My first Photoshop

(Bottom - Before, Top - After) I recently found a new program called GIMP  (GNU Image Manipulation Program), it works almost as well as Photoshop but from what I hear it's much easier to use. Most viewers of this post will have already seen this picture on Facebook, but I'll go into more detail on it here.
First thing that needed to happen, I needed to shape us all down without expanding us or making us wider. It's actually a bit harder than it sounds, but after two or three attempts, I finally got a satisfactory result!
Second thing, I needed to cut us out individually, around every nook and cranny. I finished Dave and me and got started on Peter when I realized that the cuts I made on Dave and me had disappeared!! So I had to click, 'Select multiple cuts' and redo us again, which took about an hour in all.
Third, which was most time consuming although my favorite, was the shading around our bodies to encourage the illusion that we were standing in the dark. I had a bit of trouble with Peter's shirt on the far right because when I shaded it in, it actually turned blue instead of getting darker! I tried a few other methods but I couldn't make it work. I also tried to lower the contrast on his shirt, but I couldn't do that without lowering the contrast on Dave and me, which was about perfect! So I left his shirt dazzling white in what was supposed to be nighttime.
Finally, there had to be work done on the sunglasses, I also enjoyed this quite a bit too! I enhanced the darkness on all our glasses and drew little white streaks imitating lightning. It was a bit tricky, because in real life you wouldn't see the exact same bolt unless you were looking directly at them, and we're all at an angle. Thus, I had to do a full bolt in the close lens and do a half bolt in the far lens to make it look as if we were actually staring into a lightning bolt.

I hope to create further creations, hopefully better detailed than this. You can tell it looks a bit like it was copy-pasted at first glance. But again, I hope to become more experienced in this program and create masterpieces to be enjoyed by all!

Any comments or Questions on Blogger or Facebook will be greatly welcomed!

Stuffyness

I haven't blogged in a while, so I figured I'd just keep everything up to date with this blog.
I have officially joined the Bethel Defenders soccer team, and play as a sub-goalie. I'm doing much better at catching and diving then when I first started.

There has been a new spark in my animation world which has recently been put to rest for a while. While brainstorming I kind of wished for a Photoshop program. I did some research to see if it really was $300, I was wrong. It's $700! When I have that much money I'd better be getting ready for collage or a car!
However, there's a free downloadable program by the name of GIMP. The name sounds kind of dorky, but the results of some animators on Youtube are outstanding! I'm going to consult a very good animator my parents know to see if this investment would be worth it. (If you're not buying it, is it an investment?)

I was talking with one of my good friends about a career I would enjoy taking when I'm older. Many ideas have come and gone but I am unsure of any that will stick. I thought out the options that I enjoy most,
-Acting
-Fighting
-Gymnastics (though not very good at it)
-Animation
Then it dawned on me, what do all of those have in common? They are all used in action movies! One of the two types of movies that I enjoy most! Now it sounds a little far-fetched, I think, but if these are some of the things I love doing, then what could be better?
I considered being a actor/choreographer before but I didn't fully realize that I loved those other things too, when I first thought it. 

Any comments or questions would be greatly appreciated!

Wedding cake

I don't care who you are, this takes comedy to a whole new level! I'm pretty sure my wedding cake needs to be something like this, with little J.I. Joe's climbing up the sides of the cake with grappling hooks and M16s! I don't know what to do about the man and groom on top though, maybe they can escape in a little Blackhawk or something. Any suggestions?
Anyway, today is Wednesday and today's subject is something weird. And this is my weirdomness! Hope you enjoyed!

"HQ, we've got a pilot down!"

The past few days have been quite action packed with visiting relatives, I apologize for absent blogs.

August 11th, quite a while back, I was called from my computer where I was socializing over Facebook, up to the porch where mom was intently looking over a butterfly sitting on our grill. I asked her what was wrong when she replied that the butterfly was injured somehow and was unable to fly away. We spent the next 20 minutes or so looking after this poor creature, trying to assess the damage of the little flyer and making sure the cat didn't get to him.

 

It was amazing, being able to see this little piece of creation is such detail without a microscope or killing it. With your own two eyes, you could see and count each one of the little claws this guy used to walk around with while being grounded. I never noticed before that there are actually two parts to each wing a butterfly has, it actually works just like an airplane! He can steer himself with fantastic maneuverability (compared to our modern technology that is, I'm sure he still bumps into a tree here and there.) just by adjusting his wings mid-flight ever so slightly. 

Amazing little piece of God's creation!  

Wednesday :)

Well, today's Wednesday, my favorite day of the week! Mostly because we have youth group tonight at 6:15ish, and I LOVE youth group! Although I wish it was a bit longer, it's like the one time I can get out of the house to be my own social self, on Sunday I try to be a bit more formal.
But another reason I love Wednesday is because today is the day when the blog subject is WEIRD, a subject I've had plenty of practice at!
One weird thing we found today but has been a favorite since forever is Yakko's World, I remember we had to sing it in front of the whole church and I kept getting my tongue twisted! I was relieved when it was over.
Now THIS guy is weird! He's probably one of my biggest inspirations. Tim Hawkins Lullaby's and Singing the Wrong Words. I often find myself quoting this guy... A LOT! Different Churches was a bit funnier.
If I stumble upon more weirdness in the mere future I'll be sure to make a mental note about it.

The Sea of Thoughts

I was very, very unsure about what to call my blogpage. Totally clueless. But I started anyway and hoped that maybe something would spark a good title.
Looking through the backround images was a blast but a disaster, SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM! It finally narrowed down to a toss-up between the binary numbers and this techno-laser... type... thingy. I chose this one obviously. But then the title first hit me, a thought! Some of my blogs will have to do with thoughts! Computers have thoughts, they think in what's called binary. That is what my image is.

Binary is a simple compilation of 1s and 0s that form a code that the computer talks in. Of course, when you get an error message it won't say "11101110111101101100000001", because it goes through a translator before it hits the monitor screen. But every thought that passes through a computer is in binary. I think a bar code uses a similar system, but I'm not sure.

For science class this year we are going to learn about computer programming. Until then, just about everything I know about internal computers is stated above.

I know this blog didn't contain much that was of great interest, but at least now you know what all those funky numbers behind this has to do with The Sea of Thoughts. 

Introduction

Hey there, what's up? My name is Timothy but hardly anyone calls me that, TJ works fine.
I was born and raised in Chautauqua county, out in the country. I'm a christian baptist, attend church regularly and help with the events that take place there. I also enjoy my summer by working at a christian camp not too far from where I live. I have a passion for music and spend most of my off-time listening to songs I find on Youtube. I also enjoy martial arts, although I have never been given a real, official lesson on the stuff, I still enjoy the study of it and practice in my driveway. Last and definitely not least, I love acting! I love comedies to be more specific.

I was told that I had the option of writing blogs for writing assignments and school credit, so I decided to go with it. I've never really blogged about anything before, always seemed as if I lacked the motivation and initiative to put that pencil to paper or put the fingers on the keys. However, my mother (who is a professional blogger, if I do say so myself :) ) worked out a system with me that, hopefully, will encourage further legitimate posts.