Thanks to everyone who took part in our 'Tarff' challenge.This week I notice that James Christie, the founder of the famous art auction house Christie's, held his first sale on December 5th 1766. I therefore decided to make an auctioneer's gavel, using Blender 3D, Adobe Substance Painter and a seamless wood texture I created in Adobe Substance Designer. Of course a gavel is used by more than auctioneers, it is also used by officials in meetings and in courts. But the big question is, what can you do with it? The “rules”: Use the starter image as at least part of your own image entry. Anything goes, as long as it meets the forum rules on decency, copyright, etc. Anyone, and everyone, is welcome to have a go, whether you are a complete beginner or a Photoshop expert. This is not just for our forum “regulars”. The challenge is not limited to Photoshop. Any Adobe software can be used. There are no prizes apart from the chance to practice, show off your skills, or bring a bit of humor and fun. Don't be shy, join in and have a go! The starter image is made available for you to use in this forum challenge only. To download the starter image, hover over the image and click on the circle with the arrows at the top right. Then, when the image opens in its own window, right click and choose “Save Image As/Save Target As” (or similar depending on your browser). It is made with transparency, so there is no cutting out do do. When posting back your image — please use the blue reply button in this first post and use the 'Insert Photos' icon at the top of the reply box. If posting a comment on someone else’s entry, then please use the grey reply button next to their image post. Have fun! Dave

Community Expert

Question

Something for the Weekend - Part 255 - Bring down the gavel!

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
December 5, 2025
149 replies
7698 views

Thanks to everyone who took part in our 'Tarff' challenge.

This week I notice that James Christie, the founder of the famous art auction house Christie's, held his first sale on December 5th 1766. I therefore decided to make an auctioneer's gavel, using Blender 3D, Adobe Substance Painter and a seamless wood texture I created in Adobe Substance Designer. Of course a gavel is used by more than auctioneers, it is also used by officials in meetings and in courts. But the big question is, what can you do with it?

The “rules”:

Use the starter image as at least part of your own image entry.
Anything goes, as long as it meets the forum rules on decency, copyright, etc.
Anyone, and everyone, is welcome to have a go, whether you are a complete beginner or a Photoshop expert. This is not just for our forum “regulars”.
The challenge is not limited to Photoshop. Any Adobe software can be used.
There are no prizes apart from the chance to practice, show off your skills, or bring a bit of humor and fun. Don't be shy, join in and have a go!
The starter image is made available for you to use in this forum challenge only.

To download the starter image, hover over the image and click on the circle with the arrows at the top right. Then, when the image opens in its own window, right click and choose “Save Image As/Save Target As” (or similar depending on your browser). It is made with transparency, so there is no cutting out do do.

When posting back your image — please use the blue reply button in this first post and use the 'Insert Photos' icon at the top of the reply box. If posting a comment on someone else’s entry, then please use the grey reply button next to their image post.

Have fun!

Dave

Turtle.PSD

Inspiring

Merry Christmas =D

All animated in the PS Timeline window (video). Gemini did a great job turning my quick and crude watermelon doodle into a photorealistic watermelon using a quick prompt that included "keep the pose the same" (otherwise it kept making one that was looking straight at the "camera"). I used the same technique to generate the background.