How to Paint Tigger in Watercolor and Colored Pencils

This video demonstrates the fun of mixing watercolor paints and colored pencils. I use a scan of an earlier sketch that I print out onto smooth Bristol paper. It is a quick and easy process to workout color schemes, techniques and to have fun in general. Here I use a well-known beloved character from my childhood as the subject matter.

Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4XSrfrRZiQ&t=1s

Portfolio Sketchbook

In this video I display a portfolio that I use to store my loose sheets in.  I use it as a sketch book more than it's original design.  These portfolio books come in various sizes and can be found on Amazon or in any major arts and crafts stores.

-Steve

XnView - Image Editor

This is a free open-source image editor that I have used for a long time.  It works on all the major platforms (Windows, Linux and Mac) and is very light weight consuming very little resources.  XnView will not replace Painter or Photoshop but can be used for quick editing, batch editing and converting along with many other features.

XnView can be download from http://www.xnview.com/en/

In this short tutorial I cover how I use XnView, which is mainly to browse and organize my images and copy / cut thumbnails from full page scans allowing me to keep what I like.

-Steve

Caveman

Another one from my travel sketchbook.  he started out as a doodle and morphed into a rough design sketch. As my normal workflow lately; I started this with my Pentel Mechanical pencil and then added value with Charcoal at a later date.

Cleaning a Sketch with Corel Painter

I thought it would be beneficial to show how I clean up sketches before posting to my Blog.  Here I used my Caveman sketch [from my 5x7 sketchbook] as an example in Corel Painter. One can also use Photoshop or a free painting suites such as Krita to accomplish the same.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/VY66Tm_GclY

Sketchbooks...Which ones I use and why.

Just my thoughts on sketchbooks and which ones I like and use for travel / ideas, design and finials.  I believe sketching is fundamental to art. It is a good practice to sketch everyday even if it is just doodles.  I design better and my imagination flows easier when I draw regularly.  With practice one becomes better.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/NAzjFgyTZA4

MyPaint 1.1 for Windows

Just want to let you know that I am still alive and well.  I have been working on other projects and haven't made time to post anything ...only responding to questions on YouTube.

I have been meaning to post a video on how to use MyPaint 1.1 on Windows, but in that time people have been creating builds that will do the same, with less steps.

Fantasy Crow

"Fantasy Crow"

This sketch was done in graphite with the dark tones add with Prismacolor Verithin and Premier pencils on a 60lb smooth sketch pad.

Free Painter's Wheel for Photoshop

This is just what the titles says ...a free painter's wheel.  It was created by Len White and can be found a www.lenwhite.com and how to install it.

Character Design - "Creature"

For lack of a better name I refer to this character as "Creature".  This was done in pencil and finished off in Painter and Photoshop.  The tutorial merely covers the basic process used in character design and is aimed less at "digital" and more towards "art".  This is far from being a finished product but the design phase is a vital set in any composition.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/n_m_OTByZCA

How to Create Custom Tool Presets in Photoshop

Tool Presets in Photoshop is a very powerful feature that is also very easy to use.  It enables you to save a brush and it's attributes with or without color.  This speeds up painting tasks when using your favorite "go-to" brushes and tools ...it isn't just for brushes.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/FElyx5K6W3Y

Puzzled Alien

"Puzzled Alien"

This is a graphite sketch on Bristol I did the other night. This is primarily done for design , though I did add the head tilt to add some personality to the little alien ...at least that is what I think he is.

Creature Design from Noise

This is a sketch I did the other night. It started out just as a contour line drawing of the head only, which I molded with values.  The idea came from "Noise" ...what I saw in an abstract object.

How To Use KGamut

KGamut is a very small but useful tool that enables one to view the color gamut of an image.  It is great for analysis and creating color choices for to use in your own projects.

Create Color Palettes in PS CS5

Here is a video that I posted to YouTube last year but never included on my blog. Keeping in the theme of "Color", I demonstrate how to create and edit color palettes from an image automatically and manually in Photoshop CS5.  The manual method is also compatible with GIMP and CS6.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/0LMsDNM0MoM

Adding Custom Brushs to Photoshop

This is an easy and fast way to add brushes to Photoshop without having to restart Photoshop.  For years I have navigated my way through layers of folders to add or delete brush sets in Photoshop, then restart it so the new brushes were available.  But by chance I stumbled on to a very simple way to accomplish it. Weather we are doing work on our laptops, desktops or  other computers, It is very helpful to keeping various installations of Photoshop the same.

-Steve

LINK: https://youtu.be/YejwZrsuIsU

Blender 2.65a Released

Well evidently I have been busy enough to miss a few things.  In this case I missed the release of Blender 2.65 and just noticed the 2.65a release. One of the changes has been the addition of "Anisotropic Shader" allowing for the brushed metal look.

Here is the LINK to download Blender.

-Steve

Hurricane Sandy

The weather has no concern for artist's schedules. Seriously we are thankful that we made it through yet another storm.  Though we did have power from our new generator, we did not have phone or Internet access so we were a bit isolated from the world.  Considering the devastation in other states, we fared quite well.  Our prayers go out to those who have lost their homes and loved ones.

Remove Linux from Windows Dual-Boot

This is not my usual post but for those who want to work in the digital world, you must know how to repair your computer ...and there are so many things that can go wrong.

I know I am not alone in setting up a dual-boot system with Windows and Linux who have later decided to remove the Linux partition, then being faced with a corrupted Master Boot Record (MBR).  I can tell this by all of the posts requesting help and the wide range of ways to fix the now "bricked" PC.

Blender 2.6.4 Released

Blender 2.6.4 has been released and can be downloaded HERE.  List of changes and features can be found HERE.

Thank you Blender Foundation!