This is something I need to get out, simply because, if I don’t, I just might get a brain hemorrhage and pass out.

Digital art is like any other skill: it takes a lot of time, a lot of practice, and a lot of dedication. It’s not something that anyone can just pick up after five minutes of tinkering with Photoshop or Illustrator. There are two and four year schools dedicated to the study of Digital Art, both as a technical skill and as a historical exploration. There are galleries and museums that document the growth of Electronic Media, Video Art, Digital Art, 3D animation, and much more. Any TV show, film, video game, commercial, or cartoon you see has a massive team of people, each with a dedicated task, that helped make that piece of footage possible.

So when someone implies to me that Photomanipulation is not that hard, or fix this little thing here, or whip something up, it makes me want to punch myself in the face just so I can go unconscious for a few hours.

I have dedicated 10 years of my life to Digital Art, both the study and practice of it.In fact, my current reading is New Media Art by Reena Jana and Mark Tribe [link] and next, I plan on reading “Art of the Digital Age” by Bruce Wands [link] . During the 8 years (yes, 8 years) that I attended college solely to learn more about Digital Art, I spent every free moment I had outside of college learning about Digital Art. I didn’t stop. I pushed myself all the time, taught myself what my teachers didn’t or couldn’t, and still today, I know I have room for improvement.

It’s difficult to stop people from assuming that because I’m using a mouse and a keyboard, or that I have “undos” and a History feature, that somehow my artwork is less worthy of being considered art. No matter where I go, I run across someone who thinks that because I know Photoshop well, that I can just wave a magic wand and do something in 2 seconds flat. It doesn’t work that way. Even Digital Art requires an idea, a method, trials and tests, and eventually, a solution.

For a long time, I used Photoshop 5.5. If it were up to me, I’d use that for the rest of my life. But ever since my hard drive failed and I started using the company laptop at home, I’ve been using CS4. Apart from a few features that I nodded my head and said, “Neat”, I didn’t do anything any differently than when I had 5.5. Why? Because I pushed myself to learn new and different ways of doing things. If I didn’t have a feature that could do what I wanted, I came up with a new way. I’d try again and again and again until finally I got the result I wanted. This wasn’t a simple process that took me a few hours. I’d sometimes spend a week, almost nonstop, working out how to achieve the look or effect I wanted.

Why did I explain all that? To reiterate my first point: Digital art is like any other skill: it takes a lot of time, a lot of practice, and a lot of dedication.

I wrote a Tweet recently where I stated, “I want a one woman show during Art Basel. I want to make digital art museum-worthy. I want it all. And I’m gonna make it fucking happen.”

I especially meant that second line. I want to make Digital Art museum-worthy. And yes, I’m gonna make it fucking happen.

Thank you.
*steps off soapbox*

Art, Life, Rants Art, digital art, photomanipulation

So yea, life has been pretty cut and dry lately. Go to my job, come home, do more stuff for the job, and work on art. That’s it. I’ve been obsessing over a new painting that has dominated the majority of my free time. LOL.

Fortunately, I DID take time of out my routine to spend some time with my family this past weekend. My parents, brother, and his son came up from Miami to visit my cousin, so I headed over there, too. We celebrated Mommy’s Day late, but it’s the thought that counts anyway. Shouldn’t matter what day it falls on, you know? We had plenty of good food, and the day was surprisingly drama free! I spent most of the time with my parents, aunt, and grandma just chit-chatting. My godkids and nephew were all playing together on the Wii, and my brother and cousin were hanging out on the second floor. Everybody just stayed in their own little space, and because of that, no arguments broke out. A MIRACLE, I tell you! Haha.

Today, I went over to my cousin’s again, since she had invited me to join them all at the pool. Soooo, I went out after leaving their house yesterday to buy a new swimsuit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a true matching pair, so I bought a top from one set and a bottom from another. Yes, yes… I actually bought a two piece and may I just say I look DAMN FINE in it?? ;D The hubby commented on how good I look in a two-piece bathing suit. Teeheehee.

