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Art has always played a big part in Tom Godfrey’s life. For 20 years the former schoolteacher ran the art department at Highbury High School in South Africa. “Teaching fulfilled most of my creative urges,” he says, “I could try all sorts of artistic things with the kids, which was fun for them and for me.” It was only during school holidays that Tom had time to work on his own creations. “I guess it all started when I made cartoon covers for the school’s cultural and sporting events – things like the evolution of the running shoe, although a little simpler. “After that I thought I’d try my hand at watercolour. Eventually, I joined a watercolour society and exhibited. To my delight I sold two landscape paintings,” he says. Even for such a talented artist the rest hasn’t quite been ‘history.’ For Tom, giving up the day job to pursue his passion was too much of a risk. “There is nothing like a regular income when you have regular expenses,” he says. Even so, he dreamed of retiring early to become a full time artist. Last year Tom and his wife immigrated to Sydney. The move was prompted by a need to look after Tom’s mother-in-law who suffers with MS. It was the fresh start he had been waiting for. “I realized once I had given up my day job in South Africa that the future was a clean slate and being older, and hopefully wiser, I decided that it was up to me as to what was recorded on that slate. “I have given myself a window of about two years to make it, in some form, in the art world. “A full time artist once said to me, ‘Tom, put yourself in a corner and paint your way out of it.’ I always like that image,” he says. Although one of the most respected and versatile artists in the Red Bubble community, Tom is still searching for his niche. “The problem is I’m interested in so many different approaches to 2D art,” he says. “In traditional media I use both acrylic and pastel to create wildlife and landscape paintings. But I also love cartooning, caricaturing and sci-fi. ”I’m not focused on a single approach yet as I am testing out new markets to see what sells – I need to eat first and indulge later,” he says. Tom is currently working part time in a local gallery while building his reputation on and offline. “I’m starting to get commissions coming through,” he says, “Although things are probably taking longer than I expected.” Cartoons and caricatures have proved most commercially successful for Tom but it’s his outstandingly original sci-fi / fantasy artwork that gets him most excited. “If I won the Lottery that’s the stuff I would concentrate on,” he says wistfully. As well as the visual appeal of his alien landscapes populated with characters like Gorgon and Zola, Japanese Fighting Fish, and the Clakkerpods, Tom’s illustrations are accompanied by tantalising back-stories. “The stories just come to me as I work on an image,” he says, “I guess it all comes from having an overactive imagination.” - Craig Scutt More of Tom’s art can be found here /
Every 5-ish weeks we take a bit of time out to regroup, argue talk about what we think we need to do next, what’s broken, what we dream…
Every 5-ish weeks we take a bit of time out to regroup, argue talk about what we think we need to do next, what’s broken, what we dream of doing eventually, crazy marketing ideas, even crazier tech ideas, problems, solutions, etc. The nerds (myself included) also get a chance to tinker around with new code, do little experiments and fix things we haven’t had time for in the regular mad rush to get stuff done. At the end of this 5th week we tend to have a massive pile of things we’d love to do and a sense of which of those are most important. Pete usually thinks there’s not enough there, and the dev team usually curls up in the fetal position terrified about how much work there is. “What does this have to do with Spanish painters, german pop music or iced tea?” you ask? Each one of these 5-week cycles is named after a particular artist or creative type we like (or at least one we think is amusing), starting with “A” for Archibald and working our way through the alphabet. We recently wrapped up the Goya and Hasselhoff cycles, and we’ve just started work on Ice T. You can blame Hasselhoff on me (the pictures of the Hoff around the office were punishment enough) and Ice T on Xavier. Anyway, we recently had one of these 5th weeks to figure out what we were trying achieve with Ice T, and we think it’s either (a) a really good idea, or (b) a really crazy idea to let you all know what’s on the roadmap and what’s really important to us for the immediate future. Of course, this is not a promise that we’ll get it all done, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we’re ignoring the other million things on the list. Have patience! Without any further ramblings, in no particular order, here’s what’s up with Ice T: some more love for Groups some buyer-oriented pages and paths through the site for shoppers a whole lotta love for our fulfillment houses so that they can process, make and