Photo Post-Processing in Photoshop, featuring Avi

You don't have to be a good photographer to end up with a great photo. Well, it certainly helps, but if you don't know what all the little dials on your camera do, there is hope for you yet!

I worked with what I did know - composition and basic lighting knowledge - to snap this picture with my Not-a-DSLR Kodak camera. Popping it into Photoshop, I cropped it to create a more interesting composition, then lightened the bright side of her face, and darkened the other, using the dodge/burn tools. I made sure to keep the eye on the darker side a little lighter. I sharpened some areas, where I wanted the focus to be, and blurred other areas, such as her feet and the background (more). To punch up the color, I upped the contrast and saturation slightly. The last bit was to create the faux "lomo" effect around the edge, using the burn tool.

Black Avies

AHAN.org has posted two dogs for adoptions recently. They both look like black versions of Avi! It pains me that I cannot adopt another dog from Taiwan, especially one that is similar in beauty to The Best Dog In The World. So I'm passing the info on to you.

Taiwan dogs like Avi are quite remarkable - they are medium-sized (about 30 lbs) with long, willowy figures, and beautiful faces. They are extremely intelligent, loyal, and loving. Avi has a very soft coat, which somehow has the ability to stay clean. She does not smell at all, not even her breath, and she is not destructive to the house, just her toys.

Of course, I can't guarantee that all Taiwan dogs are like this, but I can guarantee that all of these dogs are loving and loyal and looking for a better life. If you are thinking about adopting a dog, please consider these two, "Inky" and "Nana."

Visit AHAN.org
Click Here for INKY
Click Here for NANA.

Avi in Fierce Competition... SHE NEEDS YOUR VOTES!

Hey guys, Avi has gone head-to-head with several other cute pets in "The Cutest Crafting Pet Contest," over at The Dreamstress Blog.

She needs your votes!!! Go take a jaunt over to The Dreamstress and leave your vote in the comments section!

CONTEST! What Should Avi Be For Halloween?

Let's have a contest!

What should Avi be for Halloween!?

To Enter:
Create an image (draw it, color it, compile it in some way) of a costume for Avi. Keep in mind her size and body type, and that she is a very active pup. For pictures of Avi, join the Avi Fan Club on Facebook.
Upload your costume idea to an image host like Photobucket, Flickr, or even your own blog, and then leave a link to your image in the comments section of this post.

Prize:
There will only be one winner, and the winner will receive an Avi t-shirt or product of their choice from Avi's shop, and will see his or her costume concept created and modelled by the famous "blog dog" herself!

Contest END OCTOBER 1st, 2009: HURRY!!

Avi On the Bed Again

Inspired by that photo I took and posted a week or so ago.

Avi Play-Play

Avi likes to play play, for real real. Typical Avi play play position involves skyward puppybuns, helicopter-like tail gyrations, and enticing gurgling noises. Opportunistic expressions and pumped-up cuteness factor are also apparent.

The AviWorks

Avi's first experience with fireworks did not go well. We had her swaddled in a blanket in J's lap, where she could bury her nose in his armpit. Poor baby! I feel really bad for putting the glow-stick collar around her neck now...

Avigoddro Artiste

I just returned from a week-long trade show at which I saw myriad showrooms choc full o' fabulous home decor, furniture, giftware, and art. I came back with my sense of style re-fueled, and a curious desire to redecorate my pint-sized one bedroom. Luckily for me, the bedroom part of that one bedroom is actually quite nice, with all the complimenting furniture, the pleasingly bold color palette, and the masculine lines with the girly tidbits.

Back in October of 2008, when we were picking out a puppy to add to our lives, color was a factor. In fact, all things were factors, everything from the expected size and body type, to the flop of ears, length of nose, undeniable cuteness factor, snuggle potential, eye and coat color (J doesn't like two-tone eyes, nor two-tone dogs in general!). It's surprising that the perfect puppy came from Taiwan, and is so much a mutt, with such a long mutt lineage, that she and her exotic pack of feral dogs has become homogenized into something called a "Taiwan Dog." How convenient that they are most common in colors black and white.

