Category: Digital Painting

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West Coast Wildlife

Gray whale off of Vancouver Island – Patrick LaMontagne

My wife and I just came back from a wonderful week on Vancouver Island.  With visits to the Comox Valley, the city of Victoria, and other parts of the Island, the highlight was our trip ‘over the hump’ to Ucluelet and Tofino.

We booked a boat tour of the Broken Group Islands out of Ucluelet with Archipelago Wildlife Cruises in advance and had a great time.  I have long had a dream to see whales in the wild, specifically humpbacks, and while we didn’t get to see them breach, it was still a very thrilling experience.  Gray whales, bald eagles, seals, sea lions all made appearances, along with various water fowl.  This cruise was the best part of the whole vacation.  The owners of Archipelago are great hosts, and I wrote a lengthy 5 star review on Trip Advisor about them, which has yet to be posted.   But it’s easy to see why they’re rated the Number #1 tour on Vancouver Island.  A great couple to spend the day with, and after 5.5 hours on the boat, we definitely felt we got our money’s worth.

Humpback whale and calf in The Broken Group Islands – Patrick LaMontagne

One of the big reasons for this trip was to gather photo reference for my upcoming Totem painting series on West Coast wildlife.  Eventually I intend to paint a number of animals that call that area home, even though many of them aren’t exclusive to the west coast.  An otter, bald eagle, seal, sea lion, black bear, and a few whale species are all planned.  While it would be great to take my own photos for these, I often do better by finding photographers willing to sell or share their work for reference purposes, and I’ve been very lucky in that regard.

Bald Eagle in Tofino – Patrick LaMontagne

Even though I took many of my own photos, a few shown here, my Nikon D60 (while still a very good camera) doesn’t have the power I need to get the close-up shots I’m looking for.  One thing we found out quickly, we at least need to start looking at buying a zoom lens.  A realization I came to on this trip is that even though my skills are still limited to point-and-shoot, I’m really starting to enjoy taking photos, and I want to become a better photographer.

Bald Eagle taking off in Tofino – Patrick LaMontagne

I did come home with a couple of great sources for reference photos so the trip was a huge success, despite my own photos not measuring up for reference use.  I found that visiting the area left me feeling more inspired than ever to launch this series, and I’m eager to get painting.  I’ve got some commissions I’m currently working on, so I won’t put digital brush to canvas until October at the earliest on this series, but I’m really looking forward to it.

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Photo Reference

In a blog entry from November, I wrote about the need for photo reference when it comes to my Totem paintings.  In the interest of keeping this blog entry from becoming lengthy, you can follow this link and read it, if you’d like more information on that.

While I usually get photo reference from photographer friends and colleagues, I’ve recently realized that I need to start developing some photography skills so that I can start gathering my own.  I have a decent digital SLR camera, a Nikon D60, and while it is by no means a professional rig, it’s enough for what I need it for.  The only lens I have is the one it came with, and I’m beginning to see that I’m going to eventually need a zoom lens in order to get the close detail shots, if the photos are going to be of any use to me.  Even in a zoo, the subject of the shot is going to need to be pretty close.

I happened to look out my office window this morning and saw this handsome fellow sitting on the fence making those wonderfully articulate sounds that ravens make.  Even though I’ve already painted a raven, there’s nothing to say I won’t paint another in the future, and you can never have enough reference.  I was able to get a LOT closer than I thought I would.  I would estimate that of the 20 or so shots that I took, the last one was from only about three feet away before he took flight.  He really didn’t seem all that concerned.

Photography is an elusive art form for me, and while I like taking photos, I’ve got enough talented and skilled photographer friends that I know the very large difference between real photography and the point-and-shoot method.  I’ve gotten to a point that I need to do more of the former and less of the latter. Fortunately, I belong to a vast community of talented creatives through the NAPP organization that I can go to for advice and resources.  I also believe that I’ll be taking some more photography classes at Photoshop World this year.

