Although animations are fun, they are time-consuming to create and, I must admit, I am not very good at them. I still like to sometimes manipulate clip-art images into a more ornate picture. I've also learned to make drop shadows with MS Paint and MS Photo Editor. Also, a free little program called La Fonta is useful for making a cushion effect. It works on both text and images.
"Caterpillar Knot" was originally a black and white line picture of a single caterpillar in a clip-art book. By scanning, changing the angle, cutting it apart and curving it, coloring it, then duplicating it, I made the image into a sort of larval Celtic knot. The pillow effect was added with La Fonta and a drop shadow gives even more 3D illusion.
In "Welcome, New Millennium!" I not only used various clip-art images, but also the Word Art function found in the MS Word program. This graphic appeared, appropriately, on our January, 2001, issue.
While the end result is obviously not completely original, combining clip-art images is a lot of fun. It doesn't take long, and is much the same as creating a collage, minus the glue. The following picture is called "Southwest Caterpillar."
Combining clip-art with text is a simple procedure using either MS Paint or MS Word. "Valentine Caterpillars" was one of those quick and easy graphics.
When I'm not feeling particulary creative, a symmetrical design utilizing a clip-art larva can suffice as the opening graphic. The colors in "Larval Sunburst" were adjusted to match the letters of the heading.
Taking the idea of symmetrical arrangement of repeated natural images in a different direction, the framing caterpillars in "Hornworm Star" are really a background image behind the small clip-art animation in the center.
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Having a scanner with our computer system makes it possible to use images from some of the wonderful copyright-free clip-art books that are available. "Staghorn Larva" has only been cleaned up a bit and had a frame added to a cropped image.
The image for "Caterpillar Pair" is from a painting by naturalist and artist, Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717). While it required some removal of background images, it didn't take long to produce this elegant little design.
More manipulation was required to produce "The Golden Grub." This image was originally from a drawing by William Rowe, published in Flora and Fauna Design Fantasies, a copyright-free Dover publication. It was cropped to a circle, had effects added with MS Photo Editor, and a frame created in a nifty little free program called Z Paint. The drop shadow was added last.
 The Golden Grub |
Images scanned from books do not have to remain static. "Hellgrammites" began as an engraving, but, with a little cutting and pasting, the graphic came to life.