The pool was fun for the most part. There was almost nobody there. Two women came along who apparently couldn’t bear to see the little girl they brought along playing with my godkids (stuck up bitches), and ended up taking her away after only being there 20 minutes. Later on, some guy  and a kid (I’m assuming it was his son) sh0wed up. The kid was nice enough at first, but apparently was bothered by the fact that my godkids wanted to play with him. Seems he said something to Sabian and Sabian left the pool looking rather glum. We decided to leave soon after that, since it seemed we had overstayed our welcome. LOL. Fucking people piss me off. It’s bad enough that Sabian is a sensitive soul. We went back to the house, ate some lunch, and watched “Aliens in the Attic”. It was actually REALLY entertaining. I thought it was going to be just another dumb kid’s movie that I, as an adult, wouldn’t enjoy. But I was pleasantly surprised.

Anyway,  I want to get back to that painting. Ciao! <3

Art, Family, Friends, Fun, Life Art, Family, godkids, mother's day, painting, pool

The roller coaster of emotions has been climbing steadily upwards; here’s to hoping it plateaus for a little while and stays elevated, eh? Hehe. For the past week, things have just been calm, quiet, and enjoyable. There’s been no drama between me and the hubby, very little drama at work, and I even managed to finish what I consider my best digital painting yet. Just click on the preview image below and it will open in a new tab/window:

There’s really not much else to update on, except maybe that the hubby bought some more gear on eBay yesterday. Here’s to hoping it arrives safe, sound, and in complete working condition. =]

I’m off to watch some Inuyasha, and then get some sleep. Ciao!

Art, Audi, Fun, Life Art, Audi, gear, painting

Sometimes it just turns out that wayyyyy… <3

Actually, my Monday turned out to be pretty good.It certainly started out on a great note, since my hubby made sure to give me some TLC before I headed out to work. *giggle* I spent the entire morning removing the audio from the movies Paul, my co-worker, shot of the wall sculptures. Now, people won’t hear the grinding of the machines or the automatic tape machine from the adjacent room. LOL. How embarrassing.

I went to lunch at this place called Cardello’s Italian Cuisine, and they had a pretty awesome lunch buffet. I had mostly pasta and bread, and only one (small) slice of pizza. The BEST thing they had, though, was their Alfredo sauce. HOLY COW. It was perfect. It also helped that the waitress was very nice and very attentive. So, having such a nice lunch certainly helped out my Monday, as well.

Right now, I’m home, waiting for the hubby to get dressed and ready to do some grocery shopping. After telling him about the restaurant, he got in the mood for Italian. Instead of going to a restaurant, though, we’re gonna buy a family-size lasagna from Publix and pig out. Haha. I think I might even buy some beers (god, when did I become such an alky? lol) to make this week a little more pleasant.

Anyway, I’m gonna go make the hubby hurry up. Ciao!

Audi, Fun, Job, Life Art, Audi, groceries, italian, work

I’m getting a Mac Mini. Why? I’m sick of dealing with PC’s. I do not want to ever deal with the headache of losing my data or possibly losing my data again. Personally, I have NO preference whatsoever between a Mac or a PC. To me, a computer is a computer. My biggest concern is the unreliability that PC’s have always shown me. I’ve been using Macs for years and years, just as long as I’ve been using PC’s, and Macs never gave me an issue with losing data. So… Mac it is. Now that I have this job, and that I can get paid for overtime (which helps a LOT), I’m hoping I can get a Mac Mini in the next week or so. That way, I only have to bring home the work laptop when I need to instead of every single day.

At the moment I am enjoying my second beer of the evening (it’s Friday, dammit!), eating a bowl of cereal, and am currently updating my website with some new work that I’ve done in the past month. I recently did a series called “Badass Bitches”, as a way of breaking away from the overdone, oh-so-emo girls in black dresses looking depressed bandwagon of photomanips that has infested deviantART.com. I like when women who are empowered, strong, and opinionated. Mind you, by no means am I a feminist. I just feel that women shouldn’t be ashamed of being confident.

Oh, and interestingly enough, I’ve had two dreams about my ex Pleas in the last three days. In both dreams, I was basically telling him to go fuck himself. Must be karma huh? I talk about him online, and now he haunts my dreams. Fantastic. *sigh*

Anyway, enough of that. Back to my beer and cereal and to enjoying the rest of my Friday evening. CIAO!

