Did you know I have a secret obsession?  It’s looking at what people can do with stock photos.  I really enjoy a “before” and “after” look.   When I started on my book publishing journey, there were not a lot of options.  I ended up going the digital art route b/c even the stock photo places were not an everyday thing at that time.  I sometimes wish I had started with stock photography, but I think my art is unique and I learned a lot about digital art in my journey.  However, I am still intrigued with the stock photos that get transformed into art.

I had contemplated getting a subscription to a stock photo site. The only problem is it isn’t economical to pay that per month just “play” in Photoshop.  I wanted to see if I could even do something.  I downloaded some pictures from Pixabay and Pexels.  Then they sat on my computer for like a month.  Yesterday something took hold of me and I had the itch to try to make a picture.  I started with these photos:

Then I made this:  

Then after some more fighting and arguing with my NIK plug-in and a few tweaks with my tablet brush I took it to this:

Hey, I always knew those water line brushes would come in handy, right?  Then I got a migraine and had to sleep for an hour.  This took me about 4 hours on and off to finish while doing laundry, trying to eat, and fighting with my plug-ins.  So, the next time you cringe at paying somebody $100.00 for an eBook cover just remember it probably took them a lot more time to make the cover than you think.

I’d like to use this for promos and what not, but I’m not sure I trust the licensing on those free sites.  I’m sure it’s fine for practice and editorial uses, but if I was going to make stuff for re-sale I’d get some stock from Deposit Photos or something like that.  It’s a lot cheaper than being sued.

Or be like me and use Iray to render out photorealistic mermaids in Studio 😉

Oh and I absolutely love that pink fish!  It’s so pretty!