For Your Education & Inspiration...

The Monthly Muse

AUGUST 1, 2005 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

The Black & White of It... Everyday Black & White:

As artists in the modern
world, we have an abun-
dance of choices. There
are hundreds of papers,
paints, stickers, inks, and
rubber stamps for us to
choose from.
Often, I hear this from
new artists: there are so
many techniques, and so
many products, and so
many ideas, I just don’t
know where to start.
This month, your Muse
is going to help you out a
bit.
Put away all the other
crayons in the box, be-
cause there are only two
color choices this month:
black and white.
Now, before you panic,
don’t think about what
you’re giving up. Think
of your limited color
palette as a plus rather
than a minus. This is
your chance to stop
thinking about color, and
start thinking about com-
position---without using
an accent color, how will
you highlight an impor-
tant word, or help the
viewer to focus on an
important image?
Start your work by go-
ing through your art sup-
plies and pulling out
items that might be used
in a black and white
piece. I’ve started a list of
items I found laying
around my work room
on the right side of this
page. Can you think of ♦ Paperback pages
other things that are
♦ Newspapers
black and white? Other
artists who chose to work ♦ Photographs
in black and white? I’ll
bet when you think about ♦ Labels
it, my list doesn’t even Not so everyday:
scratch the surface.
♦ Dominos
Think about what black
and white includes. How ♦ Record albums
can you exploit all the
♦ Playing cards
different colors of black
and shades of white to ♦ Foreign text pages
create a visually interest-
ing piece? Can you create ♦ India ink
your visual interest using Black & White Art:
textures and patterns
rather than colors? ♦ Aubrey Beardsley
To get you started, I’ve ♦ Charles Dana Gibson
included some black and ♦ Ansel Adams
white ideas and clip art
in this month’s issue. ♦ Robert Doisneau
Now, let’s get started...

Is It Really?
I took this photo last
winter, after a rare
North Texas snow
storm. Nice black and
white photo, right?
Nope---it’s in full color.
Nature blotted out
most of the color by
supplying plenty of
contrast. Notice the
whiteness of the snow
next to the darkness of
the tree branches? That
stark contrast is one of
the things that tricks
our eye into seeing a
black and white photo.
Look at the break in
the tree branches to-
ward the right of the
photo, and you’ll see
just a hint of blue sky---
the one giveaway that
this is a color photo.
 THE MONTHLY MUSE
45 Record Book
I’ll make books out of just
about anything that holds still
long enough. I really love
making round books, simply
because they’re seen less often
than square or rectangular
ones. Since I’ve already done
more than my share of CD
books, I thought I’d try one
from an old 45 record, pur-
chased at a local second hand
store.
To make this book, you’ll
need:
• 45 record
• Duct tape or metal tape
• Drill & drill bit
• Papers for pages
• Chipboard
• Hole punch
• Assorted papers and pho-
tos for cover decoration
• Chalk inkpads
• 1/4” screw post
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue stick
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
1. Decide which side of the
record will be the front, and
where the screw post closure
will go. (Mine was at the top.)
Flip the record over, and apply
a piece of duct tape or metal
tape where the hole will be
punched. This will help rein-
force it.
2. Flip the record over, and
drill a hole in it, right over the
metal tape. I used a 7/32” bit,
and drilled against a piece of
wood.
3. Trace around the record
onto papers for pages. Since
my book was black and white,
I chose white cardstock, some
dictionary pages, sheet music,
and some pages from an Ara-
bic book. Cut the pages out
after tracing.
4. Trace the record onto a
piece of chipboard. We’ll use
this as the back of the book,
to help support the pages. Cut
out the circle after tracing.
5. Punch a hole in the chip-
board, matching it with the
hole you drilled in the record.
Use the chipboard as a guide
to punch holes in all the
pages. I use a heavy duty metal
punch to do my holes. Some
people might prefer to use a
Japanese screw punch for this.
Page 2
6. Decorate the front of your
record. Since mine was Swanee
by Al Jolson, I used a couple
of photos of him, plus a scrap
of sheet music, leftover from
cutting the pages. I glued eve-
rything in place, cutting
around the center circle of the
record. Then I dragged some
chalk inks across the papers:
Bisque to tone the whites
down a bit, and Charcoal
around the outer edge of the
record.
7. Stack the backing, pages,
and the record, and attach the
screw post. Your book should
be just about as full as the
height of the post. Don’t over-
fill it, or you’ll be putting too
much pressure on the record.
Let it swing freely, to keep it
from snapping.
I mixed my pages up a bit---a
few dictionary pages, then
some music, then some Arabic
text, more music, etc. Throw
in a few surprises here and
there---maybe a black and
white drawing, or a photo?
Maybe a piece of black mul-
berry paper? Have fun with it--
-it’s your book!
 THE MONTHLY MUSE
Fortune in a Film Canister
Here’s a little bit of silliness
for you to use when you want
to give something surprising.
To make this altered film can-
ister, you’ll need:
• 35mm film
• Asian text paper
• Computer & printer
• China Whisper & Chin-
yen fonts
• Geisha images
• Glue stick
• Paper trimmer or scissors
• Wire
• Metallic floss
• Metal tape
1. Print your message and
images using your computer
and printer. I drew out a series
of boxes roughly 1” square,
put a little black border
around them, and then ar-
ranged my text and images in
them. The text was done with
Chinyen The chop was done
with Chinese Whisper. I
cropped down my two geisha
images to the same size, and
dropped them into the same
size box.
You can also create your canis-
ter label now and print it out
on the same sheet. Cut every-
thing out, keeping track of all
those little boxes.
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
2. Lay out your boxes in the
order they’ll be applied to the
film. Roll the film out and
clamp the end to something
heavy so it won’t roll back . I
used a kitchen clip for this.
Apply the boxes to the film
using a glue stick, spacing out
so a little bit of film shows
between them. Let the glue dry
completely.
3. While the glue is drying,
let’s work on the canister. Cut
a strip of Asian text paper
slightly shorter than the
height of the canister without
the lid on it.
4. Glue the paper around the
canister. I like to overlap my
papers so the edges of the text
run into each other, with no
margins showing. This gives it
sort of a seamless look.
5. Glue the canister label over
the Asian text paper.
6. I thought the canister
needed a little more fun, so I
wrapped some silver wire
around it. I twisted the ends
tightly, and then wrapped the
tails around the end of a
paintbrush to create little
coils. After I was finished, I
realized I missed the chance to
slide a few seed beads onto the
wire---that would have been a
good addition.
Page 3
7. Back to the film spool. Cut
a piece of metallic tape slightly
smaller than the height of the
spool. Wrap it around the
canister, starting under the
piece of film and wrapping
outward. Trim the tape just
above where the film comes
out.
8. Weave a piece of metallic
floss through the holes at the
end of the film strip. Maybe
the little tab at the end of the
film needs a sign saying Pull
Me? You decide.
 THE MONTHLY MUSE VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 4

