Congratulations winners! You guys put out some killer work this year.

And a special shout-out to all the top nominators: /u/241baka, /u/CptSasquatch, /u/xprmntng, /u/Maymayfish, and — of course — /u/artunitinc; who not only nominated 9 of the 20 winning photoshops, also just won 3 awards himself! Yet another year we're disappointed that we've already given all of you guys the mod shout-out award :D

Right back at you, as always!

This year I even feel a bit bad accepting that praise since I barely scraped a few nominations together from the weeklies in a single sitting - no list this year unfortunately as I wasn't all that active. Still wouldn't want to miss Award season.

Cheers 🥂 and thanks everyone for making this happen!

Awards ❤️😎🎉

Thanks everyone for nominating and voting my stuff!

Also great work all around that was posted and nominated this year. I was rather inactive throughout the year so it's great to see all the awesome work all in one place. Thanks to all the artists you all rock 💪

And congrats to all the winners 🙌

Congratulations to all winners and thank you to everybody who nominated my entries.

Looking forward to 2023. I am sure this will be a better year than the early 20's.

Congratulations all! And thank you for the mention- I really enjoy being a part of this community. Here's to a great 2023 and all the great 'shops to come!

Thank you to the Mods of PsB, Community Members and All of You voting for me.

This time, I would like to introduce the following words.

"Gold medals are given only to those who win, but praise and cheers are given to everyone who pushes their limits. The courageous light that shines on them is the highest honor."

I'd like to congratulate all incredible winners and nominees this year for their unbelievable performances.

I'm deeply grateful to /u/CptSasquatch, /u/xprmntng, /u/241baka, /u/Maymayfish, and /u/DaminDrexil.

I thank you all for this amazing award today.

Thank you so much :)

Is it the same in every country that politicians want to be "kingmaker" as they get older? lol

I thought about how I should keep myself during "the coronavirus pandemic". And I found these words:

"When you praise yourself, your "self-affirmation" goes up. Then you will be able to praise other people. And you will feel more confident and motivated."

Damin, I'm one of those who know your dedication to this community. Thank you for always supporting us! :)

Congratulations on your two wins and thank you for recommending me! As I thought, you are a great contributor who deserves "Outstanding Community Member of 2021" :)

Thanks man, seriously the biggest shout out though should be for yourself putting the awards together each year and nominating by far the most of anyone. This community is held together by you and the mod team. So thank you.

And thanks to all who nominated/voted for my efforts. I can't state how cool it is to be on this list. Cheers to a new year!

Congratulations on your "Best Back & Forth" award! I always get excited when I found your work. And if you "reply" to his work, good things will happen. lol

Thanks so much for the nominations this year arty! You always go above and beyond for the community! You're a treasure and deserve all your wins this year. Congratulations!

Congratulations on your win! And thank you for recommending me again this year! I'm one of the member who is very pleased with your win. I'm looking forward to exciting works you create in 2023!

Maymay, congratulations on your win!

I'm so proud of you! :)

We would love to welcome new member to our traditional OCMC(Outstanding Community Member Club). lol

Therefore, it's your turn to take over "The Crown" to "/u/Deafca7" ! :)

Wow.. :O <3 I 'm just so flattered and honored to even be considered part of such an amazing cast of characters!

Everybody here is so talented and I can't wait to see what 2023 brings to this community I've learned to love. Sending all positive vibes I hope you all smash it this year :3

You deserve it! :)

Number 12 was a filter...

No, it's legit. Arty's the real deal :)

It's based on Marco Sodano's "Lego Masters" series from around 10 years ago (before AI filters), and is done with surprisingly basic tools inside of Photoshop. You can try it yourself:

Let's start with this photo.

1. First up, we need to find a good image of a Lego brick. In order to match the look of the original, we can just isolate one from a high-res version of a Marco original.

Take that brick, tile it into a similar-sized grid that matches the aspect ratio of your source photo. Like so. Make sure to desaturate it, and keep the average brightness around 50%.

2. Next, take your source photo and go to Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic and set the grid to match your bricks.

3. Put the bricks layer over the pixelated photo, and set the transfer mode to "Overlay".

You'll probably need to mess with the brightness and contrast of both layers to get the colours to look the way you want.

You can also pop-in the Lego logo and "IMAGINE" brick to mimic the original art pieces.

If you really want to go the extra mile, swap-out some of the 1-piece bricks for 2, 4, or 6 piece bricks (if you find clusters of similar enough colour in your pixelated image).