ship your orders faster a whole lotta love for our back-end accounting system bigger/better canvas prints posters (these look beautiful!) postcards supersized products (yup, we want big to be bigger!) measurements in both metric and imperial gift vouchers gift wrapping wishlists more currencies something other than paypal for payments a two-minute tour for new visitors some tools to help artists promote themselves elsewhere on the web tools for us admins and moderators edit/delete tools for comments planning out some super secret stuff for the “J” release a whole lot of little/boring/techy things you don’t need to hear about This list will definitely change, twist and morph, but hopefully it’s still useful for you guys to see what’s coming up, and to know we’re listening. What should we name the “J” release? We’ve had plenty of painters, musicians and questionable actors, so perhaps it’s time for a writer, or a photographer, or a sculptor, or…? — Justin
Check out the latest issue of BubbleWRAP as written by YOU, to get to know your fellow Bubblers…
Check out the latest issue of BubbleWRAP as written by YOU, to get to know your fellow Bubblers Toxteth O’Grady, Stacy Lee, Helen Sewell, Melody & Sometimes; find out what’s next on the agenda; read Pilgrim’s conceptions on the Evolution of Art; embark upon a journey with Danny in his Kathleen Interview; share some emotions with Damian in Family Bonds (Flash Fiction); find out what fuels the Scots in Ode to Porra by photogenique; or read about a Bubbler’s upcoming serial novel in Kathleen’s Wolf Hollow Interview with Kate Smith. And Don’t Forget / We want YOU – the RedBubble Community – to drive the inspiration and creative content of BubbleWRAP. We want you to share with us everything that excites your inner child or anything that inspires your creative pursuits. They can be in any form that you find them, be it images or designs, stories or interviews, poetry or tshirts, quotes or collaborations – the list is endless. We want BubbleWRAP to become a showcase of your brilliance. Send any entries (such as image and tee reviews, member interviews or inspiring stories) to: / tom@redbubble.com
Okay let me start of by saying, like most painters I’m not much of a photographer. I don’t have a studio set up with a SLR Camera, lighti…
Okay let me start of by saying, like most painters I’m not much of a photographer. I don’t have a studio set up with a SLR Camera, lighting lamps and tripods set up to take images of my work but then I’m guessing many of you will be in the same situation. / I am just going to give you some hints on how to present your work in the best possible light to load up onto redbubble. 1. Take your photos outside in natural light. Indoor lighting can colour your work a dull yellow colour. / / 2. If your work reflects light, ie oil paintings, varnished work and even some graphite work, then it is much better to photograph your work in open shade. This stops that annoying shiny effect you can sometimes get, and never, ever use a flash. If your work is behind glass it is very hard to photograph, so the big hint is document it before you frame it. / / 3. Try your very utmost to line up work work so that it is as parallel to the camera. This will stop the distortion you can sometimes get on your work. Easiest way I guess it to stand it up 90 degrees against a wall and hold or stand your camera as straight on as possible. / / 4. You want your painting to occupy as much of the viewing space as possible but don’t get to close to your image, this also distorts the image. You are much better of standing back from the image and zooming in. The bigger the painting on your image the greater the resolution you will get at the end. / / These are the four basic hints for taking pictures yourself. Much can also be done after your image is taken. I have photoshop but many other programs can carry out the simple steps I will outline here. Remember we want to represent our paintings as close as possible to the real thing so don’t get carried anyway with post production. 1. Firstly change your image resolution to 300 pixels/inch this is the best resolution to work with (or at least this is what I was taught). / / 2. Make sure your image has the correct rotation, slight misalignments usually can be fixed with cropping. Hopefully your work is free of distortions. There is a way of correcting for this but it is much better to spend time when photographing to get this right. / / 3. Crop the image down so unwanted background is gone. If somebody wants to buy a print of your work I’m sure they wont appreciate half of your wall as well. / / 4. Lastly you can adjust the levels so the image is as close to the real thing as possible. Hopefully this will help some of you out. If anybody wants more information on how to change image size, rotation, cropping and levels I can give some advice on how to do this in photoshop only. If there is a demand I will do it. I also have notes on how to copy indoors but it requires a lot more equipment. Anyway let me know if you would like this also.
