New painting. "What year is it?"

This is my latest painting, done as a step by step tutorial for 3DTotal. I will let everyone know when the tutorial is available. My goal for this piece was to create a character within a scene, an image where the viewer only gets to see part of the story. I created a back story of sorts and an ending, but you will never know either of them, this is all you get.




I will go into detail about how I work in the tutorial so you will have to wait for that. For now, here are a couple close up shots of my painting. My goal especially when painting digitally is to create a painting. I have no interest in copying a photograph or trying to make my image smooth and slick like a photograph. I want you to see my brush work. The bricks for example look real from a distance, but look at them closer up and you will see that they are merely brush strokes laid down in a way that only suggests my impression of a brick wall . . . my hope is that your eyes will finish the story.



I prefer to paint my digital paintings similar to that of how I paint traditionally. When painting with oils or gouache, you can't zoom way in to paint little details. I painted the whole thing from a distance, not allowing myself to zoom in too close. I prefer to not abuse the computer, but think of it as another way to create a painting.