This is another commissioned piece, a portrait of Cajun who sadly passed away earlier this year. She lived a long life and the family wanted a painting to remember her. I had plenty of reference photos to choose from, but only one or two that I felt would work well for the painting and thankfully the family agreed with the pose I chose. This painting goes to proof this week and once everything looks the way I’d like, it will be printed as a 15″X20″ canvas giclée with a black shadowbox frame. I don’t mind saying that I always get a little teary eyed when I finish these memorial paintings, which to me means I did my job.
Category: Digital Painting
Photoshop Brush Maintenance
The other day I found myself wanted to do a little housekeeping with my Photoshop brushes, and I figured I’d share some thoughts. I won’t be teaching anything about how to create brushes in Photoshop here as I’ve already detailed all of that in both of my DVDs, an article I wrote for Photoshop User Magazine and in a webinar or two that I recorded for Wacom. Creating Photoshop brushes is an easy topic to find online and I would encourage anyone who wants to paint digitally to learn how to create and customize your own brushes.
Brush Hoarding
With an almost limitless supply of free brush sets online, digital artists of all levels seem to have a habit of downloading anything they can find on the off chance that one day; they might have use for the Valentine’s Day Zombie Cupid Brush Set.
I’ve seen artists who not only have hundreds of brush sets at the ready, most of which they’ve looked at once, but also those who have a hundred or more brushes in the set they use every day, most of those going untouched as well. Before downloading a brush set, ask yourself if you’re really going to use it.
Stamp or Paint
There are two main brush types that I’ve come across and both have their uses. The first are stamp brushes. Usually it’s the type of brush that is meant to be tapped onto an image just like a stamp. For my editorial cartoon work, my signature is a stamp brush. As I want my brand to be consistent, it is comprised of my editorial cartoon signature (different than my actual signature), and my website address. On every cartoon I’ve done for the last few years, my signature looks exactly the same because of this stamp brush and it’s the only stamp brush I use consistently.
Paint brushes on the other hand are ones intended to be used with a brush stroke. With a little imagination and experimentation, a well-crafted stamp can be turned into a versatile and powerful paint brush.
Brush Sets
Some of the free downloads out there are really great. You can find specific sets for holidays, environments, themes, moods, and weather. I’ve spent many hours exploring brush sets over the years. As time went on, however, I found that less is more and I pretty much stick to one brush set, most of which I designed myself.
Here’s the set I started with and what it looked like after I was done editing. Some were even duplicates, although I don’t know how I managed that. Some look like duplicates but because of different settings, the brush stroke is very different, even if the stamp doesn’t reveal that. To clean them up, I just went through them one by one and asked myself how often I really used a brush. If the answer was ‘almost never’ then I deleted it.
I still have and use other brush sets from time to time. For example, I have a brush set that is just snowflakes, another that is just leaves, and yet another that is just lightning stamps. But I use them very rarely, so while those brushes are not part of my main set, they’re still worth keeping. What you see here, however are the brushes I rely on every day.
Grouping Brushes
Because I like to keep my tool and brush palettes clean and out of the way, I don’t worry too much about naming my brushes because I only view them as small thumbnails. I do, however, like to have them grouped so that I don’t have to test a brush each time I grab it to make sure it’s what I want. If they’re grouped together, I have a good idea what any brush is going to do when I choose it. Here’s how mine are grouped.
Why I Don’t Share Brushes
I’ve been asked innumerable times to provide my brush set for people and the answer is always No. It’s not that I have any magic brushes; it’s just that you will learn a lot more by creating your own than by using ones other artists have created. The main brush I use for painting, however, is one you already have if you use Photoshop. It’s a default and is my favorite painting brush, the one you see in the next image. In articles and videos, I’ve also shown how to make my hair brushes, but don’t be fooled. Having the tools is completely different than knowing how to use the tools. You only get that from experience and you only get experience by painting.
Experimentation and Discovery
While this panel may look complicated, it’s not. The best way to find out how everything works is to experiment with the different settings and paint on a blank page while doing it. I actually use much less than half of the options available to me in this panel because the way I paint doesn’t require all of the bells and whistles. My brushes are pretty simple.
