The first money I made off of my artistic endeavors was on a now-defunct social networking site called Gather.Com. I was an active member from around 2007 to 2009(ish). Basically, I posted my various ponderings, both written and visual, and received points for views, which could then be redeemed for PayPal cash. I very much preferred it to the more popular (among my generation) havens of MySpace and Facebook simply because there was a distinct purpose behind what I was doing, as well as behind the endeavors of other members. I would be lying if I said I didn’t still miss it tremendously — the camaraderie as well as the pay. It is a feeling intensified by the fact that there has been no other site like it since.

Since Gather dissolved I have gone through at least three different computers; much of my work there has been lost, possibly forever. I could have gone out of my way to preserve it, but I didn’t think I’d ever have the burning desire to go back to it.

Luckily, however, much of my Photoshop work from this era was also uploaded to my barely-used DeviantArt profile. One such project, embarked upon solely for the fun of it, was a small collection featuring stills of Cassandra Harris from For Your Eyes Only, which from a sentimental standpoint, remains my favorite movie.

This is the first I remember of the series. It is from the scene in which Lisl (Cassandra) and Bond spend the night at her house over champagne and oysters, just before her nightgown (and her accent) start to slip. For reference, here is the original screen still:

Here is the altered version:

I called it “Good Morning Darkness.” I believe it was somewhat a nod to the fact that my imagination and creative energies are most active at night. I also relished the tranquility and seclusion of night. In the film, just before the scene this image derived from, Lisl confesses to Bond that she, herself, is a “night person.” Though interesting how that tidbit aligns, I remember well that it never crossed my mind in the making of this work.

At times I also wondered if the color scheme was too dark. Last minute filtering and brightness adjustments therefore produced these two variations.

This next one in the succession sat unfinished on my hard drive for months. Then I got an idea when I decided to extract Lisl/Cassandra from the scene in which she was run over by the beach buggy. Simon and Garfunkel provided the background music, which also provided the title — “Restless Dreams.”

Here is the original image:

And here is the Photoshop alteration. As you can see, I inverted it to its mirror image.

From the same beach scene, this still was somewhere around the timing of the compulsory cry of “Oh James!” just before meeting her demise (above). I took the backdrop far away from an impending death scene to one of my own making. I entitled it, “Prisoner Of Her Secret,” simply because I liked dramatic the ring of it.

Again, the original image:

And this was the final product of the altered version:

Apparently, for quite a while, I also liked elaborating on said dramatic ring:

Undated, Written Between 2008 and 2011, Never Finished
Emaciated figures glare two and two
As I bound from the wreckage I’d cleared years ago
The horde of glimpses through their mirrors accrues
By this cobblestone street where the flood waters rose

Night is my day, for my foes are in slumber
The sky sends a black spell to see they won’t rise
I fall when fateful light of morning’s sword blunders
My thin skin of porcelain never bleeds nor cries

Tarnished in smoke fumes since the night I escaped
He took my hand and led me where the flames wouldn’t fly
Before making me surrender to the mirror’s deceitful shape
How does it feel to know you’ve let me die?

Into purgatory’s walls, I trembled fast…

The post For Sagacious Eyes Only (aka Bond Girl Cassandra as Photoshop Subject) appeared first on Road to Avalon.