Colored Version of the Drawing in the Last Post

Playing around, loosely following Don Seegmiller's digital watercolor tutorial.

A Sketch Using Painter's Scratchboard Tool

Trying another brush that I don't use often, the Scratchboard Tool from Painter's pen library.

I liked using it. It responded well to my Wacom Intuous' sensitivity, so it was pretty easy to control the line weight.

The Making of "Fiery Mountains"

Time for another digital painting walkthru, tutorial, how I work, painting method or how to paint a fantasy scene. Whichever one you want to call it is fine by me.

I wanted to do one of those fantasy scenes with the warrior looking properly heroic with the scantily clad woman hanging on his leg. Of course, I wanted to do it with a little twist. My hero wouldn't be the classic hero. He'd be the offspring of a rare union of elf and dwarf. He'd be taller than a dwarf, but much shorter than an elf. He'd be more slender than a dwarf.

This piece is being drawn and painted with Corel Painter 9.5.

After a few sketches, I settled on the poses.

I chose a color scheme for the background and laid it in with a custom brush. I like this brush because of it's ability to pick-up and mix color.

Now, I use a blending brush to blend the colors and remove the texture.

I start to indicate the mountains in the distance. I'm also determining the main direction of the light source. At this point, I'm starting to reconsider the foreground colors and its' shape.

I decide to place the figures on an outcropping. I add pixels to the left and bottom so that image elements won't look crowded. I work in the basic shape for the the new foreground and extend the background.
Next I block in the shadows and lights for the figures. At this point, I think I have all of the main elements in place. The only thing left is the details. Now I'll spend some time in my library, looking at fantasy scenes and characters to help spark some design ideas for my characters garb. I'll also be looking at some mountain references. I'll probably do some sketches and then get back to the painting later in the week when I have a block of time to throw at it.

Recharging the Artistic Batteries

Cleveland, Ohio is home to a fantastic, world class art museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). They have great pieces in their permanent collection and would host fabulous exhibitions. I visited it regularly. Unfortunately, it has been closed for renovations since early 2005.

This summer, some of the galleries reopened. I made my first visit today. It was like greeting an old friend. Looking upon the many master works by artists like David, Caravaggio and Rubens is simply inspiring. I was a little surprised to find how much my knowledge of artistic techniques had grown in the years since my last visit. Besides appreciating the art, I could see the principles used in creating many of the works. That made the experience even better.

On of the best moments was entering a gallery and seeing the portrait of Mrs. Ralph Curtis hanging on the wall. It was painted by John Singer Sargent, one of my favorite painters. It had been on loan to another museum a year or two before CMA's closing. Having it back was an unexpected treat.

I left the museum feeling inspired and excited to get back to my own work. Who knows, I may even pull out the brushes, set up the easel and slap some pigment on canvas.

Blue Waltz

Another waltz study and a few more recommendations for the dance floor.

Moon River - Andy Williams
Ocean Waltz - Sting
Jazz Waltz Waltz - Bugs Bower
B Minor Waltz (for Elaine) - Bill Evans

Girl Sketch

Just having a little fun, taking some liberties with anatomy. Perspective on the gun is a bit off, but I liked the negative space created by the curve of the body and the straightness of the arm.

Publish Post

Sites I Like: Zhuzhu's Sketchbook V 2.0

Impressionistic. Vibrant. Vivid. Dynamic. Energetic. All of these adjectives can be used to describe the digital (and traditional) paintings of Zhuzhu. Few artists can get as much from a few skillfully placed brushstrokes. His work is a constant source of inspiration to me. I admire his sense of form and color. This thread, Zhuzhu's Sketchbook V 2.0, on ConceptArt.com is one of my favorites to visit.

Enjoy!

Ballroom Dancing - Waltz

The most elegant of the smooth dances. Taking a waltz lesson was my introduction to ballroom dancing. I think that waltz was the first dance that I danced in dancing shoes (Which, I learned, did make a big difference over dancing in street shoes!).

Here a list of my current favorite waltz music/songs:

• Dark Waltz - Hayley Westenra
• Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
• Sunrise, Sunset - Jim Nabors
• Winter Waltz - Jim Brickman
• Fascination - Al Martino
• Tennessee Waltz - Guy Lombardo or Norah Jones' version
• Vito's Waltz (The Godfather) - The New 101 Strings Orchestra
• Sleepsong - Secret Garden
• Play Me - Neil Diamond
• I Go To Sleep - Sia
• Reach - Idina Manzel
• Buck's Nouvelle Jole Blon - Buckwheat Zydeco
• Around the World - Nat King Cole

What can I say; Eclectic is how I like my music!