Cleaning up this brush set took well over two hours because I kept experimenting with ways to make each brush better and I enjoyed playing around with the possibilities.
One brush, however, kept crashing Photoshop, and I have no idea why. Every time I tried to work with it, Photoshop CC died on me. The first time it happened, I lost about 20 minutes work because I hadn’t saved the new brush set. Happened three times before I realized it was the brush itself, and I ended up deleting it entirely and avoided any further crashes. It takes very little time to save the set after each brush change. Get in the habit of doing that when you’re working with brushes. Save the brush, save the set.
Final Note
There are so many ways to paint digitally. Some artists seek to emulate traditional media and do so with great skill. Others paint in ways that traditional artists would find completely confusing. Everybody has their own way of doing it and designing your own brushes can often spark ideas for paintings and images that you might not have considered had you simply downloaded somebody else’s tools.
Less is more, so if you have 100 brushes in your main brush set, see if you can’t whittle that down to 50. Keep the old set on your computer and save to a new set so you can always go back and retrieve any you wish you’d kept. Create new brushes, make changes to old ones, keep them organized and never be afraid to improve on the old standbys and eventually you’ll wind up with a brush set that is uniquely yours.
Weighing Which Wacom
Sometimes having too many choices is just as bad as having too few, especially when it comes to technology. What works for one person may not work for somebody else.
While I’m primarily a PC user, one piece of Apple tech that I really enjoy is my iPad, a first-gen device I bought in the summer of 2010 that I’m still using today. With each new iOS, it gets a little twitchier and temperamental, but I have definitely got my money’s worth from it.
I’ve also been using Wacom devices for well over a decade now, from the early first generation Intuos and Graphire tablets to the Cintiq 24HD display that I use today, and I wouldn’t be able to do the work I do without one.
One of those fortunate souls who works at home every day, I have a dedicated office and spend the majority of my time at my desk, drawing and painting on my Cintiq 24HD, a display I’m very happy with. Everything I need to be productive on a daily basis is in my office. In the evenings, however, I like to sketch the next day’s cartoons or other images with pencil on paper while relaxing on the couch in front of the TV. Sometimes I’ll do rough paintings and sketches on my iPad as well.
But lately, I’ve wanted to paint more detailed work or move on to the digital ink and paint stage of a cartoon without having to go upstairs to sequester myself in the office that I’ve already been in all day.
The newer Cintiq 13HD has abandoned the power brick of the previous 12wx, and while you still have to plug it in and connect it to a laptop, it has the resolution and screen space I want, and the ability to just prop it up on my knees to paint. So I figured this would be my next portable device.
But then, Wacom recently announced the Cintiq Companion and Cintiq Companion Hybrid Devices. The first is a stand-alone 13” Cintiq with all of the functionality and power of a laptop. The Hybrid device works as a fully functional Cintiq 13HD when it’s plugged into a desktop or laptop, but becomes a portable Android device when it’s unplugged.
Decisions, decisions.
First Option: Having just bought a very powerful laptop I eliminated the Windows 8 Companion quite quickly. I like to write, which is one of the reasons I wanted the laptop, rather than a portable device with a peripheral keyboard. The Cintiq Companion Hybrid, however, would allow me to work on the couch and also give me an untethered portable device to take with me on the go.
Second Option: Provided Apple doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel with the pending iPad 5, I could pair that with the standard Cintiq 13HD. This would give me the portability I want for painting outside my office while still tethered to a laptop, plus allow me to keep using the iPad, which has many apps I rely on. Wacom’s new Intuos Creative Stylus for the iPad (not first-gen) allows pressure sensitivity and palm rejection in some of the apps I already use for iPad painting, which means you can rest your hand on the screen and it won’t be confused with a pen stroke. Currently, I have to wear a fingerless glove when I paint on the iPad to prevent that problem.
Break it down, now.
