Photoshop adventures

I took the sketch that I did about ten days ago(http://flutterbliss.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/i-am-having-a-sketchy-friday-the-13th/) and colored it in Photoshop. It wasn't a complete sketch so I had to do quite a bit of coloring and fudging around the corners. Here it is:

 I learned a lot from this project. I learned how to make the closest thing to a pencil in Photoshop. And how to add a grainy overlay to add texture so that it doesn't look entirely airbrushed. I got that tip here: http://www.3dm3.com/forum/articles.php?action=viewarticle&artid=101. While the approach was more subtle in the tutorial, I like how it looks like it could have been colored on an art paper that has 'tooth'. I am not sure if my experiment was exactly successful (not crazy about my weird fuzzy border), but I feel like I got some education from it. I have never been a fan of filters in Photoshop for regular digital illustration, but now I may be a convert- At least for making a nice texture on an image. The original sketch can be found here: 

Oldies but goodies

I have been working on all the 'work' part today, so I do not have any new art to share today. I do, however, have some older art that I am glad to share. :)

This is a watercolor piece that I did about 2 years ago. 

This was my the first piece of art where I incorporated any digital anything. I did this one years ago. I drew it by hand and colored in in Photoshop.

I really like the dreamy feel of the latter. I think I might experiment like this with some of my new sketches. I have found that sometimes I make a great sketch or pencil drawing in a sketch book and no matter how I try, I can never replicate all the little details onto watercolor paper or canvas. I think this is a good reason to scan and color digitally. 

Feel free to comment or critique. :)

other pages that contain my art

https://www.facebook.com/HollyBroxson.Art

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlutterblissArt

http://flutterbliss.deviantart.com/

http://flutterbliss.tumblr.com/

Digital Painting adventures

The past week has been a bit chaotic as it usually is the week before Christmas. I have been too busy for art or for blogging. It missed it!

I have spent most of my life doing some kind of art, but painting digitally is somewhat new to me. My education was in graphic design, so I understand the programs. It is this Wacom tablet that I am having to get used to. I used one a lot at one of my jobs back in the early 2000s, but I was just airbrushing and editing back then. Completing an entire painting is a whole new hand-eye coordination exercise. So, last night I worked on a painting. It isn't hyper-realistic, like so many amazing digital works out there, but it is in my style. That is something that I did not know if I could achieve digitally. What I have done so far is this: I am still not sure how much more I will do on this particular painting. I am ready to start on one that is not a practice piece.

Friday night sketch session

Another late night sketch

To all the artists, writers, crafters, bloggers: When do you do your best work?

Thanksgiving and the Dragon.

I spent most of Thanksgiving resting. Since I am in Colorado and so far from my family, we just had a peaceful day at home. I did work on this, however.

I have sketched dragons in the past, but i have never actually painted one. I think there will be many dragons in my future.

This is a photo of the painting and it is for sale. As soon as I get a good scan, I will have prints available in my Etsy shop. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlutterblissArt

https://www.facebook.com/HollyBroxson.Art

email: flutterbliss@gmail.com

Hares are finished!

It was cold and snowing this morning and I had to run errands. I did finish the hares, though. It is still untitled, but I wanna show it anyway. This painting is for sale and I will have prints up on etsy just as soon as I get this baby scanned. 

This photo is a bit truer to the original than the pics in my previous posts. I just found my camera from the move. 

In the new place

I am currently trying out new subject matter in my paintings. I am trying some new work with hamsas, lotus's and trees. Right now, I am working on this:

It is very different for me to paint animals. I really enjoy it and I am not sure why I didn't do it sooner. I have a lot of ideas for near future paintings and I plan on posting them all-well only if they turn out nice. ;)

Here is a peek at my 'studio' which is really just a portable, fold out table. 

For other info and updates about my work: 

https://www.facebook.com/HollyBroxson.Art

to shop(it is new and still be added to):

https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlutterblissArt

the inconsistent artist

I have, for the most part, been an inconsistent blogger. I will try harder.
    I have some new projects going on, right now. First of all I have moved to Colorado. That is a huge move considering I have lived in Florida most of my life. I love it. It is cool(literally) and the culture is different.
    I am also working on a website where I can display my art. There will be links to my etsy store and zazzle store. It has been a slow process, as there has been a bit of a learning curve as I work on everything. I am realizing that I cannot do it all at once. I work on a little and then move on to something else and then go back to the first thing I was working on. I am an artist. All the business/networking bits are new and I think that I should build momentum as I learn all the little things. I guess a regular day job is like that, too. The difference is I have no clock to be on and no one to really train me.  Anyway, I have some fun stuff that I have been working on. I have taken a little break from the watercolor work and have been doing acrylic paintings on canvas.  I find that the planning process is different. If you make a mistake with acrylic, you just paint over it. Brilliant! I will be doing some tutorials in the future along with some time lapse footage of my process.