my process, if anyone is interested.

[oTTer]

I use my photos for painting. For instance there is an upcoming pig art contest *yes there is such a thing* and I am going with the masters art... so I used this photo


and photoshopped it to this

because I want to do Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring... except I am doing Gilt with a pearl Earring. With a copy of the original painting, and this photoshop photo, I came up with this



As you can see, the photo doesn't have to be something good enough to sell, but it helps to start with as good an image as I can get. I can't do much with a pig, though. A pig is a pig is a pig.

[lens]

Owch, poor pig looks like a lot of chunks taken off the ear. Must've hurt. Sorry, being an animal lover the photo made me feel the pain.

I wish I was good at photoshop, but I haven't sat down to learn all the really cool things you can do with it. Just the basic stuff.

The earring doesn't stand out enough. Maybe change the color? Good luck on the contest.

[oTTer]

Those notches are cut into the ear when they are born, they indicate the month and day they were farrowed. Isn't that something? Like you can't just have a calendar that says "the pigs were born this morning." I suppose when you have umteen sows spitting out babies left and right, they are hard to keep track of... but it isn't like you will buy them a cake, and they go to market at 5 or 6 months...