Using a single ‘bendy glass’ image, I tried different processing methods to see what I could get. First is the starting image alongside the sphere/ball version – drag the slider to show/hide the images:


Now I show 2 art effects using the original image:


Now I am showing 2 sphere/ball art effect versions of the image:


I find that the more I play with these techniques, the more I learn what works, and what doesn’t…