Job, Life Art, computer, dreams, mac, pc, Pleas, website

So, thanks to my new job, and the very generous and kind offer by my new boss, I am able to take home my laptop from work. I’ve now got a mini-station set up in my bedroom, where I’ve got internet access, and my 500gb drive hooked up. For the time being, I’m back in full swing, and hopefully, I’ll be able to buy that new hard drive soon. I’ve uploaded a new photomanip to my deviantart.com account. You can see it here: Summoning of the Muse

Both Random House US and Random House AUS have approved the images they’ve commissioned from me, and if all goes well, sometime this week I should be getting paid. Once that money comes in, my hubby and I will have a very nice financial cushion to sit on.

I’ve got to do some updates to my website, preferably today. I don’t want my site to just sit there, and I’ve definitely got some new art that I can add. I’m also thinking that, since the Random House US commission has been approved, I’ll add that image to my commissions as well. Although, I think it might be best to wait until the cover is out, and it has all the text on it, but I can always replace the image later.

Anyway, I need some food. Off to have myself a bagel. Yippee!

Ciao!

Art, Fun, Job, Life Art, hard drive, Job, laptop, website

I got the job, ladies and gents! Yippee! Today was my first day of work, and I gotta tell ya, it was pretty damn sweet. The job is basically this: Photograph the abstract metal art pieces and sculptures, edit the photos so that they look spectacular, and prepare the eBay listings for them. The main goal that the studio is aiming for is to make the images look as close as possible to how the pieces look in real life. A lot of times, people will see the images and think that it has blue or orange when it really doesn’t; it’s simply a light reflecting the wrong color onto the piece. My job is to correct old images and take new photos with the correct lighting and camera settings for the best final result. I spent the majority of the day taking photos, which is like heaven for me, since I love doing that anyway!

One of the nicest things about the job is that I get paid on Tuesdays. That means next week on Tuesday, I’ll be getting my first paycheck, which is so desperately needed right now, even if it will only be about $240 for Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. I work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 to 5. I’m so excited! Hopefully now, with the money coming in from the two book covers, and this job, I can finally fix my DAMN CAR! LOL. Until then, my wonderful hubby Audi is driving me to and from work.

Tomorrow, my parents are coming up to visit my family in West Palm Beach, and Audi is gonna drive me over there so I can spend some time with all of them. Later on in the evening, I’m going to the movies with the neighbors to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. Audi’s really not in the mood to see it, but he said that if I wanted to go with them, that it would be cool. Heh. What a party pooper! ;D

Anyway, that’s pretty much it for now. Still waiting for a final confirmation from Random House, and planning on enjoying my weekend before *giggle* going back to work on Monday! XD

Ciao!

Art, Audi, Entertainment, Family, Friends, Fun, Job, Life alice in wonderland, Art, Audi, car, Family, studio, work

So I was contacted by Random House Australia, and they’re going to be printing Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’ “The Shapeshifters” in Australia/New Zealand. They want to use my work “Dirige” for their covers as well! Hooray!! I’m so happy and excited.

I called the art gallery/business I visited last week, and it seems they still haven’t filled the position. So, here’s to hoping they call me up! *crosses fingers* I’m still looking around at other potential jobs, since I don’t want to hang all my hopes on just one location.

On Sunday, I went down to Miami to spend some time with my parents and my best friend Chris. Sunday night we went to the movies to see ‘Shutter Island’. It was pretty intense. It’s the kind of movie that you need a really strong stomach to watch. I don’t mean in the sense of gore or bloodshed, but some of the subject matter is just… wow… like a punch in the face. I thought it was really great, though. The story was definitely unique and gripping. Now, I’m even more interested in buying the novel it was based on to see what might have been edited in the film.

Right now, the hubby is over at our friend’s house helping her out, since she is very pregnant and has a busted ankle. I would have gone with him, but I just wanted to enjoy being home today. I’ll be going over there tomorrow.

Anyway, I must continue my commission work. Ciao!

Art, Audi, Family, Friends, Fun, Job, Life Art, book cover, chris, Job, miami, shutter island