Xmas Pressie two - Day 277

Another present in the making, so just some key shots of the process. I think I will need to practice my satin stitch, mine is a bit uneven. I am making a couple of these, so will hopefully get better.

I do give thanks to Urban threads though. Am starting to think I chose way to many sewing projects for this christmas!!

Full pics posted later.

Kiwi Traveller - day 260

 Still playing around with my digital art.
This is a little kiwi traveller who is holding an nz home sweet home sign.
Maybe a bit over the top? But he's kinda cute.

I'm now thinking about seeing if my printer can do fabric. I know it has to be pigment ink, but not sure if mine is. Guess I should just just hunt instead of talking to myself (which is what it kinda feels like writing this blog at times!)
Still using my manga studio and learning more and more, but feeling sad as this version a demo, so will soon need to relearn it all on gimp (or sell some things around the house and buy the full version!!)

Tiger sentinal - Day 250

This is part of days 248-249. I am still trying to get the feel of the wind and sky and haven't quite got it right. So I decided to try something new and have added a tiger.
Why a tiger? This is where a blurb about the significance and symbolism of the tiger on guard next to the girl in strong wind represents the  underlying message of protection, power and energy.........
but in reality, I just thought "oh, tiger, I like tigers".
Though on reflectional, this seems like they are Sentinals of some sort.

Windy Day PC - Day 248-249

I sketched out a design for a new painting, a girl caught in the wind with clothes and hair blowing and leaves twisting around.
About the same time, I was lent a couple of Imagine FX magazines to see if I could get the sample disc to work. I have always greatly, super megally, admired the people who use those great programs like photoshop and illustrator, but my first feeble attempt to learn such skills failed when i tried to learn the basics on GIMP (the free version of these). The concept of layers bewildered me and I just couldnt seem to get the program to do what I wanted with my scanned picture. Maybe the stars were in a strange alignment!!
Anyway, with the magazines in hand, I tested to see if the discs would work, and downloaded the free demo of Manga Studio just to check it out. Silly, silly thing to do!!
My artistic mode went into OCD as I "played" around to see what could be done. This lead to a number of hours, dishes piling up and a sleep deprived night, with brief stops to check online tutorials and a lot of frustrating "what the...?" moments.
Here is the start... I sketched straight onto the computer (since I tried the scanner thing last time and got lost), and dilligently watched tutorials and learnt about layers. All went fine untill the grass.. Grass is tricky!!! Some time on this part alone - ok, LOTS of time!!
Now to tackle the sky, leaves and feel of wind.!!!