I was just playing around with an idea for a new technique for me, where I layer a bunch of old photographs and then using layer masks slowly reveal different parts of the illustration until it’s a complete image. Click on MORE to see some, well, more.

 After layering a bunch of photos and adding a mask to each layer, I start erasing the layers one at a time.

I just continue this process as the image slowly reveals itself.

I wonder if subconsciously, even though the main forms of the pictures have been layered and obscured, if we still react to them back in the recesses of ourselves.

As the layers increase, so does the weight coalescing around the little nameless fellow.

As the forms in the image become more concrete, the photos they are made up of become more muddled and textured.

Painting in the mask for a more bluish photo adds some depth and atmosphere.

Computer graphics are so yin and yang. On one hand, they can easily dictate to the artist what the art will look like. On the other hand the possiblities for experimentation are endless, if you’re willing to push the computer around, and let the spirit of your art be driven by you, not the box.