]]>
October 16th – 22nd
This week, instead of focusing on one or two musicians, we will be focusing on them all! Word on Bird Blvd (i.e. “the street”) is that Myna and Roc artists don’t seem to get as much attention as our visual artists. In a way this is understandable, as it takes a few seconds to determine if you like a visual piece, whereas it can take a couple of minutes or more to decide whether or not you appreciate an audio work. And how in the world do you find music?
The number of creations posted in the under-talked-about-under-ground group Myna’s Songbirds is growing exponentially, and they range from good to flat-out eggstraordinary, in lots of styles. We have learned that one of our Aviators (guess who?) has almost 90 songs made here at Aviary by lots of artists that he (oooh, a sort of clue!) listens to almost every day. We’re thinking that might be a little too Batty, but…
The point is, if you spend a mere 10 minutes twice a week trying out music in Myna’s Songbirds, you could wind up with at least 15 new songs on your iPod in just a month. Trust us, it’s worth your time. And your friends will thank you after you’ve shared with them! And, you get bonus Aviary referral points! No, wait… ^-^
biblekid1
Why did the Peacock cross the road? To join the Phoenix and the Raven across the street checking out the biblekid1 art gallery, of course! This adept at all things Aviary has been putting pointer to parchment since Jan. 3rd of last year (a long time in rookery years), and has amassed 440+ fave adds – over 5 pages of starred creations! Adept is from the New Latin word for an alchemist who can change base metals into gold, and after you join all of us in his gallery you’ll understand just what we’re talking about.
This week, Jiet posted not so much a challenge but more of a tribute to a great man, the late Benoît B. Mandelbrot, the father of fractal geometry. The challenge is to make a creation using Peacock’s fractal hubs. So why not add yours to the list of tributes?
Just some of our favourites….
Tip – Splitter Shortcut
Here’s an ingenious little shortcut that can speed up file creation in our online effects editor: you can add a Splitter hub onto any connection line from the context menu. Mouse over a connector and right-click on it when it’s highlighted to bring up the context menu. From there, you will find the option to insert a splitter hub at the spot clicked. This can save you a few seconds by not having to open the hub sidebar and find the splitter hub.
October 9th-15th
Myna Mix of the Week
XtremeNUMBER1gives us this week’s popular Myna mix. He has focused mainly on Myna (22 mixes so far!), although you’ll find a great selection of Phoenix and Peacock artwork in his creations as well.
“Overload” is based on QuantumTracks’ “Saucer Full” set – great bass lines, synths, special effects and an awesome club scene ambiance. This one will give you more New Groove than the Emperor!
Roc Music of the Week
Moving in an entirely different direction, Y100, who is another one of our multi-faceted audio and visual artists, has put together a fascinating set of Roc beats and mixed them into a gorgeous slow reggae song that will leave you wondering how and where to purchase it. Well don’t worry, be happy, because it’s right here and it’s free!
Spickle
What is a Spickle? We don’t know either, but it sounds like a yummy topping for a hamburger. Add lemon to your tea, and you have a great meal. It’s also the name of one of our most gifted and versatile artists. With a unique perspective and sizzling talent on free-hand sketches, photo editing and effects generation and even beautiful a capella vocals, Spickle has been cooking up some quite delicious food for thought since March 25, 2009.
Treat yourself to some of our favorites; the full menu is available all day long.
This week, Aviary user bassp challenged us to create something awesome from a texture that she made. In her own words…..
“Here’s a surface I just made in ZBrush. Maybe it’s a wall, maybe it’s tire tracks in snow, or maybe it’s just a texture with some mild innies and outies. Your challenge is to make something new out of it.”
…and make something new you did, so come and join the fun. Here are just some of our faves!
Tip – Shape vs. Object guides
The object to guides command in our online vector editor reacts differently when performed on an shape or an object. On shapes the guides are drawn at the center point, while on an object the guides are drawn at each vertex.
October 2nd – 8th
Roc Beat Mix of the Week
Newcomer DeeeeDz has created a very, very good mix in Myna – using only music created with Roc. Featuring balarimba, hammered dulcimer, harp, piano and jungle-like percussion, listening to this is a fantastic way to get inspired to create your own original beats!
Myna Mix of the Week
NEPatriots2022 gives us something decidedly different with this fun Myna mix. A collection of samples of everyday noises and musical instruments, you’ll get a smile out of this amusing “story”!
biblekid1
Since January 9, 2009, biblekid1 has been wowing us with stunning vectors, effects and image edits in a massive variety of themes. With over 5 pages of starred creations, he is quickly making his way to the magic “500″ mark – currently sitting at 434 favorites! And for good reason, as you will see. bk1 is a definite Aviary favorite, active and helpful in forums with kind words and a great imagination. Our thanks for making the Aviary community an even better place! Here are just a few of our many favorites:
Peacock Challenge: Circles Only
Redstar set this week’s big (but easy!) challenge.