My true love is painting and illustration, so I have no desire to become a professional photographer, and I know that I will still rely on purchasing photo reference from professional wildlife photographers to get the detailed photo reference I need to bring my paintings to life.  I would, however, like to bring my photography up to ‘skilled amateur’ level, in order to make my paintings even better.  I’ve often spoken about the need for artists to continue to grow, and I think this is something that will help me do that.

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And the winners are…

Ground Squirrel TotemOver the past month, I’ve been offering up a weekly prize on my Facebook page, a contest with the rather unimaginative name, Monty’s Month of May Giveaway. While there are almost 300 people who currently ‘Like’ that page, there were about 40-60 that entered the contest each week, including a number of friends and even a few family members.  This is why I had to have an impartial person make the draw each week.  I have to tell you, it was a lot of fun for me and I really want to thank those who participated.  I’ll definitely be doing this again.

The winners and their prize choices for each week were as follows…

Week 1: JAKE KODAK, small Grizzly print

Week 2: DANA McKAY, small Wolf print

Week 3: TONY DRUMM, large wolf print

Week 4: PAT WENDT, large ground squirrel print

BONUS: KEVIN LEBLANC, training dvd

Some of the comments over the month made me laugh out loud, as did the very feeble tongue-in-cheek attempts to bribe or coerce me.  My totem paintings are the most enjoyable work I’ve done to date and it’s flattering that so many of you wanted a print. In a perfect world, I would have given a print to everyone who entered, but I’m just not that wealthy…yet.

The questions I asked over the four weeks gave me food for thought.  Week 1 gave me a little insight into what you do to be creative, and as I said on the Facebook page, I agree that cooking is definitely a creative pursuit.  I’ve watched my wife experiment in the kitchen and she’s come up with some wonderful dishes with her own personal flair.  Cooking and baking is definitely NOT a skill or talent I possess, so I have a lot of respect for those who do.  I would encourage everyone to make time to be creative.  Try those artistic pursuits you might have been afraid to and just do it for the fun of it.  Nobody has to know but you.

In week 2, I wanted to know what your favorite cartoon character was, and I was surprised to see a few I’d never heard of, so I looked them up, and received a little education.  As for the rest of those listed, it was like a taking a walk through my Saturday morning childhood and I really enjoyed that.  Incidentally, Wile E. Coyote has always been my favorite.  You have to respect somebody who never gives up, no matter what life (or a Warner Brothers writer) throws at him.  I’m a big fan of Looney Tunes.

Week 3 asked you for your favorite movie character, and I love that so many of you seem to like movies as much as I do.  I must confess, however, to being shocked that nobody listed Carl Spackler from Caddyshack as their favorite movie character.  “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort?”

And finally, in Week 4, I asked which wild animal you’d like to me to paint.  Some of the animals you mentioned are already on my list, such as a beaver, sea otter, fox and cougar.  Others were welcome additions to my current list, especially the bison.  I even went as far as looking at some reference photos for that one after it was suggested, as I think that fur would be an interesting challenge.

One thing is clear, many of you want to see an African series, and I assure you, I’ll eventually get to it.  Lion, giraffe, cheetah, lemur, gorilla,…it’s a big list.  I agree with my friend Gudrun who suggested the hippo.  That leathery skin would be a challenge, and I’d like to give that a go.   Looks like I’ll be going on safari in the future, or spending more time at the Calgary Zoo.

Finally, I was able to give a DVD away to another cartoonist, and I hope that perhaps some of the things I’ve learned will contribute to his development,  just as other artists continue to contribute to my own.

Once again, thanks to all who participated.  I quite enjoyed giving these items away.  For those who didn’t win this month, thanks for being such good sports about it.  Hopefully you still had a little fun, and there’s always next time.

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And your little dog, too!

I’m working on my next DVD for PhotoshopCAFE! This time, I’ll be teaching the brush and composition techniques I use for painting animals.  Even though MY paintings of animals have a whimsical and caricature quality to them, I realize that not everybody is into that style.  So for this DVD, in order to appeal to a wider audience, I’ll be painting a more traditional looking animal portrait.  The painting techniques are exactly the same, but without the cartoon and exaggerated features evident in the animals in my Totem wildlife series.

