Happy Halloween!

I love all things Halloween -- I love the scary movies, I love decorating, I love dressing up. 

Here's a Halloween card that I created in Vue last year.  I love how it came out with the spooky haunted house in the background and the grinning Jack o'Lantern in the foreground and I really like the sky, which took quite a bit of tweaking to get the way I wanted it. 

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Please note: the following images are not by me. 

I was thrilled when I found this collection of public domain vintage Halloween postcards and knew I had to share them in my blog.  I added a few little verses too, to complete the Halloween theme of this post :-)

A pumpkin head I would like to be,

If in your arms you would take me

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This is the nicht o' Hallowe'en

When a' the witchie may be seen 

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By pumpkins fat and witches lean

By coal black cats with eyes of green

By all the magic ever seen...

I wish you luck this HALLOWEEN

~Author Unknown

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When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam,
May luck be yours on Halloween.
~ Author Unknown

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The Making of Country Lane in Fall

Fall is my favorite season. I love fall colors, even though we really don't get much in the way of fall color here in Texas.  It seems to me that the leaves stay green until they just drop off the trees here.

That could be why I enjoy creating artwork which features fall colors.

A couple of weeks ago I started working on a new artwork which I entitled "Country Lane in Fall".

What follows is a little detail about how I created it in Vue.  I'll show you the actual image at the end of the post :-)  As always, you can click on the images to see a larger version.

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I had an idea of what I wanted, but creating it in Vue was a bit of a challenge as my technical skills are still lacking in some areas.  I'm just not very good at sculpting terrains yet.  Usually, I load a standard heightfield terrain and squish it almost flat.

That creates a nice enough base for many scenes.  I often use something like that for the foreground and then add hills in the background.

But for the scene I had in mind, I wanted a country lane, complete with cart tracks, or tractor tracks in the dirt.

Some time ago I watched a video tutorial which showed something similar to what I wanted, and it used a "heightmap", basically a greyscale image that Vue would blend with it's own fractal terrain to modify it.

So first, here is the standard heightfield terrain in Vue.  There are all sorts of tools for tweaking it and creating impressive terrains but I'm still learning how to use them.

Next, in Photoshop Elements, I created a new file and "painted" a country lane.  I used a fuzzy edged brush in grey to create the lane and then a darker color to create the deeper tracks.  (lighter colors create higher terrains, darker colors are lower)

Within the "Terrain Editor" in Vue, you import your jpeg file and specify the proportions you want to use - i.e. do you want more of the default terrain or do you want more of your jpeg image?

I selected roughly 50/50 between the two.  It gives you a rough (and I do mean rough) preview of what it will look like before you hit ok.

It was still way too deep for my taste - I wanted cart tracks, not WW I trenches, so I flattened the whole terrain down considerably until it looked something like this:

Next came the fun part of adding in the texture, the trees, grasses, weeds etc. placing the fence and getting the atmosphere the way I wanted it.

This took me literally days.  I would think I had it done and would render it, which involved leaving it to run on its own for three hours. Then I would come back and look at the render and decide I didn't like something, or discover some glaring error which couldn't be fixed in post work.

At least twice I just left the computer rendering while I went to bed, so I wasn't able to get back to the piece until I got home from work the next day.  (Work really does get in the way sometimes)

But finally, I had something I was happy with:- "Country Lane in Fall"

While I really like the original version above, this evening, I played around with it in Photoshop Elements, applying filters. (I don't have Filter Forge, like many digital artists, although if they have a version that will work with Elements on a Mac, I may shell out the bucks for it).  Instead I used the Paint Daubs filter and really love the Impressionist feel it gives the image.

I'm not sure if the Paint Daub effect is even visible at this size, but on a full size 26 " x 15" original, it looks great.  Or at least I think it does, I'd love to hear what others think, if you can even see it at this resolution and size.

