At the Adobe MAX conference (Oct. 23-27), the legendary Russell Brown lead the three day intensive MAX lab "From Reality to Renaissance." Dr. Brown, Senior Creative Director at Adobe Systems and an Emmy Award-winning instructor, is well-known for his wacky and whimsical design work as well as for testing the creative limits of his tools.
In his lab "From Reality to Renaissance," Brown provided participants with advanced imaging tips and techniques using Adobe Photoshop CS5. Participants created unique Photoshop paintings starting from a photograph of their choice. The resulting digital art, printed on both canvas and woodblock, exhibited at the MAX Monday night reception. This exhibit featured some incredible work created during the three day lab session.
At the reception, I had the opportunity to speak directly with Brown, who was sporting his awesome fiery-flame-like wig that he had acquired in Hollywood. We spoke regarding what he perceives as some of the emerging stylistic trends in digital art. He mentioned that, "everything is HDR now." Brown also expressed that he personally enjoys when digital artwork is "printed on canvas, or better yet on woodblocks," which he described as having the benefit of a more "organic" feel.
No doubt, the texture, depth and brushstrokes apparent on the canvases and woodblocks from Brown's lab all added to the perception of hand painted art. The lab had used a HP large-format printer to create these museum quality paintings.
In terms of Brown's reference to the use of high dynamic range (HDR) imaging in digital art, the Merge HDR Pro feature in Photoshop proves much improved in CS5. The HDR effect creates a dramatic feel in the photo, because the range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image are increased. For examples of some stunning photographs using HDR techniques, visit: smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/10/35-fantastic-hdr-pictures/
Dr. Brown's exciting three day lab will return to the LA Convention Center next year at Adobe MAX 2011.
Meanwhile, please do check back soon for continued informative articles covering this year's MAX conference including more Photoshop highlights!
Comments
Awesome article. Great inside info and scoop. Entertaining and highly informative- potentially best one yet and looking forward to more!!!
The idea of being able to see the artwork from the workshop was totally awesome. And beyond description are the HDR photos from the link you gave. Mind-blowing--they do blur the line-the intensity is truly riveting.
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