“Title speaks for itself, the only shape you can use is circles. No limitation on the hubs. DO NOT post any old images. New ones only or its not a challenge, right?”
Well, we have been running in circles since then, with only minimal rule bending and cheating (by two of the moderators, no less!). Here’s a sample of the wonderful art created by this challenge so far (remember, challenges have no expiration date!):
This weeks tutorial was written by Basic tutorial for tracing with Spiro Spline. He steps you through the process of tracing a complex shape with the Spiro Spline tool.
Tip – Link Accounts
You can make sharing your awesome Aviary creations easier when you link sites. Aviary accounts can be linked to Facebook, Flickr, Soundcloud, and more. Once you have your accounts linked, you can share your creation directly from the dialog when saving your creation. To link sites, go to your linked accounts page. From there, just put in your account information for easy sharing and automatic logins!
September 25th – October 1st
taco56
Hungry? Be sure to pull in to the drive-through and order a supersized helping of creations from – not Taco Bell, but even more bueno – frog and an orange. Somewhere. But with a very impressive 389 stars, it’s obvious that he has been whetting our appetites with exceptionally realistic images ever since he joined the flock on May 8, 2009. So with such an awesome ratio of stars to creations, we proudly bestow the title of “Aviary Artist of the Week” on taco56. Be sure to check him out, or heads will roll!
Well, this isn’t really bird related, but it does have to do with a (mythical?) creature! There have been some wildly speculative discussions all over the forum boards about something called an ‘elebear’. Are they more elephant, or more bear? Do they have tusks? Do they like honey or peanuts or both? Do they live in Texas, one of our favorite places in the world?! Eleanor_rigby even set an elebear challenge to emphasize the fact that no one really knows what they look like. Spickle gives us the lowdown, the shakedown and the 4-1-1 on elebears, Encyclopedia Britannica style.
How The Elebear Got Its Place In Aviary History
Dragons! That’s the topic of the challenge timberwolf_emmy set for us this week. There are some fascinating, intriguing and maybe even beguiling (you know how dragons are) images submitted in this one. We were sitting around the Bat table playing Bat poker, wondering why she didn’t offer a wolf challenge, but then we figured all the wolves had been eaten by the recently created dragons. So sorry, Emmy! 
As a friendly reminder, the staff have created a Vimeo account that showcases Aviary created video tutorials, plus awesome member submitted videos (that can be you!) under the “Likes” tab. If you have created, or want to create, a video tutorial please be sure to take a gander (pun intended) at the forum post discussing this.
You can also still find plenty of additional video tutorials on The Avians’ YouTube channel.
Tip – Merge Layers
You can easily merge non-adjacent layers in our online image editor, Phoenix. While holding the Control key (command if you’re on a Mac), select the layers you want to merge and use the Merge Layers command from the option menu or from the layers menu. The merged layers will be placed at the lowest position in the layer stack. This is a great way to keep your layers tidy and free up memory for further manipulations!
September 18th – 24th
tmoltuae joined us very recently, this past August 23rd. In that short amount of time, she has become super proficient at Roc, and has put an astounding 16 different Roc beats into an amazingly beautiful Myna mix. As you listen to this aptly named creation, close your eyes (unless you’re doing a tutorial!) and imagine the water falling from the heavens onto your upturned face (as you’re going past the entrance to Scarborough Faire…).
mizagorn
This week’s artist of the week is everybody’s favorite Texan, musician and digital artist, our friend and co-Aviator, mizagorn. Not only is he a musician in “real” life, but his grasp of Myna and Roc has led him to discover some amazing talent to share with us. Right now, though, we want to talk about his art. In his words, “I came to Aviary looking for a free tool to do some kind of goofy picture with.” Well, the goofy didn’t last long. Thinking he would concentrate only on Myna, Terry ended up falling in love with all the apps. His undiluted passion to learn, so that he can put a visual face to his artistic ideas, is unparalleled. Much to his surprise, he stumbled onto a site that not only embraces his enthusiasm, but sends it back with the same spirit. Terry, thank you for everything you contribute to the site. Some favorite mizagorn creations:
and a little music to go with them:
Perhaps this week’s most interesting challenge was the one set by maya6. She described the International Scientists’ night, then set a theme for one of our favorite subjects: space. (Yes, we’re all geeks, go ahead and admit it to yourself.)
In her words: “so today i had an inspiration to create some new stars to our solar system -
i want everyone to select tool of use (-peacock is a very handy tool when you are creating stars..=]) and then create your star , name it and tell us what kind of a planet is this ( hot , cold or mybe a planet for the people of earth – be creative ! =] “
Here is a selection of the original work designed just for this challenge (the response has been so good that at the time of this writing, 4 of the top 5 popular creations are from this challenge!).
Tip – Textured Fill
You can quickly create a seamless background texture in our online image editor, Phoenix. First import your seamless tile and select it with one of the selection tools. Next, use the “Define Pattern” function under the Select menu to set it as the foreground fill. Then use the paint bucket tool to fill the canvas with the new pattern.
