Tag Archives: digital art

Finish Strong

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I have one last step before I close on my house and it gets underwriter approval; the inspection. I’m so nervous! I keep telling myself that it’s no big deal and that I don’t need a roof over my head, it’s not like I’m being evicted, lol.

It’s very hard to lie to yourself.

Anyway, to pass the time, I finished the Shelby. It gave me a sense of satisfaction and helped me focus. It’s amazing how sometimes art whets my appetite to create more and others I just feel drained and relieved. With this, I just swiveled my chair around and started anew.

Don’t mind R2, he’s a pet

But that’s for next week. In the meantime, be safe and enjoy the following video. Later! 😊

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Lots of work and a big decision…

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Hey guys! We’ll, let’s not stand on ceremony; I found my next house! (I hope) I’m going through inspections and appraisals now, but my financing is already in place, so hopefully in late March I’ll be closing 🏠

Unfortunately… I’m having to make a choice to move on from someone. With my mother dying from COVID last year, I slowly came to realise that I no longer value having constant companionship. So…

Yeah.

Anyway, my life is changing in other ways as well. I’ve already set goals for this year, and looking forward to achieving them. Quite a few are art related, so you get to come along my journey. Isn’t that fun?…

So look for me to start paying a little more attention to this page. And here’s what you were REALLY waiting for, lol. One more vid to completion!

Paint and clear coat

ALL the Stars

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It’s been… interesting watching the responses to Chadwick Boseman’s passing. He was important to some people and overrated to others. But to me, he reinforced the idea that I can leave on my own terms.

It has a certain appeal.

In the last few years, I’ve had a classmate and a friend in the cosplay community die unexpectedly. By unexpectedly, I mean one I hoped would be okay, but knew she was battling illness; the other I had NO clue.

It sounds weird, but having a terminal diagnosis, at least to me, allows you to grieve you. You get to determine what your loved ones deal with, get yourself in order. It gives your remaining time clarity.

So yeah; I can see him not wanting the pity awards. Ledger did an awesome job as the Joker, but you always have to wonder how much of that was a lifetime achievement award. We were applauding a young talent, not knowing how briefly he would hear the praise and appreciation. He was our first REAL leading man superhero, who’s origins weren’t a gang or a ghetto. He’ll always be that for me.

Sorry no beginning. My capture software crashed! Not bad from memory, though…

Type

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It’s a good thing that I have a high stress tolerance! I’m working on a podcast right now (not my own) and there were a lot of mistakes made. I’ll fix them after I post this 😉

I love doing these preview shots. When I first started, they were a pain to remember. Now it’s almost second nature.

I got my start as a kid doing comic style art. I still defer to it sometimes. Like here, to keep separation between the character and the background. But it’s hard to fight the urge to do realism.

Honestly, I’m getting better at working around my job as a videographer. I was so used to doing images in one sitting, so learning to pace myself has been very helpful.

As for digital…here I turned off the color for most of the background. I’m not happy with it and need to make changes to create depth. Working slower helps me avoid some of the mistakes that tend to sleep into a speed painting.

So next week, you’ll see a finished project and a video as well! In the meantime, enjoy your week.

Centered

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Sorry I haven’t been around. I have drawn some art, but I had a reason to be away.

My mom contracted Covid-19.

So I have been doing my best to make decisions and help with her care, to make sure she RECEIVED care and to find a way for her to know that she was loved, even though we couldn’t be there physically.

She’s in her 70’s, but she is recovering. Also, small town America has no idea what’s about to happen to it. Her entire church (Yes, they STILL went to church) has been infected. Several have died.

So I continue to draw and edit videos. I have a time lapse video of this week’s drawing, but it’ll take awhile to compress it and speed it up.

Plus I’m told that I’m going between genres too often. Well, I try to be consistent, but I’ve been occupied. Hopefully things will get better.

The Luxury of Sleep

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Hey guys! Sorry but I’m super busy with something that should cover my bills for a considerable amount of time if I can accomplish it. But hey, I’m a former paratrooper. The difficult can be done immediately and the impossible takes slightly longer. 😉

So I decided to show you the difference a little time makes. I was happy with this when I first produced it. But one of the ways that you know that you’re growing as an artist is that your old art looks primitive when you see it later. You see where you went wrong.

So fix it.

As you can see, it’s a lot more refined and the hair looks more like hair, lol. I kept her muscularity without losing the graceful flow.

And her hands aren’t big and thick.

And since one person liked my video, here’s another. Again, older work, but just as fun.

See you next week!

Everyone Needs

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Sorry about the background. I’d left the transparency, instead of adding a layer of white. For some reason, it’s expressing as black.

Weird.

Anyway, here’s my first digital picture in awhile. My process is pretty simple, all things considered.

A line drawing by pencil, transferred to Photoshop as a layer, copied over as line work then filled with an establishing color.

It was a bit easier; I guess my skills have improved quite a bit, which makes me happy.

The work on this was relaxing for me. It was a nice return to why I loved drawing in the first place.

I wasn’t trying to please anyone. I just put myself in the moment and did my best. Seems like great advice and definitely the kind I should take.

The final result actually garnered me some interest with a gym interested in making shirts and stuff. The owner is a professional bodybuilder who likes my style.

So being myself paid off.

Cloudy

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Last post before the new year! I’d love to lie about being ready. I really would….

As you can see, I’m back to doing digital painting. Believe it or not, this one was fairly easy for me.

Everyone thinks that I have my own special, custom brushes for doing this kind of thing. Nope. I’m doing it the hard way. Opacity on 10%, so most of the brush strokes you see are built up. It’s how I get that feathered look.

As for the details… I’ve gotten a lot better at crossing the finish line nowadays. Those little things are the difference when it comes to your art.

To be honest, I never trusted myself with being able to bring them out.

Anyway, I’m not sure if I’m happy with it. I gave the old background more pop and a 3D feel, but…

…. we’ll see.

Illicit Response

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     Okay…. I’m not sure about the age of my audience. I drew this pretty quickly, so hopefully no one gets upset. Ready? Here we go…

    So as much as finished pieces gets all the glory, it’s the ground work that makes it all come together.

      I honestly was never one for sketching in the past. If I had an idea, I would just dive right in, no plan, just improvising as needed.

     But as I got further along in my career, I learned that having a plan isn’t necessarily a bad thing! It actually helps to know in advance what you’re doing. It helps in a lot of ways.

    For instance, I already knew ​where my light source would come from. It made layering my skin tones a LOT simpler.

    Having a good layout helps with the speed I’m able to use here. I can reverse the image to make sure I have the balance needed.

    Now that I’m happy with it, I can begin to blend my colors and perform little tweaks that are required for the look I’m after.

     Now all I need to do is clean up my Image and give her shadows a little depth by cooling them off.

    A lot of these things become easier with time. Give them a try!

Fun is Work

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     I can’t believe how many projects I have going now! It’s ridiculously draining, lol. No anime, no gaming, just art ALL THE TIME!!

   Isn’t that awesome?

    Of course not every piece has to be super realistic or complicated. Take this one. It’s a picture of a friend, done in Photoshop. I’d promised it to her a while ago. Felt nice to actually make it.

   I suppose I could polish it a bit more, but the comic book feel would be lost. 

  I did have to make a few anatomy corrections; otherwise it looks like her. I was glad to do it because it was fun. 

    Now that the head is the right size, I can send it to her. She was pretty happy and I had a good time. 

    I wish everyday was that way.