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I have known I wanted to be an artist since grade school, when the best part of creating reports was illustrating them. In high school I loved working with acrylics, water color, ceramics and metal work.
At the Art Institute of Pittsburgh I studied oils, acrylic, water color, charcoals, pencil and commercial art.
After graduation from the Art Institute, the commercial art background landed a position as a pre press technician. This lead to a solid background in Photoshop and Illustrator.
Mastery of the medium has made digital art a preference for now. Returning to oils and watercolor are influencing my digital work, bringing more detail and depth to later works. This is an evolving work which will eventually include paintings and I am sure mixing of media as the time comes.
Art styles created by traditional painting methods, natural images and textures are great sources of inspiration. Many images use a color, a pattern, or photograph as a launching pad. Sometimes I just start brushing or filling pixels onto blank "canvas" and manipulate them with gradients, filters, layer effects, blend modes and distortions until an image begins to appear. I may know exactly what I want to create and exactly how to get there or may indulge in creative play, developing whatever happy accident appears.
There are advantages to a digital work flow. When an image is not working I can delete steps rather than completely starting over. I can change colors or contrast while leaving the basic composition and strokes intact. The digital file necessary to create reprints is not several steps away from the original. The regret is that there never is an "original" piece of art; only giclée prints.