I'm now in a quandry as to which version to use as my final image that I post on Fine Art America and that I use to create products for my Zazzle store.  I *think* I'm leaning toward the Impressionist version.  What do you think?

Easels and Diesels Art Festival

We live to the north of Houston, Texas, in the small town of Tomball. We love the atmosphere of a small town, and are very happy here.  Near the big city, but not IN it.

Each year Tomball hosts a number of outdoor festivals, such as the German Heritage Festival and "Bugs, Brew and Barbecue", Tomball's own version of Oktoberfest. Always lots of great entertainment, food, beer and lots of stalls selling all manner of stuff.

Earlier this year, I was excited to hear that a new festival, Easels and Diesels Art Festival was open for registration. The "Diesels" part of the name stems from the fact Tomball is right on a railroad track and the entire train depot area has been revitalized and now hosts a multitude of events.

The Easels and Diesels Art Festival is a juried art festival with music, food and beverages, and of course, ART.

I wanted to be part of it this year and sent in an email to get the information.

THEN I started thinking about the logistics about participating in this show...

First, since it is juried, I would have to be accepted, that's the first hurdle.  I'm thinking it may not be much of a hurdle since I've already been to two other live shows and online competition as well.

BUT, this wouldn't just be a case of hanging a painting on a wall in a gallery.  Since this is an outdoor show, I would need to provide my own 10 x 10 tent such as the one below.

Then I started thinking about how I would need INVENTORY.  The one good thing about making my art available through Print On Demand sites like Zazzle and Fine Art America is that I don't have to maintain an inventory.  But if I want to have my own stall in a festival, I'm going to need inventory, which I would have to pay for up front. 

In addition to a few nice display prints, I would need smaller prints, postcards, greeting cards and other items such as ceramic tiles with my art on.

Deductible business expenses all, but I mustn't over extend myself.

So.... the plan is to go along to this year's festival and see how it's all set up, how it's run etc. and get a feel of "could I actually DO this?" 

(I'll let you in on a secret - I am painfully shy and tend to keep myself to myself.  I would probably sit in the back of my tent and try to hide under the table if someone looked like they were going to approach me!)

THEN, if I feel like it's something I could do and would enjoy, I've got a whole year to get my act together and get the tent, the inventory etc.

Then perhaps I could take the whole show on the road and participate in other outdoor art shows.

In the meantime, I've been accepted to another event, the Jomar Visions Art Excellence Juried Open Competion. 

I'll let you know how it goes...

A Peek Inside the Studio and the Making of "The High Country" (or "Do Keep Up, Tonto!")

It was my birthday last week. We won't go in to details, like how old I am, but I wanted to give a shout out to my wonderful husband, Eric, who willingly parted with a hefty chunk of change to replace my three year old iMac with a new 27 inch iMac.

So I thought I'd give you a peek inside "Mockingbird Studio" and give you an idea of where I work on my art projects.

The fact that the new monitor is much bigger than the one I had before (a mere 21 inch) caused me to have to rearrange my studio.  I used to have my computer on a small desk to the left of this photo, facing over a half wall into the living room and the garden beyond.

The configuration of the desk, with a little printer stand on the side, really didn't work with the bigger monitor.  So I decided to move my new computer over to my former craft desk, which hasn't actually been used for anything other than lounging cats, in the five years we have lived here.  Well that's not quite true -- I sewed some window valances three years ago, but that's about it.

I love this layout already.  There's more actual desktop, so I've got room for some desk accessories and when I want to pay bills, I don't have to shuffle things between my lap, the desk and the drawer.

So what am I working on with my new iMac?

Well, at the art show last weekend, I was talking with one of the other artists and we talked about a scene where a cowboy would be up on a ridge, surveying the scene below, perhaps with a herd of cattle or bison or something.