I haven't danced to this yet but I think that "Silly" by Deniece Williams would make for a great song to waltz to. That's one of the really cool things that I'm finding with ballroom dancing, you start to hear the various ballroom beats in lots of contemporary music.

You can find my other posts on dance here.

Hair Experiment

A sketch to help work out an idea concerning hair. This wasn't exactly what I was shooting for, but its close. I think I know what I have to do to get it where I want it.

Study using Painter's Flat Oil Brushes

As I mentioned in this post, I was planning to try out some additional Painter brushes that I don't usually use. Here's this evenings tryout; the Flat Oils brushes. The brush was okay, but I think that using it in conjunction with some other brushes, instead of alone, might produce better results. I did use a couple of the blending brushes on the hair and to even up the skin tones.

Quick Finds: Weekend Sketch

The Broadview Blog - Weekend Sketch: Great character design and awesome brushwork.

Iron and Latex

I've recently been browsing the blogs of some character designers. I love that type of art, so I was inspired to do a couple of pieces this evening (between running back and forth to watch the Olympic games.). I decided to work with some different brushes and not to do an initial sketch first.

For the first character, I used the Sargent brush (Corel Painter 9.5). Its a brush that I like, but don't use that often. I used a reference for the pose and developed the character as I painted.

I used the Big Wet Luscious brush for the second painting. I'd been wanting to do an Iron Man painting since I saw the movie, but never got around to it. I took this opportunity to get it out of my system.

Using less familiar brushes made the exercise fun. It also helped me to approach the works in different manner than my usual method. I learned quite a bit while working on these two paintings. I think that I'll be looking to use the Sargent and the Luscious brushes more in the future. I also need to make time to try out some of the other brushes.

Quick Finds: Monochrome Portrait

During my travels on the 'net, I sometimes come across work that I like to share. I'll collect them under the title/tag "quick finds."

Bao: Monochrome
I love how deceptively simple this elegant portrait looks.

Cornrows and Hoops

I think that I mentioned before that I try and get in some drawing or painting daily. Today's digital painting was a portrait study, based on one of my old sketches.

Going Where the Stylus Takes Me

I felt like working today, but didn't have anything specific in mind. I didn't want to start anything new, but didn't want to work any of my WIPs either. So, I just began doodling.

I started out just drawing basic shapes. In this case, some overlapping circles and a crescent. The shape that it formed sort of reminded me of a Trilobite, so went with that notion. I used it as an excuse to play with some custom brushes, which I used to give texture to the creature's shell or carapace.

I continued on, stacking which ended up as a cartoon ape. A rectangle became a cartoon robot. The next set of overlapping circles the four-eyed red creature.

The red creature sparked an idea to create a hybrid insect-like creature. This guy wound up with bat wings, scorpion pincers, armor and a stinger.

I finished up the session with couple of faces and a partial figure study.

Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours!

About Model Sheets

No, not that type of model sheet. I mean the more traditional definition of model sheet:

Model sheets are drawings of posed cartoon or comic strip characters that are created to provide a reference template for several artists who collaborate in the production of a lengthy or multiple-edition work of art such as a comic book, animated film or television series. Model sheets usually depict the character’s head and body as they appear at various angles (a process known as “model rotation“), includes sketches of the character’s hands and feet, and shows several basic facial expressions.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I use model sheets a lot. Not necessarily to portray a specific character, but to get an idea of how the pros go about constructing their character designs. Of particular interest to me are the "rough" sheets. These are the various iterations that the character goes through before the design is finalized. Sometimes the constructions lines are still visible. Those types are like gold to me.

I tend to use cartoon elements in many of my works. Studying model sheets help me to better understand how to incorporate the elements into my style of working.

Here's an example of a model sheet:A few links to get you started:

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive

The Disney Animation Archive

Cartoons, Model Sheets and Stuff

You can also find some model sheets in print. One of the best places to find them is in the children's books section under art books. They're listed as "How to draw" a particular character. Model sheets are usually included.

My painting was inspired by this stock photo from lockstock at DeviantArt.com.

RIP Bernie Mac

Actor and comedian Bernie Mac died on August 9, 2008.

I was a fan of his comedic style and I found his autobiography, "Maybe You Never Cry Again," to be inspirational.

