what media do you use to make your images?

Astra

Re: Love this thread

Nevada34 said:
Astra, may I ask what software you use? Do you use any kind of digitizing tool? Or just a mouse? Many years ago I used an older version of Adobe Illustrator for a Macintosh, on my job at the time, and I loved it. Right now I have Paintshop Pro, and am not nearly as happy with it. Are you familiar with the newer versions of Adobe Illustrator, or is there something better?:)
Right now I'm working primarily between Bryce and Adobe Photoshop, with a hefty dose of Kai's Power Tools and Poser thrown in. I'm working on learning Painter, and do some modeling with RayDream, as well as using VistaPro for terrain effects and CorelDraw for any number of things. I have an old version of PaintShopPro, that I got before I could afford PhotoShop - it's still on the computer, but I have to admit I haven't touched it since I have had PhotoShop. I've use both a mouse and a small Wacom tablet and stylus - one of these days I'm going to grit my teeth and upgrade to a commercial size tablet again (had a large one back in the dead days of DOS while I was working with CAD, but it couldn't handle pressure-sensitive work).

Originally posted by joanna-gaian
Another reason I went back to a traditional medium rather than a computer one is that I really missed having "originals" to show and sell. Does that bother you at all?
Not really - Kinko's does a marvellous job at printing (once I submit to the tyranny of CMYK), and if I were going to do prints of a traditional medium, I'd have to go through the digitization process after finishing in any case. I suppose it's a case of thinking that if it's good, then you can offer it for a great deal less to a lot more people.

One-of-a-kind items are great, but it's not too often you can earn a living from them unless you either find a rich patron or get really, really lucky. And part of it is not having been the kind of person who could afford original art unless the artist was underpricing it.

I used to do a great deal of bargello work, and played with the idea of selling some of it until I took a look at how I would have to price it - 150 hours of time to create a purse times, say, $15/hr is $2,250. They're great purses, and they last forever, but ouch!
 

M-Press

I started using the computer, for two main reasons, besides that fact that I'm a professional graphic designer...

I started having allergies in my hands, so all the oil based paints and my beloved charcoil, were OUT (although I was not allercic to them , but they were not pleasent on irritated skin...)
So my beloved Gouache, also went OUT, to keep the table clean and dry...

then there was the issue or "real-estate"... I move a lot, and I just had no place anymore...
So, my laptop, carries it all now, not to mention saves me on scanning later...

What I DO still use, from the "good old" stuff, in china ink, and I create with this all the backgrounds... It gives a spontanaiety, and is a nice contrast with colored art...

Computer wise, i use vector based software, i truly don't like photoshop...
I have "problems" making up decisions, and photoshop makes things even more diofficult for me... besides, i like to be able to change sizes, easily and pain-free... :)

Photocollage/collage: although my art is not this technique, in a way it is, because I "put pieces" together, just like in a collage, only I don't use different photos, but my own "icons" from my personal digital visual library... It helps with the decision issue, and I get "unexpected results", just like in a collage. So, brain-work wise, it's the same...

lately. I also feel less concerned with technique...
In our world, we've sen SO MUCH that although nothing impresses me any more, i can still feel a stirring from a good pencil sketch...
All the bells, wistles and effects, hardly get to me any more, except of course in the MATRIX, but this is a whole different story...
:)
 

baba-prague

M-Press said:
lately. I also feel less concerned with technique...
In our world, we've sen SO MUCH that although nothing impresses me any more:)

I half felt the same until I saw the woodblocks done by an elderly artist here (my inspiration for this thread). The work is incredible. When he brought out the blocks themselves to show us I honestly could hardly breathe. It really hit me - the skill, the ability to plan a thing like this, the painstaking years to learn - and months to do.

The one I'm uploading here is a SMALL block - he did (too frail to work now, tragically) HUGE ones too. Of course at this size you can't see the detail - which is the incredible thing. Here is the link to a better picture:
http://www.galerie.chrudim.cz/prodej_mezl.htm

Anyway, it definitely made me feel that I also have the attention span of a barnacle (love that expression - please can I steal it and use it forever? :) )
 

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Ironwing

barnacles

Actually I didn't make this one-liner up myself.
A few years ago I spend a day in a paleontology museum drawing fossil sabercat skulls. The comment came from a fellow scientific illustrator who was impressed with how long I could sit and work on a single pencil drawing. I still work in the scientific illustration style sometimes, and it is the foundation for all my art.
mountain lion skull, minerals, lichens:
http://www.mineralarts.com/artwork/ScientificIllustration.html
Quartz crystals:
http://www.mineralarts.com/artwork/qtz_xtals.html

Lorena
 

M-Press

Oh-la-la! That Mezl is incredible!

yes, yes, i agree, i would stop breathing too if I saw that!!!!!

But don't you think that this technique is more like the kind of the good old pencil (in comparison with all those computer sceaming generated effects---I mean...)

Anyway, thanks for the fresh inspiration....:)
 

SherryZoned

I use colored penicls. I actually made a small major arcana cat deck. I tried pastels. Fun to play with but not my thing. Ink a no. I dont enjoy painting. I dont have the patience for other mediums.
I am impressed by the wood block. Pencil drawings etc that people do.
 

Kollar Anderson

Blank cards

I came across this link through a friend of mine and thought it might be appropriate to this thread...
http://www.skybluepink.com/products8.html

Blank Tarot cards for those super cretive individuals!

They have tons of fun stuff!