Portability: The Companion and Companion Hybrid are being marketed that you can take them anywhere. While I do enjoy working in a coffee shop once in a while and have to travel on rare occasions, most of my portable sketching is done with a pencil and sketchbook, especially since I’m usually out in the woods or in a creek canyon somewhere while I’m doing it. The thought of taking a digital device with me to these wild places is unappealing. Worrying about charged batteries, dirt and moisture on an expensive device, not to mention that I don’t want to be connected when I’m out in nature, is unappealing to me, which is why I even turn my phone off. Whether it’s on a hike, camping, or out at a buddy’s cabin, I still prefer to draw in a traditional sketchbook.
When I do want a portable digital device, I already know that an iPad works very well for me and the Hybrid is too big to be a suitable replacement. With the new Creative Stylus, painting/sketching on the iPad when I’m in a coffee shop or other urban setting will do the trick nicely.
If I lived in a city, had to commute, was constantly out and about and in need of all of the full tools I enjoy on my desktop, an argument could be made for the Cintiq Companion or Hybrid, and I’m sure it will appeal to folks who find themselves in that daily environment. Living in the mountains, working at home, and wanting to be away from electronics when I’m out in the woods, however, I wouldn’t use this device to its full potential.
Cost: A lot of people are complaining about the cost of these new Wacom devices, but when you own the market, are leading the way in the technology and have put the R&D into creating the tech that every digital creative wants, to give it away is just bad business. Supply and demand is as old as the hills.
That being said, budget is a factor. Living in Canada, I have to buy from a reseller since only U.S. residents can buy from the Wacom site. Despite the U.S. and Canadian dollars being at or near equal the last few years, Canadian prices are significantly higher than in the U.S., an angry reality that Canadians live with on clothing, books, technology, cars, and many other products.
The best price I can find on a Companion Hybrid in Canada is $1749. That’s more than I just paid for my laptop. The price on the Cintiq 13HD is $1089.00.
All weighed and measured, I think I’m going to go with the Cintiq 13HD and a new iPad with the Intuos Creative Stylus. The cost of all three of those, estimating for the iPad 5 of course, would work out to around $1900.00 and would give me the all-around best solution to fit all of my creative portable needs for a few years to come.
It’s important to understand that the reason I’m explaining all of this is not to tell you what you should buy. It’s to illustrate the point that we all have individual needs and wants when it comes to technology. Rather than buy every new phone, TV, tablet, computer or other piece of tech that comes out simply because it’s new, take a step back and ask yourself if what you want is really what you need. Make a list of what you want to be able to do and buy the devices that fit you best. Take the time to tailor your tech to your needs and you’ll be a lot happier in your work.
Rebuild the Calgary Zoo
The flooding in June of this year was the worst disaster in Alberta’s recorded history. One of the casualties of that flooding was The Calgary Zoo. The closure of the zoo has resulted in layoffs of the majority of the staff, a significant loss of revenue, relocation of some animals to other cities and a massive cleanup and fundraising effort.
Some of my Totem prints have been sold in their main retail outlet over the last year, something I was quite proud of, considering how much I enjoy going to the zoo. To be able to take reference photos for paintings, sit and sketch, and just enjoy some time with the animals is a great pleasure and I hope to go again soon. The main reason I painted my Rockhopper Penguin Totem in the series was because of this wonderful facility and their Penguin Plunge habitat.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to sell all of my inventory of that print at a discounted rate, with all proceeds PLUS a portion of my own costs going to the Calgary Zoo. Open to residents of Canada and the continental U.S., it’s a first come, first served offer, until the inventory runs out. All prints are hand-signed. I’ve also discounted shipping to a flat rate, as specified in the image. For Banff & Canmore residents, I’m happy to deliver at no charge.
To order, send an email to lamontagne@nullcartoonink.com, indicate which print you want with mailing address and I will send you a PayPal invoice.
This offer is not officially affiliated with the Calgary Zoo, but it will certainly benefit from it. If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them, please send me an email to the previous address listed or via my Contact Page. Thank you for supporting the Calgary Zoo rebuilding efforts.
Giraffe Totem
The latest in my Totem series, this giraffe was a lot of fun to work on. Well, not the whole time. Mostly at the end, if I’m being honest.
