The Face in the Brazier

Another selfie to add spookiness to the scene

TEXTURED PHOTOGRAPHYDIGITAL ART

Fran

5/11/20242 min read

This work took a bit of me.
I intended to do something very similar to what I did with the drinking fountain from a while ago, with this old brazier that my brother has lying around at the back of the house.

At first it seemed simple, and in fact there was no mystery to it, until I managed to find the right texture for the brazier.

Texture Attack: brazier original
Texture Attack: brazier original
Texture Attack: The Face in the Brazier Digital Art by Fran de Souza
Texture Attack: The Face in the Brazier Digital Art by Fran de Souza
Texture Attack: brazier with texture
Texture Attack: brazier with texture
Texture Attack: brazier with texture (detail)
Texture Attack: brazier with texture (detail)

When I saw the result, I instantly fell in love with that look and wanted to keep it at all costs, but something was getting lost with each texture I added. I tried using masks and that way I managed to keep that aspect intact, only it looked detached from the rest, it didn't belong.

Altering the opacity of the superimposed layers did not give the desired result, and using the eraser with a soft brush to reveal some of the alpha channel was also not effective, due to the different ways in which the blending modes behave.

Therefore, I had to let it go, and let the pixels fight each other. Finally, I arrived at a result that I liked, but I thought it was necessary to take one more step to consider it a finished work.

That ended up being my semitransparent face emerging from the brazier. I had considered several objects, but, finally, given the slightly gloomy nature of the scene, my chilling side had the last word.