I can't say I didn't have a nice two weeks off. While playing Mr. Mom is fun and all, and does all that child/parent bonding nonsense, I am glad to be off to the peace and quiet of the workplace. Quiet, that is, except for the hacking and coughing and throat clearing coming from my cubicle. I've had this throat thing for awhile now. My boss concurred that I should find an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist. I guess me clearing my throat every 5 minutes is driving him nuts!
It's nice to be back painting with purpose again. I had the pleasure of working on this one today as an exercise in Illustration. The subject is "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by the poet Robert W. Service. It's a great poem, and I hope you read it here. I'm sure most of your monitors aren't calibrated, so if the image looks really weird just use your imagination and project some awesomeness that might not really be there....I know my monitors at home are WACKED.
I'm going to be teaching a Photoshop Speedpainting class at work in a few months, so I'm trying to brush up on my skillz and stuff. Look for me posting my class notes and instruction when they're complete!
This painting was done with only a few custom brushes. One of the reasons I like Photoshop so much is the complete control over color and value. I do a lot of Color Dodging, Curves adjustments, and Hue and Saturation tweaks over the course of a piece. Also, I'm very comfortable in the Brush creator now...
While useful, these tools are also a crutch. It is generally good practice to be able to just lay out the color/value exactly as it should be, as if you mixed the paint and put it on the canvas. That's why traditional skills are so important!
Speaking of learning art skillz, I've been enjoying the blog of the artist James Gurney. He is most well-known for his Dinotopia work. I am impressed with his dedication to daily blogging and lessons on art. I think it's a great resource for anyone interested in developing their artistic eye.
