My first e-Newsletter

The Art of Animal Newsletter Newsletter Vol. 1

Styl(us)ized Art by Sherri Godsey - creating paintings from photos

Visit https://www.theartofanimal.com

Welcome to my first ever "Art e-Newsletter" for my website, The Art of Animal.

Since this is the introductory edition, I'll put in some explanations.

The Purpose of this Newsletter: The Purpose of this Newsletter: to share my digital art! I've waited a lifetime to have the means to create the kind of art that I want to create. I'm thoroughly enjoying working with my Corel Painter digital art program.

I started a website to sell my art, which can be purchased as posters or cups or t-shirts or canvas wall art, and more. It took me forever to get the website set up, and it's still not exactly what I want. But I consider it a work in progress. However, not too many people spend time going to websites to browse, so I've decided to bring my art to them.

As the title of my site expresses it, my art is animal centric. However, I like to show animals with their human companions as well. They are so much a part of our world that I want to show those important interactions.

You may see something you like...or maybe you won't. But unless you get a chance to see it, you'll never know. And the joy of it for me is simply to share what I'm doing. Art is meant to be seen. I don't want to just create and create and never have anyone see it!

I plan a series of endangered animals, such as this Pangolin. It is exotic and beautiful and badly endangered. I love working with shadow and light.

This painting is of endangered Amur leopards. I have them disappearing into the foliage just as they are disappearing in the wild.

The Process of my art: I'm no longer able to work with brushes, to deftly handle the tiny brush points needed for detail. Even if I could, I don't have the space or finances for art supplies. But with the magic of a digital program, I can "paint" at a desktop and do so in any media I like - acrylics, oil, watercolors, chalk, pencil, charcoal, ink, airbrushes - and much more. Not only can I use any medium, but I can also layer, scale, rotate, texturize, light, blend, erase, and again, much more!

I have brushes specifically designed to provide strokes that represent skin, various light particles, fabric, plants, translucent, wood, stained glass, weather, undersea elements, patina, rust, fur, hair, blenders, scatter, cracks, nature, and, yes, so much more!

Since I'm no longer able to really draw, I use photographs as my base for shapes and use my program to "paint" them. I can blend photographs and make a whole different scene, a whole new story! Just about any scenario that you can image can be derived from splicing and manipulating and painting photographic images. It's like...magic! Here is a link to a video showing some of the process.

Here is a link to a video showing some of the process. https://youtu.be/9v7v4OpIZK0

An orangutan and her new baby

I like to paint the innocence of wildlife. This took some time as the hair is textured and had to be added slowly, changing the colors and thickness to make it natural. I used a "wet detail acrylic" digital brush just as I would use a physical brush, so it took patience to get it right, ONE STROKE AT A TIME! Although I started with a photo, I completely repainted the image with my own colors, strokes, and interpretation. Every aspect of this image has been digitally painted, even the wrinkly texture above the eyes. I had to experiment to find the right brushes to create that texture.

NOTE: When I use a photograph, the sizes vary and are more often than not way too small for me to create a painting in the size I want. Since I intend for my art to be printable on various items, I have to enlarge the original image. But - you can't just enlarge a photo and use it because it becomes badly pixelated. I enlarge the image on my Painter program "canvas" to the size needed, then literally auto-paint it so it's recreated in brush strokes. I can do it fine enough to make it look exactly like the photo...but what's the fun in that?! The auto-paint is strictly to get rid of pixelation. From that point I use my variety of digital brushes to literally create a painting.

My Old Souls Series - I'm working on a series of older people and their companions. I've been learning how to do textures and colors of skin. Finding the right 'companion' for a given 'old soul' is especially fun.

Making dreams come true! Have you ever dreamed of interacting with an unusual animal that you'll never be able to actually touch in life?

I can create the image of your dream. You can swim with a whale, ride a dragon, race on a zebra, sleep beside a lion, or even make friends with a rhino! It's just more of the magic of digital art.

The image of the woman in historical dress with the black cat that I've placed as this week's background, is one of my favorites. I took a photo of an old painting and used it as my base. I loved the interesting dress and fashion. I added the cat because this IS the art of animal! I included the process of creating this green-dressed beauty in one of the short videos that I'll eventually add for your viewing.

Until next time, be safe, be happy, be creative. And, if you think about it, share. :)

The Art of Animal | https://www.theartofanimal.com | 4131 Greenway Dr, Garland, TX 75041, USA