The reason this one was a little different is that I recorded much of the process. While I’ve done that a number of times before, the previous videos were done with screen capture software which runs in the background and you don’t really have to pay attention to it. There’s always a fair bit of editing work after the fact, but that doesn’t affect the painting itself. With the current video, it’s a mix of screen capture and footage from my GoPro on a tripod, which was sitting just off my left shoulder while I worked. I’ve often shown the software, Photoshop CC in this case, but wanted to show the hardware this time as well, since the Wacom Cintiq 24HD is such a great display. What this meant was that I couldn’t shift position and had to constantly be aware that this camera was there. The lighting was also different than what I’m used to working with. This changed how I felt about the painting process, but I really wanted to record this video, so sacrifices had to be made. I’ll be editing it this week and hopefully the footage I got was worth the effort. As always, photos are only used for reference in my paintings. It’s all brush work.
In a perfect world (hey, it could happen!), my painting sessions involve a hot cup of coffee, music in my headphones and a darkened room with no distractions, allowing me to get lost in the work. With having to think about the camera all the time, I could never quite get all the way into it until I neared the end. That’s when I forgot to recharge the GoPro for that session and the battery was dead. Rather than ruin a perfect Saturday morning painting session by waiting, I decided to just do screen capture for the end of the painting and I had a blast!
I know I say this whenever I finish a painting, but this is one of my favorites. I just love the expression on his (or her, your call) face. Anybody who has followed my work on these critters for any length of time knows that I don’t take all the credit for the personality. It just seems to show up and the funny thing is, it showed up twice while painting this one. I thought it did a couple of days ago, it was the same great moment that always happens, but then there was another moment in the final hours of painting when something just popped and it seemed to come even more alive. It was a bonus.
Prints will likely be available for the Giraffe Totem in the next month after I’ve done my proofing and I can’t wait to see them.
Pet Portrait – Odin
My latest painting, this is a memorial portrait for a purebred yellow lab named Odin. Odin passed away at the age of 12 and a half in December and while the clients like both my Totem and portrait work, they felt a portrait was the best fit for the memory of their dog and I’m inclined to agree. As a result, there is no whimsical grin or exaggerated expression. He is painted as he was, a senior gentleman with his own character. While the size hasn’t been decided yet, the final print will be on canvas, which is how I feel my work is best represented in print. As I’m a sucker for furry faces and cold wet noses, memorial paintings are sometimes a little tough, because I know what this kind of loss feels like. As such, I tend to spend a lot more time making sure it’s as good as I can possibly make it given my current painting skills. I enjoyed painting this portrait a great deal and it might just be my best work to date. Most importantly, however, the client is happy and said that I captured Odin’s likeness and personality.
Without fail, whenever I finish a pet portrait, I get a number of commission inquiries. Here’s a link to a blog entry I wrote recently with current pricing and details. I painted this with Photoshop CC on a Wacom Cintiq 24HD display. No photos were used in this painting, except for reference. It was entirely done with brush work.
Finally, here’s a closeup of Odin.
Lizard Sketch in Painter 12
In my ongoing efforts to incorporate Painter 12 into my workflow, this is another painted sketch. As is my style, I’ve taken a lot of creative liberties with the anatomy of our lizard friend, here.
For this one, I used only the Chalk Brushes in Painter. While I fully expect to incorporate a mixture of the available mediums in the future, restricting myself to only one at a time right now is forcing me to get used to and judge each on its own merits. I really enjoyed working with chalk, especially since there are a number of different types to choose from. One of the great features I found with Painter 12 is the availability of adding paper textures while painting. In real life, the texture of the paper would be universal over the entire image, but not so in the digital realm, at least not in Painter. I can change paper textures so it only affects the brush strokes I’m making at the time, and then change again without affecting the ones I’ve already made. Adds a texture element when I need it but doesn’t restrict me when I don’t. Great feature!
Something else I’m enjoying a great deal in is the Brush Tracking feature. I’m painting on the Wacom Cintiq 24HD and even though my pen pressure is pretty consistent and I’ve got the Tip Feel set to how I like it in the Tablet Properties, different mediums in Painter require a lighter or softer touch. Brush tracking on the fly allows me to change the pressure sensitivity as often as I’d like. It’s really easy to do and takes very little time away from the canvas.
