(Insert stupid Blog name here)

Nice cat drawing.

 

The pencil drawings will always look better than the colored art IMO because the finished job "covers up" the real drawing efforts that's hidden under it.

That's one reason I love looking at perliminary pencil sketches and b/w stuff as I can "see" the technique that's revealed in those pencil stokes and lines that have so much character, and gets lost in the finished colored work.

 

I always start my drawing designs on paper and I rarely use color on computer. In fact, I used a 11 year old photoDeluxe3 to color the Medieval Mayhem artwork because it's all I know how to use. I really don't like to confine my designs to work with paint programs, it forces my art to look less natural and make the drawing harder for me when I must monitor my lines to make up for the paint program's shortcomings.

I picked up a photoshop6 'how to' and the learning curve was fustrating because there's too much procedure involved just to understand how to do something that normal paper and pencil can acheive in a few seconds, and that I'm already a master of.

 

I love being an artist. Really makes up for not being a programmer.

The same applies to animated features. The pre-production development work is always more interesting and dynamic than what ends up on screen. It has to pass through so many hands, and eventually all match a certain unified look, that the spontaneity gets sucked out of it.

 

I started using computers to create art back around '79 (TRS-80), so to me it's always been just another tool to use (although it was primitive at best, back then). I've gone through all sorts of traditional media, favoring markers and colored pencils for the longest period. But once Photoshop got layers added to it, that became my coloring tool of choice, and I haven't picked up markers in years.

 

I kind of miss the smell, though.