A Photoshop Process

SunbeamSunset

This post is different from my other posts of my photoshop paintings in that I've also provided a video (see below) that shows how I go from a blank canvas to a finished piece.

Concept Art 01

Sally Concept 02

Concept art of a girl for a story I'm working on.

Photoshop Painting Itch Part 7

Skyscrapers

Rising from the ground aren't pillars of glass and steel, but a monolith earth reaching towards the heavens.

This painting was painted using techniques I had learned from the late and great Bob Ross. The man had made painting seem so simple, that anyone with paint on a brush could make something beautiful. The mountains, fog, and trees were created the way he preached. I know I probably wouldn't have been able to do them without his help. This painting is dedicated to Bob and the confidence that he gave to all of the amateur painters across the world.

Photoshop Painting Itch Part 6

PeacefulHorror

Out in space, orbiting the planet and among the stars, an astronaut finds himself floating away from his home.

This is one of my more darker pieces in this run, however it didn't start off that way. I originally had a space station orbiting the planet, but that seemed boring to me. So I then added the astronaut's arm reaching for the ever distant space station. Yes it's dark and horrific, but there's a beauty to it. I couldn't think of a more beautiful way to go out then for it to be in space above Earth and among the stars.

Photoshop Painting Itch Part 5

MorningWonder

Birds chirping, sunlight filling your room, you wake up and gaze out your window at the beautifully colorful world you live in just beyond the glass.

I've always liked the depictions of roads aligned with trees on either side. There's just something about them that draws me in. I have a picture in my head of a road with the trees looming over it while the sunlight breaks through the background, and the trees would be of varying colors. However I do not believe that this piece captures what I'm seeing. This piece is a good jumping off point for a more fuller version.

Photoshop Painting Itch Part 4

Wandering

During a fall evening in the heartland, you walk and walk, looking for something.

This is definitely one of my more simplistic paintings in the series. It isn't as detailed as some of the others but this was a good change of pace. I love the colors and the feel of this piece. I did the clouds differently than I have in the past and I like the way they're rendered. The birds flying in the background are a nice touch and really make you feel like this is somewhere in middle America.

Photoshop Painting Itch Part 3

Soaring

Through the mystical clouds a bird of metal soars.

I love flying, being able to look out of the window at the strange and magical shapes that clouds form. I love to look down on the earth that's beneath my seat, to forget about everything that's going on and just fly.

Photoshop Painting Itch Part 2

DesertRain

In the middle of nowhere the night sky puts on a show unlike any other. Out in the desert the rain isn't water, it's fire.

Of all the paintings I've done in this run so far, current count of seven, this is my favorite. I've always loved the colors of a sunset, there's a haunting beauty about them. At first it was just going to be a desert sunset, but then I was struck with the idea of a meteor shower. The farm came about from me trying to paint desert mountains, their formations looked like the silhouette of a windmill and farm house. I was also going to have a cactus in the foreground, but I couldn't paint a real enough looking cactus so I scrapped that idea. But looking at the piece now I see that it doesn't need it. The fact that there are no other forms of life besides the farm house really helps to convey the nothingness of the area, and the meteors really counteract that nothingness making them more exciting then they would be otherwise in a painting with a lot going on.

Photoshop Painting Itch

Seascape_01

 I haven't done many serious paintings in photoshop, so this is the first in a run of paintings.