These are simple, but done with different techniques and programs. Up above is purely digital, drawn and painted in Photoshop.

The guy below was drawn in Adobe Illustrator according to a pencil sketch, then coloured in Photoshop. I’m happy with the ink lines I’m able to create, and they’re fast to do, too.

This strange woman was painted in black wash on paper, then coloured in Photoshop. Nifty! I want to be able to blend the colours more.

Still, all things considered, they look good to me, and my pics will continue to get only better.

More cartoon colouring. I’ve noted that few people are visiting the blog on Sunday, so I can post today in relative obscurity.

Still playing with the digital painting. I think I get so carried away with the technical challenge I sometimes forget to make an interesting picture. Hence this horse, not doing much of anything. George Stubbs I am not! Actually, without the “ink” lines, this looks a lot like one of those paint by numbers kits. I promise I’ll get better with the digital painting soon. Still think you might be interested in seeing the process!

Of course, it would have looked better had I used a photo reference instead of drawing it and the reflections out of my head, but that’s the way I am.

Meanwhile, here are a few real ball-point pen drawings I did. It’s a medium I enjoy. Again, sort of frowned upon by the finer galleries, but I like doing the tones with crosshatching.

Yes, she’s in a bikini, but she’s got a personality, so I don’t think she’s just being an object. This is another drawing, in real ink this time, which I coloured with the computer.

I’m pretty happy with this beauty, and am slowly figuring out brushes in photoshop. Hard to set the ones I like. This took a lot of time, but then again so did the acrylic pictures I used to paint on matte board when I was in High school. Still have one of those.

Happy New Year’s, all three of you visiting this blog! It’s business as usual at Utopia Moment. I’m still playing with my Wacom Intuos, but I also enjoy the old school tools. These are a pile of faces, in gloomy watercolours.

I’m very happy that my local art store has returned to stocking this paper that I like. Will have to buy a block of it soon, before it vanishes again.

Sorry for the absence, but I’ve been playing with a new toy. A Wacom Intuous 4 stylus. Still working with it. I’ve used a Bamboo Pen stylus for a while, but though i liked it, the lines were jiggly and I couldn’t really draw with it the way I could with pencils, pens and brushes. This device is much smoother, but it still has a learning curve. I love gadgets, but also love my pen and paper, which I’m more used to. Stil, it’s interesting experimenting with this, and seeing all that it can do.

Here, it seems to be able to do everything my dip pen can do, plus be erasable:

Still painting random faces, from DVDs, and my squirming imagination. Kind of enjoying it at the moment.

Some bonus kitty-cats as well.