Tag Archives: digital art

Be

Leave a reply

    Yay! I actually got permission to post my digital art! Maybe I was wrong to give the choice, but I feel that portraits​ are kinda personal. 

     I’ve been so busy with repairing my home. It’s a little over one hundred years old and it’s last update was in the 80’s. I’m not trying to go too modern, but things like floor sag and bad rafters come before the pretty stuff. Foundations first!

     Maybe I should just enjoy this period of my life. After all, it hasn’t been this quiet in a long time. No impending doom, just everyday things. I should be content.

    Ha! Who am I fooling? Even though it’s true, that’s just not my nature. After a decade of nothing but one emergency after another, there is no way I could fully believe that calm waters are ahead. But is that experience or paranoia?

    I gave up on happy. It abandoned me. My world has been mostly grey with occasional flashes of color. I’ve come to accept it, even appreciate those rare instances.

    Was I wrong? Could it be?

     Here’s the truth; I WANT to be. I really do. I know it’s a little like giving up on life the way I live. But I’m not sorry. It’s my way of… I’m getting my affairs in order. That’s all I’ve been doing. Stalling in the hopes that it isn’t necessary, but keeping my distance from life so that I won’t mind parting with it.

    Dammit.

   Okay. I need to start doing more than getting by. I need to find joy in little things. Like my art. It doesn’t need to be complicated because now I know what I want!
  I want to be.

 

Inflict

Leave a reply

     Finally! Back to the digital art! I know some of you thought I’d given it up. Truth be told, a lot of people don’t want their stuff posted. 

    Add to that the fact that I find portrait work sorta boring and you get mostly sketches. No biggie.

    This image is a little special though. Because although this IS from a person, this pose technically never existed. I had to modify the stance in order to create something a bit more dynamic.

     I get that some consider digital art to be little more than photo manipulation. I always try to change some aspects of the image I create, just to prove that I’m not just adding a Photoshop filter and calling it a day.

      To me it’s a way to conveniently create large scale media. While I acknowledge the need for some high speed flip art ability, too often it ends up being a reason to pretend art is just a thing easily made. 

    So yeah; if you hadn’t seen the previous steps, you may be tempted to think I used an animate filter of some kind. Nope!! Just good old knowledge and talent applied.😊

     So the next time you see the words “digital art” on my page or any other, remember the effort it took to pluck an idea out of your head and put it together visually. After all, the process matters as much as the end result.

More Good News for Bad News

Leave a reply

    My time for art has been rather tight lately. If I’m not doing stuff like the image above for clients, I’m editing videos and doing photography. It all adds up, so I try not to think of it as work. That would kill the vibe, lol.

    In the meantime, it’s always a joy to find an hour or two for my own personal projects. This weekend was such a break. I went to my local Starbucks, sat down and begin this picture. Actually had a guy get upset when he was informed that the person in the picture was a girl. Silly dude, strong girls rock!

So since this is the month for it, expect a few more strong women 😉

Cooler

Leave a reply

image

   Good news everyone!  My client apparently would be “much happier” with the actual digital file. I get to work on it a little longer to fine tune things I wasn’t happy with.

image

      Of course I intend to take advantage of this. But no sooner did I begin than work became hectic. I mean REALLY busy,  to the point of me having to be in three places at once.

image

       Anyway, her face isn’t the challenge with this image; I’m okay with those.  It’s the overall look. I’m still not sure who this character is. I haven’t decided how to present her or what way to tie in her background.
       Help?

Internalize Your Love

Leave a reply

image

      Baltimore comic-con is coming up and I gave myself a commission for a new friend. I don’t get to goof off either;  I need to finish it by tomorrow!  So I’m trying to work on it as much as possible.

image

      Of course I have no idea what kind of background I’m going to give it. I usually go to a person’s Facebook page to put those personal little touches on their art. So hopefully she appreciates it.

image

      Plus, adding the grey background is necessary when the character has any white on them.  Otherwise you can end up leaving the area blank.

image

      I’m nowhere near done! Shading, adding details and all while considering the background layout. Will I make it?…

When It’s At

Leave a reply

image

         The only thing I’ve learned in the last few weeks is to stop stretching myself so thin! Seriously, you would think there’s an actual workaholic gene at work here…

         Speaking of,  I didn’t make it to Otakon this year.  I’m a little bummed so I drew a few sketches about it. They suck, so here’s another one that I just started instead:

image

     For bonus points I get to hear Whale sing “pay for me” in the background. Look them up,  they’re why the 90’s were awesome.

image

Gone from Here

Leave a reply

   

image

          Two things; inpatient care should ALWAYS be proceeded by the word “voluntary”and there’s nothing wrong with getting your brain tuned up if it maintains your status on the mortal plane.  If a repair job is over your head,  don’t be afraid to call in the experts.

          I should have more art to show you. I do,  but it’s traditional art and right now it’s a little bit of a reminder of my recent crack up.

        I’ll come back to it, I promise.

         For now, I’m showing off a piece that I did this weekend. It was for a friend and I’d promised to do it a while ago. It was very cathartic to pull this together so quickly after my hospital stay. Actually it was amazing! Can you tell how content I am right now?

Unexpected

Leave a reply

image

          I think this year for my vacation I’m going to stay in the mainland. Too close to not wanting that extra effort to pay off. It’s not something I can put a finger on. But I will.

image

    
          This is Lee Haney,  8 times Mr Olympia. I met him years ago and was impressed most by his demeanor. Here was a man who had every reason to be a narcissistic ass, but he wasn’t. He showed me that greatness that self evaluates is greatness controlled. I draw him occasionally, usually when I’m doing my own evaluation.

image

         Hopefully you guys are doing the same. Whether in art or life.

Always know you.

Color Blind part 3

Leave a reply

image

      So now we’re ready to add color to the image first I select a new layer and change it’s setting to color. I do the same for the brush, softening and lowering it’s opacity as well. I like to add color in strokes so it feels more like painting. Plus I don’t really clean up my brushstrokes. I like a little roughness to my art!

image

      Remember to add any layers of color necessary to achieve the look you’re after. Flatten your image when needed; it’ll save file sizes from getting out of hand. I leave mine in so that you can see the steps in the photos.

image

        The background color felt a little too dominant compared to the foreground. I use the hue/saturation tool [ctrl/cmd+u] to change the color and lighten it.

image

        I still have a little work to do, but you get the idea. Try to choose your palette BEFORE you get to that last step. It’ll make life a lot easier. Have fun!