Aarav Puri

Jordan Sneakers Sold For Record Amount Of Money

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Six Nike Air Jordan sneakers, made popular by basketball legend Michael Jordan, fetched $8 million at auction on February 2, 2024. Though it’s not uncommon for rare collectible sneakers to be sold for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, what exactly made this collection so much more expensive? For those who have followed … Read more

Thoughts On Klay Thompson Going To Mavs

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Just a few weeks ago, Klay Thompson had officially left the Warriors for the Mavericks. Klay Thompson going to the Mavericks means that Luka and Kyrie will have another top-level scorer on their team. His presence would significantly improve the Mavs’ perimeter shooting, providing more spacing for Luka Dončić and other playmakers. Thompson brings a … Read more

Washington Monument

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I recently went to Washington DC for my school trip and got these pictures of the Washington Monument at amazing angles. The Washington Monument resides in Washington DC., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Father of the United States.

Water Phoenix

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Water Phoenix by Aarav Puri

First Post. This is a Water Phoenix that I created using paint.net at the start of the school year as part of my Graphic Arts Elective. Using a combination of gradients, curves, and various other adjustments, I created the blue fire that you see in the background. I found an open sourced phoenix online, removed the background using remove.bg and made my edits to it in order to give it the blue glow and shine in certain areas.

Here is how to create the fire effect seen in the background using paint.net:

  1. Set the Blending Mode to Overlay
  2. Go to the Effects menu, then Render, and select Clouds
  3. Change the Blending Mode to Difference
  4. Press CTRL+F to repeat the effect about a dozen times
  5. Select Flatten from the Image menu
  6. Select Curves from the Adjustments menu
  7. Select RGB under Transfer map
  8. Uncheck the Red and Green checkboxes
  9. Add a control point
  10. Repeat the steps for the green channel