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This was an attempt at using transparent shapes in a composition. The result was pleasing, but I need to work more on getting the shapes that I want to be in the foreground to look as if they are in the foreground, and the shapes that I want to be in the middle ground to look as if they are in the middle ground, and the shapes that I want to be in the background to look as if they are in the background.
I started in SketchClub and created these shapes, on multiple layers, as I describe how I did it here. These are the same shapes that I used in that project. The difference between this project and the one I describe there is that here I made the shapes transparent by making the layer opacities between 30% and 65%. Whereas in that project all the objects were opaque, with the layer opacities at 100%. The other main difference is that here I had no details such as windows, moon, sky, waves or lights. I was merely experimenting with shapes. With transparent objects, you can see through the objects to the layers below. Where the shapes intersect, depending on the layer blending modes used for each layer, the colors of the overlapping shapes blend to make a third color. Thus it can seem that overlapping objects create new shapes or objects. How to manage the apparent depth in the scene that results from these overlaps is probably a matter of choosing the colors and blending modes appropriately. I will need to continue to experiment to get it right. Nevertheless, I like how a middle ground object that would normally be hidden by the foreground objects can be seen when the foreground objects are transparent. In this image, the stream that I intended to be behind the foreground buildings is visible through the buildings, with a pleasing sense of flow that helps to tie the image together. This image is the result of using the Vector tool to create transparent shapes on multiple layers in SketchClub.
I opened the image in iColorama and I used Adjust/Levels to brighten the image.
I used Effect/Glow Preset 1 at low opacity.
I used Effect/Raise preset 1 with a low size.
I used Style/Tensor preset 6, using the same image as secondary image. After experimenting with the sliders, I set Amount to 100% and opacity to 50% or lower.
I used Effect/Denoise preset 4 several times to reduce the aliasing (jaggies) that was introduced in the Tensor step. Then I used Style/Water preset 2. In addition to the lovely watercolor effect and paper texture, this also helps to obscure the banding artifacts introduced in the Tensor step. I used Effect/Sharpen at small radius or opacity. I generally try presets 3 through 6 and use the smallest amount of sharpening that yields a clear image.
I used Effect/Blend in Normal blend mode with a brush mask, to blend the image with itself, moving the top image to blend a darker color onto the stream as it crosses the rightmost foreground building, in an attempt to help the stream recede into the middle ground.
I used Adjust/Exposure with an inverted brush mask to darken the part of the stream in the left-hand side of the image, in an attempt to make the stream recede into the middle ground.
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