The Good Fairy

Today just felt like a sad day. I'm not really sure why, actually. It was partly because of my recent failure with the other two sketches, but mostly I just felt blah.

I think this fairy is a bright end to a rather dismal day. I'm dedicating this fairy to a dear sweet friend of mine. Her name I wont say for privacy reasons. I hope that this little fairy will brighten your day as well.

Day 57: Back to the Drawing Board

So I looked at the drawings I was working on and I'm not at all happy with either of them. I started them just to try some experiments with mixed media. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. They are just overworked now. Blah. I think I would to better if I started over on them. I just need more time which I never seem to have. So need a break from drawing right now. I'm getting too frustrated over not having a decent computer and it's showing too much in my work.

Day 56.5: An Update

So today was a tough day for me. I left work a lot later than I usually do which pretty much threw everything off for today. I have a fairy and a mermaid that I will post in the morning. Right now they are drying, and I don't want to risk making the scanner tacky. So I'll post early tomorrow with my drawings, and with any luck I'll have a third drawing done before the end of the day tomorrow. Sweet dreams to the dreamers, and good morning to the morning glories out there.

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.