Time-Tested: 145

In yet another lurch away from any kind of propriety as far as Time-Tested is concerned, I left Reddit Gets Drawn, and also went further into Corel Painter, this time having a look at its pastels. Why ever not pick a medium with which I am frighteningly unfamiliar and far from exceptional? One day I might post my oil pastel self-portrait from my GCSE exam a good few years ago… stuff of nightmares, it is (and I mean even more than I deserve from a portrait!).

With that slight tremor, I moved away from portraiture and decided to make a pastel landscape instead. This is Herringfleet Mill, a smock mill situated just outside of Somerleyton in Suffolk. Standing beside the River Waveney, and quite a way from road or rail, it is a wonderfully peaceful setting, and it’s no surprise that it has become such a hot pick for photographers. It’s also one of the very few broadland mills that can still work – quite a treat it is to see those sails turn, though, one mustn’t stand too close, as I did once; as the structure is quite small, the sails almost clip the ground, never mind your noggin!

In another departure from the norm, I wasn’t sure how long I was going to give myself for this, but ‘finished’ – or rather was exhausted – at just under two and half hours. To begin with, I tried to force ‘expressive’ by using my non-dominant (right) hand, which explains the sails. The blocks of colour fell quickly; a huge chunk of the time was spent blending, nitpicking and adding strokes here and there – I’ll let you be the judge of whether you think that a success or not! It’s produced something very different, and with hints of loosening up in that I disobeyed the photograph on many elements (though there’s a long way to go in that regard – I just need to dredge up the courage). I’m uncertain about the result compared to my usual, but I guess that’s to be expected. Twas fun, anyhow, and Corel once again proved its impressive worth.

Wheel be ba.. oh I must stop doing that. See you (wheel) soon… in February, I expect!

Woof!

What a cool dog! I could not resist.

This is another trip to Reddit Gets Drawn, tidily restored to the traditional Saturday slot, however, the wheel, erm… wasn’t working, so I couldn’t do it under timed conditions, sorry. 😉 No, in truth, I just thought I probably wouldn’t be able to do this lovable little tyke the justice deserved. Too adorable to go by swiftly.

I reverted from Corel Painter back to Photoshop for this. Starting out in Painter, I quickly began to get lost in an awkward smudge of black and brown paint, so after a few hours found myself back with the ol’ faithful. Maybe I shouldn’t have chickened out of the practice, but the dark coat and fur seemed a very daunting task and I just felt as if this would be the better way to go. The Photoshop result has come out better, with a pleasing synergy between it and my drawing of the grey wolf. I will, however, endeavour to try a furry creature in Corel before the trial expires.

Here’s the comment thread, which contains the photograph and some particularly good responses.

In signing off, here’s another cool dog:

Too much laughter. Woof woof indeed.

Keyon, Content (in Corel!)

This chap might look familiar to long-time readers. What seems a very long time ago now, the beginning of November, I made a Time-Tested with he as the commanding subject. It seemed to go down very well, and as I’d had such fun working with him, I took the (most uncharacteristically) bullish step of getting in touch and asking if he’d be intersted in taking a couple more.

To my surprise, Keyon was not horrified, in fact he was very much up for it! After some pleasantly brief direction and discussion, I was practically inundated with photographs… well, twenty or so. They are all portraits taken in a similar vein to the Reddit exercise, showing a range of emotions and feelings. Here are the first two, which fell under the umbrella of ‘content’ – attempting to show happiness and serenity without smiling. With that sense of satisfaction and happiness in oneself and one’s situation, it seemed correct that I could get away with my traditional drawing style. Some others might demand something different, though, so watch this space!

The above is another foray into the wonderful world of Corel Painter, this time trying to use its pencil tools. This was, again, a very pleasant visual experience while also posing much more of a traditional challenge. I’m still dizzy by the amount of things you can alter in it – pencil type, softness, paper stock, they’ve thought of everything! In a subliminal honour of the work’s Time-Tested heritage, I did this relatively quickly – circa seventy minutes. I quite like the result, but I’m left wondering whether it actually says ‘content’, and whether I should have gone more delicately on it.

Below, we have a piece I made shortly after receiving the photographs, back in the realm of Photoshop, and taking far greater liberties with regards time limits, as I would hope is clear to you. For some reason I used Photoshop’s default brush instead of my own concoctions, giving it perhaps a less graceful finish and making some shading a bit choppy, but other than that it turned out quite well.

My sincere thanks to Mr. Taravati for being so tremendously generous in his assistance. And indeed, with lots more photographs to get through, we will likely be seeing a lot more of Keyon here in the near future!

Playing with Freddie

With nothing else springing to mind and boredom edging dangerously near, I resorted to my nine-hundred-and-eighty-seventh attempt at Freddie Mercury, here taken from the Princes of the Universe video. This was drawn not in Photoshop but this time in a program I’ve never tried before: Corel Painter.

I’d heard a lot about it, and how excellent it apparently is for digital painting. I mean, I was just wandering around pressing buttons and not really having a clue – no change there! ahahaha – but it’s clear that such comments aren’t without foundation. There’s a huge box of tools for you to play with, but it’s when you start putting marks down that the fun begins. Unlike Photoshop, where layers are standalone, on Painter your brush strokes actually react to others as per the traditional medium. This means you get the pleasing mid-tones and also the terrifying, grotty, how-on-earth-am-I-going-to-rectify-that mistakes that are the norm for those woeful at traditional painting, as I am. Thankfully, like Photoshop, they have given you an eraser.

As I’ve said in the past, I don’t tend to call the works I generally put up here ‘digital paintings’, because they’re not really digital paintings, they’re digital sketches. I just create shades or highlights all one one layer (usually), and then optionally use Photoshop’s blending magic to place colour over the top. Having to switch tack and work like a painter is a bit of a kick up the arse, and a reminder that I’ve a hell of a lot to learn.

This was the product of me playing around with Corel Painter for a little while. Forgive the background too, chalk it up to experimentation. It’s not my best Freddie by any stretch, but it was a lot of fun watching the program blend the colours so intuitively, and it’s at least produced something different to the usual. I have thirty days left to break it, so we’ll see if anything betters comes of my dabbling. As for Painter, I’m not sure it could ever take Photoshop’s place in my heart, but I would definitely recommend a look to anyone interested in trying digital art. The trial is fully-functional and free for thirty days. Any artist who has cut their teeth on Photoshop won’t take long to settle in and it looks incredible – this is just scratching the very surface. If you know what you’re doing, you’ll have a blast!