Category: Illustration

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iPad Painting: Billy Connolly


With my heavy workload lately, almost everything I’ve been doing has been for a deadline. Even the animal paintings have now become one more item on my ‘to-do’ list. It has begun to wear a little thin, so I wanted to work on something this week that was just for fun.

I’m really enjoying working on the iPad, and despite the fact that some people lament that it’s not pressure sensitive like a Wacom tablet, the drawing apps available are incredibly versatile. I haven’t painted any people in awhile, and I’ve been itching to get back at that, if for nothing else, than to improve those skills. Billy Connolly is on a growing list of people I’ve always wanted to paint, so he was as good a subject as any.

A few years ago, I read his biography, entitled ‘Billy,’ written by his wife Pamela Stephenson. I was already a fan of his comedy, but I’ve grown to become a fan of him personally as well. ‘The Big Yin’ is such a talented musician and actor, a brilliant comedian, and a dangerously intelligent man.

At one point, I had intended to do a full painting of him, and someday I still might. But for now, this was just an exercise to take drawing on the iPad a little further than just drawing a cartoon character. With the Targus stylus I recently acquired, I felt I could finally do some painting on the device.

I could have done this in colour, but I thought for this first go ’round, I’d stick with black and white. While I didn’t keep track of the time, as I worked on this off and on over the course of a week in the evenings, I would estimate that it took about four or five hours, working on the ArtStudio app. Somebody recently asked me on Facebook if I preferred this one over the Sketchbook Pro app. Having used both, I do prefer ArtStudio to Sketchbook Pro, even though the latter is still a very fine app to work with. I just find the tools in ArtStudio easier to use, and there are more of them.

It’s doubtful that I’ll ever do finished work on the iPad, because the resolution capability of the app doesn’t allow for extreme detail, but I will definitely keep stretching, to see how far I can take it. This is undoubtedly the first of many paintings I’ll experiment with on the iPad.

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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

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Thank you for continuing to hold…


Lately, I’ve been working on my training DVD for PhotoshopCAFE, entitled Cartoon Illustration Techniques in Photoshop. It has been a steep learning curve with regard to the audio and video software and hardware. Even though I had an animated editorial cartoon for about five months a few years back, this has proven to require a very different set of skills.

I’ve had a number of false starts and have had to rewrite session scripts when I realized that I had forgotten to talk about crucial steps. I’ve also had more than a few sleepless nights trying to make sure that everything I talk about is going to be coherent.

Worst of all, fitting this very large project into my already heavy workload has been challenging and this has taken far longer than I had intended it to. But, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and thankfully, it doesn’t appear to be a train. As in all things new and difficult, I’ve no doubt that I’ll come out the other side better for the experience with another set of skills to add to my repertoire. I’ll also be in need of a little time off.

So for those who’ve been asking when the DVD will be done, I plan to be able to make that announcement very soon, and thanks for your patience.

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ImagineFX goes digital!


Just found out this morning that my favorite digital art magazine, ImagineFX has finally become available in a digital format. Regular readers will know how much I like my iPad, and one of the best uses for it is reading magazines. I’ve got four shelves on a bookshelf in my office containing many printed issues of Photoshop User magazine, various Computer Arts titles, and ImagineFX.

I had canceled my ImagineFX subscription awhile back because I didn’t have enough time to sit and read a magazine and some issues were going on the shelf unread. Figured I’d catch up before diving back in. One thing I love about the iPad is that I can have an entire library with me all the time, and magazines are perfect for this device. I can zoom in on artwork, read as much or as little as I want in a sitting, and quickly find an article in the future without having to sit down and flip through a stack of magazines. Best of all, it doesn’t take up any shelf space.

I’ve renewed my subscription, at a fraction of the cost, and all I’m missing out on is the DVD that comes with the printed issue, which most of the time I didn’t use anyway. ImagineFX is by far, the best digital art magazine on the market. I’m not even a sci-fi or fantasy artist, but I have learned more from this magazine about digital painting over the years than I have from almost any other resource.

Happy to now have it back, and in the format that I prefer.

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Inspired by Drew


Every artist should have other artists they look to when they need to find that spark to take their work just a little further. Lately I’ve been working through the winter doldrums and feeling a lack of inspiration largely due to a difficult project I’m currently working on, one that isn’t very creative. While very worthwhile, I’m not really having any fun with it and that’s frustrating.

