Photoshop Works 11: Boredom

Boredom kills me again. I’ve got nothing to do but to find something to occupy my mind. Looking at the vector images on the net and I asked my self if I can do that too. So I play with my brushes my favorite color, blue. I make it a point that I only used the varieties of blue to make a unanimous effect.

Now, I’m proud to present to you my very first vector art:

Cute isn't it?

Photoshop Works 10: Monabella

Monabella is a parody of the local soap opera Ysabella (starring Judy Ann Santos). Me and my classmates were just making fun of our classmate who frequently applies lipstick. It was the time when Ysabella was still on the TV screens. So I made an exact copy of her picture highlighting only his red lips and the rest is in black and white, just like Ysabella’s poster.

Have fun!

Photoshop Works 9: Green Minded Series

Why Green Minded? It was not referring to the blogger. It’s the color scheme I used for these works. It’s funny how your mind was tricked by the threshold of the image and eventually recognizes who’s on the image. Below are my works. At the left is the original image while on the right is the edited one.

Hope you like it!

Photoshop Works 8: Photo Mosaic

I am really impressed of the Photo Mosaic I see on some photo and frame shops. My photoshop skills don’t serves me well on this idea but based from the pictures below I think I have done a great job. What do you say?

Daily Confessions 12: Yes I’m single… so what!?

Two weeks ago, I attended a church wedding of my co-worker friend Charmae and her ex-boyfriend slash husband Jack. She’s been with her boyfriend for a long time now and maybe they feel a need to settle down since they’re very sure with each other. The wedding preparation consumes almost a year – that’s a quite long. Anyways, the wedding was held at the Manila Cathedral. I’m so happy that my camera won’t let me down on taking the very good shots. Below are some of the pictures:

More picture’s here.

Charmae and I are almost at the same age but I never see (or even think) that I will get marry at the very early age. As a matter of fact, I’m seeing myself not getting married at all, lol! Well, that’s too early to predict and too soon to happen. We’ll see as I aged.

Photoshop Works 7: Graduation Picture

Exactly 1 year ago was my graduation. I remember my graduation picture was my “Best Edited Photoshop Work” ever (as for me, it is). It’s not just because of the 16 year-old school memories depicted on the picture but also the hard work of my parents despite of being financially unstable.

The university took care of taking our graduation picture for our memorabilia – it’s included in our graduation fee. We manage to get a soft copy of the raw images but the pictures weren’t so nice since the photographer was not really a professional one. Most of us were disappointed by the outcome. Some of them have their graduation pictures retaken outside the school and look for a photo studio. Some of them did not and that includes me. I never want to take my picture again. It will cost me at least a 100 Php I guess and my mother will kill me if she knows, lol! I want to make my picture more special than the other pictures I have. I want to have something that I can display and post anywhere and shout like, “Hey, I graduated in College!”. So to make the long story short, I used my skills to edit the picture so that it may look like it came from a professional photo studio. Below was the raw picture from the university:


I wasn’t really nice I admit but I have nothing against the photographer since he has captured me at my most proud and contented smile. After spending hours working on the image, below is the outcome:


Yipee! Now I have the guts to post my graduation anywhere without having second thoughts or without even thinking what other people would say about it. It made me more proud. It was really rewarding. I’ve been hearing too many testimonials and complements about the “magic” I used to make my picture special. So I decided to apply the same “magic” on their graduation pictures as well. See below:

In a nutshell, for every students and parents, graduation is something that MUST BE proud of. It’s the end of your preparation and the start of a long journey on the real world. The graduation picture is still a picture but that simple picture depicts a lifetime memories.

Series Box 6: The Simple Life

The Simple Life is a comedy-reality TV show starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. The main concept of the show is to show to the audience how to live in a simple life knowing that Paris and Nicole are both rich kids.

I never spent watching any episodes without laughing out loud. It was really hilarious and funny knowing how will they survive a day without money for food and for shopping and the only thing they can do is to work hard to earn their salary. Most of the times they take home nothing which is acceptable on their side. On the other side, they were successful on some jobs that they applied in and take home more than they expect. Every job or task they assigned to work on was obviously their first time ever.