Meet Don Diego, a wonderful little fella who belongs to Scott and Pat Wendt, the owners of Bluestem Books in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Pat is a good friend of mine and she is a very talented photographer.   Anybody who knows Pat and Scott knows Don Diego, and from the first time I saw him, I wanted to paint him.  Fortunately, Pat has graciously allowed me to use Don Diego’s likeness for this DVD, and I’m thrilled about it.

Now, this photo you see here, taken by Pat Wendt,  is not the one I’ll be using for the DVD.  Pat provided me with a great reference photo to use, and I’ll reveal that in the DVD itself.  Unlike many other Photoshop painting DVD’s on the market, this is not going to teach you to ‘photo-paint,’ which involves manipulating or painting over a photo.  Everything I paint begins with a blank canvas in Photoshop and no photo is ever part of the finished painting.  I’ve been accused of photo manipulation in the past, and while that’s sort of a compliment (even though the accusation is never meant as one), I’m looking forward to showing a complete painting from start to finish, to finally put that to rest.  But you still need a good reference photo to work from (or a VERY patient pup), and that’s where Pat’s skills as a photographer come in, not to mention a handsome little subject like Don Diego.

Because of the length of time it takes to complete these paintings, much of the DVD playback will be at an increased speed, with my narration.  Trust me, you’d get bored of watching 15-20 hours of painting.  But the crucial steps will all be in real time.  I’m pleased with the DVD I recorded on cartooning, but I’m REALLY looking forward to this one on painting.  This is the work that excites me as an artist, and I’m hoping it comes through on the DVD.

 

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Great Horned Owl


This is the latest painting in my Totem series. Hard to believe I started this image in November. I’ve worked on it at a few live painting demos, and when I could make the time, but I’ve gone weeks at a time without touching it, due to my heavy workload.

I’ve received a lot of publicity and attention over the previous paintings, especially the Wolf and Moose after the Photoshop World Guru Awards in September, but I’ve been frustrated lately that I hadn’t been able to get another one finished, even though I’ve had two on the go for months. The last thing I want is to be halfway through 2011, and still be talking about paintings I did in a year ago.

With that in mind, I took whatever bits of time I could this past week to get it done, as well as a home stretch effort on Sunday of about 6 hours of painting. I nitpicked this to death at the end, and probably could keep doing so for a number of hours, yet, but eventually it gets to a point where you’d only see a difference on extreme closeup, and it would be minimal at best. My biggest concern was that I wanted the end result to be better than, or at least as good as the Wolf and Moose paintings. Hopefully I achieved that, but I’m too close to it to be objective.

In the end, I easily spent over 30 hours on it, and at this moment in time, it is my best effort. I found myself smiling a number of times while painting, because it seemed I was being smiled at, and that’s always a good feeling. Even had a few moments where the image seemed to be painting itself yesterday, and that never ceases to surprise me. With my headphones on, music playing in my ears, painting without thinking and no distractions, that’s as close to a perfect moment as I get.

While I’m pleased with the final image and that I have finally added another painting to the series, I would like to find more time to devote to these paintings, so there aren’t months in between each one. Next up will be the Bighorn Sheep, which is the other painting in progress at the moment.

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iPad Painting: Daniel Day-Lewis


Here’s another painting drawn on the iPad for fun and practice. This is Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting from the movie ‘Gangs of New York.’ According to the DVD extras, Daniel Day-Lewis was so committed to the role, that he stayed in character while on set, even when the cameras were off. I’ve seen this movie a few times, and for me, the character of The Butcher is the best part of it.

Had a few requests for progress shots from the last iPad painting I did, but since I hadn’t saved any file copies, I kept that in mind while painting this one. Click on any of these images to see them a bit larger, although size is limited by the iPad resolution.

Image 1-3

Image 4-6

Closeup

Now that I’ve done a couple of paintings and a number of cartoons with the iPad, I’m aware of a few limitations, aside from the resolution, that make it difficult to ever really do any finished work.

First, the brightness of the iPad. If I paint on full brightness, it’s a little hard on the eyes, so I paint with the brightness set to about half or 60%. When I send the images by email to my desktop computer, they’re a fair bit darker than they are on the iPad, so all of these images have had exposure adjustments in Photoshop.