The thing is, when I started playing around in DAZ and started working on posing the Genesis figure on the DAZ horse, I ended up with the cowboy looking back behind him, and leaning his hand on his horse's rump, like he's waiting for the rest of the riders (or perhaps his trusty sidekick, Tonto) to catch up!  (Thank you to Judy Adamson, a fellow artist who lives in Wales, who came up with the subtitle when I first posted the finished render on Facebook, asking for suggestions for titles)

Once I had the horse and rider the way I wanted them, I saved them as a wavefront object which I would then be able to import into a variety of other 3D graphic software.

Then I opened up Vue, the software I use for creating landscapes and scenery.  I created a foreground terrain and added some weeds and grass to it and placed the horse and rider in the scene, being sure to make sure they weren't either floating three inches above the ground, or sinking down into it.  Then I grouped horse and rider together with the foreground terrain and camera and raised everything up above the ground plane and tilted it forward slightly, to give the illusion of standing on the edge of the ridge looking into the valley. (You can see that grouping in the top right hand segment of the photo below).

Vue gives you four different views at once, so you can see your scene from the front, from the side, from the top and finally, the "camera view".   This will be what you see in the final render - it's the view on the bottom right.

Once I had the horse and rider standing on the ridge, with the valley spread out below, I set about finding a suitable atmosphere for the scene. Vue has a multitude of atmospheres built in, or you can set about creating your own by manually adding layers of cloud, positioning the sun, setting the lighting model and many other functions.

For this scene, I selected one of the atmosphere presets and the moved the sun around until it appears that horse and rider are being highlighted from the side by the sun as it moves lower in the western sky.

I adjusted the levels in Photoshop Elements 11 as the shadows were just too dark in the original render that came out of Vue.  I'm very happy with the result.

Digital Artists Who Inspire Me

There are a number of online communities for digital artists: Deviant Art, Renderosity, Cornucopia 3D to name but three.

Each site has hundreds, if not thousands of member artists, many of whom inspire others and give of themselves by creating tutorials for other artists, and also providing content, such as materials and backgrounds, for others to use in their own work. 

This week, I thought I would share with you three of my favorite digital artists.

Gill Brooks  
Digital artists not only have to have the normal artistic skills such as composition and a sense of proportion and perspective, but they also have to learn the technical aspects of working with which ever program they use.  Gill, who hails from England, has been working in Vue since 2002, long before I had ever heard of it.

I love her work, some of which is fantasy art, such as the image I have shown above, called "Follow Me" and some is inspired by the scenery and landscapes of England.

I have some materials created by Gill in my own "digital toolbox", in the form of some very realistic water textures that I have used in a number of my own pieces.

You can view Gill's portfolio on Cornucopia here.
You can view her gallery on Renderosity here.

Dominic Davison
Another English artist I admire is Dominic Davison.  His works make me think of a digital version of Thomas Kinkade.  His attention to the smallest detail and the quality of his lighting make every one of his images picture perfect.

Even when I use the exact same 3D models in my own art, I can't get anywhere near this quality yet, but I'll keep trying!

You can view Dominic's portfolio on Cornucopia here.
You can view his gallery on Renderosity here.

Flint_Hawk
I don't know what Flint_Hawk's real name is, just the "handle" they go by on Renderosity.  I'm not even sure if it's a he or a she!!

Flint_Hawk does some wonderful fantasy art in Poser, and a lot of it includes horses - my favorite subject!.

As with many of the artists on Renderosity, Flint-Hawk helpfully posts details of how they composed their image, which textures they use, details of any extra models they have used and where one can get them.

Renderosity members can view Flint-Hawks's gallery by searching for Flint_Hawk at www.renderosity.com.  The artist asked me not to post a direct link.

Each of these artists, as well as many others, have inspired me in my art.  Which could be why I don't seem to have my own unique style... but that's another blog post.

Which artists have inspired you?

The Making of Dance With Me

When Light, Space and Time Gallery announced their 3rd annual "Figurative" competition, I was hesitant to enter.  I wasn't sure that anything in my portfolio would fit the criteria, but then I remembered "Dance with Me", which I did in 2010.

