art

What is Art Trending Now?

/ Discombobi / 2 Comments

I certainly can’t speak for the masses, nor would I ever want to. I found a couple of articles recently about what the interwebs think is 2015 In. The blog Design District had a little chat with the internet gallery director of UGallery, Alex Farkas.

According to Farkas, Turquoise is the belle of the ball in the 2015 color wheel. Which, as cool colors go, ole’ turquoise is definitely a warmer fellow.The canvas featured in the article reminds me of an under water cavern lighted by the soft green glow of luminescent rocks.Or if you ever watched, Avatar the Last Airbender, it could totally be glow worms. 🙂

Nudes are a given. Impressionistic, abstract or classical forms all seem to be high in the search trends for Farkas’ UGallery. Abstract again, is a given. It’s a trend that’s been around for almost a century and certainly doesn’t look to be leaving the stage anytime soon. Personally, I’m not usually a big fan of abstraction but there have been occasions that an abstract has caught my eye and touched my heart.And lastly oils are still leading the pack, nothing encapsulates ‘classy’ like some oil based paint gobs on canvas [technical term :)] I really do enjoy making art with oils, though it’s quite a slow process, there’s nothing quite like the rich and vibrant colors you can produce with them.

Now for the more digital side, I happened along an article over at DigitalArts interviewing accomplished artist Jason Hayes on his opinion of the Wacom Cintiq 27QHD. Which, if you ever wondered as I have how “Wacom” is actually pronounced – he’s saying it correctly. I got schooled a few months back that is wack-com not way-com but now I cannot think of the word without thinking ‘like wack-a-mole, its wacom!’ From my take on the article, it looks like Wacom is The Trend for quality, professional gadgetry needed in every digital artist’s arsenal.

One day, Wacom, one day you shall be mine…

These I just a couple of sides to the art debate of what’s hot and what’s not [yeah, I said it] the ultimate decision is solely up to you and what you decided

So, you heard my take on what is trending in just a few fields this year, let me know what your take is on some recent art trends!

You probably weren't thinking nail art when we talk art did you? :) www.laneslacquers.co.uk

You probably weren’t thinking nail art when we talk art did you? 🙂
http://www.laneslacquers.co.uk

One day, when I have saved enough, I shall have this. warrickwongdesign.com

One day, when I have saved enough, I shall have this.
warrickwongdesign.com

Just for a little added fun: here’s a quick video on what is considered to be the latest in nail art trends: Negative Space

3 Webcomics You Need to Know About

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Do you know about webcomics?

Have you ever read any?

Honestly, it doesn’t matter if you answered “yes, no, or maybe” because these webcomics will knock your socks off with their unique art and story lines.

Up first is a great comic that consists largely of weekly one shots of Manly Men from comics, tv and video games making a go of it as civilians in our decidedly less macho world. Manly Guys Doing Manly Things also has the great set up of the latest page being on the home page [just as the other two] so you never have to search. You can start from the beginning of Kelly Turnbull’s series here. Another great thing about this artist is that she’s super active on the interwebs and you can follow her on Tumblr and Twitter as Coelasquid. Be sure to check out her latest and greatest: Platinum Black.

Second up to bat is a comic I discovered a few months back called Namesake. The story follows Emma Crewe, a woman who can travel to other worlds that we all know through fairy tale adventures in books and movies alike. Worlds such as Oz and Wonderland to name a few. The creators, Isabel and Megan, go all out when it comes to rich details and intriguing characters. They’ve been posting regularly 3 days a week since 2010, so find a comfy spot and get ready for a great adventure! They also have a store to satisfy your knew found love with some sweet merch.

As the trend has been, comic three is an entirely different chocolate box of feels and quirky times. Meaty Yogurt is the tale of Jackie, a woman following every zany train of thought in order to find a path the will keep her free of a mediocre existence in her small town. Definitely read the About page for a richer explanation and the origins of the title. So it’s time to stop reading here and go jump into Megan Rose’s fantastic comic from the start, right now!

