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I love doing fantasy work, it's what I started my career with. I did so much ad and editorial work that
I put off the fantasy work for over 20 years, but am now doing more of it again. I usually work out a sketch, then do a clean
line drawing, then a color digital comp that I work from as I paint, very quickly, in oils. I shoot that high res and then
finesse it digitally for final art. Since I paint both ways, traditionally and digitally, I often mix either method with the
other and can get some very realistic images or more stylized looks, as in the image below, usually within a day. Having a
good digital tablet to work with is like having a good easle in the painting studio- I utilize whatever tool I can to do my
commercial work.
This piece is oil over line with digital enhancements. Below are closeups. I like combining the effects of organic looking
washes and sometimes opaque oil or gouache painting, with the digital enhancements. Some effects you simply can't get digitally,
and some you can't get traditionally, so I try to use the best of both worlds, producing a hybrid that has the feel of a traditionally
produced piece, but is really about half digital. For my fine art, of course, I just work in oils or other traditional mediums,
the final being the painted piece, not a digital file.
This piece was done with digital coloring on multiple layers over a clean black line. The detail, below, shows a more graphic
look which holds the color, very similar to a comicbook line effect. Below, several images were done digitally in the
same manner, freely painted after I worked out my composition in pencil, then line, then color, which can be loosely painted
as the line will hold the effect in place.
Click here to see several detail images of the Fantasy work below
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| Falling Thru the Portal digital painting |
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| Ice Divas Digital painting |
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| Grayscale drawing used before color laid over |
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| Dwarf King digital painting |
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| Detail showing digital brushwork |
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| Same size detail showing typical digital brushwork |
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| Winter guardian digital painting |
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| Demon Circle digital painting |
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| Detail showing digital painting brushwork |
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| Preliminary sketch for tonal shading |
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| Dark Angel digital painting |
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| Detail showing digital paintstrokes |
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| Protector digital painting |
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| Rough idea for the creature's head |
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