Digital Painting – Much More than Pushing a Button

As I continue my education into the world of digital painting I am becoming aware that many people have been exposed only to the “push-button” or “filter” version of digital paintings. This is both a pity and huge disservice to the many digital artists who are truly talented. I want to make it clear  – I am not anywhere near a proficient level – YET! Digital paintings can be 100% hand-painted from scratch using “real” digital brushes, 100% hand-painted using a photograph as a base but never allowing the viewer to see any of the photograph OR, what I call a “Hybrid Painting”. This is hand-painted using a photograph but then allowing some of the photographic detail to be evident in the final painting – “Sisterly Love” is a Hybrid Painting. I have found that most of my clients still want to see some of the detail in their faces on a child or family portrait but love the feeling and look of the brush strokes on canvas.In this case I had created the original photograph two years ago and loved the connection between the sisters but from a painters perspective the background wasn’t right. I went through a “storyboard process” and decided what the finished painting would look like. I searched through many past files and selected three more images, the wharf over the pond, the lupins and the foreground flowers and then composed them in Photoshop and then switched over to my painting program and spent a whole day painting. The final step was to blend them together in Photoshop to achieve the look I wanted and something I know the parents will be able to identify their girls and love as much as I do!