Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Just a Touch Up

I have an account on DeviantArt. One of the major benefits of that site is that I get to see which of my pictures gets viewed and faved the most often. There is a particular piece from my years in college that is far and away the favorite piece of my collection and it is below.

The Lion waited impatiently for the Mouse to explain his proposition.

For my senior thesis in college I did a giftcard set of African Folklore. That included Aesop's fables and that included, "The Lion and the Mouse". This was one of my first watercolors and I haven't been able to get it out of my portfolio SINCE!! LOL! It haunts me to no end! But I have to be honest with myself about why it is so popular.

But my problem right now is that I want my portfolio to be completely digital. No mediums other than a pencil sketch that is then colored in Photoshop. Watercolors are just too unpredicatable and difficult to edit for me to see them as a viable medium for freelance work at this time. In time I want this to change, but for now this is how I feel. I don't mind emulating watercolors in Photoshop, which I haven't figured out how to do quite yet. But I definitely want to make my entire portfolio digitally based. While I love this piece, I know that adding it ensures that I will get many requests to do work in this medium and style. So it can't be part of my portfolio in its current state.

So how do I correct this issue? I was wondering recently how this piece would look if I redit it in Photoshop? Created a digital version of it. And maybe not just this piece but some others of note from my previous portfolio. Does this sound like a good idea? Do you think something like this could enhance my portfolio and get "The Lion and The Mouse" monkey off my back? I definitely think I could add a lot more character to these and my rendering skills have improved a good deal since then (I like to think so anyway).

So what do you guys think? Below are more potential contendors for a digital do over. All of them are watercolor/gouache pieces. Any input is great!


Thanks

-Wilson

10 comments:

michael robertson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Art Fan Ako said...

Great art work!

Edrian said...

Great work! No sense on limiting yourself with only one medium. If you are great at two mediums, it makes you more marketable!

Edrian | view my blog

Shirley said...

Wilson..you are leaving me with questions to ask myself, as well...

I must say, I do very much love the watercolor Lion and the Mouse illustration..but would love to see it digitized (rendered) to see if the movement and energy that this piece has, still would have. I recently did a piece in pen-and-ink, then took it into PS and colorized it. It's not "rendered" per se, but it is more of a digital look compared to the watercolor version I did right afterwards...and got some comments about which was preferred. Though I liked the digital version better, most liked the watercolor more. I think that if you are truly going after work that you would feel comfortable doing digital more, then if you can do the digitized version of the Lion and the Mouse, time yourself and see how long it takes...really give it a go and see. Then compare. I'd love to see the two pieces together.

As for the other illustrations - I'm thinking that the Santa, and Rooster ones get my votes for digitizing too..

good luck and I look forward to your future posts!
S

michael robertson said...

I really love your work, wilson. It has such a great feeling to it. What I was trying to say is that you could reinterpret it digitally, rather than try to reproduce it exactly. Also, by painting watercolor washes traditionally and scanning them, you can the use them as textures. This can make the piece look as if it was painted traditionally. Keep up the great work and good luck.

Emily said...

No doubt the lion is a spectacular piece... but I assume you develop and evolve your creativity every day so perhaps it's time to kill your darlings and make room for your newer strokes of genius! That said I also agree with Michael... not very helpful am I… :)
Best of luck!

lil kim said...

wow - amazing work! I agree with Shirley that the Santa and Rooster pieces are also really strong.

WilsonW said...

Thanks to you all for your great input and support! I deeply appreciate it! :) I may have to clean up that Rooster piece a bit though. It may look kiddy but if you read some of those signs you'll see what I mean!! ;)

Devas T. said...

Wow, you are going to go far, my friend.

Don T. Devas T.

Abz said...

very beautiful! awesome colouring job!

come visit me, and let me know what u think of my work! :)