General
I just wrapped up the next Q&A (Art Class) section for Issue 11 of Corel Painter Official Magazine by Imagine Publishing, Ltd. Again, I don’t want to give out all of the questions, but here is the completed image for one of the questions. Be on the lookout for the issue to premier at the Painter Magazine website!
Can you guess what the question was?
When looking at the stats for the blog, one key phrase seems to appear more than any other for search terms: “artist studio layout” or some other close variation. I did a quick search and found I’m in the Top 10 for that key phrase in Yahoo! So welcome to my studio Yahoo! Search users.
This is an older picture of the main section of my studio, but I still have the same basic layout. My setup includes a spacious, organized (sometimes) desk and comfy leather chair, Alienware Area-51 PC with all the trimmings, 24″ Widescreen and 19″ Standard LCD Displays, 6×8 Wacom Intuos 2 Pen Tablet, Canon i9900 printer, 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers for good painting music, and my trusty, worn keyboard (see the white spots). On the more boring front, I also have storage for hanging files and paperwork, pens, pencils and other office materials. I also have a lot of my own art on the walls including some unfinished canvases in acrylic; maybe I should photograph them and finish them digitally? This space accommodates everything I need to create my art and also surrounds me with some of the things I love which aids in the creative process. Above all, it is “ME” and suits my needs.
Being a predominantly digital artist, my main setup may be a bit different from a traditional artist. Since I draw and paint using my PC, I don’t keep my paints, brushes, pencils at my main desk. These supplies are at the other side of the studio on another desk. The traditional painting desk has canvas storage space, shelving for paint tubes and bottles, various brushes, and all my other supplies. Since this side is less used, it is more compact. Luckily, if I need more space, I can just move some materials to another part of the studio and really spread out.
What do you have in your studio or what have you gathered together for your studio?
As part of my recent trip to the Smoky Mountain Learning Center in Whittier, NC, JR vanLienden (one of the owners of the school) took us out for a couple of photo shoots at a few of the area waterfalls. Coincidentally, JR leads photography outings and workshops as part of the school’s offerings. Check out their website for more information and to book your workshop with JR.
The first of the shoots was at sunset on Monday evening. Despite losing light quickly, the setting was perfect for some great photos! With a few tips from JR, here are some of my better shots from that evening:
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The next shoot was in the early morning on Wednesday. Leaving at 6AM, we were on location and hiking down the side of a mountain by 8AM, cameras and equipment in tow, with perfectly overcast skies. Here are some of my favorites from that outing:
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Unfortunately, with the strange weather patterns this year, the leaves had only just started changing colors, so we missed the dazzling show of oranges, reds and yellows this time, but there’s always next year!
Just a friendly reminder to everyone to BACK UP YOUR IMPORTANT FILES REGULARLY! While backing up important documents, preparing for a trip to North Carolina in just a few hours, my computer crashed… once… twice… three times. On the third attempt, I got an error on bootup. My master hard drive is going bad. The good news is that I do have a good bit backed up, but the bad news is that I don’t have a good bit backed up as well. The hard drive is still usable, luckily, so i am working in “Safe Mode” to back up my most important files to a newer drive, namely master files for Studio|chris and other important artwork that needs to be updated in my current backups. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get everything I need copied over.. and remember BACK UP YOUR OWN FILES!
With the world becoming more and more technology dependent, it can be amazing the amount of our lives we keep stored on our hard drives. Don’t lose it!
It’s that time once again. Another successful client site launch. Reflections by Toni, owned by Toni Valentine, offers portrait painting and photography services. Her work is timeless and classy, and as such, she wanted a website design that would convey those same feelings.
She admitted to me that she likes “cutesy” and whimsical, and she usually adds these elements to her clients’ proofs in the form of borders. As a result, we moved in that direction for her site by exploring custom made borders to use for the site that would effectively become branding elements for her Reflections by Toni brand. The main website border is the result of our efforts. It combines whimsical swirls presented in an elegant, symmetrical fashion with a touch of color in the turquoise accents that pull in some common colors from her paintings. The final result is a website that has an elegant look and complements her work flawlessly. Also included in her package was a set of borders specifically for use on her client’s proofs. By combining the site and these brand-new custom borders, the Reflections by Toni brand will surely begin to manifest itself in her clients’ and potential clients’ minds.
On another note, not related to the design, Toni had concerns of being totally in control of her own website, without having to spend hours and hours to update content or have to worry about the design or coding of newly created pages. Of course, I had an answer to that! Toni is set up on an adapted content management system that keeps everything super simple for her to control and update, and not have to worry about the design aspect because it has already been done! Keep your eye on the Studio|chris Shop for these setups to become available in the coming days. Until next time – back to designing!