>I barely scraped a few nominations together from the weeklies in a single sitting

It must've been a productive sitting, because you picked 3 of the winners!

I know you like to down-play the effort you put into things; but seriously, man; it's clear you put some real hours into finding photoshops again this year. You don't half-ass things.

I mean... holy shit!

>Still wouldn't want to miss Award season.

You certainly didn't! Another win, another well-deserved win :D

Thank you :)

>I can't state how cool it is to be on this list.

They say that the reputation of awards go both ways. While they can bestow legitimacy on awardees, they themselves derive their legitimacy from being associated with the best-of-the-best.

And there's no question that you give more legitimacy than you take in this community.

I think I can speak on behalf of everybody here when saying we're the ones that are honoured to have you, man :)

Thank you!

>When you praise yourself, your "self-affirmation" goes up. Then you will be able to praise other people.

Well you must be very self-confident, Arty, because you're known for being especially generous to the other creators :)

I've been thinking about the same thing recently. The more you love something (like photoshopping), the more you'll find yourself being enthusiastic about both your own work and others.

Thanks for another great best of DaminDrexil, that banner is amazing!

Big congrats to u/Deafca7 and u/SligPants on the well deserved shout-outs! Congrats to all the winners as well!

Didn’t realize the results were up until someone commented on my video…and didn’t even know that shop had been nominated (thank you for nominating it u/DaminDrexil). Thanks to all who nominated my work even though it was slim pickings in 2022. Love you folks…you haven’t seen the last of me.

The fact that I get to look forward to more cptsasquatch in 2023 makes me so happy!!!
You are quite the talent and an inspiration of mine, well deserved!!!

Congratulations, man! Not many people can take a 10 month hiatus during the year and still sweep 3 awards; but, honestly, I'm not surprised you pulled it off. The quality of the work you put out during those other months was insane.

That Robert Plant one especially. Trying to make wood conform to new shapes is difficult enough, but to do it under that kind of lighting takes serious skill. I mean, just getting those specular highlights to look convincing must've taken half-a-dozen passes with as many techniques. But that's what you do. You come up with an idea that's waaaay too difficult to achieve; and then, instead of simplifying little details that nobody would notice, you brute-force your way into making it happen as imagined. And for a long time, non-photoshoppers didn't really notice how special those pieces were. But by continually challenging yourself over-and-over, you've built-up a formidable set of skills; and by putting them all together, you're producing such unique and high-quality work that you've become undeniable.

I don't listen to much jazz. And if you showed me a good local group playing a flashy arrangement, versus a world-class band doing something genuinely new and complicated... well, I'm just not familiar enough with the genre to tell who's retreading well-established tracks, picking all the low-hanging fruit; and who's trailblazing, while doing things most pro musicians can't. It all sounds new and complicated to me. But when you put on an album like "Bitches Brew" or "A Love Supreme", even I can tell it's something special.

Look, I'm not saying you're Miles Davis here; but man, you're definitely starting to do that thing where even people outside of your niche (photoshopping) are starting to take notice. It's why you've doubled your wins with just a handful of 'shops over a few weeks, despite working your ass off for years while being under-appreciated. You're finally mastering the albatross of a challenge you set yourself back in the day — building 'shops from the ground up — to the point they're out-competing images created with larger, pre-fabricated parts.

I can't wait to see where you take it next.

Geez Damin, if I had gotten that kind of positive feedback in school maybe I'd have applied myself. Much appreciated my friend.

>That Robert Plant one especially.

Not sure if I already shared it, but here's a link to the timelapse video. It's a bit of a long watch(over nine minutes), but it'll provide some insight into what went into the piece. Not trying to downplay the praise, but the main skill here is persistence...which may be what you're getting at.

Anyway, you've definitely got me itchin' to get back into 'shopping :)

Congrats everyone!!! Thanks to everyone who took the time to make nominations this year. I love getting to see all the submissions I missed through the year. I was absolutely not expecting to see my name up there this year and I was genuinely moved just to see I was even mentioned at all. /u/artunitinc you're an absolute legend and I'm so happy you're still an active part of this community! Much much love to the mods as always. This community is responsible for so many smiles, and I respect so many of you for taking the time out of your day to make those smiles happen. Cheers!!! :)

Congrats!

Yes, I am. "I Am Legend" haha.

I think this community would be even better if talented creators like you joined in from time to time. :)

Amazing work this year!! Loved all the winners, and going through the nominations is a quick way for us lame folks to catch up on some of the great pieces I missed.

<insert round of applause here>