they say it comes in three`s good things happening / first one of my photographs was choosen for a tutorial in painterX magazine and its o…
they say it comes in three`s good things happening / first one of my photographs was choosen for a tutorial in painterX magazine and its on the cover well the painting by catsbound who wrote the tutorial and inside magazine they made my gallery at painterX website featured gallery next got an email this morning its a jigsaw puzzel site have used one of my photographs for one of the puzzels / which are free to download and lots of fun to make on the computer http://www.download-jigsaw-puzzles.com/902728.html next on my sxc site I am coming up to 100,000 downloads of my photographs which I am so proud of as I dont go far only back and forward to work and odd trips up north to visit family so all in all a great start to the day
I’ve been keeping a close eye on the featured and popular pages on Red Bubble, and wondering where all the painters, illustrators and gra…
I’ve been keeping a close eye on the featured and popular pages on Red Bubble, and wondering where all the painters, illustrators and graphic artists are?! There are some AMAZING artists working in these media on the site, but it just seems like they’re all being lost in the system. I have nothing against photography or the photographers, but it’d be nice to see a more even spread. So – do your bit! Upload your best painting, illustrative or graphic pieces Seek out painted and illustrated works Comment, fave and watch! The popular algorithm is a closely guarded Red Bubble secret, however I’m sure doing the above things can help boost painting and illustration on this site. I know we can all help bring attention to the amazing artists on this site who deserve to have a little light shone on them! I will go through my own watch list and select and feature artists who I think deserve to be a little more popular. I have sent in my request to have an Illustration group on RB, and Kathleen emailed me back a few days later and said that many people had requested the same thing and that they were nutting out a plan for launching such a group. I really can’t wait, I do think a group dedicated to illustrators might be the shot in the arm needed for illustrative artists. If you’re with me, let me know!! Spread the word! (I have submitted this to a few groups, please let me know if this is appropriate – because I think it is, and highly beneficial to us all!!)
Hey guys / The official Corel Painter Mag chose my Siamese fighting Fish, as pic of the week. see / here...
Hey guys / The official Corel Painter Mag chose my Siamese fighting Fish, as pic of the week. see / here / and I just had to share my excitement :)
/ Carrie Glenn Studios is proud to announce that…
/ Carrie Glenn Studios is proud to announce that she has just been featured in “Treasure State Lifestyles Magazine”! The article is in association with the book she will be published in, in May of 2008, “Artists of the West”. This project has been three years in the making now and we are all eagerly awaiting the official announcement that she is “officially published” and we are all enjoying the journey! “Thank you for all of the wonderful support from my fans and friends that has made this possible and to my family withouth whom it wouldn’t have been possible!” – Carrie Glenn Here’s a sneak peak from Carrie’s page from the book “Artists of the West”… /
I recently won the Still Life competition in the “Painters …
I recently won the Still Life competition in the Painters In Modern Times group. I am really excited by the win and very honored. There were so many excellent entries! / I want to say a VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to all of my fans and friends that took the time to vote for me and who support me here on RedBubble and in my artistic journey. Again thanks everyone…truly and sincerely!!! Also thanks to all of the very talented hosts working hard for us behind the scenes at PIMT… Firedrake Marilyn Deb Trisha Kafka Marion and Martin Maine Dish – Crab Check out the write up here Your comments are most welcome and appreciated! ;D
Hey everyone!! The wonderfully creative Jo O’Brien has just begun a chain of interviews to …
Hey everyone!! The wonderfully creative Jo O’Brien has just begun a chain of interviews to bring all of us closer to some of our favorite artists!! The first ball was given to MuscularTeeth who interviewed the famous Karin Taylor and Butchart. Karin then proceed to interview me and Mui-Ling !! What an honor!! Yay!! So now presenting Midori Furze!!! ....................................................................................................................................................... How does being a creative person and pursuing your creativity affect other aspect of your life? I carry a timer set up as an alarm clock. / When I am in the mode of creativity I often forget the time, so I set the timer for whenever my next important time will be e.g. picking up children, start cooking dinner or phone call someone. / When the bell goes, I switch myself and remember where I am and do what I’m suppose to do so I can manage my days on this