My First Digital Painting (1-hour practice piece)

In the past 12 months I've been trying to teach myself more and more computer-specific skills, some out of necessity, some out of pure interest. I've learned how to color artwork in the traditional comic book way (which involves flatting/color separating and rendering, etc.), and some basic web design. Now I'm going to try and learn how to paint digitally -- we'll see how it goes amidst trying to get other things done (I know I'm not the only one who wishes the days were WAY longer -- ah, to be able to get MUCH more done every day ... sigh...). Anyhow, I will often do a "warm-up" drawing of something before I start working on anything else, just to get my creative blood flowing and it often works as a boost too (depending, of course, on how the piece turns out!). So, yesterday I drew this 9 x 12 drawing (approximately 15 or 20 minutes):


Then, after reading up on a few tutorials online (which were basically building on what I've learned about digital coloring from my work on Rex Mundi this past year) I decided later in the day to practice digital painting for the first time using yesterday's drawing. I mostly tried to treat it as a very loose, very NON-precious practice piece, not zooming in at all until the very last pass or two.
So, while I know it's not some major achievement, I am pretty psyched to do some more experimenting with digital painting. Here's the piece again after "painting" it for about 30 or 40 minutes:

Website Up and Running!

Well, it took about 3 years but I finally updated my site! Actually, as I'd said in my last post, it's not as simple as that. In that time, the (very cool) guy who had set up my site is no longer doing web design that I know of, AND (mainly) I wanted to learn how to do it myself so as to not have to pester someone else to do things exactly the way I wanted them. So, while it's a pretty basic design (no Flash required), I'm still pretty darn happy with it. Check it out here: www.jimdibartolo.com

Website update a'comin'

Reality is unfolding around us (!EEK!), as I've learned enough web design to get my wife's new website up and running (www.lainitaylor.com) and mine all completed and ready to upload! I'm only waiting on the &%$# grace/waiting period needed for transferring domain names from one company to another and then it's ON BABY! If I seem overly excited, it's because Laini and I have been wanting to know how to maintain/update/redesign our own websites since before we ever got our first sites up and running. To now have the god-like power to do our own updates without having to pester someone else to do things "just so" is a freaking dream-come-true.

For those who care, we've had the ability to design our own sites for more than a few years now (knowing enough about Photoshop to lay things out) but to actually do anything webby with the designs, well, we just couldn't devote the time (or so we thought!). For the time being, our new designs use a lot of white space and simplicity. This is mostly because we sometimes get frustrated trying to load sites that try to be too clever. I don't want to bag on sites like that too much however because there may come a time when we want to be a bit eccentric ourselves, so... :)

Soon I'll write about my December solo art show and link to some of the pieces on my site that I had up and some that sold.

Cheers and a belated Happy New Year!

A Sequential Sample

Here's a sample page from the aforementioned comic book REX MUNDI. For those who might be reading this and not be familiar with it, it's a fantastic tale written by my now friend Arvid Nelson. He describes it in a nutshell as "A quest for the Holy Grail, told as a murder mystery." It takes place in an alternate history 1930's France and will ultimately be a finite story concluding in 35 issues (again, issue 15 -- done by ME! :) -- just came out last week). The new artist on it will do a fantastic job, and if you're interested in the comic, check out www.rexmundi.net for more info.

I've spent the first half of my day finishing up a 20"x30" drawing that has a bit of watercolor on it that I'm doing for a local art show at the restaurant I work at. I plan on having about 10 pieces hanging for my show and hope to make some holiday money by selling a few. Last time I hung some art there I sold 8 pieces, so wish me luck! (hello? Is anybody out there? Hmm -- If a person blogs and no one reads it... :) Once I get my computer/scanner issues resolved (don't ask) I'll post this and other pieces--fun stuff (imho).

Jim

Some whimsy and a ramble

This is a mixed media painting (watercolors and oils) I did as a personal piece for my portfolio. Shortly thereafter an editor from Paizo Publishing contacted me and asked if she could show this painting (and several other artist's paintings) to "a writer" to see if "he" wanted to write a VERY short story using the art he chose as inspiration. When the editor phoned to tell me that my piece had been chosen, I was flattered. During the conversation though, she informed me that the writer was Harlan Ellison AND that Neil Gaiman was going to write an introduction! My jaw dropped and I could hardly believe it!

However, neither fame nor fortune have followed, but it's still a pretty good story when I tell it to people who know who either of them are! If they don't, well, then it's actually NOT that great of a story I guess ... :)

Welcome!

Greetings world! Get ready! ...

... although nothing may happen here for a while... :)

Jim