Hello, It’s  June and the weather is great so far in Britain…

The month to see Frolicking Fox Cubs, Froglets and Toadlets, Speckled

Wood Butterflies, Elderflowers and Grasses etc….

I bet you thought I’d do a picture of a Butterfly. Well I almost did

but because of the number of Frogs I have seen in my garden I

have made a Digital Artwork of a Frog and a little girl;

       ’ The Fairy Frog’ - Digital Art by Tiana Fair - June 2009

Sorry I haven’t posted for ages because I have been called upon to use my

new Photo-shopping skills at work. I have been making brochures and designing

logos etc… It may sound boring but it does help me to learn how to use

Photo-shop just by the trial and error technique that I am so good at…hee hee!

Thanks for reading my blog, please leave a comment , if you have any suggestions

on how I can improve my fantasy techniques (without spending too much money)

please let me know (and I’ll let all you lot in on the secrets as I find them out….lol)

Take care,

Tiana  x

May is the month when the Nightingales sing (if you are lucky enough to hear them these days.)

It is also the month when Catkins dangle from branches like earings.

The door to Fairyland opens on May 1st.

So I had to sneak one in the picture…….

You can view my hand painted artwork on Myspace

in the Photo Album

here at;      http://www.myspace.com/tianafair

and my digital artwork on this blog.

Don’t forget to add me as a friend

This is my latest Digital painting for April.

Tis the season of Bluebells and Badgers so why not put them both together.

I found a stock image of a  baby Badger and a field of Bluebells and with a lot of

Photoshop fiddling and artistic licence this is the result…

I hope you like it.

- Tiana x

Okay, so I have tried it again, this time with my wolf painting

                                                                         Hand Painting

                                                                              Digital Painting

The first painting is Acryllics and the second one is the same painting Photoshopped.

Please let me know your opinions.

Thanks,

Tiana x

I have just completed an Easter painting for my kids.

Spring is the season when the female Hares

have boxing matches with their male admirers.

But in this painting the Hare is called ‘The Mad March Hare’

because it tells everyone it has seen a fairy and no one believes it.

That is until some children come along who can also see the

pretty little Fairy.

(That’s a shortened version of the story I made up to go with the painting

for my kids.)

Before I show the finished painting here is a painting of a Fairy on a cat’s

head that I did last year in Watercolour paints so that you can compare

between real paints and digital Art.

I welcome your opinion.

Thanks for reading my blog, see you soon,

Tiana x

                
                       (Watercolour  by Tiana Fair)

And here is the Digital Fairy Painting;

(The Mad March Hare - Digital Art  by Tiana Fair)

Tiana x

Thanks for reading my blog, see you soon,

Tiana x

These are the results of my 5 minute Daffodil experiment. 

Normally I would sketch the daffodil with pencil.

This would take approx 5 mins.

Then I would Fill in the background colours with paint.

This would take approx 10 mins.

So here is the first part of the sketch done by digital

pencil and then digital paints.

This took 3 mins to complete.

                       
                                                                                 ( Daffodil digital sketch)

The next stage of a painting would be to add some detail.

For a painting like this it would take approx 15 mins.

Here I blended the painting with Photoshop.

This took 1 minute to complete.

                        
                                                                                   (Daffodil with added detail)

And the result of my finished painting would be trimmed ready to

display with Watercolour on Watercolour pad or Acrylic on

Canvas.

I digitally added some texture. I tried different artistic styles.

This took 1 minute to complete.

First I tried making the daffodil look like it was in water…

                         
                                                                                                  (Daffodil in water)

Then I tried to make it look like it was painted on canvas…

                        
                                                                                       (Daffodil on digital canvas)

The results I found for my quick on the spot painting were:

                                Painting by hand                     Painting in Photoshop

Time taken:          30 mins - Bad                             5 mins - Excellent

As Original Art:     Excellent                                                 Bad

As a print:                Excellent                                             Excellent

So my conclusion is that Digital sketching is excellent for speed and if you are short on time. This makes it ideal if you are painting outdoors and have a laptop , a table that you can put your tablet and pen on and are within broadband signal range.

It is less messy and easier than an easel and paint but a lot less fun.

But you still cannot beat hand painting for an Original piece of Artwork, and textures.

It is possible to print digital Art onto canvas but the textures still are not as good as paint on canvas.

Okay so I know Digital Art is faster, I know that it is cleaner, I know that poster prints

are comparable to the real thing……

So now I have to experiment with the difference between thinking a crazy image up,

sketching ideas, finding the correct perspective and making the image look as realistic as possible…even if it is something wacky like a flying horse…

In the meantime I have been called upon to use my new Photoshop skills

in work…hmmmm….not sure I’m ready for that…..

(Digitally enhanced version)                              (Original Acrylic painting by Tiana Fair)

I am experimenting with Photoshop.

I like the way it can blend and highlight but I personally prefer

the texture of acrylic paints on real canvas.

Let me know what you think.

I used to sell original commissioned paintings for a high price

and then sell poster prints and prints onto real canvas at a cheaper price.

The prints were more popular than the originals which has resulted

in me experimenting with digital art,

for if the customers want prints

more than originals it does not matter if it is made from paint or

from computer technology……anyway back to playing with my new toy…

can’t wait for the pen to arrive….

and yes I did go for the cheapest pen and tablet….

I’m not spending a lot of money on something

that I may be no good at.

Have a great day following your dreams…Tiana x

 
(Watercolour Painting  ’Crystal teardrop’  by Tiana Fair)

Download of Photoshop went smoothly but now I am faced

with the challenge of mastering the controls.

I have decided to use the trial and error approach of learning

Photoshop.

I’m sure that once I know what each gadget does I will laugh

at this moment…ha ha ha

Trial and error approach has so far resulted in my work being

distorted and deleted after hours of messing about because I

pressed a couple of buttons that I shouldn’t have and cannot

undo the total destruction of the ’thing’ I created.

So now I have resigned myself to the fact that the trial and

error approach does not work with Photoshop.

Sigh! It is true what they say - it is hard at first.

I am now going to use the free Adobe on-line manuals and

You tube videos in an attempt to learn what all the pretty

buttons mean.

Ouch! my brain hurts, it actually hurts, too much information

in one go…… I’m going to lie down.

I haven’t bought the wacom tablet/pen yet, I’ll do that when

I am ready to create some serious work.

If you are also learning Photoshop - good luck to you!

- Tiana x