First Dip into Digital Art

I just had to share my recent creative escapade using Gimp and a Deco Mini7 XP-Pen tablet. I wanted to dip my toes into digital art.

I foraged through my photos and found one of some goslings that could use some fixing up.

I used the pen tablet as my digital canvas and played around with the Gimp layers. The sensitivity of the tablet allowed me to control the brush strokes with finesse, resulting in an almost hand-drawn feel.

Gimp offered a plethora of tools to play around with. I tweaked colors, textures, and lighting to infuse the artwork with a certain mood. The brush options were good, but I think I might want to try Corel Draw. They offer a better variety of painter-like brushes.

I also have a program called Clip Studio Paint that is more designed for Manga but might be useful for drawing. I haven't gotten a hang of that one, yet. When I become an expert with the pen, I may try Corel Draw's light version. But, I don't want to invest too much at this time.

Several new drawings

It's been a while since I've posted, so I have a few new things to post. One is of a colored pencil drawing I did of the Borrego Springs Area:

The other two were of my first forays into pen and marker drawings. I decided I wanted a change and do something that is more like illustration rather than fine art. I've seen a lot of nice work done with pen and ink, so I thought I would try it. Of course, it take practice to get good at it just like any other medium. I currently have several Sharpie pens and a set of markers in secondary colors. I may buy more markers if I decide I want to continue with this medium.

Here is my first attempt. It's of Oreo the duck:

This one I did last night. It's of George the killdeer. I also used a little colored pencil on it, too. In this version, I cut out the area around the drawing and put it on a clean white sheet using Photoshop. I had made a lot of smudges and marks on the original sheet of paper.

I have some items up in my Cafepress store with the killdeer design on it. Check it out:

http://www.cafepress.com/luckinsartwork/12256338

Eskimo curlew at the familiar s-curve

I did this colored pencil drawing of an Eskimo curlew and named the drawing after a description of its home in Last of the Curlews.  The whole setting is imagined.  I know there's not a lot of depth and contrast as the lighting is coming directly from the front.  Originally, I just planned to do the head, but decided to put a background in instead.

The drawing is small, about 8.5 x 5.5.  I'm not sure if I will sell anything based on this artwork.

2 Duckling Souls

This is an acrylic on loose canvas from a photo I took.  The two mallard ducklings didn't survive, but are alive forever in this painting.  They were about three days old at the time.

This art is available as a print on Fine Art America.  I haven't decided to put it anywhere else yet except in offline shows.

Del Mar Stilt

This is an acrylic painting on unstretched canvas 9 x 12.  It is one of my favorites this year.  If you would like to purchase a print, let me know.  It's also available on Fine Art America.  See blow for a link to my page.

I used a blurry photo I took of a black-necked stilt in Del Mar and made it to a painting.  I use a very limited palette with only a few different tubes of paint.  Mostly two types of blue, one type of red, yellow, two types of brown and white. 

Fine Art America:

This widget is a slideshow of some of my work available for purchase on Fine Art America.

A Duck Stole My Heart Series

I've been doing a lot of artwork for Cafepress and one of the things I've been working on is a series called "A Duck Stole My Heart"  I've only done two pieces, so far,  one of a mallard and one of a Pekin.  I just finished the Pekin version.  It's done in colored pencil.

If you would like to visit my Cafepress shop and see what's available in both designs, visit here:

Just Ducky Darlene Ducky Art

Boat with wood ducks

I did this colored pencil on paper drawing for a contest that Colored Pencil Magazine was having on Flickr.  Unfortunately, my scanner wasn't very helpful with scanning the work, so I photographed it.  It's 11 x 14.  Next time, I plan on making the drawing smaller:

Also, I've got lots of new stuff in the CafePress Marketplace.  Here is my Marketplace page:  http://www.cafepress.com/profile/8669278

Of course, you can always go to Just Ducky Darlene and Luckins Artwork on Cafepress for more items, some of which may be priced better than these.

Pepper scratch

Here is an acrylic painting of Pepper the duckling having a scratched.  Based on a photo I took a few years back.

Duckling running

Since I had the paints out, I decided to do a companion to Mama and Five Ducklings with the acrylic painting of a duckling running.  I'm also doing another duckling painting with a dark colored duckling.

Jill the Goose, finished

My 20 x 20 acrylic painting of Jill the goose is finished.  I don't think I can do much more to it.  It's also painted on the sides.  I don't know if I'm going to show it this year, though.

Jill in Progress #2

Not much further along as I'm mostly doing detailed work and am struggling with various facets of this acrylic painting such as lighting and the water.

Jill in progress

Here is my memorial painting of Jill, still in progress and, I think, half done.  It's in acrylic on stretched canvas, 20 x 20:

New desert painting

I haven't done a desert painting in a long time, so here is a small acrylic one ready for licensing (please contact me if you want to license this).  The original is 9 x 12 in size. This was done from a photo I took in the Anza Borrego desert.

George the killdeer

I just completed this painting that I will make into George the Killdeer's new avatar and icon.  I may remove the yellow background for some projects and items.  This was done in acrylics on a loose canvas pad sheet.

Green woodpecker in progress

I did this colored pencil drawing of a green woodpecker as part of Wetcanvas's Weekend Drawing Event.  I'm not sure if I am going to do much more to it other than finish that left side a bit.  The photo was provided by Robert Rongier.  I only could see one leg in the reference photo.

Skimmer

This originally started out as something for commercial art, but I did more work on it than I usually do for my commercial art projects.  I may figure out a way to use this commercially.

It's acrylic on loose canvas, 11 x 14 and the bird is a black skimmer:

Killdeer chick, back

Colored pencil on Strathmore paper.  Now, my killdeer chick collection is complete and I will be putting all of them on products for my Cafe Press store.  There's a widget on the left side of the page if you want to see what I am selling with these drawings on them.

Another killdeer chick drawing

Here's another killdeer chick drawing I did in colored pencil.

By the way, the drawing I did a couple of days ago is on sale on some items on CafePress.  An example of an item can be seen here.  I will be adding more items as times goes on.  This little chick and the one I did yesterday also will be on some items.

Little Killer (the killdeer chick)

Another colored pencil drawing of a killdeer chick.  This one is of one I named "Killer" a few years back.

Firecracker, the killdeer chick

I just finished this colored pencil drawing of "Firecracker" the killdeer chick that likes to run.  I plan to put it along with my other colored pencil killdeer chick drawing on items on Cafepress.  If you want to see my Cafepress art store, you can click here:

Luckins Artwork on Cafepress