Monday, September 20, 2010

FATHER AND CHILD PICTURE

My youngest niece and her husband (I posted pictures of their wedding some time ago) had their second baby on September 14th. I haven't seen the infant boy in the flesh yet but of the photos they sent, one in particular just cried out to be painted. So here's my version, digitally drawn on graphic tablet, from the photo below. 

By the way, in case you're wondering, I don't use photos as digital layers to trace and paint over or to make more 'painterly' by using filters. In this and other digital portraits I start with a blank page and look at the original photo as if it were a live model, drawing and painting directly from it onto my graphic tablet, using Photoshop brushes. I consider it cheating to manipulate a photo itself with digital processes in order to produce something that may look like a painting but is actually an altered photograph. 


Mother-and-child paintings are legion but, at least to my knowledge, there aren't that many of father and child. This one has got to be a contender, don't you think?

September almost gone already! Sorry for the long gaps between posts - have been busy offline. I will (really really) be posting more Vie en Rosé soon.




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2 comments:

Argent said...

That's gorgeous! What graphics tablet do you use and with what software? I'm thinking of branching into digital artwork and would relish any tips from one who clearly knows how to make a great picture.

Natalie said...

Many thanks Argent and welcome here.
I have a Mac and draw on a Wacom tablet, not the latest model, they're a lot more sophisticated since I got one about 6 years ago. Mine is the smallest size (A6) but works fine for anything I want to draw digitally. Software: mainly Photoshop (the brushes etc.) or sometimes ArtRage and very rarely a vector programme like Create or Inkscape. There's a lot more graphic software available and people are now using stuff that works with iPhones, iPads etc but I haven't tried those.
If you go to Julia Kay's Portrait Party (see the link in my previous posts) you'll see loads of examples of what people are doing with graphics software.
Best of luck and good wishes.