It’s only temporary, and the end is in sight, but in the meantime, I went looking for a little inspiration this morning, and found it in a very familiar place, in a book called, “The Movie Posters of Drew Struzan.”

I’ve written about Drew Struzan before on this blog. Having reread that blog entry this morning, I realized that anything else I say about him would be repetition. He is easily my favorite artist (no really, my absolute favorite artist.) While the size of the images in this video do not do his work justice, you’ll still get the idea of why I continue to be in awe of and inspired by, the work of Drew Struzan.

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2011: The Year I Turn 40.

When I used to think of a midlife crisis, I thought of shallow guys buying flashy red sports cars, hanging out with twenty year old bleached blond bimbos, and trying desperately to hang on to whatever was left of their youth. The reality is a lot less ‘TV sitcom’ than that.

Some psychologists have started calling it ‘midlife transition’ instead of ‘midlife crisis’ because ‘crisis’ has a negative connotation to it. So far, their political correctness hasn’t figured out how to keep me in my 30’s, though.

In the grand scheme of things, 40 is just a number, and since nobody really knows when their time is up, midlife is an assumption. I could kick off tomorrow, or have 60 more years coming at me. There is no expiration date tattooed anywhere on my body, that I’m aware of, although I wouldn’t be surprised to find a ‘Best Before’ date.

Logically, I shouldn’t have a problem with turning 40, but as Spock (the Vulcan, not the baby guy) always told McCoy, humans are not logical.

Time’s ticking. I’ve had a great ride so far, but there’s a lot I want to do that I haven’t done, both in my work and in my life. In previous years, my New Year’s resolution has simply been to keep moving forward and try to be a better person. I’ve come to realize that’s a cop-out, because there’s no accountability. So for the first time in a number of years, I’m setting some actual goals for the year, some specific and professional, some general and more personal, but all overdue.

Learn Adobe Illustrator (again).

I used to work for a sign shop here in Canmore. Really interesting job and I found that I really liked creating vector art. To this day, I use paths and vectors in Photoshop regularly while drawing cartoons because I like using the tools. While I still do contract work for the sign shop from time to time, I’ve realized my vector skills haven’t kept up with each new version of Illustrator, even though I keep upgrading with each new release (although I’ve yet to buy CS5). Continuing education is important in any field, and I haven’t done much of it in the last couple of years.

Learn more 3D in Photoshop CS5 Extended.

This cartoon was created a couple of years ago using Hexagon, Carrara, and Photoshop. I’d like to use more 3D elements in my work. While I don’t intend to try and become an expert, it’s fun and challenging, and I want to get better at it. The whole reason I chose the Extended track of Photoshop was for the 3D and aside from building the occasional rudimentary model for an editorial cartoon from time to time, I wield those tools like I’m performing surgery wearing oven mitts. Very clumsy with no finesse. I’d like to change that this year.

Learn to sculpt

I’ve been feeling the urge to do this for a couple of years now. I’ve had ALL of the tools necessary sitting in a toolbox in my office closet for about a year. I’ve done my research, bought Sculpey polymer clay, a couple of books on how to use it (including the one pictured above), and acrylics for painting after it’s been baked. I have no excuse not to get started, and no pressure to produce anything good because I bought it just to have a hobby again. A wise man once said, when your hobby becomes your work, you need to find another hobby and I think this might be it. I’d just like to see if I’m any good at it.

Paint. Every chance I get.

Last year, I discovered what I love to paint most, so this year, I want to paint more animal totems. In a perfect world, I’d like to paint every day, and even if it’s only for 10 minutes, I plan to do that, starting today.

In 2010, I only painted one person, Bert Monroy, and I’m missing that, too. I’d like to paint some more images of people this year, and I have a list I’ve kept over the last year, with about a dozen names on it. The great thing is that while they’re all well known character actors, none of them are what you would consider A-list celebrities.

Work Less, Play More!

I work too much, and I put it ahead of everything else. I’ve often taken on work that I should have realized would do nothing to advance my career, made poor use of my best skills, and was of very little interest to me, not to mention that it usually wasn’t worth it financially. That stops completely this year. I learned how to say ‘No’ last year. This year, I’ll be saying it a lot more.