All that being said, Avi seems to fit perfectly into the color scheme I've somehow compiled for my home decor. These shots of her bored stiff, stretched out in the middle of the bed (sans bedcovers - in the wash), seemed more like art than dog, especially with the hall light casting just enough warmth into the scene. It's like...puppy glam photography of the 60s with sultry, Mondrianesque overtones....

...or just a couple snapshots with one bored dog.

Viral Avi

All of this week and part of last I've had trouble with VIRUSES on my work computer(s). My main comp got infected with a nasty thing called a "rootkit." When I moved to a temporary computer so the first could be cleaned, the virus FOLLOWED me and infected that computer as well! Luckily the third computer I migrated to did not become infected (uh, yet), and now both previously infected computers are back up and running again.

What does this have to do with Avi? Absolutely nothing, but I did sketch this little doodle of her looking NOT AMUSED, as I sat idle, unable to get any of my assignments done, to express my own feelings of discontent at having single-handedly demolished two work computers.

I'm Kyoot!

I sketched this with a real pen, on real paper...then I really scanned it and, well, you know the rest...

I'm thinking of making some Avi t-shirts on Cafepress. Which Avi masterpiece is your favorite?

Que?

Apparently someone (or two someones) somewhere in the world HATES Avi. How this is even possible I do not know. Perhaps they are cat people.

Why do I draw these Avi pictures in the first place? Some of you might think, "hey, this used to be an art blog and I used to like to look at her sketches and paintings, but now all that's here are these stupid dog pictures." True, although the blog has not changed. My time restraints, however, have. Now I'm a "workin' stiff." I work from 8:30 am to 5 pm, with a little too much time spent before and after on the commute. By the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of my computer and paint something. My creative expression, what is left after pouring myself into my design work every day, is now manifest in my costuming projects.

So why do I draw these silly Avi pictures? Throughout the day I need little breaks. Sometimes it's just to look at something new for awhile, and sometimes it's to sketch something that doesn't have to be precise or rendered. It must also be very quick - I don't have liberty to spend any more than about 10 minutes on a doodle, or else I'd be a very bad employee indeed. These elements, combined with missing my puppy daily, lead to these "less-than-brilliant," always ridiculous scribbles of a dog nobody here has ever met. I spent 4 years at SJSU trying to be precise, rendered, "brilliant" and devoid of ridiculousness, so that's just about enough of that drudgery.

By all means, if you love Avi and like the silly drawings of her, let me know by using the poll at right. If you hate Avi, follow Thumper's advice: "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," and mosey on to the next blog, por favor.

Avi StringBean

Did you guys see the fabulous poll to the right? Check it out, and let Avlar know how much you love (or revile) her!

Avi the Carpet Crawler

Avi has a couple odd and vastly amusing behaviors. One is that she likes to hide her chewbone in whatever lump of fabric - blanket, t-shirt, my $15/yd silk - happens to be laying around on the carpet, and then "finds it" again. This involves pulling the blanket (lets say) every which way, stringing it across the floor, locating the lump that is the blanket-covered bone, sandwiching it between her puppypaws, and then chewing it....through the blanket. If, on occassion, she finds the bone and it is exposed, she might toss it in the air a couple times before hiding it again.

Sometimes she places the bone on the bed covers, lays down next to it, and proceeds to toss her head into the covers, in what appears to an attempt to knock the bone away from her. However, when the bone does indeed go flying from the bed, she looks after it as if to ask "why did it run away?" A moment spent waiting listlessly for it to return, and she decides to go after it herself. Rinse and repeat.

It, of course, is not always the bone. The Minkus loves to play hide and seek as well, and takes on a whole life of it's own, to Avi. I sometimes think they play together all day long, and hold great philosophical conversations as she gnaws lovingly on its stuffed little foot.

As for the drawing, she's never fully in this position, but she does push herself across the floor, head and shoulders down, in what looks like the best method of itch-scratching ever devised by canine or human alike.

