• Software: GIMP or Adobe Photoshop
• Level: Advanced
• Subject: Demon Trio – Screech

In the last part, I had done some preliminary painting that established the color.

Refine Underpainting

I just continue work on it and clean up the different areas.

When refining the wings, I take care of the flow of how the feathers would be laid down later.

Detailing

On another layer on top of all the others, I take a smaller brush and start detailing the shapes of the feathers.

To detail the left wing, the image is flipped so that it is easier for the brush stroke flow. (I am right handed and not confortable for some direction).

I flip around a couple of times and work on finishing the detailing.

Shadows

I add another layer for darker shadows, since I want to make the head pop out a little.

And that is about it. As a last step, I convert it to PSD to work on it a bit in Photoshop to get the same template as the ones I had done for the other paintings in the series.

This step is not necessary, as you have seen all the tasks were done in GIMP itself. The only reason I am going for the PSD format in this case is because, I had some setups done for the other paintings and they were in Photoshop.

Find the completed artwork at deviantART: Demon Trio – Screech

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If Lonnie’s discussion on comics and art were any hint, the crowd I met at the meeting were up to it. They were a nice friendly bunch of people who ranged in their skill levels. There were professionals, who were quite established in the industry, and there were hobbyists and beginners like me. There were those who had or were having formal art education, and those who were self learnt.

Having such a broad spectrum and mix of people, and meeting them face to face – really has the effect of inspiring and refuelling your creative energy.  So, if you get any chance to be mingle with other artists, do not miss it. The environment it creates becomes a catalysts and you can get a lot of ideas that you can persue.

It is also quite conductive of getting you in the groove. I had carried my laptom and Wacom Intuos3 with me – and I am pretty pleased with the outcome of the artworks I created there. (It is for a webcomic I am working on – and I will be posting it some time in near future).  Having some twenty odd people bustling around you might not seem like a good environment to sit down and create art, but when those twenty odd people are on the same page as you, it can do wonders. Talking with other artists helps you get new ideas, and disucss on issuess that you may not be able to discuss with your friends.

Look out for such events in your locality, and keep practicing in medium of your choice.

June stumbled across the free plant clipart here and made use of it in a nice way, by printing it on fabric and embroiding over it. Read more at her blog.

If you have used any of the free cliparts distributed here, do drop in a comment – it always gives a warm feeling to know that the artworks are of use. (Note to myself – create more free cliparts).

Photograph: Junie © 2007

Tom Rubalcava’s background is well described in his bio.

Tom has worked for two decades in television, advertising, and feature film animation. Tom was Character Sculptor and Effects Animator on the Warner Bros/Lorimar Gumby Adventures‚ TV series (1987-1988) and Gumby Movie‚ the stop-motion feature film (1991). In 1991 at Colossal Pictures, Tom’s Animation Direction debut Coca-Cola Watch‚ won a Clio Award. In 2000 he became Co-Partner at Way Out West Prods in San Francisco. Tom joined Maverix Studios in October of 2002 and is a dedicated principal member of the group.

Tom’s years of experience in the industry shows in his artwork. Rather than being just a graphical representation of objects, they tell a story. The figures have character.

You can see more of his works at his website, but now we will move on to a short interview with Tom.

When and how did you venture into arts? Where did you grow up and did it influence your artworks?

I had a love for art since childhood and my family always encouraged me, especially my mother, as she was quite creative and artistic herself. Even my grade school teachers were encouraging me and one teacher went so far as to enter one of my classroom drawings into a local newspaper art contest. I must have been 7 or 8 years old and I was very excited to find out that I had actually won first prize – an award certificate and a year’s subscription to the daily paper. The drawing was a depiction of a beaver building a dam. I don’t know where the original drawing is now, that was a long time ago and I am sure it was very crude.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where I have remained and there is no doubt that it had a profound influence on my early interests in art. There were many popular local artists in the area, whether they were fine artists, comic artists, filmmakers, photographers etc. They had me dreaming of what I could become. As a teenager, I was fascinated with the underground comic book scene in Berkeley and San Francisco and I would submit illustrations and resumes to some of the local comic book publishers of the day. They were kind enough to reply with constructive criticism on my art and encouragement, even as they politely explained that I didn’t qualify to join their roster of artists. It was an unforgettable time and I learned so much from their critiques.

How did you happen to get into professional artwork – involvement in movie production and similar works?

Along with the fascination with the comic book industry, there was a further interest early on with animation, particularly stop motion animation. I was mesmerized the first time I saw films like the 1931 “King Kong” and later the 1958 “Seventh Voyage of Sinbad”. Willis O’Brien and Ray Harryhausen both were my biggest influences in this type of animation and filmmaking. By the time I was out of high school I had done much experimentation with 8mm film and crude stop motion of my own. Then, through very fortunate circumstances, I met a local independent, stop motion filmmaker and he offered to help me make my first real stop motion puppet. Our friendship grew and I suddenly found myself helping out in many facets of independent film production in the Bay Area, from make up effects (which stemmed from my then, newly discovered sculpting abilities) to storyboarding.