I’m really enjoying discovering all that Painter has to offer this Photoshop artist and I plan to keep at it. I have a feeling I’ve just scratched the surface.
Coyote Totem
This painting of a Coyote is the latest in my Totem series. The most recent before this one was the Bald Eagle Totem, finished in November of last year. If you do the math, that’s almost seven months, which is far too long, especially if you consider that these are my favorite paintings to work on. With the daily editorial cartoons, the portraits of people, the pet commissions, and the great deal of time spent on the preparation for the Calgary Expo this year, I’ve been busy and otherwise occupied, so the Totems were temporarily on the back burner. The next one will be coming a lot sooner than December, I assure you.
I painted my first animal in this style in November of 2009, the Grizzly Bear Totem. Hard to believe that it’s been over three years. The funny thing is that the Coyote was one of the first animals I wanted to paint but for some reason I kept shuffling it down the line, painting other animals instead. As is often the case, I may have the reference photos ready to go for months before I get to the actual painting, but this one has easily waited the longest. It also took the longest to paint if you consider that I started it in February and it sat idle for months until I started back on it last week. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, but as always, I’m already looking to the next one.
Taming Painter 12
In an effort to broaden my digital painting horizons, I recently bought Corel Painter 12 and am trying to get used to it.
Having been a digital painter with Photoshop for many years now, I’m very comfortable not only with the default tools, but with customizing and designing my own brushes so that I can paint the way I like.
By pairing and customizing Wacom’s hardware and Adobe’s Photoshop software, I’ve developed a very comfortable workflow and I know how to get the results I want with the tools at hand. So if everything is working so well, you might wonder why I’m bothering with Painter. The short version is that Photoshop and Painter are the industry standards when it comes to digital painting. Some artists use only one of them, but many use both together, taking advantage of the strengths that each offers to produce the best results. I would like to have that option.
I invested in some initial training with Lynda.com to try to learn the ropes, but it didn’t give me what I needed. The class and instructor were fine, but when it comes to software, I seem to learn best by first doing something. If I can’t figure it out by trial and error (usually a LOT of error), then I’ll go searching for articles, videos, and classes online.
The painted sketch you see above is my first attempt at painting in Corel Painter 12. It took me a few hours as I tried a lot of the different available mediums, quickly realizing which ones I didn’t like and which ones had potential.
Painter 12 is designed to emulate traditional media. If you’re a traditional artist, that’s probably great news. But I’ve never painted with traditional tools. I learned how to paint in Photoshop, so to use oil painting or watercolour in Painter was incredibly frustrating because I’ve never used them before and didn’t like the way they worked. In all honestly, there were a few instances where I tried a brush and said, “Ugh!”, disgusted at the results. When it came to the cloning tools, I abandoned them without even taking them for a spin. I’ve never like painting or tracing over a photo and those tools are designed to do just that. While some people enjoy working with that option, I’ve never done it in Photoshop and I don’t plan to start now. Photos don’t belong in my work.
Now you might be wondering if this is just a blog entry to slam Painter. Let me assure you that it’s not. While half of my drawing and painting time was spent with a furrowed brow and clenched jaw when the tools were not working the way I wanted them to, the other half was spent with raised eyebrows in surprise and even a grin or two when I discovered a few things I really liked. I might have even said, “hey, that’s cool” out loud a few times.
Once I realized that I didn’t have to use EVERY medium in Painter, I started to enjoy myself. After all, I only use a small percentage of the features in Photoshop. Painter is designed to emulate most traditional mediums so that it appeals to a wide range of artists. But it doesn’t mean that a watercolour painter now has to learn oils and charcoal just because they’re suddenly available in the same place.
I found painting with the acrylic brushes really enjoyable. They work the way I want them to and I plan to spend a lot of time painting with those. The airbrush tool offers a LOT more options than the Photoshop airbrush does, so I’m really looking forward to incorporating that into some fine detail work.
I pride myself on having a really good handle on the Photoshop brush engine but the Painter brush engine is a whole new animal. I’m bracing myself for when I tackle that monster. Taming that beast is an absolute necessity because designing and using my own brushes is a big part of how I paint.
