Hello all, so excited to share some new art with you today!
The week before last, I began an exploration of Digital Art using the program
Inkscape (similar to MS Paint), creating two digital paintings: “On the River” and
While I enjoyed the challenge of using that particular free
software, I was disappointed with the interface, which didn’t have all the
features (brushes mostly) that I wanted. It was time for an upgrade, and after
doing some searching on YouTube, I found several concept artists doing
fantastic work with Photoshop (PS).
Admittedly, PS is not a free program, but for those of you
interested in trying it, Adobe offers a free 7-day trial, which I used to
create the pieces that I am sharing today (currently they offer a monthly
subscription to use the program after the 7 days, but you can at least see if
it something you are interested in purchasing). Please note that I am not
receiving any compensation for this review, but trying to provide information
on creative outlets for fellow artists and art enthusiasts.
Here is a great
YouTube video on "Thumbnail Art” that will help you get started with using
PS for painting:
Needless to say, I am hooked—this one program does
everything that I want it too, and I know that I have only scratched the
surface. Even more than that, some of the effects that I can create PS are much
easier and faster than I it would take me to recreate on a canvas. In addition,
the ability to quickly sketch out ideas, evaluate them on the spot, and then
undo is very powerful, because mistakes are sometimes harder to fix when using
real paint (especially when working with oils).
Ultimately, I had a lot fun using this program and created 6
new paintings in 7 days! Here are the first few paintings from this series – I
will feature the rest very soon in upcoming post. These first ones are very
atmospheric, something that is easy to do with PS. The detail level also
increases over the course of this first set of digital art. For this set, the
Fantasy Genre, Film and Game Design Art that I saw other concept artists
creating in this medium inspired me.
The Digital Paintings:
“River Valley.” Digital Art by Charles Wolf.
Impulsive Artistry © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
For this first painting, “River Valley” I used a soft round
brush with the opacity of the paint set to about 65%, mimicking watercolor
paint, which is slightly translucent. When I was satisfied with the
composition, I added a light effect with an overlay layer using an airbrush
(this can be found under the wet media brushes – took me a while to find it),
and then made a new adjustment layer using Color Balance and Curves to
fine-tune the lighting for the entire piece.
The next three pieces were created using a gradation as my
background layer and employed a chalk “brush.” I used the color picker tool
(looks like an eye dropper in PS), and selected colors from my gradient, which
ensured a monochromatic uniformity to the pieces with a mist or fog like
effect.
The first two artworks of this set are merely a variation – “The Pass”
features a great stone wall at the top of the pass, and “The Ruins” some sci-fi
or fantasy structure looming in the distance (not sure of it’s purpose – just
thought it looked cool).
“The Pass.” Digital Art by Charles Wolf.
Impulsive Artistry © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
“The Ruins.” Digital Art by Charles Wolf.
Impulsive Artistry © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
This final piece directly explores the idea of fog in a pine
forest by some distant mountains in the early morning – used more air brush
effects, a gradient background layer, and that same chalk brush. I found that
playing the soft cream yellow against the cool blues had a very cinematic feel.
“Misty Morning” Digital Art by Charles Wolf.
Impulsive Artistry © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
I have two more pieces to show you (even better than these),
but I will hold onto those for a future post – so be sure to check back next
Tuesday to see them! I hope you enjoyed seeing my digital art. Have a fantastic
artistic week, and I will be back on Thursday with a new Fall Photo Set so
don’t miss it!
—Charles
Question of the Day:
What creative project are you working on this week?
Let me know in the comments
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