Rounding out the year

As usual in the life of a freelancer, this year has been a wild ride. New clients bringing new challenges, as well as trusted clients from the past returning to recreate some magic. Insanely busy and deadly slow. Onsite, Offsite, and halfway around the world. Teaching, learning and creating. All in all, not bad.

To wrap things up, here's a piece that was a departure for me in many ways, the most notable of which was that to create it, I went back to my old nemesis, Corel Painter.

more after the jump...




 I've always had a love/hate relationship with Painter. The brushstrokes are exquisite, and very tunable. The blending that happens when two colors meet fairly approaches what actually happens with two pigmented liquids. There's many things to love, but for those who began their digital careers in photoshop ( as many do), the interface is a foreign land that does not suffer strangers gladly. More importantly, for the realities of a production environment, Painter just does not have the capabilities required to do many of the tasks that need to be done.

For that reason I've neglected using it for many years, but the nature of this commission inspired me to go in a different direction, so I started by laying down the rough in Painter, then bringing it into CS3 for refinement and adjustment, then back again for a new round of brushstrokes. Many rounds of this later, I have a renewed interest in the joys of Painter, and I look forward to using more in the coming year.

All the best to everyone out there