Stamping to Digital

 Okay, so this assignment is from my Art Class.  The assignment is to draw an image, transfer the image to a stamp, shave out sections of the stamp, cut the stamp out, and then use the stamp.  After using the stamp, take a picture of the product and upload it into a photoshop like program - I actually used Photoshop itself since it's free at the library at my school - and make something out of it.  My teacher made an AI generated image with their stamp which I thought was fun.  I tried making my own composition and also generated an AI image.  If you want to see how my Professor did this, check out this link to their blog! https://candacenicolgarlock.com/blog/http/wwwcandacegarlockcom-5 

So, first step!  Draw your stamp.  Seems so EASY right?  NO.  I sat for a long time trying to decide what would make a good stamp.  I love Pokemon, I could do my favorite Pokemon Dragapult.  Nah, I wanted to make my own thing.  So what else?  I like cars, I play video games...  I have a cat I could draw...  Nothing sounded right.  Then it hit me.  I have an elephant pin on my badge from work.  I love elephants.  They're sensitive, wise, and just being in their presence is spiritual.  So I endeavored into drawing an elephant.

The Elephant in question:

I was looking through pictures of elephants trying to take mental notes of what they look like, what features they possess.  Midway through staring at a particularly impressive elephant, I decided in order to do such a magnificent creature justice I should look up a tutorial.  

I ended up on an art website that does tutorials for kids.  I was thinking the more simple I went with the original design, the more detail I could fit when I shave the stamp.  They had a video and a step by step instructional image.  I chose to follow the image, which I have posted below along with the link to the website.  It's important to draw in pencil!  This will enable you to transfer the lead from paper to the stamp.

https://artprojectsforkids.org/elephant-tutorial/

Now I had my drawing done, I had to take the drawing and press it face down against the stamp.  This part didn't work so well for me, but I was able to get enough to transfer over that I just drew on the stamp itself to fill in the missing pencil.  You can see I had some smudging, but it didn't matter as much since I was going to cut it out eventually.  I was mindful about not smudging any more because I wanted to see my drawing clearly.  After that, as suggested by my teacher, I drew over it with sharpie.  

With the sharpie tracing done, I moved on to the shaving.  The shaving is done by digging into the stamp with a tool called a Blick. If you know anything about drills, it's similar to a hand drill. It has sharp bits you attached and use to scoop out the parts of the stamp you don't want.  I used it to add texture to my stamp as well, so I dug out vertical lines along the elephant to give texture to the elephants skin.

Here you can see I made some long and some short vertical incisions.  I also took a really small blade and cut around the entire inside line so help assign a curve to the shape of the stamp.  I was a little concerned at this point that I had taken too much of the stamp out with my shaving, but I wanted to soldier on since I wouldn't know for sure until I actually used it as a stamp.  After I was done with my shaving, I then had to cut out the stamp.  Be careful here!  This means using a sharp blade to take the excess material off.

You can use an X-Acto Knife or a box cutter.  I used a box cutter, and if I make another stamp I will get an X-Acto Knife to use instead.  The box cutter wasn't bad, but it wasn't as safe as I would like and was a little bit clunky.  I also put down some cardboard so I didn't destroy my table.  Here's what this looked like.

Now that I had my stamp cut out, it was time to use it!  I picked out green stamp ink.  Out of the colors I had this felt like it fit my elephant the best.  Green is also my favorite color so it's really a no brainer here for the first use.

I had my green stamp ink ready, so I flipped it over and pressed it down onto the stamp.  Since my elephant is bigger than the ink container this seemed like the best way.  I made sure that the stamp was covered thoroughly by the ink.

With my stamp ready to go, it was time to use it!  I pressed it down onto my artbook paper, making sure to apply pressure to each part of the stamp.  This helps the whole thing imprint onto the paper.

drum roll......................................

And it came out great!  I love the way the texture looks.  It really brings a lifelike quality to my stamp.  

Alright, now we have to talk about how I probably got really lucky with my first stamp I've ever made coming out so well.  I was working on this after only watching one video of my teacher doing it.  Most likely, I should have run into problems.  I did hit a few snags.  I took too much of the stamp out with my shavings, I didn't get the end of the trunk to look the same as my drawing.  But overall it came out really well and if you try to do this don't worry if yours doesn't work out the first try.  Art is not about getting it right quickly.

Now that my stamp is complete.  I took the picture up above and uploaded it to Photoshop.  I wanted to place my stamp into a realistic scenario.  I went down the Google hole looking for settings for my elephant.  I found Kruger National Park in Africa.  This park has naturally dwelling elephants.  I found this website - https://www.bestdestinationtours.com/blog/africa-attractions/kruger-national-park-south-africa - and there was a picture of the Sabie River on there.  It was perfect.  A little bit of stumbling through Photoshop and a lot of Googling "How to *blank* in Photoshop" later I had this silly picture.  I really like how even though it's a stamp, the elephants don't look out of place.  I tried to create balance in the picture by repeating my stamp pattern.  It also helped that I didn't place any elephants where they don't belong.  No flying elephants and no elephants climbing in the trees!

With that done, it's time for the next challenge.  An AI generated image.  I went back into Photoshop.  They have a function where you can upload a photo and type in a prompt for what you want in the new transformation.  I typed it, "Take this elephant and have it playing in a water whole with other elephants."  What I got wasn't exactly what I got.  It was a single elephant and the top was cut off for some reason, but I really liked what it came up with so I kept it.

I'll stop rambling now so you can get to the picture.  If you try this at home, check out my professors tutorial!  It's really helpful.  https://candacenicolgarlock.com/blog/http/wwwcandacegarlockcom-5

AI generated photo using Photoshop