I get bored very easily, so while I still intend to be very busy, it’ll be on projects and commissions that are worth my time. There’s no point in being your own boss if you’re still doing work that you shouldn’t be doing.

When I do take time off, however, I’d like to slow down a little more, relax and enjoy life. Time off shouldn’t mean watching TV all the time or going for coffee every day. While those pastimes do have their place, I’m looking for more experiences that create fond memories. More, hiking, camping, caving…hell, I’m going skydiving this year. That last one is right out of the midlife crisis manual. Page 36, I think.

Be Less Cynical.
This one will be tough, because despite the successes of last year, I focused too much on the dark side of people. I’ll often blame that on following politics for a living, but I’ve recently realized that it’s a choice, and to paraphrase an all too familiar phrase, if I let it ruin my life, “then the politicians have already won.”

My wife says I hold people to unreasonably high standards, including myself. I expect everyone to take the high road, wanting to believe that people will do the right thing most of the time. And then inevitably, when someone’s unethical behavior still gets them ahead, I end up disappointed and angry. This year, I’m going to try and let that go and be less judgmental. Cut everyone a break, including myself. Nobody’s perfect.

You’ll hear of people who’ve faced life threatening illnesses that thankfully survive the ordeal. Often, they’ll tell you that the challenge they faced was the best thing that could happen to them because it made them realize that life isn’t to be taken for granted, that it was a gift to be given a wake-up call.

I’m going to try and look on turning 40 the same way. And just like last year and the year before, I’ll still try to keep moving forward, and to be a better person.

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Farewell to 2010, a very good year.

Well, that year went pretty damn fast!

I’ll be honest, I tiptoed into 2010, since there were warning signs that the economy was going to hit me pretty hard. Thankfully, I came through relatively unscathed, even though I suffered some bumps, bruises, and frayed nerves. In the end, however, it was a better year than the one before, which is saying a lot, since 2009 was pretty good.

I went back and skimmed some of the blog entries from this past year, and I’m pretty pleased with the way the year unfolded.

Editorial Cartoons

When 2010 began, there had been some pretty big shakeups in the industry. I lost a bunch of newspapers in January when Sun Media told all of its editors to ditch their freelance cartoonists. It seemed every week in January and February, I’d get another phone call or email from an angry editor (not angry at me) telling me my services were no longer required. Some of those editors I’d worked with for years.

Canwest News Service was in severe financial trouble as well, and it was a very scary time for anyone working in the newspaper industry. I seriously thought that this might have been the beginning of the end for the editorial cartoon portion of my freelance career, but as the year went on, I recovered those losses and then some, and it really didn’t hurt me. If anything, it was the wake-up call that I needed to start planning for a future that likely won’t include editorial cartoons.

A few of my colleagues didn’t fare so well, and in the ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’ category, I’m very thankful that I never did get that daily newspaper job that I wanted so badly when I was still new at this ten years ago. Turns out there was a lot more stability in freelancing.

While you never know which cards newspaper budgets will deal in 2011, I’m a lot less nervous about it than I was last year at this time. The big lesson is the same one nature herself has been teaching throughout history; those who adapt, survive. In this economy, that’s true for every profession.

Freelance Illustration

I was more selective about work that I accepted this year. Clients that I like working with who pay their bills took precedence over the ones who began a conversation telling me they wanted it cheap and fast. When I was just starting out, I took whatever came through the door, as most of us have to, but I’ve learned from most of my mistakes, and can now recognize which jobs will advance my career, make best use of my skills, foster relationships with long term clients, and in a perfect world, will be enjoyable to work on.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t make mistakes this year, because I had a couple of big ones. One of them could have cost me a fortune had I not recognized it for what it was before I’d invested too much of my time and money into it. So, I did need to relearn a couple of lessons in 2010.

Get EVERYTHING in writing, and if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Those Animal Paintings

In January, I posted my third painting in the animal series, the Bull Elk, and in that blog entry, I said, “Hoping to get at least 15 of these done before April.”

I laughed out loud when I read that again this morning. 15 by April?! Sure, if I had NOTHING else to do, that might have been feasible. Not sure where the line is between optimistic and delusional, but at least you can’t say I didn’t aim high.

At year’s end, I have seven of them finished, with two more in the final stages. While I still would like to have fifteen done by April (hey, I didn’t say which YEAR in that blog entry), I’m not going to beat myself up if it doesn’t happen.