planet. / I also have a diary which tells me what I must do on that day. / If the diary has a blank space, I smile and go straight to my studio and stay there all day but these days I always have something on it. : ((( / I am lucky to have a husband who accepts me as I am. I hope he does. / He might believe that it’s normal because I am Japanese. Hehehe… / By the way I thought he was a bit different from others but I liked him as he is and I thought “Well… he is an unusual guy. I guess because he is an Australian!!” After we moved to Australia I realised he IS a unique, even from others in Australia. Tell us about one person or moment that has made your time on redbubble particularly special or meaningful I am a great fan of Karin Taylor and Frozenfa. I know many wonderful people on Red Bubble and I love them too, but Karin and fa are soooooooooooooo special to me. / They are special to many people on RB and I am proud I know them too. / Oh, it has to be one person? / OK then, that will be TIM ( the Twisted Inner Monster is a Frozenfa’s creation). / I know he isn’t really a person, but I think he is close enough. / He makes me smile. / He makes me laugh. / Hug~! Show & tell us about five works on redbubble that have moved or inspired you I have been on RB for 6 months, and I have met a lot of wonderful people and seen great artworks. It is very difficult to choose only 5 works. Can I put 50? No? Oh, it is soooooooooooooo tough!! OK, here it is… / The Band! by Ellen / Ron Carter 02 by Jean M. Laffita / Shoreline by kafka / Dead Friends 5 by John Douglas / Imaginary Life 2007 by Paul Ruiz If you see their works, you will understand why I choose them!! / I’m also inspired by these lovely people and their works, – hahpistuff, Ken Mucke, Tine Wiggens, yanmos, Matt Tworkowski, vladstudio, girlinthestars, Cailean, Ronald wigman and of course Karin Taylor and Frozenfa. Sorry I can’t mention all of you. : ((( / Thank you for reading. / Lots of loooooooove and a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig hug! ....................................................................................................................................................... Thank you SO SO much for your time and effort, Midori!!!! Thanks for letting me do this interview with you! Hugs!! XD / I think Midori is a wonderful artist who’s great in both painting and digital work! you should really check out her gallery here Have you seen her portfolio of the exhibitions she’s been involved in? I think she’s really great, not to mention so very kind and friendly!! Thank you so much for doing this interview with me, Midori!! =D And of course thank you everyone for reading!! do me and Midori a favor and help journal about this interview to let all your friends know, will ya? am quite a small fry with not many ppl watching me, so it’d be great if others can read this interview too! Hell, am so broadcasting this interview into my blog for everyone to see. Is it ok, Midori? =D PS: Tim is squealing like a lil school girl in my head, it’s so funny.. ahahahah.. XD / Tim: Am NOT SQUEALING!! squeal!!! oooh i’d so glomp Midori-sama!!! XD
One of my favourite artists, both on and off the bubble, is Barry King. His incredible drive…
One of my favourite artists, both on and off the bubble, is Barry King. His incredible drive and determination to overcome obstacles others would balk at makes him a person of note in my eyes – a wonderful artist, yes, but there’s a lot more to him than just that. When I first noticed his work, it was mosly drawings, done on a tablet, but resembling very smooth pencil work. I was amazed by these drawings. But one of my all time favourites of his is oil, Zebras (oh to be able to purchase this full size instead of a card…maybe someday). Somewhere along the line he took a sidetrip into digital creation that resulted in a style of work that has immediate appeal – it’s use of colour and form is dramatic; often dark, always mysterious, and eminently viewable. More recently, Barry picked up a camera for the first time, and from the looks of his portfolio, he’s hooked :) From his firs tentative photos, his progression to sellable work has been swift and astonishing. Please, spend a few minutes here with Bear (Barry King) What drew you here to the Redbubble community? Hi Gracey, Well I was searching for a website for artists to display their art first and foremost, it was completely by accident that I discovered RB, I really just stumbled upon it and thank God I did / It had everything I was looking for, fantastic artists/photographers/ and writers…plus a very high quality of print reproduction ( in my opinion ) not to mention the inspiration I constanly receive from everyone here…and one last thing exposure. / Since then I have been inspired beyond words, and the friendships alone that I’ve made along the way I can’t even begin to describe how fortunate I am…truly blessed. How does my creativity affect other aspects of your life? Creativity has always played a most significant part in affecting other aspects of my life. / It bleeds into all other areas of my life is what I mean. / It’s much more than a passion, having been doing this (creating ) almost my entire life. It’s an obsession as well….Often I call it my drug. Because when I’m creating, I’m taken away to a different place, a place where there is no physical pain. I get so absorbed in my work, to the point where I lose track of time itself. Photography on the other hand isn’t quite the same and I find subject matters hard to come by, but this temporary I think…I hope :) But I can get inspired just by taking a walk, hearing a song, reading a story….there’s really no limit, or no shortages or sources for ideas and inspiration. / The only thing against me is time and how to find the time I need to complete everything I want to. and believe me…theres so much more I want to accomplish How many mediums do you work in? Which is your favourite, and why? I’m very well versed in most traditional methods, with a few exception, pastels, print making to name a couple. / Oils,watercolours, pen and ink, acrylics, and pencil, and now the wacom tablet and pen. At this stage in my life, mostly due to necessity, my physical limitations, the wacom tablet is my medium of choice. / I’d be lost without it. I view the wacom as a natural progression. It’s a sketch pad, a canvas, and so much more. There’s no limit with this amazing tool. I like to think that if the masters were alive today they themselves might be using this as well. Tell us about one person or moment that has made your time on redbubble particularly special or meaningful. When I first read this I thought;’ no way I can recall a person or moment, but that’s not true now. Last month when Michael and his wife can over to visit we got into some pretty deep discussions…all sorts of topics really. / The interesting thing I discovered was just how much we’re all the same rather than different. / It’s amazing when you think about it. Two people, different countries, backgrounds, cultures, and yet still, so much the same in a lot of ways. One thing we talked about was what we leave behind…our own legacies. And aside from the obvious- our children, and our children’s children what have we that we can leave behind? Long after we’re gone, our images, our words will still be around. ( hopefully ) And not having the slightest idea of how many people we touch now with our art, but in the future when we’re no longer here…how many people we will have touched or inspired, and to me that’s fascinating to think about. / Which is why I love being a member at RB. / There can be ‘no way’ that a person can’t be inspired. My God, look what we’re surrounded by. / And if I may take this one step further, this has prompted me to expand and explore new things, to try and experiment with new ideas. / Instead of being stagnant and relying on what I know and have done I like to see what else is out there for me to try…always looking over that next hill, to see what else I can create, something that may have never been done before, to always keep an open mind. Show & tell: What three works or people on redbubble have moved or inspired you? There are many more than three works and/or people that have inspired me. This was the hardest question to answer, and it changes day to day week to week Three people that have inspired me as of this writing are: Coolart blamo Sean Farragher Thanks Gracey I really enjoyed this, Bear
I was thrilled to see today that my abstract painting “Dreamtime Breakfast – Colours of the Outback” was selected in the Featured work in…
I was thrilled to see today that my abstract painting “Dreamtime Breakfast – Colours of the Outback” was selected in the Featured work in the Painters in Modern Times group. This work was my first serious attempt at abstract and I really enjoyed creating it. My husband likes it, so we have it hanging on our wall and see something different in it everytime we look at it. Thank you so much to the group hosts who chose it….I am very honoured. /
i am now opening up opportunities for all syd and wherever artists,in wotever medium to contact me to be part of the exhibition i’m setti…
i am now opening up opportunities for all syd and wherever artists,in wotever medium to contact me to be part of the exhibition i’m setting up for early 2009 called / wait for it….......... fanfare etc…....da da / “now here’s my dark side”- open to everyone of all art forms show me ur dark side in ur art or break the mould of wot u feel comfortable with, so send me ur intentions to be part of it and i’ll start compiling a list and then i’ll get entry forms out sooner or later…so start creating start thinking and lets make it bigger than the last 2 shows, for you who don’t know“about a woman” and “about a man” if ur not sure about who i am or wot i’m about,ask around sum1 will know me,or ask ur hosts(not all of them know me)so please think about it,especially if u are fairdinkum about showing ur art / and want an opportunity and excuse to do it, i’m giving u all one- it’s now up to u!!!! / hanging date sun 8th march – opening wed 11th march 2009 / entry forms will be out early 2009 $30 per work at TAP gallery Palmer st Darlinghurst / get creating show sum darkside! / steve
RedBubblers iAN Derrick and Karin Taylor, author and illustrator of She Sells Sea Cards by the Sea Shore...
