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April Moen

9 Years Ago

A Time-lapsed Life In Digital Paintings

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Shelby Young

9 Years Ago

Really cool!

 

Drew

9 Years Ago

Great video, I hope this artist also pursues traditional materials. Thanks for sharing ;)

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Why would you say that, Drew? This artist is obviously very proficient in the digital medium.

 

Val Arie

9 Years Ago

That was awesome April! Thank you for sharing!

 

Roseann Caputo

9 Years Ago

Thank you, April. That was amazing. I personally hope the person pursues whichever medium they choose. It's not up to anyone other than the artist to decided which medium and tools they wish to work in.

 

Drew

9 Years Ago

April, sorry it took so long to get back with you. I travel a lot for my kid's soccer team and now with my business.
Without provenance, for all we know, the artist has a scanned photo in a hidden window and not only tracing every stoke but lifting the pallet off said scanned image. Where are the originals? Where are the real sketches demontrating the artist's real abilities. As a collector, these are the questions I would ask.

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

No worries, Drew. I understand about the traveling for kid's stuff, believe me.

As far as your other points go, you lost me. Anyone with eyes can see this artist's "real abilities". There was no tracing going on, and no scanned photo showing anywhere on the screen. As far as off the screen, who knows. But are you saying traditional artists never use reference photos?

 

Roseann Caputo

9 Years Ago

April - it's interesting how only the digital artist gets questioned as to whether or not they may or may not have scanned in a photo or traced anything. Because goodness knows a traditional artist would never dream of using a lightbox to trace an image. I guess that means we should question as to whether or not any artist, regardless of the medium used, traced or used a photo to start with if we don't see it all done with our own eyes? I agree with you; this artist is demonstrating some great skills and talent in that vid. Glad you shared it.

 

Sydne Archambault

9 Years Ago

Well said ladies!

 

David Bridburg

9 Years Ago

Cartooning made the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

April great find, thanks.

Dave

 

Dan Turner

9 Years Ago

I don't care how the artist did it, it's beautiful and amazing!! Thanks, April.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

 

Drew

9 Years Ago

I am sure Wacom software comes with the ability to hide background layers. the whole idea behind making and animation like this is showing the audience what one wants the audience to see. toggling the background between frames is an old trick. Roto-scoping has been around for a long time. its just made 1000 times easier with the computer.

I do agree, this is a fabulous animation. there is talent behind it. it is a fantastic example of digital artistry at its best and in it's element. I made a proposal to an author to do a graphic novel for one of their books. if I get a contract, i will get one of these Wacom or Wacom like products to crank out the visuals.

Yes Micheal and his assistance used cartoons by first sketching the images on paper; then scaling the images up to fit the ceiling; then poking holes in the paper and blowing crushed charcoal through the perforations into the wet fresco. this helped guide Micheal and his assistance's hands during the painting process.

Digital tools make poor to mediocre artist appear to be good to great and great artist very very fast.

not much to hide with the following artist's true abilities here below:

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Oh, Drew, Drew, Drew... Where do I begin?

1) Wacom does not hide background layers any more than a mouse does. The layers are controlled by the graphics editor, not the thing that moves the cursor around the screen.

2) If you've never used a Wacom or "Wacom like product", don't assume that owning one makes you a master at using it. I tried using various Wacom tablets throughout my time in art school because the teachers pushed them on us so much, but in the end I never took to them despite having years of freehand drawing experience. There is a learning curve with any tool and any medium, and one shouldn't assume that just because they are proficient in one that they will be equally proficient in another. I've had many very talented traditional artists tell me they tried their hand at digital art and were never able to master it. Likewise, I just tried Pastels for the first time last week. You'll note that there are no Pastels in my gallery. There is a good reason for that.

3) No one is going to go to the trouble to toggle background layers on and off for the sake of a video of this nature. It's a readily accepted practice in digital painting to use sketches and reference photos, just as it is in traditional mediums, and most digital painting videos you'll see on Youtube or Vimeo show them. It's not some deep, dark, dirty secret like you're trying to make it out to be.

4) Digital tools do not make the artist. If you have no talent, it will show regardless of your chosen medium. To infer otherwise is frankly insulting. The time-lapse videos I have posted here of my digital paintings are what I'd deem the most elementary of all of my work since I held myself to very short time frames to make them. It is not uncommon for me to work 60-80 hours or more on one piece. There is nothing fast about digital painting, and if it was as easy as you're making it out to be, everyone would be doing it.

5) Toni Mahfud is indeed very talented. His talent does not negate Stone House's talent. You can see for yourself that Stone House is not hiding anything either - http://www.pinterest.com/stoneage0907/ - and has the contract work with some big name companies to prove it.

 

Roseann Caputo

9 Years Ago

April - I laughed when I read that the Wacom tablet software can hide layers. Anyone who's worked with one knows that Wacom's software, at least when I bought my tablet, was just for calibrating the tablet. They don't have image editing software. They typically package it with Art Rage, Photoshop Elements or Painter lite. Apparently some people don't care that they are insulting. It seems to be their goal. It does make you wonder why so many people who seem to despise the digital media work with it.

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Roseann, it is curious, but I don't think Drew despises digital art. I think he merely finds it inferior to traditional art for whatever reason. I find that strange considering all art on this site is, at this point, digital art, so debating its merit based on its medium of creation is rather pointless. It's all pixels on a screen now.

