Today's Digital Painting

Over the past few weeks, I've been watching digital painting tutorials online. I have painted and drawn digitally for years but rarely have I paused long enough to read the manual or seek out instruction about how to improve upon what it is that I am doing.

I suppose I have infant Evelyn to thank for the time to watch. The father-artist cannot get anything done with a crying baby in one arm and a bottle held poised and just so in the opposing hand. Rather than sit idle and watch the bottle slowly empty I have spent much of that precious father-daughter time listening and learning. But above all else, I am now expert in holding the bottle in place with my chin long enough to click the YouTube play button.

Today I had a few hours to try out some of the things I absorbed from all of those videos. I won't bore you with the details, but there are new techniques and previously unknown-to-me tips in this latest effort. Maybe this illustration doesn't seem much different from most of my other illustrations but I see new ways of doing things and I'm excited about that.

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In other news, it appears that -- in a few weeks -- my job is going to relocate much closer to where I live. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I've had close to a two-hour round-trip commute for several years and it has been the number one source of misery in my life. Hate it, hate it, hate it!

It's been very difficult to commit to personal art or freelance work with a job that eats up 10 1/2 to 11 hours on the shortest of days. It's been very disheartening and, honestly, very depressing.

I think this will give me much more energy and a brighter outlook. I have so many ideas and personal projects I have wanted to pursue for years; and now I'm positive I will be able to get to some of them.

I can't wait.

The End