3 Fantastic Programs for Creating Digital Paintings

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There’s always good reasons to create art traditionally or digitally, but why not do both? Sometimes it’s nice to feel the resistance of the paint gobbed onto your brush as you slowly spread it across a canvas. The thick, oily smells and damp, sticky textures of drying paint that’s been laid down in a careful formation to create your latest work of art. It’s also nice to switch over to the digital world when you’re tired of the mess traditional painting brings. You also don’t have to wait for the screen to dry before adding that next layer. Don’t like the way parts of your work looks? Ctrl-Z that baby and away you go trying something else!

Here are my top 3 favorite programs to create art with and have it looking good enough to buy.

#1 Adobe Illustrator

You thought I was going to pick Photoshop didn’t you?

Illustrator is by far the greatest tool for cutting your time in half when it comes to digitizing line art. Especially if you can’t quite afford that top of the line Cintiq Wacom tablet you’ve been eye-balling for the last year. If you’re like me, you really love drawing out your ideas on a good ole piece of paper and then probably inking it out with your favorite Micron pen. So now you want to add color, maybe fiddle with the color schemes or just avoid risking a potential disaster on the original work. Illustrator can trace your scanned work into vector lines so each stroke can be edited or adjusted to just how you want it. Since it’s done in the vector format, you also get the added bonus of being able to resize your image to any level without degrading the image quality.

#2 Adobe Photoshop

Ah, you got me. Photoshop made it onto the list. Who doesn’t love this program. Once you learn all the buttons of course [much the same with Illustrator]. You want some pixels that pack a punch? Photoshop can create smooth shading and textures with the large collection of brushes available and it even allows you to create new brushes so you can get that stroke looking just right. Then bam! You can export your new piece out in jpeg, tiff, png, and more!

#3 AutoDesk SketchBook Pro

This little lovely may not be as well known as the other two, but let me just say SketchBook Pro was by far the best $5 App I have ever bought. Not that I have very many $5 apps floating around mind you. If you have a tablet and like to draw or just doodle incessantly go find this app in the Google Play or Apple App Store ASAP! It’s like a miniature Photoshop on the go. If your tablet has a camera or simple access to the web, you can import your art and use it as a base to flesh it out with color, shading, or textures on as many as 18 layers. This little app does a pretty good job at keeping up with the speed of your hand and toggling between brushes or erasures is a breeze. I really love this little guy and quite a lot of my pieces on the home page were actually made entirely in SketchBook Pro.

Ramblings

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Since this is the introductory post, I guess I’ll start off with who I am and such.

I am an artist – illustrator, painter, comic book maker. As an artist I am currently part-time and a full-time employee at a credit union in order to pay the bills. My aspirations include making my artist life the full-time gig and still pay bills in order to keep my credit from sinking into the murky depths of the 600s tar pit. Mostly because I will shortly be in need of a new car.

Back to more fun things, the top image is one of my digital pieces that I currently have on my Facebook page. She’s one of the many works that I created entirely on my iPad. Sketchbook Pro is quite possibly the best app I ever paid for!

Hipster OstrichThat hip ostrich is one of mine too. He spawned from too much free time during Christmas when I thought it would be funny to send everyone I know a custom Christmas card with their very on hipster animal. Hours later and a considerably cramped hand I had produced a series. That series also happens to be available for purchase at my RedBubble store here.

I also work in more traditional media such as oils and charcoal. I really enjoy doing portraiture in the more tactile mediums that painting and drawing can offer me.

This fellow was for an assignment in an illustration course I took at ACC.

This fellow was for an assignment in an illustration course I took at ACC.

So this basically covers the surface of what I’m about. Now it’s on to you dear readers! Do you enjoy creating art? What sort of mediums do you like the best? Do you focus on any particular subjects or are you across the board like I tend to be?