When the year began, I was just starting to look into getting prints done, and talking to galleries. As the year closes, I’m regularly doing painting demos in Banff and Canmore, the paintings are selling well in both locations, I’m now getting queries for commission work, and I’m making long term plans for many more Totem paintings in the years to come. It’s exciting, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it leads, because I can’t remember ever enjoying my work as much as I do when I’m painting these animals.

The challenge is, of course, finding more time to do it.

Surprises

I was asked to illustrate a 1970 Mach 1 Mustang in a somewhat realistic but still cartoon style by a friend for their annual car club auction. This friend handles all of my computer work, builds my custom computers every couple of years when I upgrade, and is only a phone call away when I need help, so I agreed to do him this favour.

This was very difficult and I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off. I didn’t have much fun while working on it and wished I’d said No. In the end, however, I was quite pleased with how it turned out, and I’d like to try something like this again in the future. I’ve had some nibbles from other car enthusiasts who’ve seen it and while no real bites yet, it was a nice piece to add to my portfolio. And I’m sure I can do better on the next one.


Another surprise was that I bought an iPad, and I’m really not a ‘gadget guy.’ I spent weeks going back and forth on whether it was just a toy or legitimately worth it for my business. When I finally decided to buy one, I kept waiting for the buyer’s remorse to kick in, but honestly, I love the thing (and not just for Angry Birds). It’s a great portfolio display device, an enjoyable magazine and book reader, and an incredible portable sketch pad. Who knew that I would love finger painting so much?

Photoshop World

Las Vegas was easily the highlight of the year for me. I had known before going to Photoshop World, that I’d been nominated for two Guru Awards from the three images I’d submitted, and while I wanted to win, I went into the event expecting to lose, especially for Best in Show. The number of talented people that attend that event means you can’t take anything for granted, so as cliche as it sounds, it really was an honour just being nominated.

I could play humble and say that awards don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but I’d be lying if I said that these particular ones didn’t mean anything to me. I was very pleased. The icing on the cake was the Wacom Cintiq tablet that came with the Best in Show Award. While I still use my Intuos4 every day for cartooning, that Cintiq is a joy to paint with.

While I plan on returning to Photoshop World again in 2011, it is very unlikely that I will enter the Guru Awards. The work that I would submit would probably just be another in the Totem series, so while it would be new animals, the style wouldn’t be anything they haven’t seen. It would also be very difficult to top the experience I’ve already had.

I’ve met some wonderful new people this year through my work, formed new relationships, built on old ones, and for the most part, I’ve kept moving forward, even though I ground the gears a few times while shifting. It hasn’t always been the smoothest of rides. Despite a few errors on my part, I wouldn’t have done anything differently in 2010, because I’m happy with where I’m at right now. I will, however, be starting 2011 with some course corrections.

But that’s a blog entry for next week. Happy New Year.

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Another iPad Finger Painting


This finger painting was done on a new app that I bought for the iPad, called ArtStudio. I had been using Sketchbook Pro, and even though I still consider it a great painting app, I now prefer ArtStudio by a wide margin. Without going into great detail, I’ll just say that this is as close to Photoshop as I’ve seen in an iPad painting app, and I found it very easy and enjoyable to use.

There are third party stylus pens available for the iPad, but they all seem to have mixed reviews, and one I tried put a few little scratches on the screen, so I’ve opted out of trying another one just yet. For now, I’m content to just keep on finger painting, as I don’t think I’m really losing anything.

I don’t know how much time I spent on this painting, as it was just ten minutes here and there over the past couple of weeks. It is doubtful that I’ll ever produce any finished work on the iPad, but I’m enjoying using it as a sketch pad.

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Final Painting Demo of the Year


Last Saturday, I was painting in Banff, but this Saturday, I’ll be in Canmore again for the final painting demo of the year. Still working on the Owl and the Bighorn Sheep, and they’re really starting to come alive. I’m working on the fine details of both paintings and while they won’t be done ’til January, they’re awfully close. Probably another five or six hours left on each.

If you happen to be in the area on Saturday the 18th, and would like to see some digital painting, ask some questions, or just stop by to say Hello, I’ll be at Two Wolves Trading Company from 11-3.

Hope to see you there!