Making a Mandala: A Process, Part 2 (Powerup 100%)

If you haven't read Part 1, here it is: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@cryptigital/making-a-mandala-a-process-part-1-powerup-100

I spent quite a bit of time today trying to add more detail to yesterday's mandala. Here is where we left off:

I experimented with various techniques, but I really couldn't improve on it much, so what I'm going to show you is a fun and fast way to transform just about any art or picture, using the mandala I made yesterday.

It'll seem weird at first, but stay with me! The first thing we're going to do is blur it. Yep, blur. There's a filter that does that, and its got a slider that controls how much blur. You can make something disappear in a fog, if you turn it all the way up! Here's what we come up with using just a little.

Here's where the fun starts. There's a function called "posterize" that many of you may already be familiar with. It reduces any image to just a few colors with no shading. It's like making a Peter Max painting out of it! You just choose the number of colors, and you usually have to experiment a bit to see what looks best. So, GIMP (see the previous post) tries to separate a blur into solid colors. You never really know what you're going to get, and I love that. Here's what I got:

Yes it still looks a little blurry, but that's just a trick of the eye. Here's a section enlarged, and you can see that there are separate flat colors.

The magic happens now, when we use the "cartoon" filter. Remember? It adds a little black to all the edges, so we'll be able to see the colors better.

Wow, I never get tired of seeing that happen! It's lots better, but still not bright enough for my taste, so we'll use one last filter: "sharpen" The great thing about sharpening, is that it will get brighter, too.

Well, THAT is a transformation isn't it? We lost some purple, but we gained some turquoise. The way "posterize" works when used on a blur, is you get a far more organic looking image, with interesting, perfectly balanced variations. Now, when the corners are rounded off, we see our new mandala.

Is it better? Just depends on your taste. Personal preference. But it's a fun process that, honestly, takes more time to describe that it does to apply. I hope you enjoyed the journey... I did! Peace.