Ward – Page 6 – unigon pics

Level Up! 2016 to 2018

I’ve wanted to go back to some of my older pieces and re-do, largely born out of both a dissatisfaction with my treatment of the subject and a desire to see if my skills are sufficiently “leveled up.” Ironically, I keep psyching myself out worried that maybe I have not grown enough to warrant the effort. Well, I stumbled on a post from May 2016 and realized I had inadvertently already done just this.

Artist Resource no 16: ImagineFX

If you’ve looked for 2DArtist on the magazine racks or in the Apple App Store, I’m sorry to say that it folded sometime in 2018. But no worries, there is something new (to me) and you on the block: ImagineFX.

Art Fundamentals no 2: Values vs Color

This post is much more one of a pragmatic conversation on whether to “glaze colors over values” or “directly paint with colors”. Before I get further, let it be known that I don’t think you can take the strong form of this argument, in that it is perfectly fine to side on either side of the debate and be right — for yourself. That all said, it is nonetheless a perennial debate found online at various sites and critique circles, and upon reflection I found the underlying arguments worth investigating in so much as they elucidate the nature of light and color, and inform the artist of various dimensions that must be solved to successfully create realistic renders.

Artist Resource no 15: Color Gamut

If you happened to grab a copy of Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painer by James Gurney then you may recall a reference to an image’s color gamut. As useful as that information is, more useful is having a tool that generates a color gamut for you to work from. And fortunately, there are a few tools out there for you!

Dragon Doula

This piece is meant to be a part of a series of two portraits. One of myself as Dragon Warden, and the second as a portrait of my most beautiful and excellent partner. Both of these pictures were taken from a single reference photo of the two of use at NorwesCon 38 where George R. R. Martin attended as the guest speaker.