everyone!