I had fallen in love with Jack Vettriano's "Dance me to the End of Love" and set about the task of creating a piece with a similar atmosphere to it, using the 3D graphics programs that I was now working with.

It was done in two parts: the background image was created in Bryce 3D and the figures were done in DAZ 3D.

In Bryce, I worked on the ground plane to get a texture that would look similar to the infinite plane the dancers in Vettriano's original were dancing on.

I ended up using a water plane to get the effect I was after.  My dancers are literally dancing on water, lol.

Then I played in the atmosphere editor, positioning the sun and changing the parameters to get the overall color I wanted, and the layer of haze on the horizon.

When I had the background the way I wanted it, I rendered it in Bryce and saved it as a jpeg file that could be used as a backdrop in DAZ 3D.

Now came the really fun part - dressing and posing my 3D characters to recreate the scene and capture the atmosphere of the original.

Since the characters start out in the position shown below (only naked), you can see that quite a bit of work is involved in this step!

Posing a single character in DAZ is fairly easy, even easier if you use one of the many pre-set poses available.  But posing and positioning two characters in a 3D environment, viewed on your 2D computer screen, offers lots of challenges.

For example, when viewed from the front, you might position your characters to be close together as if they were dancing, but then look at them from above and see that they are actually quite some distance apart from one another.  The same can happen if you look from the left or the right too.

So as you work and pose and create your scene, you have to constantly view the scene from all directions to make sure everything is working together.

Eventually, I got my dancers the way I wanted them, as close as I could get them to the dancers in Vettriano's original.  Then I adjusted the lighting to blend with the atmosphere on the background and clicked on RENDER.

Finally I did a little bit of post work in Photoshop Elements - I used the dodge/burn tool to give the illusion of a reflection of the dancers and anchor them to the ground plane, then it was finished.

So, going back to the beginning of my post, when I got the notice about the "Figurative" art competition in April, I went ahead and sent in my entry to Light, Space and Time and now I'm very happy to announce that "Dance with Me" earned a Special Recognition Award!!

The competition received 592 entries from 23 different countries from around the world so you can see how much of an honor this is for me!

All of the winners can be seen here.  My thanks to John Rath for his work in running the Light, Space and Time online gallery and for giving artists like myself the opportunity to participate in competitions and be included in exhibitions.

Inspirational Quotes for Artists

Throughout the years, many great people have given their thoughts on art, inspiration and creativity and these messages hold true even in this day and age.

Here are just a few quotes about art and artists that I hope you will enjoy and find inspiring.

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"Art touches the soul... art is communication... it reaches out from the canvas and passes through the eyes of the viewer right into his heart where it can leave an imprint of beauty that can make the spirit sing."
~~ Nina Baldwin

"We have a wonderful world to be inspired by and each new day is like an adventure into the unknown, where things that require a second glance can be captured in time on a canvas for anyone to enjoy forever."

~~  Louise Corke

"Art is contemplation. It is the pleasure of the mind which searches into nature and which there divines the spirit of which Nature herself is animated."

 ~~ Auguste Rodin

  

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere."

~~ Carl Sagan

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."
~~ Edgar Degas

"Try to be inspired by something every day. Try to inspire at least one person every day."
~~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."
~~ Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island 

"The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable."

~~ Robert Henri

"Inspiration is not born of 'the eureka moment' but in the quiet spaces we allow ourselves to be in - whether in a beautiful part of nature or in a peaceful meditative state of mind."
~~ Sharon Knettell

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud."
~~ Emile Zola

"Painting without inspiration is like trying to drive a car with flat tires."
~~ Ron Elstad

"Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us."
~~ Roy Adzak

"Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist."
~~ Rene Magritte

“An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” 

~~ Charles Horton Cooley

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If you have a favorite quote about art and creativity that isn't included here, please feel free to add it in the comments section.