The Fool

	Intended to be an ink drawing, using pens, brushes and other utensils - i ran out of time to finish this Tarot drawing and decided it would be faster to complete it digitally. (uh.. yeah. right.) So the first step! - this is the original scan with the levels adjusted to darken the pencil lines. The contrast has brought out some texture in the paper, and rather than remove it, i decided to use the paper grain to help build up an antiquated, etching-type feel to the drawing.
	Here the drawing is further darkened to a more midtone value. After some experimenting i found this have the greatest efficiency - the majority of the drawing will have this tone, and now i can quickly lighten or darken portions as needed. [Modifications are always done on a duplicate layer. Some digital pieces can have many duplicates and added layers.]
	Some PhotoShop work: Mostly dodging and burning (terms from photography, used in developing film for lightening/ darkening images by controlling the exposure - in this case controlling the value of the pixels.) Using mostly softedged brushes i build up the forms, working in all three modes offered by the tool (shadows/ midtones/ highlights). At various stages i use a Mezzotint and/or Film Grain or other noise filter, cutting its effects down to about 5-10%. i found it necessary to do this to preserve or enhance some areas of texture, which were too soft or blurred.
	The finished piece has turned out rather nice. After many hours of playing around. In finishing (and at times throughout) i have used the smudge tool as well to blend some areas, and used filters to re-establish the texture. A larger image of this work can be found in the Artwork galleries of the site.