another cupcake of love

Here we go, the last of my half dozen cupcakes! I would love feedback so please send me your notes and suggestions. Not sure I love this one. Sometimes I love them, sometimes I don't. The funny thing about art is that the ones I love most, are not necessarily the ones others love. I love the sketch, but just not sure about the finished piece. I will start on repeats after I have posted all my art to the Podgallery. Need to get that up there to start the new year!

why I love Photoshop and Rain

I really love Photoshop. Now that I am working exclusively digital having migrated my work from Caran D'Ache I am falling more in love with Photoshop. I have used Photoshop for years, since version 2.0. Which was quite awhile ago mind you. And as with any good relationship we have grown together, learned each others quirks, loved each other in spite of our shortcomings and in the years have brought more to the relationship. A true give and take. It shouldn't come as any surprise that PS is delivering the goods. But let me tell you tonight I just fell a little more in love than I was already, and I really didn't think I could fall any harder. Let me explain my devotion a little better. Long posting short, I was working on cupcake 4 because I wasn't quite pleased with the color balance. So I called my art advisor in for a quick review (my 10 year old son with a smoking great eye, and a mean palette too). He made some very astute observations and within 15 minutes the cupcake went from 'nice' to 'perfect'. Rain (my son) gets credit for seeing what I was struggling with, and PS gets credit for making the adjustment so stinking simple. It was a beautiful moment. Now without further ado, look and see the difference to the left.

cupcake love

Well another submission has been sent to an art publisher. I have finished 3 of the 12 cupcake paintings and sent them off to the one interested party. Today was the deadline for submissions for their annual new collections review. I am trying NOT to get my hopes up, but as you can imagine even after this many years of submissions, and rejections, when there is even the slightest nibble, it is really difficult not to be hopeful. Worse case scenario, I have three really cute cupcake images, and I can keep working on the other 9. There is always room in the world for more fun art. I am posting the three finished pieces and will be adding them to my current illustration site. 

Fingers crossed.

Cupcakes keep falling on my head

Well not really. But I am cranking away on my cupcake illustrations. I like them. I would eat them. But mostly I like painting them. All the cupcakes I am painting are all digital. I eschewed the Caran D'ache, and am working in Photoshop via Wacom tablet. Transitioning from traditional mediums into painting digital feels very natural to me. The style seems to translate, the colors are a non-issue. Heck I think I like it. The upside, I have a 'no-need-to-scan' piece of art in my computer, the downside, I don't have a tangible piece of art (God forbid I don't back up my hard drive and all that dog hair starts a fire in my tower). I do love that I can try different shading and painting, without messing up my original. I also like adding and deleting elements. It really does offer a lot more flexibility. I can dig it. Check one of my finished cupcakes to the right.