Digital Art
COMBINING SKETCHING, AI ART AND ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Art has always been the focal point and core of my artistic journey. I love the ability to tell any story desired through artwork. I can bring to life my very own visual and conceptual world through an intersection of painting, photography and computer graphics. I feel like art gives me my purpose in this world of chaos. My goal is to use any and all media (AI art, editing software, photography, sketching, drawing and painting) as my artistic vehicle allowing me to create new uncharted worlds. This is my place of self-discovery, and most importantly, the grounds for telling new (untold) stories.
I have always been fascinated with art, especially when it comes to live drawing. As a child, my uncle would take a classic painting print and draw a 1-to-1 copy of that painting right before my eyes. I was 5 years old, and totally amazed as I watched him perform this incredible trick. I decided right then and there that this would be my skill as well. There was a classic print on my grandmother’s apartment wall which always caught my attention. The painting was a large print with vibrant colors and matching decorated frame, which would draw your eyes from any part of the room. The transparent browns contrasted with the flesh tones establishing masses of dark and light. Opaque whites blended gently, building up the lightest highlight passages to enhance the three-dimensional quality of surfaces and skin. Later, when I started art school, I learned about the artist and his extremely unique portrait style combining a neoclassical simplicity fused so well with romantic tendency, and his penchant for realism with an intriguing level of psychological interpretation. With the eyes of an impressionable child, I have encompassed all these elements into my lifetime of art.
For most of my working career I have been in illustrator. I have illustrated many projects including books. When illustrating books, the illustration must convey as much information as possible from the book in a single image. This is very different from traditional art. Detail that would be considered clutter in an art piece become necessary in an illustration. What is amazing is how well an AI art program can accomplish this task. I can begin with a single sketch and then populate it with all the necessary detail needed for a successful illustration.
Mood is extremely important when it comes to story building. The mood creates atmosphere and emotional impact. Color choices play a very important role in defining the mood. Often our interpretation of color is very personal and can be very subjective; nonetheless, there is a general association which should be taken under consideration. Of course, you cannot always control the many colors on a photoshoot. A photographer has very little control of the colors the camera sees, such as the color of the sky or trees or the model’s flesh tones (without the use of gels or filters, of course). Fortunately, Photoshop makes it incredibly easy to change color values and add overall tonal and color adjustments. However, it is prudent to plan and execute the photoshoot as much as possible prior to postproduction. Mood and Emotionality in art has always been paramount to me and since I have been working with an AI art program (augmented with Photoshop as my main digital editing tool), I have been so very impressed at how much emotionality can be conveyed through this program. Even though I load "hand drawn" sketches from which the artificial Intelligence program can base its algorithms, the program still totally amazes me with it's outcomes. The final images are (or at least can be) powerful, dramatic and awash with mood and atmosphere.
I love to create whimsical adventures within a surrealistic fantasy realm and take everyday inspiration and AI support to create my fantasy worlds. By mixing media (life sketches, Adobe Photoshop and AI generated art), I can create a magical world only available to the digital artist. As far back as I can remember, I have been drawing, sketching, painting, and sculpting dragons. It is a theme that I revisit often. Working with this new AI program, a new and exciting dimension has been revealed to me. I have discovered that uploading a preliminary sketch or photograph helps "kick start" the process and to maintain my style and vision. So, the process is to first upload a sketch or photo, then to direct the program layer by layer until I reach the desired outcome using my digital editing programs during and at the culmination of the project. Loading the pertinent prompts and learning how the AI program understands the prompts used in directing the artwork, and more importantly keeping my own original style and vision has been an ongoing learning process.
When it comes to fantasy art, I like to believe that anything, and everything, is possible. I enjoy challenging myself with unusually complex concepts and intriguing scenarios. Images can seem to unfold right before your eyes, detailing action, drama and/or mystery. Details should include dynamic composition, background and detail, allegory and symbolism. Good characters belong to the space in which they are portrayed. It is important that every aspect of the image makes coherent, psychological sense to give the viewer a feeling of truth and reality. With the amazing advantage of digital processing comes the danger of producing an image that is confusing in detail, composition, and setting. Subjects should appear as though they "belong" to their settings. Convincing "space-time" elements in art can add extra layers of dynamic depth and reality, enhancing the viewer's understanding and view-ability.
Typically, I start with the story. Having an inspired or creative idea and being able to express it in a way which can be experienced and understood are two very different abilities. Every detail of your image should unpack, unfold and propel the story. The more thought and effort you put into building the image and into your characters and finer details, the closer you will be able to approach that beautiful masterpiece you have in mind, yet be forever cognizant of the story you are attempting to illustrate.
Creativity is often just a matter of personal perspective. I believe that by changing one's perspective, even the "ordinary" and/or "obvious" can again become creative. Using the AI program in conjunction with digital photography and editing, and classic art forms, has culminated in a new and exciting process for me, allowing the visualization, and conveyance my stories in a wonderful and unexpected way.