Digital Art

I've always been a traditionalist, mainly because digital art rarely turns out as well as the traditional stuff. I offer two reasons for this.

First, the technology takes a long time to catch up. Digital is pretty new. The computational power to actually create art has only existed for about 20 years. Traditional art has had thousands of years.

Second, the people that do digital art are usually technology enthusiasts or fairly unskilled artists; the skilled ones are too busy learning the traditional method to do the digital stuff. Just look at all the junk that's been thrown up (pun intended) on the Internet with Flash.

These two factors are why I am a critic of digital art and an opponent of 3D computer generated stuff like Pixar or Dreamworks. I've always said that if you got a great sculptor to create art with a 3D program you would come up with something pretty amazing.

I recently purchased a program called Brushes for the iPhone that is a pretty cool painting program. The artwork you can create with it is really nice--it has a certain Jack Vettriano feel to it. Programs like it and Corel Painter make me feel a lot more favorably towards digital art.

Here is a video of me creating my first painting with Brushes. Enjoy!

Black & White vs. Color

I post a lot of work on a site called ArtWanted.com. People can look at my work, rate it, comment on it, or buy it. Most of my work is black and white linework that I scan and digitally color. Sometimes I'll post both the black and white version and the colored version. I always find it interesting how much more popular the colored version is. I always get more views and more comments.

I personally love black and white. When I was little I had a Richie Rich book that was black and white, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it; they were some of my favorite comics. When I was in college, I picked up my first black & white Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comic: Michaelangelo's Chrismas. It was black and white and I couldn't put it down. I immediately started doing everything in black and white and loved it. I started collecting as many back issues as I could. When I got to the colored series, I was very disappointed in the color and felt it detracted. I was glad when they went back to black and white.

But it seems we live in a world where people expect everything to be full color, HD, 5.1 surround sound, on a 72" screen. Is it because all of that adds to the content, or are people just spoiled. If it adds, I'm all for it. But if people are just spoiled, then there is a problem. Sometimes I feel that art is like over seasoned food--there is so much pizzazz that it hides the real beauty or essence. Black & White, I feel, really allows the essence of a work to come out. Also, it's more flexible in reproduction: black and white illustrations work in many more book formats and ebooks, something I'm currently pursuing.

I'm posting two versions of a Christmas card I sent out years ago. When I finished with the black and white linework, I was truly taken back in amazement: it was the greatest thing I had ever created. Then I added color and was again taken aback. Years later I was going thru some old artwork, and I stumbled on the black & white version and was again impressed beyond words. I'm posting them both for you to see and judge for yourself.

Do you like Black & White Art, or does everything have to be in color?

Illustrated Stories

When I was young, I loved illustrated storybooks. I think most people did. You could just read it without the pictures, or just follow the pictures to get the story. Or you could read it with both and have the story fuller, because they compliment each other.

As I got older, I noticed books had fewer and fewer pictures. I always wondered why no one created illustrated novels for adults. Graphic novels are close, but I think we can do better. I love great stories and great art--why not combine them? We do in movies. I have found one example, the three part mini-series Elektra/Wolverine: The Redeemer by Greg Rucka, and it was excellent. Unfortunately, it never caught on.

I also planned on creating an illustrated novel/story someday. Well, that day has arrive. I've written the story, and now I am preparing the illustrations. Here is the first one as a sneak peek for you all. Let me know what you think. I'm planning on black & white interiors, because 1) I love black & white art and 2) they reproduce well on paper and as an ebook.

I'm planning on publishing this story as an ebook at first. Once I have several illustrated short stories (I'm trying to come up with a good name for it--let me know if you have any ideas) I'll publish them as a paperback like I have my novel, The Scientific Method (a Wandering Koala tale). This short story is part of that series.

Character Sketch: Fireman

I think the hardest thing for an artist to do is create a unique style that they like and that their audience likes. I've been struggling with this for years. So as a step forward, I decided to do a series of character sketches. The first one is a Fireman. I was going to call it a fire fighter and actually show a boxer made of fire with boxing gloves and shorts, and I drew a version like that, but it was too silly, even for me. So I went with this version instead. I used a Pigma Brush Pen to do the black and white drawing, then colored it in Corel Painter X. I wasn't crazy about the black and white brush penned version, but I was ecstatic with the finished painting.

I don't think I've found my style yet, but this series should help me take one step closer. Or not.

What do you thing?

Christmas Cards

Every year I make a Christmas card and send it to friends, family, and co-workers. I always create an original illustration and an original poem. I usually pic a Christmas Carol as the them.