I know that you are into digital art/painting. In view of that, do you have experience in traditional mediums? Does skills in traditional medium help when you do digital painting?

Working with traditional mediums from the start was very important in enabling me to grasp the use of digital painting tools such as Adobe Photoshop. I had worked exclusively in pencil, pen and ink, oils and acrylics up to then. Since I have been working as a professional in the animation and illustration fields, I still enjoy going back to pencil from time to time, if not for it’s simplicity but also to keep me in touch with my traditional roots as an artist.

I still hope to get back into oil painting in the near future.

This is something I usually ask professional artists. How important is formal art education in terms of getting a career as an artist? Can some one with out any such academic background, become a professional artist?

The question is an important one and I have been asked this before. In my case, how I landed my career you could describe as unorthodox. I hadn’t much in the way of traditional training myself, though I can honestly say that I do regret not having been exposed to more of it. It is important to gain formal art education in this day in age. Many companies who do hire in film, television and gaming look for college degrees. On the other hand, while getting some formal training, it is equally if not more important to acquire the skills by getting involved in these professions – via internships and/or apprenticeships. Talent can be very intriguing and valuable to a potential employer, but talent coupled with hands-on experience and education are sure bets that will get you the job.

Could you give some pointers to aspiring artists?

My advice to aspiring artists is to create everyday. Draw as often as you can. Even if you’re staring at a blank piece of paper and are at a loss as to what to draw from imagination, that is a perfect time to do a still life or life drawing. Whether it’s a saltshaker on the table or a family member sitting in an armchair reading a book – just draw. Making it a habit to create everyday, even on the smallest scale will help you to improve and you’ll be recognized as being prolific and dedicated.

And this is one of the important pointer that we can take from Tom – keep practicing. Do subscribe to his blog feeds as he keeps updating them with nuggets of info.

All images in this article are © of Tom Rubalcava.

Please note that the stress here is on Open Source and to be an ultimate artist, the only way is by practice.

Here is the setup of the ultimate Open Source artist.

Hardware

• A PC with as much number crunching power and as much memory you can afford. Note that though the choice of most artists is Mac, I do not know if we can go an Open Source approach with it.
• A Tablet – Wacom or other but it helps in focusing more on the art and less on how you are going to do what is in your head. The argument of the necessity of a tablet and stylus can go quite long – so I would say that do consider buying a tablet if you can afford it.

Software

• OS – Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. You may choose other distribution, but this one is my personal choice.
• GIMP – This usually is packaged with the Linux, but ensure that you got the latest version.
• Inkscape – GIMP+Inkscape forms a good combination that forms a considerable combo against Photoshop.
• Scribus – This is a software that is usually meant for layout designing, but sometimes a artist is called upon to work on it. If nothing else, it would let you make cool looking portfolios of your digital artworks.

That is about it, and you are all set on the path to become the ultimate Open Source artist.

If you have bought a tablet and stylus, then you might want to ensure that you are able to configure its pressure sensitivy. It requires proper installation of the drivers and setting up of the configurations in the GIMP and Inkscape preferences. There is no much point in having a tablet if you are not going to harness the pressure sensitivity.

You can keep yourselves updated on her work at her blog. Even more information can be found at her homepage – SusanBorgas.com.

Susan Borgas, tell us a bit of background about yourself. How long have you been involved in art? Are you a professional artist or do artwork as a hobby?

I have been involved visual art for the past fifteen years. My status as a professional artist took place in 2002 with a lot of promotional work towards my name. Since this time I have formed some significant customer relationships resulting in returning buyers.

I pride myself on attention to detail and my reputation to follow through on meeting deadlines. If I can’t deliver what my customer wants, I will not give false hopes by saying otherwise.

What I am looking for now is respect and acceptance from a wider audience, where it can only have a positive impact on my own productivity.

What mediums do you work on?

I am primary a pastelist followed closely by oil. Photography is a tool that I use for reference material for my paintings and consider it a hobby. This may change in the future if my photography becomes good enough.

Have you considered working on other medium?

For my own enjoyment, yes and I do! Watercolor is another medium that I use although many of my customers are not familiar with this. Why? Because I am promoted as a pastelist landscape; it is what I do. Those who come to see my work know to expect pastel landscapes, this is why they have come and would become confused if they don’t see what they expect to view.

What do you usually do, when you hit an artists block?

Have a nervous breakdown! No not really but it is a frightening experience and one that can be quite debilitating. Here are a few pointers that I find helpful.

• I am essentially a studio painter so to get the creative juices flowing once more it is vital that I do get outdoors to breath in the fresh air and study the landscape.
• Read and study other artists work.
• Sketching is essential to keep the eye and hand coordination in shape and often will lead to a spark of interest in starting a major project.
• Blogging about what I do is motivating to produce work or I won’t have anything to post about.
• Involvement with online art forums can get the artistic mind going.

