https://forums.adobe.com/people/Terri+Stevens wrote Art is often ugly and often violent, haven't you seen the 'Scream' by Edvard Munch it's terrifying but brilliant. Then you have Michelangelo's painting showing St Bartholomew being flayed alive with his skin neatly folded like bed sheets-now that's violent, but universally considered to be a masterpiece. Almost every Christian church has a representation of Christ nailed with rusty nails to a wooden cross, blood streaming down his arms and feet and often for good measure a spear penetrating his abdomen and his intestine spilling out. You need to remember that Photoshop was created originally 25 years ago for digital artists many of whom will have been to art school and seeking to produce impact imagery and you don't get that with pictures of baby pandas frolicking in the snow or cute puppies peering out of a basket with ribbons around their necks. I don't think anyone who likes nice pictures is a 'nutter' but that kind of imagery takes very little skill to produce and that's the point-it doesn't show off Photoshop's potential. The girl in the splash screen looks as if she has a heroin addiction and has a look that's incredibly difficult to reproduce , but I bet you in real life she's an attractive model with good skin and in the rudest of rudest health. The artist therefore show what Photoshop can really do in transforming a normal looking woman into a sickly looking women with a few months to live. I don't like seeing someone in that state but admire the skill of the artist to create that look as I know just how hard it is to do. Dag is a great photographer from what I have seen of his work, but I bet he gets the most satisfaction from not the bright pictures of the Fjords on a sunny day but from the dank , moody images as a storm is building , creative people are like that. Are not what we really debating is what is appropriate to put on the Photoshop start up screen? The sacred image of Jesus you outlined above is a reminder of what He endured, yes it is violent, but Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him, and his love for his father! (not fear nor deathly images got him to freely be crucified). There is nothing more powerful than love. Further, the Bible is chock full of violence. God even uses or allows it to bring about his purposes. A teenage boy could slaughter a giant, with God's help...But that doesn't mean God wants us to meditate on it. Constantly seeing the same image, cause one to meditate on it. And there is no (easy) option to change it! That is the problem, and why the OP posted! I know the 'allure' of evil, oh how beautiful it appears on the surface...But the pain that inevitably follows always eclipses any temporary joy...For example, the affair that promises 'love' ends in a gnashing of the teeth. What I will do, is meditate on the revealed word of God, no higher authority exists: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Phill 4:8 KJV Some other possible startup images: https://creators-images.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/no-slug/2c52f82d834819cb6526b6e4c0474a8e.jpg?crop=1xw:0.708041958041958xh;center,center&resize=1250:* Calm and Stars. Oil painting by Yongsung Kim. Image courtesy of Foundation Arts Youngsum Kim https://www.foundationarts.com/content/images/thumbs/0053690_the-healing-touch-print-only-18-X-12_600.jpeg Youngsum Kim https://www.foundationarts.com/content/images/thumbs/0053690_the-healing-touch-print-only-18-X-12_600.jpeg
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