Digital Coloring Done right

I am still mostly a traditional artist, but I love to color my artwork in photoshop. Here is my most successful coloring venture. Not only do the characters look very lifelike, but I have hardly any parts that are ruined by photoshop. Hopefully, with this success, I will have the confidence to continue working with digital coloring.

Late posts

I sincerely apologize for making all of my three posts this week on the last day of the week. I also haven't had much time to be creative as it has been a rough week.

One of the most fun types of digital art is cubeecraft. Different artists create all different characters, animals, and concepts as "cubees" or templates that you are meant to put together into a 3D paper sculpture. They are loads of fun and I recommend them to anyone who just wants a little craft that they can make. There are also templates so you can make your own design as mine, above.

cubeecraft website:

More Vector

I really enjoy making Vectors. I think I may make it a hobby. This one entitled "Super Kid" came from stumbling across an old adorable picture of my young cousin in her roller-skating gear. I had to make a vector of her because she's just too goofy looking not to.

Experimenting with Vector

Ok...well it isn't REALLY vector, but rather it's created in photoshop. It's relatively easy to cartoon yourself in photoshop if you have a steady hand, know how to use layers, and do not take yourself seriously. For fun, I made myself look like one of my favorite video game characters, The Fear. Fitting, since it's close to Halloween :)

Digital Art as a Statement

This is from yet another contest that I decided not to enter at the last minute. This is inspired by an x-ray, a technology used to identify fractures in bones. I compared the fracturing of bones to the fracturing of a child's psyche when they are bullied. This is a movement that I strongly support, as a person who was bullied as a child.

Joan + Joan = ?

This is my Joan Jett + Joan of Arc project. It was difficult to use a drawing and all, but I am very pleased with it. Other people had both a harder time and an easier time cramming celebrity faces together. Me? I wanted to make a statement. With music becoming more and more ridiculous over the years, artists that actually made sense like Ms Jett fade into obscurity, as do our historical heroes, hence the use of Joan of Arc.

Granted it's not funny, showy, or anything flashy. But it makes a statement, and that's what art should do.

Happiness in Three Parts

This is my latest project in the world of Digital Art, a Triptych. A triptych is a grouping of three related images. At first you might ask "what does a kitten, a little girl, and a turtle have to do with anything?" Well, you see, my theme was the many escalating expressions of happiness. The turtle with his tattooed, ragged back and above the clouds soaring represents tranquility and contentment. The little girl represents joy, as she runs up the rainbow to greet her parents. Childlike joy is one of the greatest emotions in the whole world. The last image represents ecstatic behavior and overenthusiasm. The little kitten is so happy that he has three mouths to smile with. Also note the appearance of the rainbow, it grows larger as the level of happiness grows larger as well.

The Magic of MSPaint

How did I get my start in Digital Art, you ask? Why, my good old friend MS Paint of course. When I was a teenager, back before I knew what Photoshop was, I would sit there for up to 8 hours at a time in MS Paint creating all different kinds of things. The image at the very bottom here was one of those. A person had a preset human figure and ran a contest based on how much someone could alter it. 8 hours later I emerged with an algae covered fishman with a conch shell on his head. I actually took third place in the contest even though I didn't use Photoshop at all.

After I discovered Photoshop and was still clinging to my pixel enthusiast ways, I would roughly create an image in MS Paint and then alter it in Photoshop, as shown with the image above that. I was not very proud of these and felt my interest in sitting there doing things pixel by pixel fade away...and then I got a scanner so I could actually post some of my real hand drawn art, as the pencil and paper are my forte.

Just last week I had an epiphany...what if I went a MS Paint in a bare bones go get 'em fashion? No premade forms, no Photoshop, no anything...just MS Paint. Still without a tablet, I grabbed my mouse and went for it, and created a pouty faced angry looking woman with weepy willowy hair in my own actual artistic style. It felt great to pick up an old tool again, kind of like visiting an old friend, and so I encourage other artists to pick up a medium that they haven't used in a long time and try something new with it. You may be surprised with the results.