Tiki Central / Other Crafts / Digital art discussion
Post #597542 by THOR's on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 12:26 PM
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Thu, Jul 14, 2011 12:26 PM
Funny all this discussion came up here at his time. Having experience in both fine art and the pressures of the Entertainment Industry and Illustration...as I said earlier and some are also saying..."context" and such really important. Here is an example I am currently using digital tools on..though did it the old fashion way for 40 some years.. I have a large commission from one of my collectors. This one is in Canada. He and bought a lot of my prints over the years and especially liked the piece I did called "Hawaiian Hold-em" since he and his 6 buddies play "Texas Hold-Em" in his "man cave" every thursday evening. They smoke cigars and drink Scotch and snack on Ritz crackers and pretzles...etc. This customer is in a wheel chair and asked if I could somehow get that in here too...tall order!So, that gecko in front has a lil' "wheel chair" made of two Ritz crackers, a toothpick axle and a cork seat! He loved this idea! Anyway, he has commission a large piece to be featured over the bar in his "man cave" which is full of deep dark wood, leather couches..and full bar...pretty slick. 24" by 36", oil. He said "Do something kinna like your Gecko's playing Hawaiian hold'em...but can I make them around Scotch and scotch bottles....and have a lit cigar in it...and play on "man cave" but all with a slight Hawaii twist with the gecko's and a lava rock pocket(lil' cave) they are playing in front off...etc. This is typical of a commission...I have words and have to put all these things into a composition that works...it has to lead the eye around...have flow..have light sources that feel believable...no reference other than my own brain. Anyway...below are two digital sketches. The first is actually the second sketch I showed him...(first not included)....cleaned up a little..still just rough lines and notes all over the thing. I drew this TOTALLY on a Wacom tablet looking at my monitor. It's a digital sketch. Second sketch below is also totally digital. I sketched and "painted" using photoshop and a digital pen...no reference or tricks...it was just like using paint..I could "paint" over my line sketch...think out the lighting lodgic in my head...and stay loose. If the customer likes this..I can use it like any painter would as my "value sketch"....then blow up the line drawing on canvas..and looking at this value sketch, incorporate color and al lthe bells an whistles in actual oils. Advantage of digital for early design for me is that if this customer says...Ohhh I like it but can you change the scotch bottle to Tiki or candle...or can you make the geckos all bigger in this composition. Well, instead of taking out tracing paper like the old scool taught and patching and such...I can access the layer or area on either of these sketches, draw a loop around the gecko's, hit "enlarge scale" and then go back and "paint" areas around to fit the new change. Time on computer would be maybe 2-5 minutes. Time in old way? an hour maybe. Since this guy is paying a healthy sum for an "original" in oil on canvas in the end of all this, I saved time on this "design phase", the customer feels far more "a part" of the process, cus I am open to many changes to please them since it is so fast to do so. I still need to know composition, perspective, and how to draw though...or the computer would be a useless tool in this case. Either way..we all learn something. The bottom sketch, as "production art" digitally is fun and very efficient for me. Only draw back...is if we look at this in context of "fine art", if this guy askes to buy the layout "sketch"..which has happened many tines in past work where I did stuff on paper... I gained speed but lose $ for that extra art original to sell. It's give an take eh? |