RedBubblers iAN Derrick and Karin Taylor, author and illustrator of She Sells Sea Cards by the Sea Shore, meet in person for the first time yesterday …
I want to say Thank You to those who voted for this watercolor in the PiMT group challenge for our best handpainted flowers! There were …
I want to say Thank You to those who voted for this watercolor in the PiMT group challenge for our best handpainted flowers! There were so many wonderful submissions that I’m sure it was indeed a challenge just to pick a favorite. I hope everyone who entered will keep on painting and keep on submitting their best in future challenges! – Pat
Taken from Leonardo in Your Toothbrush… Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 in Vinci, a village near Florence, Italy. He was trained as an artist and sculptor in the studio of the well known renaissance artist Andrea del Verrocchio and worked for the Duke of Milan for many years. Leonardo died in 1519 at the palace of the French King Francis I at Chambois. Leonardo has been called an artist, painter, and architect by art historians, but in fact his surviving artistic works consist of less than a dozen paintings, including the Mona Lisa in Paris and the Last Supper in Milan. A good part of his career (1482-1500) was spent as an engineer designing civil and military structures for “Il Moro”, Duke of Milan. After Leonardo’s death, he left hundreds of drawings of machines, machine elements, and kinematic mechanisms. Leonardo designed machines for the technical problems of his day, including textile machines, clocks, metalworking devices, and most certainly military machines. Even his scientific work in hydrodynamics and flight were closely related to engineering design. Leonardo’s drawings for human flight machines contained complicated linkages similar to those in his other machine drawings. Leonardo was not the only artist-engineer in this endeavor. There were other Italian architects making a living as machine designers such as Mariana Taccola (1382-c.1460) and Francesco di Giorgio Martini (c.1439-1501) both of Siena. There is evidence that Leonardo had access to the machine drawings of these and other artist-engineers. By around 1500, Leonardo was credited with attempting to catalog the basic mechanisms that all machines are made of: linkages, gear pairs, ratchets, escapements, and pumps, some of which are used today in your motorized toothbrush. Many of these mechanisms were studied and cataloged by machine engineers of the 19th century like the German machine theorist Franz Reuleaux, who built hundreds of models of these basic mechanisms, many of which can be found in our cars, washing machines, garage door openers, cameras, and VCRs, as well as in your electric toothbrush. Read the full article here Read also: Free buttons for your website… or Little helper to write nice comments… or Telepathy
There are several ways to do most things in Photoshop, and using the art history brush to create a painterly effect is no different. I’m…
There are several ways to do most things in Photoshop, and using the art history brush to create a painterly effect is no different. I’m going to show you ‘one’ way to do it. If you can find a really good video on the net to show you how to use the art history brush, it would be a great idea. A couple of things to remember when using the art history brush:- 1) The Brush Engine/Palette is your friend :) 2) Similar to the history brush, the art history brush needs a corresponding layer in the layers palette to the snapshot layer in the history palette. 3) It is better to slowly build up an effect than to try and slap it on all at once. 4) Remember to save your file in the .psd format often. Once you’ve initially saved it, you can just go to File>Save or Ctrl + S to update it. Before we start, lets have a look at what I mean by ‘the brush engine’ is your friend. If your brush engine/palette isn’t visible go to Window>Brushes or press F5 on the keyboard. Those familiar with the brush engine will know that it is the place to set up your chosen brush so that it does exactly what you want it to do. This can come in pretty handy when doing painterly effects. Lets have a look at setting the direction of a brush so that it will follow a chosen line and the tip will go in the correct direction. I have chosen a standard Photoshop brush for this – Autumn Leaves – I have gone through and unchecked all the default settings except smoothing, and set the spacing to 130%. In the first example I’ve drawn an S shape with the brush (on the left). You can see how the leaves have stayed in an upright position. In the second example (on the right) I have gone to Shape Dynamics>Angle Jitter>Control and chosen Direction from the drop down menu. You can see how the leaves have now followed the direction of the S shape. See image below for another area that you can fiddle around with to get some different effects for the brush. And one final thing that you can do with brushes, is to make a dual brush. Go ahead and pick a soft edged brush from your brushes, open the brush engine, pick Dual Brush from the left menu and then click through the various brushes till you get an effect in the preview window that you like. If you have a blank canvas open you can even try the brush and see what it looks like. I chose the Grass Brush to come up with the effect in the image below. You can also change the attributes of the second brush and the blend mode. Just before we get going, it is important that you build up any effect slowly/gradually. This can make painting a rather drawn out affair, but you can get some fantastic results if you’re willing to take the time. Remember that there are loads of different techniques out there for painting – choose one that suits the way you like to work – mix the different techniques together etc., example – when we finally get to the art