People frequently ask me, "How can you paint a picture on a computer." I am sure some think I paint a picture and take a digital photo of it. Actually, I take the picture first and use it as a reference for my painting. Photoshop has a brush engine that can make any kind of brush you can dream of. I can paint with oil, acrylic, water color, pastel, colored pencil, charcoal, crayon. I can mix the media if I want. I can add texture so that the painting looks like it was painted on canvas, charcoal paper, watercolor paper and others. Some brushes smear the pixels and move colors around just like using paint. I have a Wacom tablet which allows me to hold an electronic brush (mouse in pen form) like a pen, pencil or brush. This makes it easier to get the free flowing strokes as if I am actually drawing or using paint.
Make a mistake? Undo. No odors. No paint in my hair. No studio needed. No drying time (except after printing). Can easily make multiple copies of any chosen size.
As you can see I love photo realism so my paintings look much like photos, but have more detail. I don't take realism into the realm of fantasy as the surrealists do, but I want to have fur look like you can pet it and hair like you could braid it. I love to make the eyes glow and sparkle. I like to create images that are a little too perfect.
Like any other pursuit it takes practice. Look at the painting below. It was one of my first and I was baffled as to how to use the electronic brushes so I was experimenting. The child is also very young with skin that had no imperfections to shroud. It doesn't look very painterly, but I love it and learned from doing it. You can see most of my efforts in the rendering of the background. Hey...that's a start and we all have to start somewhere if we want to learn.
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