 

Roseann Caputo

9 Years Ago

And yet there are clear examples that it's anything BUT inferior.

Art Prints

Photography Prints

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Indeed there are...

Art PrintsPhotography Prints

I feel a digital art lovefest coming on! ;)

 

Roseann Caputo

9 Years Ago

LOL! It very well could be.

Group hug!

 

Drew

9 Years Ago

April, I do not think all digital art is inferior. I think digital art is ideal for mass production. I think digital tools in hands of the talented enhances their speed in production. I think digital tools in the hands of hacks dilute the overall value of the truly artistic's potential market. I'm afraid my latter statement is not the exception but the rule.

BTW. I am thinking of getting a pc digital painting package. I'm become more intrigued with the medium considering your and many others devotion to it's use.

 

Suzanne Powers

9 Years Ago

Thank you April for the thread and the video. I'm new to digital artwork and have a lot to learn.

 

Jean Moore

9 Years Ago

Very NICE! Thanks for the great find, April.

Interestingly enough I've never seen one of these kind of video's disproved by the digital nay sayers. Nor in my cursory search the last hour on the net to find a hack that would show how a digital artist could do a screen capture (either with an internal screen capture program or an external video camera capture) of the artist's painting without the underlying drawing showing through. The person who is tracing just cannot do a live screen capture such as the one above or as the April has shown with her videos. I hope to do some of these myself when I get the time.

Drew I'm glad you are thinking about trying it out yourself. Seriously when you are learning on a tablet the most important thing that throws people off is not having the tablet aligned with the computer screen. Then practice drawing basic things and shading them, circle to orb, triangle to cone, etc. Once you are proficient the tablet can be a little skewed and your brain automatically compensates sending your hand in the right direction. It becomes muscle memory.

 

Heidi Smith

9 Years Ago

Amazing!

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Drew, I think what you said about tools in the hands of hacks is true for any medium, not just digital. And I do hope you get digital painting software and give it a go. I prefer Photoshop just because that's what I'm the most used to, but the Corel Painter series is also a great choice. Jean gives some wonderful advice (thanks, Jean!) about how to use a tablet, and I hope it works for you. I may just have to dust off one of my Wacoms and try again myself.

Suzanne, the beauty of digital artwork is that there is always an undo button. :) My only advice to someone just starting out is that layers are your friends. Use them liberally.

 

Roseann Caputo

9 Years Ago

I think what you said about tools in the hands of hacks is true for any medium, not just digital.

Bingo!

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Yahtzee!! :)

 

Drew

9 Years Ago

Thanks Jean: )
If you know of any good pc based painting packages let me know. I'm not interested in photo-minipulation but oil/watercolor simulation.
The biggest problem with the digital animation presented is the absence of the menu. Most of the videos l have seen disclose the menu selection steps. This is an animated production. This disipline I know well. It uses a morphing aproach to wow the audience. To question what is behind the scenes is perfectly reasonable from a filmmaker's point of view. Is the creator trying to entertain, demonstrate their talent or both. This line of thinking is perfectly reasonable. And to question the video is how things are brought to light when the audience may be blinded by the initial awe factor.

April, thanks for the suggestion. I may give it a whirl:)
Did not know you were playing a game! Can I bring my parrot too? LOL!
Here's a suggestion for you, when you are trying to make a case regarding digital vs traditional, presenting canned digital examples helps the traditional case more than the digital case. Your video case is a good one. It made me think:)
What about Coral, are there any users of Coral or Zbrush?

 

Diana Huff

9 Years Ago

Great share April!!! Thank you.

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Well, I'm glad it made you think, Drew, but I'm not sure what you mean about canned digital examples. Care to explain?

 

Drew

9 Years Ago

April, you are a smart person and a seasoned artist. I have now doubt you know exactly what I mean when I said canned as well as provenance.

When it comes to digital vs traditional, I like using the following analogy.
A jeweler has the choice to cast in gold and/or platinum or any other veriaty of lessor medals. The same effort may go into two identical pieces but if gold is used with one and lead is used for the other well.......you get my drift.

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Well, I sense that delving into this matter any further would probably be detrimental to us both, or at least our time here on the forums, so all I will say is that I look forward to seeing your digital paintings. You'll have to let me know which program you decide on.

 

Drew

9 Years Ago

Thanks April. This was the first digital painting I ever composed. It may have been done as early as 2000 but not published until 2007. I used the same software i use today coloring my hybrids. It is called arcsoft-photostudio-2000.
Art Prints
Thanks April. Your a class act

 

Roseann Caputo

9 Years Ago

This is the first real graphite drawing I did. I did it when I was in my teens. Which was a few centuries ago.

Art Prints

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

Has the world gone topsy-turvy?! Drew is going digital, Roseann is going graphite, black is white, left is right... I think I need to lay down. LOL!

BTW, nice work, guys. Now get to work on some more!!

 

Roseann Caputo

9 Years Ago

LOL! Oops. Sorry, April. Glass of wine? Or if you don't drink Root Beer Float?

Been working away on and off. :-)

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

I don't drink, but I could murder a root beer float right about now. Thanks for putting that thought in my head. And here I am getting ready to head to the gym! Evil, evil woman. ;)

 

This discussion is closed.