Day 55: In Which Evil Computer Smites Me

From now on this old computer of mine will be known as "Evil Computer". On Evil Computer I can create a colourful drawing with several layers and save it quite well. When I go to open a saved colourful drawing with several layers, Evil Computer smites me. He slows down, crashes Photoshop, and refuses to let me open my colourful drawing with several layers!

I will be getting Good Computer shortly. I'm sure Evil Computer will try to thwart my efforts, but Good Computer will prevail.

I'm sorry, Evil Computer ate my fairy, so I only have a seahorse to show. I will show my fairy later. Seahorse was supposed to be in colour, but that is not something Evil Computer would allow. I hope you enjoy my seahorse, and not think me completely mad (though I may well be).

Elizabeth O. Dulemba's Blog

Elizabeth O. Dulemba has this neat new widget for download on her page. You can download a different coloring page every week. She even has a link to older coloring pages. Send her the colored page and she'll post it to her blog.

Go to Elizabeth O. Dulemba's Blog if you want to check it out.

For every 100 followers on her page she's giving out a free signed copy of her book, so check it out! Also, while you're there you can suggest new ideas for pages. Enjoy!

Day 53: The Barn Owl

I've always loved barn owls. Like any owl they seem to have a certain wisdom about them. I love the heart-shaped frames around their faces. They almost look like dolls.

I'm not sure how many more farm animals I'm going to do, because I'm running out of different looking animals. Most of them are birds, and animals that look like horses or cows. Maybe I should try some farm equipment next?

A Question Answered About My Materials

I wanted to answer a question that was left in my comments in a post so everyone could see. I hope I don't embarrass you by putting you on the spot, Amy, but I thought everyone should know the answer.

Amy Asked: "What materials do you use for your work?"

Right now, all my illustrations are done digitally in Photoshop. Often I'll draw things in pencil and scan them into my computer. For many of the recent animal drawings I looked at many references, but did them using the pen tool in Photoshop. If you don't use the pen tool in Photoshop, you don't know what you're missing!

It's becoming rarer now, but some people are still of the mindset that Digital means "easy", or completely computer generated. I was shocked when I heard that there are a few that think it doesn't take artistic talent to create computer generated images. The computer is a tool just like any other, and you do need talent to create good digital art.

Thank you for your question Amy! I would be happy to answer any other questions people have about my art, picture books, and everything in between and around these things. Feel free to email me at daniduckart[@]gmail.com. Remember to remove the brackets! So what's your question?


Edit: One thing that I forgot to mention is my all important Wacom pad. I have a Wacom Intuos 3. I got it just before the Intuos 4 came out. I love it, and I'm not sure how I ever did art on the computer without it.

Final Illustrations, Finally!

I've got my first three illustrations done! I'm happy. Of course finals are only finals after they are published, so if you have any ideas how I can improve these do let me know! I was going to wait until tomorrow to finish them, or to post, but I hate waiting. I also hate making other people wait. For all of you people who slept tonight instead of staying up late for me to post, shaaaammmme shammmeee! I think I'm going to go get some sleep now. Enjoy the illustrations!

Day 52: Sheeeeep

I'm getting closer to finishing my farm illustrations. I can't help but to keep it up. It's too fun making these cute animals! Today I drew a sheep. He looks like the best pillow ever! Gigi commented that these drawings would make a good children's book. I didn't really think about that when I was making them. I know that's what this blog is for, but still! Anyway, it doesn't hurt to have lots of extra animal drawings.

Here is the final farm background. Some things may change in this drawing, but it's basically what I came up with. Most of the things are the same from the sketch I did, but I added the window. I was sad looking at the drawing where there would be all these animals that didn't have a window to look out of it. Yes, I'm a big sap sometimes.

Hopefully the animals will love their new barn. At one point I had hoped to have a little spider in or around the barn. It didn't really make much sense, because none of my animals have feet. I don't think I could make a successful spider without feet. Even if I could, I'd be sad that he didn't have feet. Yes, there is something wrong with that last statement, but I stand by it!

I don't know if this format works better for my blog or not. I thought I'd try something new, and if it doesn't work I'll go back to the old way. I'm not sure if I'll finish my farm today, but I'll give it a go. 

Day 51: 2nd Farm Background and a Plane

Terrible, terrible day today... Photoshop crashed again for the Nth time. Really annoying because I was just moving to save. I think my computer knows when I'm about to save something, because that's always when I have the most trouble. Oh well, I did get the second farm background done:

I had planned to have a bird in the sky in one of the first two farm scenes, but I figured I had way too many birds already. I decided a plane would be more fun. It's a little brighter than most planes, but more fun than another yellow bird... though it is very yellow.