After my trips to London and Sheffield I felt motivated to try a new media. Inspired by the stained glass windows I wanted to try and recreate my own stained glass art. My sister mentioned that photoshop had a function that would allow me to create a similar stained glass effect, called crystallise. I also came across another function called pointillist which made the images look like mosaics. 

I had never used photoshop before but navigating my way around it wasn’t too difficult. I started off by drawing a simple pomegranate to ensure the details didn’t get lost. Then using the crystallise tool, increasing the amount by 20 each time to see how it slowly changes. I really like the results at crystallise 40 and crystallise 80 as you can still see the details of the pomegranate but they now have a unique and more abstract look.

After using the crystallise tool I was curious to see how the pointillist tool would affect the same image. I like the effect it has up to pointillist 60, but after that the image gets too distorted.  

I then did the exact same thing but with a more detailed image. However, this time I included another function, the mosaic tool. The mosaic tool didn’t work as well as the other two tools so I decided against using it again. However, I was pleased with the other results, especially crystallise 20 and 40.

Moving on to a slightly more complex design of the Virgin Mary, one holding a pomegranate the other without, I did exactly the same thing all over again.

After trying out each function multiple times I decided as beautiful as the pointillist tool looks I definitely prefer the crystallise tool because I feel as though it suits the drawings more. It gives the Virgin Mary an unsettling and slightly distorted look. I’m not sure I’ll use photoshop for my final piece but this was definitely a helpful task as I learnt new skills and it gave me the idea to add a pixelated video game look to whatever I decide to end up drawing.