This year I was listening to David Archuleta's version of Pat-a-Pan and really liked the "So be merry as you play" line. I used that as the theme.

I drew the card with a Stadler Pencil, inked it with my croquil pen and sumi ink, then colored it in Painter X. I was really happy with the results.

Something I find interesting is how few people say thank you for a Christmas card. I emailed out over four dozen cards and only heard back from 7 people. Is it because I emailed the card people don't value it and don't feel the need to say thank you, or has the world just lost their manners. Or maybe people just didn't like the card and don't want to say anything about it. They all make sense.

Cowboys and Indians

So a friend of mine asked me to create an illustration of him as a Navajo Warrior (he is Navajo so it's fitting). And this is the result. I was really happy with how it turned out.

The figure itself is done with a croquil pen & ink. The background was added digitally. I'm planning to digitally paint it, so be looking for that.

The Scientific Method

This summer I published my first novel, The Scientific Method (a Wandering Koala tale). It is currently available in Paperback from Amazon.com, and electronically for the Kindle, Barnes & Noble eReader, and soon will be available for the Sony eReader.

It's a science fiction novel written at a Jr. High level, because that's when I loved reading the most. The Wandering Koala is this mysterious traveler that wanders from city to city helping those in need. When he was young, a terrible tragedy left him mute, but that hasn't stopped him from speaking up for what's right.

In this particular adventure, an amateur scientist has made the greatest scientific discovery ever, and the scientific community is embarrassed and threatened that it will cost them all their prestige and their jobs, so they come together to suppress the knowledge. Science isn't immune to the corruption of greed or politics after all.

If you are looking for a great book, I highly recommend you pick this one up.

2-D Animation

I've always loved 2-D Animation, and I've always wanted to produce my own, but the equipment and materials were way too expensive for an enthusiast to get into before the digital age. Then Apple released iMovie, and I was able to create my first animation. It turned out pretty cool, but it was a lot of work, took a lot of time, and there was so little movement.

I knew how I wanted to animate; I just needed a program that would let me. I found several that came close, but not close enough.

Then I found Anime Studio Pro. It did almost everything I wanted it to, so I bought it a year ago, but didn't have time to do much with it. Then I was asked to create an animated intro for an ice sculptress in California. This was the perfect chance to try out my new software.

It took longer than I thought, and the program had a few quirks I had to get use to, but overall it performed admirably. The render was beautiful. The special effects worked well. I used Norkross Movie maker to add the sound and sound effects and wallah!

I was very pleased with the final results. I hope you are too.

Book Illustrations

When I was in Fourth Grade, I was introduced to the Hardy Boys. I read the Viking Symbol Mystery, and really enjoyed it being a Viking myself. Well, I eventually read all the Hardy Boy books in that original series. Later I learned the books had all been rewritten, so I hadn't actually read the "original" stories (except for one I found at my Grandpa's--at the time I couldn't figure out why it was completely different from the book of the same title I had read earlier).

There were so many things I loved about those books--great characters, exciting adventures, knowledge of things I'd never heard of before. But it was the artwork I was especially drawn to (pun intended). The covers each had a beautiful painting, and inside were several black and white pen drawings with a caption. Years later I would find a facsimile copy of The Adventures of Superman written by George Lowther with a painted cover, several black and white pen drawings, and four color plates by Joe Shuster. I loved that format. (Years later I found some reprints of old pulp novels--The Shadow and Doc Savage--that also had the painted covers and interior illustrations.) Again, I loved the format. This is the way a fiction book should be.

So when it came time to write my own book, that's the format I went with. Here is an illustration from that book done in the same style as the Hardy boys, The Adventures of Superman, and The Shadow.

The Amazon Kindle

The day Amazon announced their new Kindle, the Kindle 2, I pre-ordered mine. It is a wonderful device! It is so easy to read. It is so easy to preview and buy books via the cellular phone network. It is so easy to load your own books onto that you can download free from the Internet. And the battery life is really good. I didn't know how it could get any better.

Then, just before my Kindle arrived, Amazon released a free Kindle application for the iPhone that lets you read your books you've already purchased from the Kindle store AND sync your reading progress with your Kindle. Plus, you can view the books in color. How could it get any better?

Then I discovered how easy it was to self publish your own book. So I decided to publish my own. I created a comic book and have been trying to get it published. So I said to myself, "Self, why not publish your comic book via the Kindle Store." Well, being as disposed to taking a wise man's advice as I am, I decided to do just that. You can see the cover, and issue one is currently on sale. Anyone with a Kindle, iPhone, or iPod Touch can purchase and enjoy it. Just search for Wandering Koala on Amazon.com.