bA

||But|Seriously...||

Film Star

These images are provided for your personal use only. They are not to be copied and given to others, or posted to groups or web sites..
 THE MONTHLY MUSE VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 VOLUME 1, I SSUE 1 Page 5

Black & White

These images are provided for your personal use only. They are not to be copied and given to others, or posted to groups or web sites..
 THE MONTHLY MUSE VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 6

Finding the Threshold

Like an increasing number
of digital artists, I use
Adobe PhotoShop to create
my artwork. I've been work-
ing with PhotoShop for
about seven years, starting
with 3.0, and working my
way up through PhotoShop
CS. I'm starting to think I'll
never learn everything this
software can do---just when
I think I know everything I
need, I learn something
new that makes my life eas-
ier.
One of the functions I
used to create artwork for
this issue was the Threshold
command. Threshold con-
verts images to high-
contrast black and white,
and allows the manipula-
tion of the ratio of black to
white. When using this
command, all pixels lighter
than the threshold point
are white, and darker are
black. By changing the
threshold, you change the
amount of black to white.
Clear as mud? Maybe a few
examples will help.
Here's a black and white
photo of actress Louise
Brooks. Actually, black and
white is inaccurate in this
case---she's really in gray-
scale. I was fortunate with
this image, because the con-
trast of the original was so
high: her hair is black, and
her skin is very white. There
is a little grey going on in
the background of the
photo, but not too much
on the figure. For me, this
makes the image a good
candidate for manipulating
with the Threshold com-
mand.
Here's Louise after having
her Threshold manipulated.
(Sounds sort of kinky, does-
n't it?) As I'd hoped, her
skin turned completely
white, while her hair, eyes
and eyeliner turned black.
Notice her lips? Black out-
line with a white highlight---
a little more contrast than
the original photo, but not
too bad. Now, look at the
background of the photo:
the lower left corner that
was very dark in the origi-
nal has gone to black, and
the gray has gone to white.
As I said, I was fortunate
with this photo, because the
contrast of the original was
so high. Although it's possi-
ble to manipulate the con-
trast of any image, photos
and faces tend to be diffi-
cult. Too much contrast
tends to flatten the image,
and our eyes want a little
dimension when it comes
to faces. Manipulating the
image to create dimension
in the face very often re-
sults in poor image quality
overall. Since you want the
maximum detail in specific
areas of the image, very
often everything else must
take a back seat. The solu-
tion to this problem is to
separate different sections
of the photo and manipu-
late them differently.

