Artistic Challenge: Psychedelic Beetle

2 more images above in notes! :D

Not long after I joined ipernity, I met a very talented lady who loves to create collages of images, using Photoshop and her fabulous imagination to create incredible artwork! I have long-admired people who can do this well, and I let her know what I thought! Barbara (Plumnuts) wrote back and told me that she is involved in groups devoted to this kind of artwork and wondered if I would be interested in trying one for fun. When I said, "BRING IT!" she supplied me with a texture she made with cicada wings, and told me to go have some fun!

This is my first attempt at such a thing, and although it's only a blend of two subjects, there were many layers involved and a lot of manipulation and fooling around to get to this result. I didn't want to try adding too many elements for my first project, but the next one I try will have at least three elements! (I hope to use this same texture with some other images...I have something in mind, we'll see if it works out! I'm still buried in work so I won't be working on it for another week probably)

By the way, Barbara posted two amazing collages using her cicada wings textures, take a look!
Things that Lurk at Night in the Jungle in 3D
Waking Leaf Fairy

If this kind of challenge sounds like fun and you'd like to try your own version, here's a link to the cicada wings texture over on Flickr: Cicada Wings: Free Texture Let one of us know that you've created your own image so we can appreciate what you've made!! :)