I've been brushing up on my digital painting skills. In terms of software and hardware I use Photoshop CS5 and my Wacom Cintiq 24. This is what I've been working on lately.
If you archive your file at various stages, looking back on them later is like travelling through time. I often enjoy comparing the process images with the final more than just viewing the final alone. It gives more information about the painter. I like retrospectively dissecting my thoughts, my beliefs, the brush strokes I'm confident in and the areas I'm unsure of. It doesn't just make me a better painter, it gives the painting another dimension. When you absorb it as a process and not as an object it becomes visceral.
My desktop crashed recently, so there are a couple of exercises I've had to set aside until I can fix her or recover the files. Here are two projects in process.
I've been frustrated with how flat my paintings look, as if I didn't really know what I wanted to do - and in most cases it's true. So I've tried to worry less about blending and more about making bolder decisions, a kind of critical thinking. The dancer is evident of that process. You can see some of my brush strokes look sloppy, almost careless - it's ugly but for good reason. It's like soccer training, when you play keep away with a one-touch limitation. It's sloppy, but it gets your brain working in ways that get you to the next level. I got really frustrated with this one. I thought, maybe a shiny surface would be a good subject to help me with this critical thinking kind of exercise. It seems logical - the layers that make up a shiny surface are a bit more obvious than an diffuse fabric. I think I've made some progress here, but only a little. It still looks tentative and flat. The only part I really like is the side-view mirror - and that was maybe 4 brush strokes. Slow progress, but progress.
The loss of my computer has stunted my growth, but I have in the past used my Ipad 2. I should take this opportunity to revisit it. I use Autodesk Sketchbook Pro - of course it's no Ps but for a tablet app it's really the best you can expect. Here's the kind of results I can get out of the Ipad.
I'm going to try and adjust to the loss of my desktop by supplementing with my Ipad at least until I get her fixed. I'm hoping to document some of the everyday things here at my new home: Boston.