Getting Started with Digital Artwork

Wondering how to start working digitally? If you’re good with new software, simply plop yourself down at a com-
puter and give one of the better graphics programs a go. Although I work with PhotoShop, it is a bit pricey ($600-$700
to start, plus upgrades every year or so). A reasonably priced alternative that many digital artists use is Paint Shop Pro
by Corel, which retails for under $100.

Most graphics software comes with tutorials of some kind. I highly recommend doing them, and then heading to the
web site of whichever program you’re using. Chances are, there will be plenty of step-by-step information there. Just
follow each lesson, and then try to incorporate what you’ve learned into a small piece. ATCs are ideal for this.

Beyond the lessons, it’s practice, practice, practice. As with any other type of creative skill, it takes time and plenty of
trial and error to become a really skilled digital artist.
 THE MONTHLY MUSE
Finding the Threshold (continued)
Here's a photo of a daisy
in grayscale. Wow, it's really
washed out! Totally unsuit-
able artwork for my digital
collage. Since using the
Threshold command
worked so well with
Louise's photo, perhaps it
will help this one along as
well.
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
Well, this is what I want
for the petals, but where's
the detail in the center? The
Threshold setting for the
petals isn't going to work
for the center. What I need
is two separate Thresholds,
one for the petals, and an-
other for the center.
VOLUME 1, I SSUE 1
First, I tried using the
Threshold command on the
full image. It still appears
somewhat washed out. I like
the detail of the center of
the daisy here, but the pet-
als are very hard to see.
Page 7
I simply made a copy of
the center of the daisy,
moving it onto its own
layer, and then manipulated
the two pieces individually.
Now, I have the perfect
black and white daisy!
I can hear you saying,
“That’s great Lisa, but what
do you do with it?” Well,
the collage at left was cre-
ated using both the daisy
and Louise Brooks photos
that were manipulated with
the Threshold command
(plus a tree photo and an
architectural image). I do a
lot of this type of digital
collage for postcards and
artist trading cards. It’s very
freeing to be able to use any
set of images under the sun,
resized and recolored at
will, without ever using up
the supply. Digital collage
is something that doesn’t
use up expendables---no
matter how many of them I
make, the original images
are still available for me to
use later. What could be
better than that?
 THE MONTHLY MUSE
Positive and Negative
Here’s one more black and
white idea:
The basic concept is to stamp
the same image twice: once
with black ink on white paper,
and then again with white ink
on black paper. Now, just
about any image will look nice
stamped with black dye ink on
white paper---the trick is to
find something that will also
look decent stamped with
white pigment ink on black.
This might take a little experi-
menting. In general, stamps
that have less detail look best
stamped in white. The first
couple of stamps I tried were
too detailed, and the white
pigment ink made them look
mushy. This stamp seemed to
work well, though---a bit of
detail, but nothing too fine.
www,TenTwoStudios.com
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 8
I split my white image in half,
right up the middle of the sun
motif. That gave me two white
halves to work with. I did
NOT split my black image. I
find this technique works bet-
ter for me if I don’t make cuts
in both images.
A little trimming to square over paper to create a black
the piece up, and it’s ready to and white background. I glued
be applied to the front of a the black scrap in place be-
card. I decided to use my left- hind my sun face, leaving a
wide border, then applied the
whole thing to a white card. I
After lining up my second
trimmed the black excess away,
white piece, I decided that I
and my black and white pieces
liked the more detailed por-
where perfectly aligned.
tion of the face stamped in
black. From here, I can simply
Try this technique, and see
glue my white piece down
what sorts of fun things you
onto the black.
come up with!
The Monthly Muse is a subscription newsletter. The articles and images presented here are for
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may not print out copies for your friends, or post the newsletter or any portion of the newsletter to
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tinue producing these things. If your friends want copies, point at this paragraph, and encourage
them to subscribe, so I can afford to keep the ideas coming.
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tribute it in all or in part forfeits her subscription fee, and is subject to legal action.
The Monthly Muse © Lisa Vollrath & Ten Two Studios, 2005. All rights reserved.