My desktop and laptop computers are colour calibrated, so it’s a little unnerving to paint in colour on the iPad, because it doesn’t look the same when I bring it into Photoshop. This is why I painted in black and white first, in order to get the values right. After that, I added a colour layer in the ArtStudio app, then I flattened it and continued painting. As you can see, most of the work, however, was done in black and white.

While I’m pleased with the way this painting turned out, I might have chosen a difference reference photo to work from, as I think I could have found a better pose for the character. But since this is as far as I intend on taking this image, no harm, no foul. It was good practice.

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iPad Painting: James Whitmore


Here is another painting done on the iPad, very different than my usual style. This is a value study of the great character actor, James Whitmore. If I were to title this piece, I’d probably call it ‘Brooks Was Here,’ as it’s not so much the actor that I wanted to paint, but his character, Brooks Hatlen from The Shawshank Redemption.

For every larger than life Brad Pitt or George Clooney on the silver screen, there are a hundred brilliant character actors like James Whitmore. The sort of actor that everyone recognizes, even if you don’t know his name, and have never see him on the cover of People magazine. I love rich characters in movies, but those characters can just as easily fall flat without the right actor breathing life into it.

This painting was a pleasure to work on, as Brooks Hatlen has always been one of my favorite film characters. It didn’t feel right to paint this as a caricature, and even with the resolution limitations of the iPad document size, I could have spent many more hours on it. It really was a joy to paint.

Once again, I used the ArtStudio app and the Targus stylus. In a reversal of my usual method of painting on a white canvas, I filled the canvas with black, and then painted in shades of grey. This next image is zoomed in to 100 percent, so making it any larger would have given way to pixelation.

I’ve recently realized that I need to always have a painting or image to work on that has no deadline. While I spend all day drawing or working on my business, this piece was done over two evenings while watching TV, and an hour at the coffee shop yesterday morning. It was a nice break from the commission work.

With no shortage of wonderful character actors to choose from, I would imagine I’ll be painting many more of these.

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Work in Progress – Great Horned Owl


A sneak peek at the progress on the next painting in my Totem series. Other commission work and editorial cartoons have been taking up the bulk of my time lately, so I haven’t been able to spend as much time on this as I’d like, but I’m looking to change that.

This is the most challenging piece I’ve ever worked on, and there is a lot more detail yet to paint. I can’t even estimate when this will be done, but I’m just going to keep working on it, and hopefully it will be sooner, rather than later. I have many more animals I want to paint.

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Photoshop User Magazine Recognition


Photoshop User magazine launched a new feature in their March 2011 issue called Notable NAPP Members. I’m very honoured that they selected me as the first one.

It’s always nice to have one’s work recognized, and lately I seem to be getting more than my share of publicity. I’ve had a lot of wonderful milestones and opportunities this past year, but I’m trying to keep things in their proper perspective and take it all with a grain (or a pound or two) of salt. Wiser folks than I have cautioned that you should never believe your own hype. While I’m grateful for the publicity, I think that’s excellent advice.

Even though being a freelance cartoonist and illustrator isn’t always a ‘wine and roses’ profession, it’s enough that I get to do what I love for a living.

(click on the article to zoom in)

Reprinted with permission by NAPP and Photoshop User Magazine.

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Digital Painting Interview with Psd Tuts+

Back in November, I was approached by Psd Tuts+ about an interview regarding my digital paintings. It was a good experience, but to be honest, I’d kind of forgotten about it. This morning, someone brought to my attention that the interview was online, so I went and took a look and found that I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I especially liked that they put the interview in the ‘Inspiration’ category. It would be nice if another artist was inspired by something I love to do.

I’ve realized that I’ve been putting painting on the back burner lately because of other deadlines and obligations, but I hadn’t realized just how much I’ve missed it until I read the interview. With two paintings on the go, I really do need to make the time, especially since it’s the work I enjoy most.

If you’d like to read the interview, here’s the link.
Amazing Digital Animal Paintings of Patrick LaMontagne