This attempt at caricature is my small tribute to a guy who made me laugh a lot.

The Return of Le Fee Verte

15th Anniversary: Absinthe Goes From Banned Drug to Legal Liquor
"In the 20,000 years or so that humans have been getting piss-drunk, no spirit has earned a worse rap than absinthe. Said to turn mild-mannered imbibers into raving maniacs, it was banned in the US and much of Europe in the early 1900s."
Wired 7/21/08

Absinthe, also known as Le Fee Verte or The Green Fairy. Said to enhance the creativity for a number of notables like Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway.

I've never tried it, but I'm fascinated by the mystique and ritual surrounding the drink and its association with artistic creativity. I even own a slotted Absinthe spoon. One of my favorite episodes of "Highlander" featured an immortal who'd been drinking Absinthe for centuries.

The drink has been the theme for works from a number of famous painters:

Edgar Degas - The Absinthe Drinkers
Edouard Manet - The Absinthe Drinker
Pablo Picasso - The Absinthe Drinker

Art Challenge: Friends and family

This work was created for the "Friends and family" jam at The Drawing Board.

Description:
"This month's Jam is all about the non-powered non-costumes supporting characters in the lives of our favourite heroes - husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, bosses, pals etc."

I usually try to find obscure characters when I participate in the Drawing Jams. I think this guy qualifies: Zorro's servant and aide, Bernardo.

Using References and the Making of "Assassins"

As I mentioned in the very first post of Digi's Stylings, I use references in most of my work. I've heard the pros and cons of using refs, but I still come down on the side of using them. To me, the idea is not to try to paint a copy of the reference material, but to use elements to enhance my work. Unless I'm painting a portrait of the subject of the reference, my finished work should have quite a bit of distance between it and the original.

In my opinion, we all use reference. Whether it is from a photo, screen grab or observing the world around us, I consider it all "reference." Some references have been internalized and I can rely more on the information in my head. Other things, I need to look at to get them "right."

As for the making of "Assassins:"

This is one of those "accidental" paintings that seem to happen from time to time. I was searching through DeviantArt's Stock Image Library when I came across a pose that I liked. This pose had nothing to do with the original subject of my search, but I decided that I wanted to sketch it. This pose eventually turned into the Marvel character,Elektra.


I decided that she needed an adversary. A quick back story of two assassins tracking each through an abandoned building gave me the theme that I needed begin composing the painting. I decided to use additional refs for the two added elements. The other assassin's pose came from the next ref.

I looked through some industrial photos to create the environment. I used elements of the third ref and some custom brushes to create the atmosphere. Now that the basic elements have been laid in and I can start thinking about color. I'll make the coloring process another blogsclusive.

Here are links to the stock images that I used.

• For Elektra's Pose
• For the other assassin's pose
• Background

Note: I'll notify each stocker that I used their work once I post the finished piece to DA.

Sites I Like: Sijun Forums - SpeedPainting IV

Speed Painting is an exercise, primarily digital, in which one paints on a time budget, using already developed methods to create a piece.

While it is cloudy where the term was first coined, it appears to have been started on an art forum by the name of Sijun with 'The Speed painting thread', which still exists and has planted offspring on other art communities such as ConceptArt.Org and CGSociety.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Started on September 30, 2002, SpeedPainting IV is probably the oldest active speedpainting thread on the web. As of this posting, there are 997 pages of art. To be considered a true speedpaint, no more than two hours can be spent working on the piece. The artist usually works with broad strokes and very little correcting. You have to get your meaning across using very little detail. Though, some artists can get an amazing amount of detail done within the time constraints.

I came across one of the earlier versions of this thread years ago, but none of them got to be as large as SpeedPainting IV. There is some truly wonderful, imaginative and draw dropping work sprinkled throughout the thread. Some of the artists have been contributing so long that you can actually see their artistic progression.

The work in the thread has provided me with inspirations and education. Since these are not polished pieces, a lot of the work process is discernible. This has helped to figure out somethings artistically, without completely reinventing the wheel. It will also bruise your ego. When someones speedy blows what you were working on for days out the water, it can be a bitter pill to swallow. After you rinse the bad taste from your mouth, hopefully you'll take it as a challenge to practice more and do better on the next painting.

Take a look at the thread (I hope you have a fast connection, 'cause there are a LOT of images!), you'll probably recognize works from some people who've gone on to being premier digital artists.

Enjoy!