mixedmediashop.com

How to turn digital art into hard copy? Now that’s the question I’ve been playing with.
[singlepic id=33 w=320 h=240 float=left]
After the digital photography, after the image manipulation with Photoshop, or the Gimp or whatever, after the drawing using an open source vector graphics editor that I was finally able to download and actually get working (It’s called Inkscape and so far I like it!). . . After doing all that I just wanted something that I can hold in my hands, and then do something with. Like hang it on the wall for example.

Call me old fashioned but sometimes I need to get my images out of the machine. So I tried just about every way of transferring my inkjet prints onto canvas that I can think of.

Here’s my rundown;

Some of the things that I learned and will share here;

• Start off right – make sure you use an inkjet printer with ink that won’t readily dissolve or fade. I use my trusty Epsom which uses their Durabrite inks.
  Hint: after printing your transfer give the ink a day or two to dry for better results. Most methods require at least some exposure to moisture and it makes an artist sad to see the pretty picture wash away.

• Whether you use paper or water soluble stabilizer or a gel skin, everything is delicate. Work on your patience. Take your time. Be gentle. All that and more is needed to get good results.
  Hint: Work on more than one image or piece at a time or all the waiting around for things to dry will make you crazy, lazy or both.

• Humidity and moisture are both your friend and your enemy at the same time. Expect results that are a little, well a little less than perfect. It’s the character of the thing that counts. I thought I could beat it and make it come out neat and clean every time but now I’m pretty sure that can’t be done and I’ve come to believe that happy accidents aren’t necessarily bad for my art.
  Hint: If you don’t like how the transfer using transparency film looks after you pull off the film, wash your canvas off right away. Then go again. (Just make sure all the paint on your canvas is dry and not water soluble and any transfers you’ve already done have been sealed using acrylic medium.) Like I said you’ll need all the patience you’ve got.

That’s all for today folks. More notes on my experiments with ink jet art will be coming soon.

I’ve been pretty much stuck in my studio lately. I just don’t know what got into me.

One minute I’m not painting or drawing much because I’m so busy at the computer and the next I can’t walk past the studio without popping in to do just that one little thing that might last an hour or two.

It all started when I came to the conclusion that having digital images of my paintings or photographs applied to canvas by a commercial printer just wouldn’t work out for me. (Gallery commissions+price of printing+keeping the price competitive=very little profit for this artist. If you have found a way around this formula please do use the comment form to share.)

I did do my homework and even went out to visit the local gallery to see what other artists are doing but I just couldn’t see how it would make sense for me to pay the printer. (Ouch. . . I can’t help the thing with the puns, really I can’t . . .)

That’s when I decided to return to making image transfers. I’ve been exploring the use of acrylic gel in transfering images to canvas.

Instead of reproductions I’ve decided to work on creating mixed media pieces that are one of a kind and take me back to my printmaking roots. I am limited by the size of images I can print, but I can combine media and images and expand the size of my canvas that way.

It has been fun. I’ve made some acrylic gel skins, transfered printed images onto canvas using acrylic gel and paper. I’ve used transparent film and a water soluble support as well. I’ve found that printed rice paper can be used to add collage elements as well.

I’ll be adding my ‘how to’ notes over the next few days and more images of new work as well. That is I will, as long as I can get past that studio door . . .

“Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process.”

That’s how the definition of digital art starts off at Wikipedia and personally I think that’s enough said, even though the nice folks there have a whole lot more to say on the subject.

What I have been getting stuck on is that it seems that ‘digital art’ covers so many different things. No getting around that one I guess.

In these posts and pages I want to share what I’m learning as I explore just a few types of digital media and the ‘catch-all’ digital art will just have to do me for now.

This is the category where I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned while using software that I’ve downloaded lately as well as what I’ve been doing with my ink jet printer. I think I’ll keep digital photography here too, at least for the time being.

Digital art is influencing and affecting many traditional forms of art such as painting, sculpture or printmaking as well as presenting many faces of ‘computer generated visual media’ (more help from wikipedia!).

For me it has opened the door to so many creative possibilities I hardly know which one to turn to first. I have learned that any artist who wants to work with digital media needs to get comfortable with the technology first. There is so much to learn and constant change is just a reality in the digital realm.

So in getting to ‘how to make digital art?’ I have to say I think it’s about the same as making any other kind of visual art;

Get in there and start working. But don’t skip the basics, learn about things like composition, lighting and the study of visual perception first. Practice drawing if you need to. Spend a little time studying what’s been done before, even if the tools used at the time were slightly different. Experiment, play and then plan. Finally, do what you set out to do and finish your project. Even if you throw it out later, you will gain more from it if you finish what you started.

The hardest part of making digital art for me is not getting so caught up with the technology that the artwork never gets done. I love the tinkering and the experimenting, but the time always comes where I have to stop and let it go.

I have to decide how far I want to take it and then finish my work. This just keeps getting harder and harder as new software and computer technology keep opening new possibilities. Harder and more fun at the same time. How is that even possible?

Well the new computer finally moved in and I’ve been busy getting ‘Igor’ up to speed. As usual I’ve been looking for software for working with digitial images of all kinds.

A couple of weeks ago I spotted a sunset that was so breathtaking it literally had me running to the house for my camera, but I couldn’t get a photo fast enough and was dissappointed with the images. Last night I installed the Gimp (Igor didn’t complain even though it was the experimental 64-bit version) and had a little fun with one of those sunset images. It made up for the disappointment of not being able to capture the moment. Here’s the result;

I didn’t worry about noise reduction with this photo as I applied so many filters to it I lost count. The file of the final image was way too big and I’ll have to look at ways of avoiding that in the future, but I was having too much fun to pay any attention this time around.

The Gimp impressed me with the changes that have been made since I last used this software. Notably some good help features have been added to a friendlier user interface, though it is still a pretty complex, deep program and it takes time learn how to make the most of all of the Gimp’s features and capabilities. I did find a good online reference book called Grokking the Gimp by Carey Bunks, which is also available for purchase in print. It might make good bedtime reading as there is just so much to learn.

But back to the noise. That is one thing I haven’t been able to reduce in some of my digital photos where I’m happy with results. There may be ways of doing it with the software I already have but I haven’t managed it yet. That sent me on a search for an open source or free noise filtering program for digital photographs.

My search led to reviews that suggested a stand alone program would generally get the best results, but what I came up with was the Helicon Filter which contains a number of image editing features. Helicon Filter version 4.93.2 is now available as a free download. Version 5 is available in beta and I believe it is available as a free 30 day trail after which it reverts to the earlier version. I was really impressed with how well Helicon Filter 4 cleaned up digital photo files. I didn’t find it difficult to learn and though it wouldn’t necessarily be the software I’d choose for photos I wanted to manipulate into something else entirely, this looks like standout software for photographers to me. There are also other programs available that photographers, especially anyone interested in macrophotography might want to check out. Prices seemed reasonable too.

Here’s a photo I cleaned up and ‘framed’ using the Helicon Filter 4.93.2;

I didn’t have nearly as much luck in my search for vector drawing software but I’ll save that for another post. The image editing software I did find gave me many of the tools I was looking for and I know I will be using them often.

Click here to go to my links page for more image editing software.