Well, I finally broke down and bought a notebook PC with Windows Vista pre-installed on it. I have been hesitant to upgrade with all of the problems I’ve seen other people having, but I’m happy to report that I’ve had relatively few problems in the two days I’ve had this machine. I did not keep the pre-installed version, Home Premium; I upgraded to Ultimate to gain some features much needed for both running Studio|chris on the road and making sure I have everything available to me [I’m not one for (too many) limitations when it comes to MY machine – another story, I know]. Aside from some HP related problems [don’t get me started], this transition has been pretty smooth. Most of my production work will still be completed on my desktop machine running Windows XP, so I have no worries of Vista holding up my production environment which gives me time to get used to the new changes and still not miss a beat.
So far, I’ve been able to install all of my software, which is a good thing, though I’m only half done. The major suites are installed and working perfectly! I can paint and design websites on the road from anywhere in the world now – look out!
The only problems I’m having so far deal with the print spooler service, which is almost refusing to run. Hopefully a visit to the beloved Windows Update site will fix that.
After I’ve had a little time to play around more, I’ll post up some “First Impressions” for those of you that may have thought about making the upgrade or those of you who have said NO WAY! With a little time under its belt, it may not be as bad as everybody’s been saying – and it IS pretty!
Studio|chris recently wrapped up a fabulous new web site for digital artist, Carrie Woeck. Carrie’s initial web site was a single page site created by Studio|chris to showcase her wonderful sports painting painting tutorial, but after some time, she decided she was ready for a full web site. Soon after her initial contact, we were on our way to the finished product.
Designing for an artist can sometimes be difficult, because in the end, the design has to match the personality and work of the artist while at the same time not overpowering the artist’s work. Carrie’s final design pulls from colors that are prominent in many of her paintings and reflects both her personality and the fun and modern medium she works in. The design also brings her work to the front with a header including some of her wonderful paintings. At the beginning of the process, she was a little worried the background pattern would be too busy [we even went through a couple of color scheme changes] but her concerns were laid to rest as soon as all the elements started coming together and the original color scheme was the winner! In the end, she has a wonderful new site to show off her work and is very happy with the final outcome.
Visit Carrie’s new site!
Coincidentally, Carrie’s new site also marks the beginning of an exciting new line of web design products for the Studio|chris Shop. These will debut in mid-September. I’ll be posting a teaser in the September issue of the Digital Ink Newsletter, be sure to subscribe to get yours as soon as it is sent out!
Why “Fiery Red?” One look at artist, teacher and free-spirit and you’ll certainly see; her bright red hair and inch long red eyelashes give it away. This octogenarian [yeah – go look that one up!] artist is as lively as ever and still doing what she loves – passing along her knowledge of art and life.
Some of you may remember Ilona from her days in pioneering art instruction on TV. Ilona’s Palette aired on PBS in the early 70s, and still does in some locations. If you ever have a chance to see an episode or two, definitely have a watch. In some episodes of Ilona’s Palette, you’ll hardly see any painting as Ilona is as much a storyteller as she is an artist, but these episodes are still very worth it as she passes out valuable life lessons. In painting, her style lies mainly in impressionism in oil, and I’ve found that some of her painting lessons can even be extended into digital painting. You can catch a glimpse of her art in person at Wohlfarth Galleries in Provincetown, MA and online at Ilona’s Official Site.
One evening recently, I was channel surfing to see if I could catch Ilona. Unfortunately, I didn’t, but I started to wonder what she was up to these days and if she was still around. Two days later, channel surfing again, I hear a very distinctive voice… there she was! It wasn’t Ilona’s Palette, but something a little different. From her New York City apartment building, one of Ilona’s neighbors, filmmaker Melissa Hammel had created a wonderful documentary of Ilona. The documentary itself has won many awards and is still on tour at film festivals the world over. Head over to Becoming Pictures for a peek at the film through the trailer.
From the documentary, we get a peek into Ilona’s life and the lessons she has learned throughout her days. Her glowing personality really shows throughout the 24-minute film. She really is a lovely, strong woman and a true inspiration, to both artists and non-artists, for her positive outlook and by truly living life to the fullest. I mean, how many people over 80 do you know that can and will do a split!? [It’s in the trailer, if you don’t believe me!]
Coincidentally, the answer to my question of “what is Ilona up to these days,” was answered by a quick web search. It appears Ilona still teaches painting with annual workshops across the Eastern United States, including one workshop here in South Carolina, though most of her teaching is conducted in the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts. If you have the opportunity to attend one of her workshops, or have in the past, please do and let us know how it goes!
In closing, I leave thanks to Ilona for the wonderful influence and to Melissa for sharing her film with the world. I think we can all learn a lesson from Ilona’s story and apply that bit of inspiration to our own lives.
UPDATE: (I know, that was quick!) – Melissa Hammel has contacted me privately regarding DVD sales. To quote her, “Folks can contact me directly at mel@becomingpictures.com. Cost is $25 including shipping and handling and I will be happy to fulfill all orders.”
Links:
Ilona’s Official Site
Ilona, Upstairs Documentary
Congratulations, you found my real first post! In 2018, I started adding older content.
Hi everyone! Welcome to the @studiochris blog. Check back for updates soon! I’ll be leaving site updates, current news, discussion posts, and all sorts of fun stuff here.