Sunday, May 27, 2012

Illustration Friday: Faded


"Erica ran and played in the tall grasses until the day faded into night".

This painting is a watercolor on rag paper.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Supergirl three ways


For today's post I thought I'd show you some techniques I've been working on. I'm still trying to teach myself how to paint in Photoshop and the top image is of my "Supergirl" painted digitally in oil with a brush that I created myself. I also carved out the image tonally first like I do my reductive monotypes in printmaking. So I started with a deep brown canvas layer and gradually wiped it away to create the highlights and tones. 
I'm pretty happy with how painterly I was able to keep it and figuring how to create my tones makes me feel more confident about moving to digital painting.


The image below is traditional watercolor on paper and it was very fun and fast for me to do. I keep reminding myself that there was a time when I wasn't confident with watercolor either and that it took time before I found a technique that worked for me.



This version below is a digital watercolor and I still don't think I've found a method that I like just yet but it's slowly getting better.  What do you think? Which one seems the strongest? Which one looks like a "Lori" piece? I want to hear what you think.



Sunday, May 20, 2012

Illustration Friday: Sight


Here's my submission for Illustration Friday: Sight. Maybe I should save it for when the topic Teeth comes up.
The weekend got away from me and I didn't get a chance to color this one. I did this drawing in my sketchbook and scanned it into Photoshop. I want to try and colorize the sketch and add layers to it. I didn't understand before why illustrators seem to draw and then scan their images versus drawing right into a program with a tablet. I figured you would be very restricted to the scanner size but now I know....it's faster and much more comfortable. I find drawing with the tablet has a lot of advantages but it's still very different and I tend to get cramping in my hand and arm. I've tried holding the pen in various ways but it's still not as natural as a real pencil on paper.

Check back and see what I end up doing for the color.

*After post of color version*

Friday, May 11, 2012

Illustration Friday: Kernel



Here's my submission for today's Illustration Friday: Kernel

"Charlie realized that he might have put too many corn kernels in his cheeks and thought they might burst from his mouth."

The goal for this digital painting was to see how fast I could do it. I'm still practicing with Photoshop and I'm trying my hardest to find a way to use the program so it works for me. I did this little guy in an hour. I think I'm getting better, slowly but surely.

Any thoughts?

Sunday, May 6, 2012

6x6 in New York

Eeek! Housework and spring cleaning has kept me hostage and I haven't been able to work on very much lately. I feel really unproductive even though I've been working my butt off.
I did create a couple trace monotypes that I sent off to the 6x6 Show at the Rochester Center for Contemporary Art. Today is the final day for submissions and soon they will post images of the hundreds of 6"x6" pieces of art that have been donated by artists from all over the world. You will be able to buy online or if your lucky enough to live in the area, you can snag one at the preview showing.

 All pieces are anonymous until after being sold but I will give you a peek at mine for fun.