Personally, I love watching the whole show. From the opening remarks to the funny part and to the lessons learned at the end of each episode – yes, there is but rarely. I really love the way they sing the Sanasa Song. It has one-word lyric repeated many times in different pitch and tempo. What a silly song, lol! One scene I love most was when they are traveling to their next job but they don’t have anything to eat nor money. So what they did was to stop in the nearest Burger King and order too much food. So when they were about to pay the food, they don’t have anything to. Nicole lied that she left the money on their car. So Nicole went to their car and tried her luck to find spare pennies or quarters but no luck finding any. On the other hand Paris, standing on the front of the cashier, started grabbing pieces of French Fries and satisfies her hungry stomach. Nicole came back and told Paris that she did not found any money at all. So Paris tried her luck on finding some money on the car while Nicole started eating. When Paris came back bringing nothing, the manager who is now standing on the cashier is getting too impatient on them while the two are enjoying the burger together. Being not able to pay what they’ve ordered, they ask random strangers for money. Hahahaha!

At the end of each day which is also the end of each episodes, there in one or more than one lesson life teaches not only Paris and Nicole but also the audience… and it grows and grows each day as the show progress. The simple things they do like talking to random strangers, riding public transports, sleeping in an uncomfortable bed, eating foods they haven’t eaten yet, wear uniforms, doing household chores and many more is just a proof that everyone is fair and equal. The show may be a total lie but it doesn’t deny the fact that the both celebrities learn a lot from mingling with the ordinary people and they obviously love it.

Series Box 5: Moonlight

It was the movie Twilight’s success when I heard about Moonlight. They’re the same not just by the name but also of the story and yes, it’s about vampires. Difference is, Moonlight is a TV series.

Having compared to Twilight, Moonlight was never really a hit. It is one of the reasons why it was removed from the TV screens and confirmed the cancellation. Too bad that very few fans campaigned for the come back of the series on the second season but no luck. It only ran for one season.

Moonlight is a story of a vampire named Mick. Instead of using his abilities to hunt for blood, he became a private investigator. Just like the myth, he’s also craving for blood. He gets his food in the morgue where another vampire supplies him with blood. That’s how he survives.

Just like any other series, there’s a romantic part. A little innocent girl he saved from her wife when she was about to turn the child to a vampire. The little girl was now an all grown up reporter he’s still following and protecting. Her name is Beth. They’ve met sometime on a crime scene the once became twice until they regularly see each other then the rest follows.

The main story revolves around the two. How they get along with each other and how they hide how they really feel towards each other. It was really a good series – a touch of romance on a paranormal life. Though there are many bloody scenes and scary fangs, it was worth watching especially if love story runs through the strange circumstances. What make me keep tune-in were the mushy scenes and when they’re talking about how they feel towards each other. Wondering if this time they gonna confess or keep pretending. The much awaited confrontation was happened on the last episode closing the season. You’re gonna say, “At last!”. Yes at last because it was the last scene from the last episode of the last season. Heart is fast beating and emotions running. It was a total cliffhanger! Too bas that it won’t back for the next season but the first season it aired was enough to say that the series is worth watching.

Daily Confessions 11: The Starbucks Experience

Starbucks has conquered almost the whole Metro Manila. Too many branches have been established on various locations. That’s why my curiosity doesn’t stop me from knowing the difference between an ordinary coffee that cost 5 Php and a Starbucks coffee that cost almost a hundred bucks.

I want to try something new… something I’ve never done or tasted yet before and that’s why I went to the nearest Starbucks branch on our office. My very first coffee was the Mocha Frappe. I’ve always been a fan of Mocha. Yes it’s expensive but now that my standard of living stepped the next level, that won’t be a problem. It’s not everyday that I drink Starbucks coffee. Two or three times a month is fine with me.