The Real McAvioy

There is an actual dog that goes with all these little drawings I've been doing. Scientific name is Canis Avis. She is a source of never-ending inspiration, cuddles, and love-ups! Despite her uncannily photogenic puppy-features, sometimes she just doesn't have the patience to sit there and look achingly cute while I take a snap, especially when there are birds to be stalked or The Minkus looking at her from across the room. And so I give you Avi of the Penetrating SnarkyPup Glare.

Avi the Rocket Dog

We don't actually strap rockets to her...there's no need to.

Avi and the Minkus

Avi loves soft, fluffy anything. She once had a tiger toy, when she was just a tiny off-the-plane puppy, that lasted a long time, until her razorfangs grew in. Efforts to provide her with cuddley soft toys has ended in piles of polyester and bits of carcass spread around the house, showing up in places like the bed and loads of clean laundry. We quickly discovered, as she tore into the stuffing of her doggie bed, that it was the fluff that enticed her so, and the goal of her interactions with soft toys was to destuff them as quick as caninely possible. Knowing this, I found a toy at Target that was plush, soft, and floppy...minus the stuffing. That's right, a stuffed animal with no stuffing. GENIUS!

Avi, full of glee, quickly ripped out the brains of the new racoon toy, locating the squeeker in record time and demolishing it. Any and all polyester fill that accompanied the squeeker was removed and flung about the livingroom. However, when that was all gone, the toy somehow remained, decapitated, and has remained to this day, relatively IN TACT.

We now have great fun with it - it's good to tug on, nurse on, cuddle with, and nibble. It has been dubbed "MINKUS," since J, despite the striped tail, thought it looked like a mink skin. Minkus is almost as long as Avi, and trails behind her when she triumphantly parades it around the house. It is slept with and tugged upon, and layed lovingly in the lap of myself or J, as an offering of play.

We figure some day Minkus will meet his end, but until such time, I'm happy not to be bending over plucking polyester stuffing out of every corner of my apartment!

The Return of Avi, The Blog Dog

It's been awhile since I've done anything Avi-related, and what a shame! I've been consumed by my other blogs, but now it's time to come back to these daily doodles (and in this case photo). I am determined now, more than ever, to gather enough drawings, doodles, and Avi-related images to create the book I mentioned ages ago, in an effort to raise money to help dogs in Taiwan, where Avi came from.

Today's little image is about speed. As Avi gets older, she is losing her puppy gawky-ness, and learning how to use her stilts to great advantage. This dog is like a rocket! We take her to the park at least every other day, where she tears from one end to the other at great velocity, turning, darting, and full on racehorse style galloping. It's great fun to watch, as she obviously quite enjoys herself. Her zippiness inspired this little photoshop mash up :-)

Garden Avi

I can't resist the scrap! I'll ride the scrap wave for awhile, 'til I find something else cool and dart off spastically in that direction.

I thought that "The Avi Book" (working title) could have not just cartoony images, but all kinds of pics, doodles, scribs, drawings, and paints...like a bound shrine of Avi-love. What do you all think?

Stitchy Avi

Avi of the Day

This time she's an embroidery pattern. How cute! It's so her. It's also available for sale on Etsy - at my completely silly "Happy Fun Time Embroidery Co." shoppe. So. Silly.

BTW, special thanks to certain crafty people who bought my "Celtic Creatures" pattern! You know who you are!

Scrappy Avi

This day has been about scrapbooking, starting in the morning when the radio host said he would never in his life do scrapbooking because it was so boring. I thought about it a little bit and realized that scrapbooking is just design. It's the combination of elements to create an aesthetically pleasing whole. It has first, secondary, and even third reads, and works with multiple patterns and palettes.

The same basis of scrapbooking forms, and essentially IS, the foundation and technique of creating anything in the Shabby Chic or modern French Country styles, with which I worked today, for a new line of music boxes from Westland. And how much fun! After finding oodles of PS brushes and patterns, and sourcing bunches of random clipart and fabric swatches from the web, I was off and running, combining elements, shifting things around, and creating shockingly pleasing compositions. Hooray for collage! Today I was, in a sense, a professional scrapbooker.

So having finished my work stuff up, I decided to do the same for today's installment of Avi. Silly, yes, but fun! Try it!

Oodles of awesome free Photoshop Brushes HERE: http://www.brusheezy.com/