Good morning, Readers!
Now, some of you may have noticed a teeny tiny change to this website. For the less observant of you, it's the header. The image on the page header has changed.
It used to be a blue-ish mountain range scene. That was a generic scene that came with the website template that I chose. It was pretty. I liked it well enough.
And now it has been replaced with something much more... original. You see, I arted.
Art was always one of my favourite subjects in high school. I would often spend my lunch hours in the art studio. It was a great place to get creative and hide from the bullies that made my high school experience one of the worst experiences I've had to date.
I loved art. I still do.
I never pursued art because I just didn't think it would be a viable way to make a living. Joke is on me, I guess. I have a 'real' job and I'm still poor as hell. Le sigh.
Anyway, this year I decided to take the whole New Year's resolution thing seriously, and I made a list of things I wished to achieve. A chin up was on that list. Focus on writing Monday to Thursday was on that list (that was an easy one to achieve. I'd been doing it for a year already). Also on that list was make more art.
For the first six months of this year, I failed miserably at that particular goal. There simply was no space at home to paint. I struggled to make time as well. So, quite suddenly earlier this month, I decided that I would save up for a digital drawing tablet and some software that would let me paint digitally.
Turns out, I didn't need to save up at all. One of my friends was willing to give away their Bamboo tablet for free as it wasn't working on their system any longer. And I found a free, open source drawing software called Krita. It's a great programme, actually.
I decided that, since Friday was my rest from writing day, I would use it to draw. The first Friday (a fortnight ago) ended in misery. I failed so very badly at creating the image I had in my head. Never mind that it had been over a year since I picked up a paintbrush. Never mind that this was my first real time using the software. I was upset and angry at myself for being so unable to transfer the image in my head onto the digital canvas.
I felt like crying.
Yes, I'm hard on myself. But someone has to expect big things of me.
Still, I picked up the stylus again the following Friday. I watched YouTube video tutorials on how to paint oceans all morning. They were for actual paint on actual canvas, but I figured the basic principals ought to be the same. I watched tutorial after tutorial all morning, then got to work in the afternoon.
Over four hours later, I had this:
Now, some of you may have noticed a teeny tiny change to this website. For the less observant of you, it's the header. The image on the page header has changed.
It used to be a blue-ish mountain range scene. That was a generic scene that came with the website template that I chose. It was pretty. I liked it well enough.
And now it has been replaced with something much more... original. You see, I arted.
Art was always one of my favourite subjects in high school. I would often spend my lunch hours in the art studio. It was a great place to get creative and hide from the bullies that made my high school experience one of the worst experiences I've had to date.
I loved art. I still do.
I never pursued art because I just didn't think it would be a viable way to make a living. Joke is on me, I guess. I have a 'real' job and I'm still poor as hell. Le sigh.
Anyway, this year I decided to take the whole New Year's resolution thing seriously, and I made a list of things I wished to achieve. A chin up was on that list. Focus on writing Monday to Thursday was on that list (that was an easy one to achieve. I'd been doing it for a year already). Also on that list was make more art.
For the first six months of this year, I failed miserably at that particular goal. There simply was no space at home to paint. I struggled to make time as well. So, quite suddenly earlier this month, I decided that I would save up for a digital drawing tablet and some software that would let me paint digitally.
Turns out, I didn't need to save up at all. One of my friends was willing to give away their Bamboo tablet for free as it wasn't working on their system any longer. And I found a free, open source drawing software called Krita. It's a great programme, actually.
I decided that, since Friday was my rest from writing day, I would use it to draw. The first Friday (a fortnight ago) ended in misery. I failed so very badly at creating the image I had in my head. Never mind that it had been over a year since I picked up a paintbrush. Never mind that this was my first real time using the software. I was upset and angry at myself for being so unable to transfer the image in my head onto the digital canvas.
I felt like crying.
Yes, I'm hard on myself. But someone has to expect big things of me.
Still, I picked up the stylus again the following Friday. I watched YouTube video tutorials on how to paint oceans all morning. They were for actual paint on actual canvas, but I figured the basic principals ought to be the same. I watched tutorial after tutorial all morning, then got to work in the afternoon.
Over four hours later, I had this:
I'm not going to lie. I'm rather proud of this effort. That said, the longer or more often I look at it, the more I see where I went wrong. Still, I think the was a really good first try. I would not be unhappy to display this piece in a gallery.
If you think you might like it hanging on your wall too, you have that option. Click HERE to go to my newly created Redbubble shop where I'll be selling my digital art prints. Actually, artists, if you're not looking to sell your art yourself, but reckon it's too much of a hassle though you might like to sell a few prints, I highly recommend Redbubble. They take care of all the production and shipping for you. You just upload your stuff, and you get a percentage of the sale price (you set the mark. The default is 20%). It's super easy.
So, not a bad piece all told. I'm certainly encouraged to paint more. I'm bursting with ideas now. You will be able to see the new pieces as I create them. In the menu above, the "Art" tab now has a drop down menu. All new pieces will be going onto the "Digital Art" page. There's only Here There Be Dragons on there now, since it's the only finished piece I have. I'll try and announce new additions on Facebook and Twitter as they happen.
I have to extend another thank you to D.E. for just giving away her tablet like that. I am eternally grateful that I have the opportunity and ability to paint again.
For everyone, whether you fancy yourself skilled or not, go out and art. It is amazing the benefits you will reap.
On that note, I'm off to learn the art of language!
Ciao!
If you think you might like it hanging on your wall too, you have that option. Click HERE to go to my newly created Redbubble shop where I'll be selling my digital art prints. Actually, artists, if you're not looking to sell your art yourself, but reckon it's too much of a hassle though you might like to sell a few prints, I highly recommend Redbubble. They take care of all the production and shipping for you. You just upload your stuff, and you get a percentage of the sale price (you set the mark. The default is 20%). It's super easy.
So, not a bad piece all told. I'm certainly encouraged to paint more. I'm bursting with ideas now. You will be able to see the new pieces as I create them. In the menu above, the "Art" tab now has a drop down menu. All new pieces will be going onto the "Digital Art" page. There's only Here There Be Dragons on there now, since it's the only finished piece I have. I'll try and announce new additions on Facebook and Twitter as they happen.
I have to extend another thank you to D.E. for just giving away her tablet like that. I am eternally grateful that I have the opportunity and ability to paint again.
For everyone, whether you fancy yourself skilled or not, go out and art. It is amazing the benefits you will reap.
On that note, I'm off to learn the art of language!
Ciao!
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