Then I tried Java Chip. It’s the same as the Mocha Frappe but including the grinded chocolate chips on my drink was a lot different. I still enjoy Java Chip for many times until I asked my sister out. She ordered a Coffee Jelly and I was really envious zipping the same Java Chip, lol! So I tried, Coffee Jelly. The jellies at the bottom were really interesting. I never thought that jelly and coffee was a good combination. Actually, I’m enjoying a Grande Coffee Jelly why writing this blog. =]

During their Christmas seasons, they always have a promo. They will give you a simple card and there are markers there to indicating how many drinks you should buy to get an item for free. Last Christmas, 16 drinks were required to get a free Starbucks 2009 Planner. Your card will be stickered for one Starbucks drink you will purchase. The planner comes in three colors: red, blue and black. I won’t miss this for the world! I increase my weekly dose of Starbucks from once to thrice. So I make it a point to go to Starbucks at trice a week so that I can complete the 16 drinks before the promo runs out. 16 drinks were really hard to complete for coming on the shop trice a week. I can feel that my veins were filled with flowing coffee no blood anymore. I asked my officemates to come with me during my visit and asked for their stickers. They were kind enough to lend me their stickers and I’m thankful for that. We repeat the same routine until I completed my 16 stickers. Guess what? I got my Starbucks Planner in just two weeks! Hahahaha!

My recent visit to Starbucks was really wonderful. I’m with my mother, my sister and brother when we visit a large aquarium in Manila named Manila Ocean Park. It was a really an unforgettable experience because I go out with my family which is very rare. After we finished taking too many pictures – with the fishes – we need to rest our tired feet on a nearest Starbucks. It was my treat again since they don’t want to spend their own money and my feet are really killing me so I insisted that it was my treat. I was about to pay when I saw that my receipt was very long. At first I was thinking that it was from the previous customer but its not. The cashier then started talking to me and explaining why I have very long receipt. I was randomly selected by their machines for a free Complement Beverage. I was entitled for a free Tall drink with any flavor. What I need to do was to log my experiences to Starbucks site printed on the receipt and share my experience with it. Then a Complement Beverage ID will be given to me that I should write on the receipt then surrender to any Starbucks branch to claim my Complement Beverage. It was really fun that I got a free beverage. Hehehehe! I log my experience on the site and got my Complement Beverage Code. I haven’t claim my free drink yet since I’m stuck in a 12-hour shift for two days now. =[

My experiences and impression with Starbucks was not really bad at all except for the misspelled name they always name on my cup: Ruel, Roel, Rowel and many more. The satisfactions I feel for every visit I made is always the same and make me expect more on my next visit. It wasn’t really bad at all. Although my colleagues always saying I’m a success person because of the frequent visits and the flavors I’ve tasted. The price of the drink is totally out of the picture. The patience that I received when I’m standing in front of the cashier for couple of minutes deciding what drink I should buy is quite rewarding. It always ends up buying the same drink all over again. The warmth of greeting for every customer that entered the shop is very welcoming and the aroma of the coffee beans inside the store is very relaxing and invigorating. The price is acceptable and reasonable not just for the taste of every drink but also for the service of the staff that make me feel I belong.

Photoshop Works 6: Random Effects

Me and my highschool friends saw each other last weekend. I got the pictures from Jennifer after a week and I decided to apply a certain effect to make it memorable and special. Below is the original image:

After applying an effect which I can't remember what I did, it somehow made more special and memorable than just a simple image. Below is the outcome of the image after the effect:

Looks good! Isn't it?

Not just the picture about made me more curious about photshop. I selected another picture to be edited. This time, I choose from our latest picture on our Thesis Defense Day or The End of the World... just kidding! There were too many beautiful shots since we're all very happy that the day ends. Below is what my eyes decided to be the best of all:


I applied some texture on the photo and a simple spotlight-like color. Below is what happened on the image:

Isn't it nice?

I was really mesmerize by the Vector Art. I'm always a fan really. As an amateur, I found it hard to apply a vector effect on a camera-shot image. I worked for 3 hours just to find how will I match the two separate worlds. I begun by choosing my class picture as a template and download some vectorized brushes on Deviantart. Below is the raw image of my class picture:

(Click on the image to enlarge)

I'm planning to remove the very ugly border and the details on the bottom of the images. Basically what I did was to overwrite each side using the vector brushes I've downloaded. I used grunge brushes, tech brushes, splatters, stars brushes and urban brushes. I just play with my imagination and creativeness by choosing the right color. I also chose a very good font face to rewrite the same details on the bottom of the image. Below is my personal touch to my class picture:

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Hope you like it!