July 19 was the 180th birthday of one of the most famous French artists - Edgar Degas. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, even though he more preferred to be called a realist. Degas started painting seriously very early in his life. Obsessed with painting, he turned his room into an artist studio by the age of 18. His father - a wealthy French banker - was originally against Edgar's love for art and wanted him to become a lawyer instead. At the age of 21, Degas dropped out of Law school and went to Italy for three years where he copied the works of Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. Degas talent flourished under the guidance of his first teacher Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, whose first advice to Edgar was "draw lines, young man, many lines..."
To mark the 180th birthday of Edgar Degas, show how his paintings would be different if he created them nowadays - e.g. including modern elements in his works, making them promote and endorse products and services, including celebrities and politicians in his art, hiring Degas to do movie posters, etc. Many thanks to pcrdds for the themepost.

American actor James Garner passed away on Saturday. He was 86. While he's had many solid roles on the big screen, Garner is best known for hit TV series "Maverick" in the 50s, and "The Rockford Files" in the 70s. Come to think of it they are almost 20 years apart! His biggest passion outside of acting was car racing. Garner is yet another Hollywood icon we've lost in 2014. He will be missed, and his legacy and his movies will stay with the generations of fans.
To pay tributes to James Garner, photoshop him any way you wish.

It's the Freak Show time of the week... Get your whips ready and get the freaking circus started! In this contest you can photoshop and exhibit anything you wish (standard site rules still apply). This is basically a weekly exhibition of your creative works with no "contest restrictions". Many thanks to Rickytrek1 for the themepost.

British history channel Yesterday hired several digital artists for three months, under close supervision of the esteemed historians, to create a series of pictures showing how famous historical figures may would look today. The chops look interesting, but at the same time you can see some blending flaws and missing shadows... With all die respect to Yesterday channel, the artists have created only five "chops" in three months.... seriously? So our very own Icy suggested that we show them how many quality chops we can create in 3 days, instead of 3 months. Watch this, Yesterday channel!
Take any famous historical figures from the old paintings and show how they would look these days - give them some modern clothes and put them into any modern environment, like taxman Napoleon in the themepost by Hitspinner.

Create images of something that happened in the news during July 14 - 20, 2014.
The submission span for this weekly "News in pictures" contest are open for the whole 7 days - Monday through Sunday, followed by a day for voting (next Monday). Now you can chop and submit news as soon as it happens, without waiting for a weekend.
News in Pictures contest now has double jackpots: 1st place: $10, 2nd place: $6, 3rd place: $4, 4th place: $2.
In the Creator's Comments, it is mandatory to link to a news story. You should use this format to make a link: [URL="http://SomeNewsSite.com"] news title[/URL]
Keep the BLACK as is, replace GREEN with the link, and replace the RED with the news story title. ( Themepost image credit: Reuters )

This Friday we continue our freaking experiment with provided source images. Gorillas are the largest primates by physical size. They are ground-dwelling and live mostly in the South African forests and eat ground plants and tree leafs. Thanks to their long arms gorillas can swing on tree branches and move from tree to tree at speeds of about 5 miles an hour. They use trees not only as a source of food, but also to hide from the ground predators. The gorilla's DNA is 95% the same as human's.
Photoshop this photo of a baby swinging gorilla any way you wish.

July 15 is the 408th birthday of Rembrandt van Rijn, one of the most famous painters in history and the most famous Dutch painter. After becoming famous, Rembrandt taught many artists in his Dutch studio for over 20 years - the period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age. During this period the Dutch style of painting was largely shaped by Rembrandt studio influenced the future generations of Dutch artists.
Photoshop any Rembrandt art works any way you wish. Some examples are: show what Rembrandt art would be like if he created it nowadays. Would he be creating advertisements and movie posters? Would Rembrandt paint modern celebrities? Would he be using photoshop for his art? These are just some ideas. The themepost for today's contest was made by Chili who recently passed away. RIP Chili, this contest is in your honor.