So what do I think of Painter 12 after only using it a short time? I think it’s an impressive piece of software that I have no idea how to use. Now, had you asked me the same thing about Photoshop ten years ago, I would have given you the same answer. They do share many of the same shortcut keys and tool options, like zooming, panning, layers and other functions, but there are other operations that are completely different and therein lies the challenge.
When talking about this on my Facebook page, I said, “It’s as if somebody came into the kitchen while I was cooking and moved everything to different cupboards and drawers, changed labels, and translated the recipes into foreign languages. I can still cook, but there won’t be any finesse to it until I get used to the new layout.”
Just like anything worth doing, it’s going to take me time to become good with Painter, just as it took years to become good with Photoshop. When it comes to painting, neither one of them is a ‘press this button, press that button’ piece of software. Digital painting is an art medium all on its own. If I were learning how to paint with oils, acrylics, watercolour, charcoal or any other traditional medium, the learning curve would be just as steep, if not more so.
I’m off to a good start, but I’m under no illusion that I’ll be doing any commission or gallery work in Painter anytime soon. Probably a lot more of the type of painted sketch you see above for the next little while. But I plan to keep at it, work through the frustration and practice as often as I can.
When it comes down to it, that’s the only way to create better art no matter what medium you’re using.
Sketch Paintings
One of the things I noticed at the recent Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo is that many of the artists were selling books. Some were elaborately done with high production values (and costs, I’m sure) while others were smaller and produced on a budget, but still looked great. I’ve mentioned before that the Expo was a great learning experience and I’m still processing all of it. In addition to drawing and painting, I also enjoy writing a great deal. I’ve even got a couple of novels on the shelf I wrote years ago that I wouldn’t mind taking down and doing a rewrite with fresh eyes and a little more experience. One of them, anyway.
Sailing and fishing my personal creative ocean day to day, the idea of publishing a book that combines my artwork and writing is something that is never far below the surface of the water. As time passes, the idea keeps growing larger, is circling more often, and it’s clear that I need to haul this in pretty soon or I’m going to need a bigger boat.
While this future publication is still just in the idea stage, I do know that it will likely focus on my animal artwork. What I like most about the books I’ve bought by other artists is seeing the sketches and work that isn’t as polished and detailed. Since the goal for the majority of my animal paintings has always been to produce finished pieces for clients or galleries, I don’t actually have a lot animal sketches and paintings that weren’t destined for print. I figured I’d better make time to do more of that work since I don’t want a book that is devoid of variety.
Had I gone to art school or started drawing animals when I was younger, I might have stacks of sketchbooks of this stuff in storage, but before the late 90’s, all I ever did was doodle. After that, it was mostly editorial cartoon work and nothing I’d want to share now. This painting obsession didn’t really take hold until sometime in the last ten years, well into my 30’s. What I’d like you to take from that is that it’s never too late to learn new things and do what you love.
In an effort to create these additional sketches and paintings, there are some great side effects. One, of course, is that it’s wonderful practice. With no client to please, I can spend a half hour, an hour, two hours and just stop whenever I want. For somebody as obsessive as I am, just being able to stop and leave it alone, knowing there is plenty of room for improvement is an accomplishment by itself. Secondly, it’s like a palate cleanser, a reset button in between larger projects, very much like getting up and having a stretch. Having just finished two cat portraits for clients and moving on to another Totem piece, the meerkat sketch I did yesterday afternoon was a way of leaving one painting behind and starting fresh on another.
Finally, these are a lot of fun. Pouring rain that turned to snow yesterday, which can happen any time of year in the Canadian Rockies, gave me no motivation to go on my afternoon walk in the woods. Bored of training videos after about an hour, I just decided to make some fresh coffee (unusual in the afternoon), crank the tunes in the headphones, find a reference photo from a recent trip to the zoo and start drawing. Before I knew it, it was coming to life and I was really enjoying myself. Yes, I have deadlines right now, a long list of work I need to get done that will take me well past the summer, but making the time to do sketches like these on a regular basis is proving to be very good for me, almost like I’m taking a mini-vacation.
Expect more of these whimsical, cartoony characters in the coming months. Who knows, maybe I’ll even turn one or two of them into a Totem painting later.
