Category: Publicity

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Photoshop User Magazine


Got a nice smile this month when I opened the December issue of Photoshop User magazine. While NAPP had asked me last month for permission to use my images, I didn’t realize it was going to be such a big spread, so it was a very nice surprise. While this image of the Wolf Totem is the first page of the article, all of the Guru Award winners from Photoshop World in Las Vegas AND Orlando earlier in the year are featured on the subsequent pages, so my Moose Totem is in the article as well. A great spread of images. They even quoted my Photoshop World blog entry.

The above photo doesn’t do the image quality justice. I switched to the Zinio reader and the digital version of Photoshop User when I bought my iPad, so this is a photo of the screen, which never quite works out. The magazine was already great quality, but I prefer being able to zoom in on the images to check out the detail. And it takes up a lot less space on my bookshelf. The actual iPad image of this page looks incredible.

Photoshop User is available on newsstands, but it’s included if you’re a NAPP member, just one of the many perks. Usually it’s 8 issues a year, but just recently NAPP announced that they’re increasing it to 10 issues. For regular readers, that’s a big bonus, as it’s one of the few magazines I read religiously.

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Another Painting Demo


Another painting demo is scheduled for this weekend in Canmore!

Two Wolves Trading Co.
Saturday, November 13th, 2:00PM – 4:00PM.
Sunday, November 14th, 12:00PM-2:00PM.

Of course, if there is enough interest on either day, I’m happy to stick around longer than the times listed above. In addition to the giclee canvas prints, Two Wolves now has two sizes of matted paper prints available for the Grizzly, Ground Squirrel, Moose and Wolf paintings.

For this painting demo, I’ll be working on the next two paintings in my Totem series, a Bighorn Sheep and a Great Horned Owl. If you’re in the area, and are curious about digital painting, come on by and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Here’s a sneak peek at the Bighorn Sheep in progress. This is still pretty rough. I begin these paintings at a resolution of 72ppi, so that I can move as fast as I want with any brush, and there won’t be any lag whatsoever. After I get the basic image worked out, I’ll increase the resolution to print quality before painting in the detail.

I anticipate that the horns are going to be the big challenge on this one. There are many ridges, with lots of texture, and to get the detail that I want, I would imagine this one may be the toughest one to date. Then again, wait ’til you see the feathers on the Great Horned Owl.

If you’re in the Bow Valley, hope to see you at Two Wolves on the weekend!

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NAPP-Canada Facebook Page


Having been a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals for the past six years, it should be pretty clear by now that I’m a fan.

There are only a couple of organizations I belong to, and this is the one I’d hate to be without. From weekly video tutorials, the latest news and info about the digital image industry, not to mention that these are the folks that put on Photoshop World twice a year, NAPP has almost everything I need to stay at the top of my game.

I consider many of the people I’ve met through NAPP to be good friends, and I’ve yet to meet a more helpful bunch of talented people. While many of the forums you’ll find online often degrade into squabbling playgrounds, the NAPP forum is well moderated, very civil and supportive, and is one of my most valuable resources. I can’t count how many times over the years I’ve had a problem that was solved instantly by posting it on the forums, whether it was specific to Photoshop or just freelancing in general.

Since social media is obviously not a passing fad, NAPP has recently expanded their already active online presence to include localized Facebook pages. In the U.S., they’re focusing on cities and states. Here are the links to the NAPP-Chicago page and the NAPP-Arizona page to give you an example.

Internationally, there are national Facebook pages for different countries. I was asked to run the NAPP-Canada page and I’m happy to do it. While much of the information I post will be related to NAPP events and releases that aren’t region specific, I intend to put a Canadian spin on things wherever I can, which will hopefully involve more than references to Tim Hortons and hockey.

You don’t need to be Canadian to ‘Like’ the page. You don’t even need to be a NAPP member, although when you see all of the great benefits, you’ll probably want to become one. Become a NAPP member, I mean. Not Canadian.

Here’s the link. Hope to see you on the Facebook version of the Great White North. Cheers!

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Business As Usual

While I normally try to have a blog entry done every week, lately I have been remiss, simply because of my heavy workload. Because of the projects I’ve agreed to, and the fact that I want to put my best effort into them, I have decided not to take any new commission work until the new year.

Here is a brief update of the various items I’m working on, in addition to the daily editorial cartoons.

Cartoon Illustration DVD
This has been a big learning experience so far and I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about PhotoshopCAFE. I’ve had a ton of great support while I learn the ropes. In a perfect world, I’d like to put everything else aside just to pour all of my energy into this, but the bills have to be paid, so it’s a juggling act.

