ON THE INSIDE Interpretative Art by Doug Friesen

Original Challenge: https://x.com/LeoCoinArt/status/1981621112510304309

It was a busy week.

As the weekend rolled in, I finally had an opportunity to explore the details for the next art sprint. Dreaming In Code. I must say, this was a highlight. The vastness of interpretation is broad. But, I was stuck. We were now back home. My free time to create while out on a birthday adventure was over. Yet, the allure of the prompt chosen for this Art Sprint grabbed hold of me. It was something I couldn't resist. I love a challenge. The 5 day length was needed and a fantastic update to the structure. So I began...

Nothing.

I was staring at a blank screen. Nothing came to me. I continued to create art, still nothing. It's true, there are some things that one cannot force. Creativity is one of them. I frequently use music to inspire a mood when creating art. That was my missing piece. How had I forgotten that key component? With music filling my senses, I remembered that I had captured the shadow from the window blinds one morning. It would quickly become the core to my dream code and concept.

To find yourself in a shrinking space—walls closing in through a dream, extending into the conscious—can be terrifying in the deafening silence. These are the offspring of claustrophobia and anxiety.

ON THE INSIDE was created with layers, blend modes, vector Illustration and even a touch of AI to assist in the creating of the silhouetted figures for this hand crafted union of digital art and photography.

Trapped in a room, the walls made of sharp tines, slowly compress. I want to wake up, but I can't. The room continues to shrink. Screams are silenced in the sandbox of my mind. Anxiety haunts my dreams. It thrives on chaos, but without the release of being heard. So I sit here, shaken and not stirred, not yet woke from my nightmare.

The final artwork consisted of seven layers. Four layers were originals from my photography archive. One layer was a vector shape block utilizing the Difference Blend mode to shift colour spectrums. Lastly, I used two generated monochrome figure shapes within Adobe Firefly to complete the story. Layered in my composite, they take on the colours and textures built from my imagery. Blend modes were the tool that created the final mix of tonality.

Within the original images used, the imagery plays on dreams and nightmares one experiences: the abandoned school room creates a lingering feeling of aloneness, failure and isolation; the forked tines backlight in a barn feel prey on subconscious emotions of being trapped. The shrinking personal space for the (screaming) inner self is an illustration I did based on a minimalist image I captured with my phone during. The original shadow cast was beautiful and abstract.

The end result of utilizing all these processes and mediums was a complex art piece that feeds on the chaos in dreams which fall to silence in the real world

This concept and composite fine art was created on October 26, 2025.

Never suffer in silence.

The 6 images used in the final manual composition are shown in preview below ➡️