I wanted to do a little update about what I had been doing lately... when I can find the time. Sorry it's not much on the calendar.. but I'll talk a little about that later.

Since getting Painter X in September I’ve been trying to get better and learn more about the program. It’s a bit different then Photoshop in some of the way it works. The best description that made me go AH-HA was it’s just like using traditional mediums. Coming from Photoshop I had been big on having LOTS of different layers so I wouldn’t muck up anything, but in Painter blending works better if you put “aint” on top of “aint”. Of course you still use layers or you can still use layers. I’ve started with a mix of both layers and painting straight.

Still trying to get my line work to look good drawing straight into the program. I still rush too much because I’m excited to learn and finish pieces. I haven’t tried much with scanned in pictures yet..

Here’s what I’ve been working on:

<img src=\"http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h42/jlherron/BLOG%20FILES/Art/taigamusic.jpg\" border="0" alt="Photobucket">

(Sorry since I'm not a premium memeber I can only post links.)

That’s Taiga Aisaka from the anime Toradora. My lines still aren’t pristine, but they’re definitely not as sketchy as the portraits I did. I’m really happy with how the hair looks it’s pretty and looks sort of golden. I’d almost like to push that more but I figured I’d move on. Of course the body is still in progress... I stopped because I couldn’t focus any more. I was at work and I started getting a tension headache, so I figured best to quit before it got real bad.

Next, this was before the portraits and Taiga:

<img src=\"http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h42/jlherron/BLOG%20FILES/Art/mikusketch.jpg\" border="0" alt="Photobucket">

It’s Hatsune Miku in an original design. I didn’t want to look up any reference for her song costumes and I’ve already drawn her in her original outfit. It’s really sketchy and... messy, I’m not really sure how I’ll proceed with it. I may redo the line work and tighten it up or I may just color it and not have lines.

Well there’s the progress I’ve been making. I should work on the calendar art some more... but I’m so enticed by Painter. After I finish the one I’m working on in photoshop I’ll probably move the rest to Painter. I have to see if it’ll look to jarring in comparison, but I don’t think it will.