There have been a few hiccups, but nothing insurmountable. The first install of Photoshop CS5 Extended didn’t take, and it was freezing up daily. A reinstall thankfully solved that issue and it’s been working well ever since. Camtasia Studio 7 is the video screen capture software that I’m using, and so far, it’s working smoothly. For any Mac users out there, I’ve been told it doesn’t work well on that platform, so fair warning, but I’m on Windows and the only issue I experienced was a conflict with my Wacom tablet. A download of the latest tablet drivers solved that problem.

I’ve been using a CRT monitor as my main monitor for years as I’ve always preferred them to LCD screens, but due to aspect ratio limitations and the requirements for recording, I finally had to make the switch to the 24″ Samsung that I’ve been using for my painting demo display. I’ve used a dual monitor display for years, but the new size makes it feel like I’m using three. Whether it was the LCD or the larger size, the first couple of days I had a splitting headache and sore eyes. I’ll admit to being worried that this was going to be a major problem, but I’ve since gotten used to the new display and am quite enjoying the increased screen real estate.

Lesson plan and sketches have been approved, test recording has been done and submitted, so all that’s left is the actual recording, which I’ve started this week. I won’t lie, it’s been pretty intimidating, but I’ve no doubt I’ll be pleased with it when it’s done.

Totem Prints
The paintings are no longer available at Editions Gallery in Red Deer as I removed them earlier this month. After a number of months in the gallery, there wasn’t one sale and apparently not much interest in them. Whether it was because of the style or the subject, I don’t know, so I’m just going to accept that Central Alberta may not be the right market for these paintings, at least not now.

The paintings are selling well in Canmore and Banff, and I made a trip into Calgary yesterday to pick up another batch of prints. This is the first batch of framed canvas prints and I’m very pleased with how they look. The framed Wolf and Moose Totem paintings will be available in both Banff and Canmore today in the 18″X24″ size.

A line of matted paper prints will be available at Two Wolves Trading Co. in Canmore today as well. The Moose, Wolf, Grizzly, and Ground Squirrel in two sizes, 11″X14″ and 16″X20″. Each print is mounted with a black matte, open edition, ready for framing. I’ll eventually have all of the Totem series available in matted paper prints.

New Totem Paintings
Another live painting demo is scheduled for Two Wolves Trading Co. in Canmore on November 13th and 14th, working on a bighorn sheep as my next image. I’ve wanted to do this one for awhile. I already have the next four paintings planned out, and have secured the rights to the reference photos for three of them. As I haven’t done any new paintings since I finished the Wolf, I am very anxious to get started.

There are a couple of other projects I’m working on that I can’t talk about yet, but needless to say, I’m busy, and while there are days I’m hanging on by my fingernails to balance it all, I’m doing what I love for a living, and grateful for it.

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Photoshop World Guru Awards


Photo Courtesy of Doug Zeliff

Back from an exhausting week at Photoshop World in Las Vegas. Without going into every little detail of the week, I’ll just say that it was well worth the trip. Took some great classes, hung out with some incredibly talented people, and went with very little sleep. Just like last year.

As posted here before, I was fortunate to be up for the Illustration category and Best of Show for The Guru Awards. I was very pleased (and surprised) to win both categories. This really was the best part of the week, especially when you consider the wealth of talent I was competing with. I am very honoured to have won these awards.


Photo Link from www.photoshopworld.com

Big thanks to all of my friends and family who posted a LOT of comments on Facebook, Twitter and the NAPP forum, not to mention all of the emails I got after the win. It was very overwhelming and appreciated.

As much as the awards themselves are great, they came with a couple of very nice prizes. For the Illustration category, I won a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet, and for the Best Of Show, I won a Wacom Cintiq 12wx.

Photo Link from Wacom.com

To quote a friend this week, “Monty finally got his Cintiq.” While I brought the Intuos4 home with me, thankfully they’re shipping the Cintiq. Couldn’t imagine how I’d get all that through customs, otherwise.

Nothing quite compares with hanging out with other creatives for a week. Everybody I met wanted to be there, and there was no shortage of inspiring experiences. Would have liked to have seen a bit more of Vegas this time around, but that’s not why I was there, so it’ll have to wait for another time. Funny thing, I didn’t take any photos, so fortunately I have a few photographer friends who were willing to share.

Back to work tomorrow, but taking it easy today.