This was an experiment to see what I could come up with from a single leaf shape and a single photograph. The maple leaf was drawn as a vector shape in Illustrator and the photograph was a close-up of a weathered road sign I found in our local town. Here is the original photo.
Part of my near-obsession with the beautiful patterns to be found in our urban decay is that the weathering that produces it is a natural force and the results of years exposed to rain, wind and sun (this is in Thailand so no frost!) are very reminiscent of what can be found in the natural world. Pairing a leaf shape with this cracked old paintwork is hopefully a good demonstration of that fact.
I used Photoshop to put the collage together. It's a shame that I should mention that this is not in any way AI-generated except in the sense that any computer these days is quite intelligent and every computer is very artificial.
There are a number of useful effects I used that make it a better, perhaps more believable, composition. Such as, slightly roughening the edge of the leaves so it matches the textures in the photograph. Although some might prefer a nice clean sharp edge on those leaves, to me it looks better roughened but only to point that it's visible if you look for it. I also used the basic Photoshop drop-shadow and inner-shadow features.
I include a photo of the sign in-situ close to a school. I covet it because it's such a lovely piece of art in itself that I suspect spends its days in plain sight going totally unnoticed. It could have been deliberately designed like this and I hope it is not replaced with a bright new shiny one as it does still just about do its job.