history brush :) you will find a drop down menu where you can use the brush to Lighten, Darken etc., I choose not to work with them, I prefer to use the Dodge and Burn tools on 50% neutral grey layers set to soft light. Also remember that you can still use standard adjustments during and after to make your painting special. So lets get started. You can borrow my image of Dakota below to practise on if you like, copyright is mine etc., Before you start painting, do any necessary adjustments to the image i.e. colour correction etc., In other words, start painting with a finished image. I haven’t bothered with the start image here, I simply cropped out some of the excess trees to the right. Open the image and duplicate the layer by pressing Ctrl + J on the keyboard or dragging the layer to the create new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette. At this point you can add an effect to the duplicated layer if you want (entirely up to you). I chose Filter>Brush Strokes>Spatter with a Spray Radius of 2 and Smoothness set to 5. With the top layer active, hold down the Ctrl key and click on the create new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette – this will force the new layer, below any active layer. What we’re going to do here is set up a canvas. You don’t have to do this part if you don’t want to, but you might want to use it one day. Turn off the topmost layer and fill the blank layer with a colour of your choice. I chose a cream colour, go to Filter>Texture>Texturizer and choose Canvas – pick some settings to suit and take the opacity of the layer down to about 50%. Turn on the topmost layer again and take a snapshot of the image – in the history palette, name this layer painting/underpainting or something similar. Rename the layer in the layers palette the same thing. Once you’ve done that, click on the painting layer thumbnail in the Layers palette then Ctrl + A to select all – press the delete key to delete the contents of the layer and then press Ctrl + D to deselect. You should end up with something similar to the image below. If you made a canvas layer, click on that and then take the opacity all the way down. Click back on the painting layer and go to the side tool bar and select the Art History Brush, or you can press Y on the keyboard – if the History brush tool comes up, hold down the Shift Key and press Y again to scroll through to the Art History Brush. In the History Palette, click in the little blank square of the Painting layer to the left of the thumbnail to set this as the source. Clcik on the corresponding layer in the layers palette. Now you have to go and select a brush. Remeber the bits of information about the brush that I gave you at the beginning. There are plenty of free brushes available on the net as well. I’ve chosen a Photoshop default brush – Dry Brush. I’ve gone to the brush engine and chosen direction from the menu and turned off everything else except smoothing. You will be presented with a top toolbar – see image below. This is where you’ll choose the mode, opacity, style, area and tolerance. The settings you see in the above image, are the settings I’ve chosen to work with. Time to check – Painting layer selected in layers palette, art history brush icon in the square next to the painting snapshot in the history palette, settings for the art history brush changed to suit ….. lets begin. Short, sharp, small strokes of the mouse or pen will work the best. Go in the direction of the fur and zoom in really close to see what’s going on. If you need to scroll, hold down the spacebar and you will temporarily get the small hand icon so you can move the image. Change the size of your brush on the fly by using the left and right square bracket keys on the keyboard (situated near the P key) Left makes the brush smaller, right makes it bigger. In the image below I’ve roughly gone over the head area of the dog excluding the eye – if you click on the canvas layer you made, and return the opacity to 100% you will see what is going on without seeing the image itself. Reduce the opcity of the layer and click back on the painting layer in the layers palette. I’m not going to carry on and completey finish this image, but I do want to show you how I would go about adding shadows and highlights to the painting. Make sure you are working on the topmost layer (painting layer in this case) Hold down the Alt key and click on the create new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette. A small dialogue box will appear, choose mode>soft light and check the ‘fill will 50% neutral gray’ click OK. Duplicate that layer and name one dodging and the other burning. Choose the burn tool from the side menu bar, or click O on the keyboard and then shift + O if the burn tool (hand) doesn’t come up first. Set the Range to shadows and the Exposure to around 10%. Reference the original image to find where the darker areas are, and slowly burn them in. Use the dodge layer to gently dodge in any highlights. You can see how my layer stack would start to look I changed the brush to Watercolour small round tip to do the eye and nose area. changed the brush again to Oil medium wet flow to carry on building the effect. If you want the image to be visible on the canvas you made, you will probably have to work it more than if you don’t. I would also make some more dodging and burning layers for the eyes and a layer to create a new catchlight. I’ve loosely done over the bottom half of Dakota. You can see the beginnings of my layer palette in the image below. I would have gone on and grouped the dodging and burning layers for eye, body etc., Ignoring the anything below the head area (cos I just quickly swiped over it – that thing I told you not to do LOL), you can see how easy it is to start building a painterly effect. You would of course, take much more care and time. Have fun!
