Toolbox Fly

[Manfred M]

This is what I got using some photographs I made yesterday using stuff out of my toolbox. An adjustable wrench, an open ended wrench, a pair of pliers, a drill bit and a nut. The background is a scan of some Japanese Washi paper.

[xpatUSA]

Nicely done - Sort of Meccanoesque.

[ST1]

Very creative Manfred, I really like that you have made the wings see through. Doing so makes it more fly like, well done.
How many layers did you need to make this image?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Manfred M]

Very creative Manfred, I really like that you have made the wings see through. Doing so makes it more fly like, well done.
How many layers did you need to make this image?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Around 50 layers in the final image and probably another 10 or 15 on the work done on the actual pieces that went into the image; I did a lot of work on the tools before I assembled the pieces.

[pschlute]

Very imaginative

[nonacaremac]

I love the idea and will happily steal it but a couple of things don't quite work for me. Firstly in the upper right on the background paper there is a 'v' shape which I find quite distracting. But the main thing for me is the transparency. If we are looking at the fly from underneath then we shouldn't be able to see the edges of the wings through the back legs as the back legs would be solid. If however we are looking down at the fly from above , ie looking through the wings onto the back legs then the back legs should not be as defined as they are because they would be slightly blurred/faded by the intervening wing material. Now I know this all sounds very pedantic but this is the sort of fascinating pic that drags you in so that you want to look at all the details. It is like a puzzle and you want to understand how everything fits together which is why, though I love the pic, I am left a little dissatisfied because I don't think the transparency quite works.

[Manfred M]

I love the idea and will happily steal it but a couple of things don't quite work for me. Firstly in the upper right on the background paper there is a 'v' shape which I find quite distracting. But the main thing for me is the transparency. If we are looking at the fly from underneath then we shouldn't be able to see the edges of the wings through the back legs as the back legs would be solid. If however we are looking down at the fly from above , ie looking through the wings onto the back legs then the back legs should not be as defined as they are because they would be slightly blurred/faded by the intervening wing material. Now I know this all sounds very pedantic but this is the sort of fascinating pic that drags you in so that you want to look at all the details. It is like a puzzle and you want to understand how everything fits together which is why, though I love the pic, I am left a little dissatisfied because I don't think the transparency quite works.

Thanks for the great comments; that's why I post things so that people give me feedback. I usually post a version that is close to 90% done.

I had already started thinking along the same likes as you are and have been working on the next iterations of the piece. It usually takes me the better part of a week to get the concept refined.

Here is my second iteration of the piece.





If you open one of the images in Lightbox mode and use the arrows to move back and forth between the two versions, you can catch the changes I have made so far. I applied a blur to the wings and legs underneath the wings.