Category: Artwork

Any and every kind of artwork I do.

Playing With Watercolour

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A pregnant fairy and possible children on a purple sunflower background
A fairy heralding fall…?

 

I can’t remember a time picking up watercolors when they weren’t pressed into cakes for children, or when there wasn’t fear and refusal to marr a watercolour pencil drawing with water.

I am blessed and humbled with this simple gift of paper, and supplies. Today marks the third – and final – morning of camaraderie and advice needed to finish such a whimsical piece.

My art training causes me to wince at composition. See the petals? At least the movement sweeps the eye across the page before it dumps you right off… Perhaps my skepticism will melt before the finished product. I’m enjoying this learning exercise and appreciate being free of the burden of “wasting XYZ (money, materials, and therefore my time)” because it wasn’t ‘perfect.’

Anyhow, the children are clamouring for breakfast and I’m excited to get back to it, so off I go!

Illustrator vs Photoshop

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A photographer (and good friend) once said to me, “Why would you use Photoshop? Wouldn’t you use Illustrator instead?” and I wondered why she jumped to that conclusion.

But it doesn’t do what I want it to do, I thought. And, as far as I know, it still doesn’t. ::laughs:: But that’s not to say it does not have its uses…. just none I was interested until yesterday.

A family member of mine wanted me to produce a logo to print onto t-shirts and I knew right away, Illustrator was the answer, so I dabbled in it for the first time in, oh… six years I’d say. I took a course in university that displayed it as a tool for graphic design… totally not my interest. A lot has changed with the software in that time and I floundered, bewildered, for simple tools such as “fill” and “trace.” (Make me a logo from [this] … why would I do it from scratch?)

An evening of effort and already it’s sent off for approval. It’s a satisfying feeling to be able to boast, “I can do that for you; it’s easy,” and be able to back up what you say.

In related news, I have a friend that feels confident they know someone who’d like to pay for my art. Time to put it out into the universe that I want it to be true, and may I be worthy of the praise and confidence.

WIP ~ Diablo III submission

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So as it turns out, Blizzard is hosting a contest for art submissions. I’m at somewhat of a disadvantage that some people will have a whole month to perfect their art and I’ve less than half that, but I haven’t been excited to draw in quite awhile, and a $5k prize is quite exciting. ::laughs::

I think I’ve zipped along quite fast for muddling around for a few days now. One thing about Photoshop that I think is awesome is the ability to layer artwork, like working on a stack of onion paper. I had the idea germinating in my head to do something similar on a larger scale – draw a person and accompanying scene life size – but I hit a snag when the store I wanted to buy from, only sold rice paper by the roll at 8 1/2″ wide. I was certain they used to sell it wider, but regardless I’m back to square one until I find a supplier. In the meantime, this provides an interesting distraction.

It’s just incredible, that this drawing has 27 layers, and I’m not even done yet. If you want to quibble, 4 of them are redundant 2 layers for an alternate cloak and two for a different pair of pants, but that’s still 23 layers and counting. And to think, we do all of this on ONE sheet of paper, which is really so much easier.

submission_v3

::preens:: Certainly proud of myself.

I can draw [but I swear I’ve forgotten how]

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I’m in a slump.

I’ve been working on a drawing that someone inspired me to do, but you know how it goes… you have a [permanent] schism and the dissonance becomes an impediment to your work. As such, I’ve been stumped on how to get out of this rut. I already did the “fun” bits to that drawing, and it’s just a slog at the moment, so time to turn to something else.

With zero inspiration, I thought I’d just, well… practice. See what hit the virtual paper. I have all these digital tools at my disposal and I’m awkward with them.

 

 

Certainly nothing fancy, but it’s cute, anyway. Maybe I can try this again tomorrow.