Contemporary Pastel Painters“ / !http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/art/matt…
Contemporary Pastel Painters“ / / thanks Alice“
A huge thank you to the wonderful group Painters In Modern Times / and it’s hosts Marilyn Brown Trisha Lamoreaux kafka Marion Chapman / ...
A huge thank you to the wonderful group Painters In Modern Times / and it’s hosts Marilyn Brown Trisha Lamoreaux kafka Marion Chapman / Martin Kirkwood and mxsara / / for featuring my work / “Mystical Figure” / / I’m truly honoured and delighted to be featured by this outstanding group! / I’m over the moon! Made my day! Yaaaaaaay! / Have a great day / Luv and hugs / Carol xxxxxx
Please have a look at some of our newest RB family members and welcome them with open comments, kudos, hugs, kisses and those fabulous sm…
Please have a look at some of our newest RB family members and welcome them with open comments, kudos, hugs, kisses and those fabulous smiles… Erika Gouws of South Africa Colleen Drew of Texas Stephanie Exendine of Washington Steve Milner Carolyn Cable of New York Cynthia Lund Torroll Kitty Rodehorst Martin Smart of Canada Loudonphoto – Bob Lesley McClelland of the UK Bosmoore of OZ Stella Morales of Texas Linda Apple Harry Ting of OZ Emily Hild of Wisconsin
Hey all, Over at the International Superheroes of Drawing, Illustration and World Domination we have some very exciting news. We’re g…
Hey all, Over at the International Superheroes of Drawing, Illustration and World Domination we have some very exciting news. We’re going to make a book! To have your work considered, you just need to enter it into this challenge This is a chance to showcase the greatest work we have in the group, so we’re really asking you to submit your favourite piece.. don’t worry about making something new, just pick the best thing you have done. There’s only two weeks to get it in there, so please head over and drop something in straight away. I want to see a book filled with awesome art.
Awhile ago I added the image Leather Face to my portfolio. !...
Awhile ago I added the image Leather Face to my portfolio. The extremely talented wildlife painter Robbie Graham came across it and left a comment. As I was responding to his comment jokingly asking if he wanted to paint it, he was bmailing asking if he could at the same time! Of course I agreed (as would any of you after you see his work) and I sent him the original and away he went to do his magic. Here is the original straight from the camer that I sent to him. THIS is Robbie’s painting of the Asian Elephant. I am comepletely blown away and must say very honoured to have a small part in this. Thank you all for checking out Robbie’s work and THANK YOU Robbie for this wonderful experience! Also check out Robbie’s web site here
MERRY CHRISTMAS was featured in the Cards for Sale Group…..24-12-09 / !http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/art/size:large/view:main/4359…
MERRY CHRISTMAS was featured in the Cards for Sale Group…..24-12-09 / THE LAST TANGO was featured in the Art At It’s Best Group…..21-12-09 / PINKY was featured in the German Artists Group ….13-12-09 / THREE WATER NYMPHS was feastured in the Outsiders group….10-12-09 / 38thFeatured -Artist Brigitte Hintner in the Behind the Mask Gallery was featured in the Behind the Mask Group …..08-12-09 / Many thanks to all of the kind hosts of these groups for featuring and supporting my images ….it means a lot to me! Thank you all for your support and encouragement , humour and the wonderful community spirit!!!:-) HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 / Cheers, / Brigitte:-
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