CGTextures - Rust and Collage

Not having a lot of time on my hands lately for painting I selected a rust texture I downloaded from CGTextures.com. They have a great selection of differing textures and tutorials available as well. You can join for free, but you are limited by their agreement. But none of the limitations are overboard, but quite reasonable.

I used this rust texture in PhotoPaint and applied digital collage techniques. I took some images I had sketched in Painter 8 of two of my friends and placed them in the collage. I then selected a couple of stringed instruments and using Paint.NET's Pencil sketch for one and Little Ink Pots Thredgeholder filter for the other. Both were treated as object property Color Burn to add to the collage.

I added a few paint splatters dripping using PhotoPaint's Effects> Distort> Wet Paint filter tool for the dripping.

Not my first Digital Collage nor my last!

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Listening to: Kenny Chesney - I Go Back
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Another Portrait in ArtRage 2.5 Starter Edition

I have decided to do a few portraits in ArtRage 2.5 Starter Edition. Here I used the Crayon, Pencil, Oil, Chalk brushes to create this portrait.

I used the Trace function in ArtRage and began with the subject in Crayon on a rough canvas background. I did the whole figure in Crayon first adding details back in with the Pencil. I darkened the outline with Chalk.

When I was done I used PhotoPaint to add back in some other details like the ear, and necklace.

I used the Chalk and the Oils for the background, again I have a loose image.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Like I've Never Been Refused
via FoxyTunes

ArtRage 2.5 Starter Edition - Portrait

I have an older version of ArtRage that I used quite a bit in 2007 for some Custom Cars images. So I recently went and downloaded the newer ArtRage 2.5 Starter Edition which is free but does not have all the tools that their $80 version has.

I used the Oil brush for painting and the Palette Knife for blending on this portrait I painted. It is very loose in execution with little detail. I like the way that the Oil brush works and had an enjoyable time with this piece.

I opened a photograph using the Trace mode, and used that as my model. Setting the colors to use the palette from the photograph I resized the brush and started painting.

After I painted with the Oil brush I did some blending with the Palette Knife tool. I recommend ArtRage as a very good traditional media painting program. The free version is fun, but limited, the full blown version does have a trial demo download that I have yet to try. But for the price - you can't beat it.

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Listening to: Jeremy Fryc - Oh green! don't fail me now.
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Return to Guitar Motif - Two Images - Digital Collage

I return to the motif of Guitars and the method of collaging using many filters and tools.

With figure One I used a sand background for the basis of the image. Taking photographs of guitars I applied filters such as the Solarize filter for the 12-string, and the Thredgeholder to another and Difference to yet another. Taking these I combined them into a collage. I then used the font WT Rhesus B Bta for the paint splatters.

Figure Two I created a texture background in TwistedBrush using the watercolor brush and the different paper/canvas textures. I highlighted the last color of a light brown beige using a wood cut texture.

I opened a number of guitar images and duplicated them and mixed them into a collage along with Solarize filters and color burn object properties.

Both Figure One and Two were created in PhotoPaint. Using many of the tools and filters as well as those described above.




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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Bread - The Guitar Man
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TYPOGRAPHY - Fun with Type

Today I wanted to experiment with Typography using CorelDRAW and the fonts I have. I used a couple of distressed font types in this image and played with CorelDRAW's extrude command for some style.

The image started out as a narrow black field with white type and I decided to add only a bit of primary color to the type styles I selected. In the end I also added a distorted picture of my Seagull 12-string Guitar, elongated and narrowed.

I think that I probably have ended up committing the error most do with type. I have an almost over designed piece, too many font types in the same area. Like a crime note made with cut out letters. But other than that the combination works for me, and I had fun creating this.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Moby - Guitar, Flute And String
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Alaskan Landscape - Painter 8 Oils

This is one of my favorite photographs I took on our visit to Alaska. I like the trees and brush in the foreground and the mountains in the distance, with a touch of river water in the composition.

I used Paint.NET to apply the Ink Sketch filter for some linework. Saving that file I opened it in Painter 8 and using the Oils brushes I painted the image you see here. As I did with the Acrylic brushes I selected differing brushes for the sky, mountains, trees, brush and sand and river, but all were oil brushes. I used the Surface Effects Original Luminance for the textured strokes.

I worked with a larger file but opened it in PhotoPaint to use the Tone Curve and Saturation for the coloring. This is part of my workflow to add depth and a slight increase in color. I then resized it for web display to 681x1024 pixels.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Blues Traveler - The Mountains Win Again
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Rocky Mountains Landscape - Painter Acrylics

Thanks to an offer to paint this at PainterTalk I had use of a wonderful photograph of the Rocky Mountains to create this painting.

In Painter 8 I used the Acrylic brushes for this image. I selected differing brushes for each level of the photograph. The sky, mountains, foothills, treeline, and the foreground.

After I painted the image I opened the file in PhotoPaint and applied the Tone Curves to deepen the colors and depth. I adjusted the saturation to add vividness to the mountains and foreground. I also added a frame using the 3D Bevel effect and a woodcut tile.

I am liking this change of pace working on some landscapes instead of my usual motifs. Stretching Creatively is good for any artist. I am enjoying the challenges that come with it.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way
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