It is best to avoid artistic block in the first place. What seems like an overwhelming amount of work over the period of a year can cause the mind to shut down. The best thing is to make a plan and stick to it. This can be a list of the major projects for a year then broken down into monthly, then weekly to daily jobs. No matter how small the job is, put it on the list. When the jobs are crossed off there is a great sense of achievement at the end of each day that you are going forward rather than backwards. Your mind is then allowed to flow without distractions from the more mundane aspects of our live.

What should be the attitude of aspiring artists? Do you have anything to say to them?

From my own experience I think the four following points would be what I would say to an up and coming artist.

• Learn to draw! I can’t say this enough because it will teach you the fundamentals of what you need to know to understand what will work and what won’t. Abstract, realism or whatever, you need to understand perspective, tonal values and design.
• Be true to yourself and your own style
• If you want to be a professional artist; be prepared that 50% of your working hours will go to making art and the other 50% to promoting your work.
• Make things happen yourself, don’t expect to be ‘discovered’.

Whether an artist is a hobbyist or a professional it is important to have fun with what you do. It doesn’t matter if you have failures because you will learn from them; I know I do!

Thanks for your views, Susan. Your views as an experienced artist would help other aspiring ones learn more, and it has provided a direction.

Actually, throw the pirated Photoshop out, and download GIMP.

Here are some reasons why you should and can do it.

Using pirated software is illegal. That is right – it is not legitimate to use pirated software. Be it Adobe Photoshop, or anything else. It is legal to use GIMP, and produce artworks (even for commercial purposes). GIMP is an Open Source software.

It is unethical to use pirated software. Yes, I put this separately. Some times, things may be with in the law, but still be immoral. This is a case where it is illegitimate and unethical to use pirated software. You may justify saying that you are not using it to sell your works. You are not making money out of it. But, the use for hobby purposes does not justify piracy. If you are using it just for hobby, then it does not need to be Photoshop. There is GIMP. There are other softwares out there which you can download and use.

Features of GIMP is a standard of its own. Many who want to switch to GIMP have the complaint that the user interface of GIMP is hard to use. It actually is not hard to use. It is just different. It would be wrong to expect it to have a user interface of Photoshop. Just use it and you will learn. A human brain is designed to learn.

Adobe Photoshop is a good software – there is no question about it. But it is costly, and it is justified to use it provided you pay for it, or the company that hired you pays for it. If you are a professional who has income based on the work done on the image editor, then it makes sense to buy it.

But if you are just a hobbyist, and it provides no revenue for you – then you might as well use GIMP or one of the other Open Source editors. It is illegal and immoral to use a pirated version of any software.

Veerle’s Blog

Veerle Douh is a graphic/web designer living in Belgium.  Her artworks are amazing, especially the vector artworks.  She also does interviews of other artists from around th globe.

Art & Stuff

This is a blog by Susan Borgas.  She is an Australian artist.  She works on oil paintings and pastel medium, and also does photography.

Visit and add their feeds to your feed readers.

Art in India never really had much of an interest in bringin in the realism that is often seen in those works by the European counterparts. Even so, there were many artists who painted in the realastic style, like Hamendranath Majumdar, Funindranath Bose, and Atul Bose. Ravi Varma was one among these ranks.

Realism was not a feature seen in most of the Indian artworks, which owes to the general absence of materialism in the philosophies and mythologies. Yet, many of the subjects chosen by Ravi Varma for his artworks were based on mythologies. But these were produced in what may be called a ‘European historic style’.

The style to show realism could be due to the influences that Ravi Varma had from French 19th century academic painters as William Adolphe Bouguereau and Gustave Boulanger. Such influences need not be taken with surprise as during those times, the colonial influences were spreading to other fields in India and not just art. Some of the Indian painters had taken tutelage under European teachers or had gone to European institutions for advacned training.

Ravi Varma was also a good portrait painter and thus the subjects were not just those of the Indian mythologies, but also the patrons themselves. He was also successful in lithographic reproduction of his paintings and this resulted in his works reaching the masses.

Among his contemporaries, the fact that he had abandoned the symbolism found in Indian art works for the sake of strict academic realism, was the cause for much critisism. It was also said that due to his ability to disburse his works with the help of lithographic reproductions, he was able to proliferate his version of Indian mythologies that was a different version than the ones in literature and other works.

Not much else is know about Ravi Varma’s professional or private life as there is no literature written by him.

References and credits

• The Dictionary Of Art – Volume 31, page 911; Volume 15, page 657 [ 706.D561 / ISBN: 1884446000 9781884446009 ]
• Photo of Shakuntala by soham_pablo

But, you can keep yourself occupied by the rants and news at the blog of Tom Richmond. He is, as far as I know, one of the master of caricatures. You can see, some of his works in the quite famous parody magazine, MAD.

Caricature is a quite different form of art.

A caricuature work is basically a representation of a subjects distinctive features or peculiarities. One needs to have a distinctive style in order to gain success and recogniation as a caricature artists. (Tom though, calls himself as an ‘humorous illustrator’).

In this line of work, there are times when people get annoyed and sue the artist.  But in recognition of the general “free speech” laws, courts usually uphold the rights of artists to create works on other people whenever the intention was for parody.