Airship Sketch

That big funky blob is an airship. It's just a visual short hand way to get basic info down as quickly as possible. Sometimes I sketch with pencil and paper, sometimes digitally. Once the basic composition is sketched out, you have all the general information for the final painting.

Painter Sketch

This a sketch I did in Painter a couple of weeks ago. I used the divine proportion tool and layout grid to help establish the composition. This sketch was done to become familiar with using those tools, as well as with painting with paper textures and the pattern pen tool. The paper texture used was an interesting Old Master parchment texture, and the pattern used with the pattern pen tool was the hens and chicks (a grouping of flowers).

Painter X Divine Proportion Mini Tutorial

This is a sketch I composed using the divine proportion tool in Painter X. You can toggle the divine proportion overlay on and off by checking a box in the divine proportion palette. Here you can see that the center of interest is in the general area where the spiral begins. This is just a basic, simple composition to illustrate how you can use this tool, of course. It can also be used for more complicated compositions as well.

Cave Faun, Cave Faun

Here's the latest progress shot of Mr. Faun. I just compared this image to the previous one, and some of the additions/changes I like, some I don't, and then the rest I'm just not sure about. I've mainly added additions and texture to the cave environment, but also worked on the creature some as well. I'm not sure how much of this is obvious on initial viewing. I've been painting on a handful of different pieces, and have only gotten a limited amount done on this one.

I'm finishing this piece in Painter, after all. I've been painting with it almost solely for the past several days and I'm definitely getting more comfortable with it. Not only with the various brushes, but also the shortcuts. I spent a few minutes last week setting up additional ones. Things like flipping the image horizontally and flattening layers.

I'm really enjoying working with Painter, and I may devote a special post to it soon. The new version, Painter X has some very neat features like the divine proportion and layout tools. I also like the custom brush palette, although I'm not sure if that was reinstated from Painter 8, or if it was in Painter 9 as well.

Profile of a Reptile

Here is a new piece I just started from another 2005 sketch. This one will be painted entirely in Painter.