I have lots of memories on South Street. Most of them were pretty awesome. I spent a lot of my late teens and early twenties hanging out on South Street. The craziest night I ever had was on South Street. South Street has an assortment of bars, awesome food spots, clothing stores, and tattoo parlors. It’s a very unique section in the city. I don’t think there’s any other place quite like South Street in Philadelphia.
I started walking from 7th and South down to Front St. I took several pics and the one featured in this design showcased a sign from Pearl Arts and Crafts. Sadly, I don’t think they are in business anymore. When I walked by the building, there was a dance studio instead of Pearl. I remember going there a few times to buy pens. I used to collect pens. They may have moved to a different location. The sign might be taken down soon so I thought to take a picture.
This design will probably be my last for this part of my travel series. Yesterday, I went to the parkway to take pictures of the Rocky Statue and the Art Museum. It was a great experience and I will talk more about that on my upcoming podcast episode. I am on the fence in doing Independence Hall. The pictures that I took are not that good. Most of them are on an angle and I didn’t get the whole building. However, there is one picture that’s kind of blurry but Independence Hall looks far away. You can see the whole building so I’m thinking about using that picture and see what I can do. There’s a picture I took of Penn’s Landing that I wanted to use as well. At the moment, I am very undecided.
I wasn’t in the best mood when starting this design. Sometimes I wonder if I what I’m doing feels outdated. There are better tools and techniques to create art. I feel happy using Paintshop Pro. I feel happy blending lots of effects, colors, and textures together. I will like to continue using Paintshop until I can afford to make my own program. I do try to push myself with what I do and I’m trying hard to improve my art with every design. I want to be able to create new art for years to come. I’m the only person who can make that a reality and I have to keep working even if I feel discouraged. I really hate being in a bad mood when I create art because I’m never completely happy with the end design.
I had a difficult time with this design. The colors were spot on but it was hard to create the finishing texture. I use a particular effect sequence in Paintshop. The sequence usually looks very good. For me, I feel like it’s putting a finishing coat of paint on a design. The texture didn’t work and I tried blending it several times. I was on a time limit so I stopped recording the video after 2 hours. When I started designing, Paintshop Pro crashed on me. I was very upset to say the least because I didn’t save all the blends I was working on. Now I’m extremely paranoid and I save every change I make in Paintshop.
Towards the end of the design, I created a very cool version of this design but the texture was horrible. I will post it on the album because I love the colors. I was going to settle with two versions of my design. I used reflecting mirror to create a weird look. You can still see the street but it looks different from the original. I also used the mirror effect to create a third version. I think both mirrored versions look better than the original. I’m not 100 percent happy with this design but I tried my best.
I didn’t do anything special with the music video. I am running late in posting this design. However, I did find an awesome song that I want to use for my 100th speed art video. I have plans for that video. I hope it all works out. I’m only 2 videos away from 100. I do hope you like the design and music video.
- Time to create: 4+ Hours
- Tools: A Photo of South Street Neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA and Paintshop Pro
- Song in video: Bubbles by Tentacles