More Hand Turkeys

More Hand Turkeys, and these are from the members at Flickr. If you click any image you can go to that turkey-hand maker's photo stream. I am so inspired ...tomorrow I will make my own hand turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I would love to take credit for these stunning hand-turkeys, but they are stock images from a stock agency. They make me want to create my own.

Scout in the Style Of Bella

"Scout"

A lot of times people see a dog or portrait on the web site and they tell me " I want my dog to look just like Mr. Rover". They do not care that Mr. Rover is a black lab and they have a small white Maltese. It is a lot like me going to the hair salon and asking for a Jennifer Aniston hair cut. I can get the same style, but I will never look like Jennifer.

Well a recent client requested a similar style to a popular pup on the site named Bella. While his dog has a different brindle coat coloring, this guy totally nailed the proper pose and posture for us to mimic that portrait well. He could not have chosen a better dog to pattern his portrait after. Scout's Dad knew what he wanted and was able to give us the perfect photo to work from. We altered an ear and then the rest was easy. See Bella below to compare.

This client's portrait turned out great for 3 reasons:
#1 He had a practical vision of what he wanted.
#2 He communicated that well to us.
#3 He gave us a high quality photo to work with.

Ok ... make that 4 reasons ... Scout was a stunning pup to start with.

"Bella"

Woody

This is Woody, and I got to meet this pup in person. The background above is a variation on the ground I have been playing with all week. I love how versatile it is. The client actually requested it in reds after she saw her proofs, which I was not sure about, but it worked out lovely ...see last image in post.

Coming up with new patterns and background options is always a challenge and yet I feel it is so important to try to keep a fresh look on the site. I find that going shopping and picking up fashion & design mags is the best way to try to keep my finger on the pulse of what is going on in the world. Most of my clients are pretty educated when it comes to design and style. Here at Art Paw we try hard to stay ahead of the curve when we can.

New Pug Art "Milo"

This is Milo the happy pug. I love this portrait and Milo with his cute little brown shirt. I have really been liking my new patterned background. I created it by combining a fancy wallpaper type floral with a halftone dot pattern at a low opacity. It looks likes the store Urban Outfitters to me.

Today I am printing art, working on portraits and ordering supplies. I am on my own today so I should be able to get a lot done. We are really getting busy with holiday orders. Last year our rush did not really happen until after Thanksgiving. I am so glad some people have ordered early.

Frank The Boston Terrier

This is Frank the Boston Terrier. I love that one blue eye. I worked on this project with Allison. We were trying to capture a similarity to an earlier Boston I did named Nikki.

Sadie & Otis on Teal

Sadie and Otis were both approved on this lovely deep teal ground. We are busy working like crazy to get all of the recent orders worked on. We had tons of orders come in this last week and that tells me that you guys are paying attention to our deadlines. Yay! We are going to extend those deadlines with a few restrictions and a variety of ordering options.

New Whippet Art

"Whippet in Blankie"

This digital portrait is Bubba the Whippet. The proof above was chosen, and I love the subtle warm colors on that piece. We have stopped proofing on-line this week and will be sending proofs by e-mail for the next month. Today is the last official day to order for the holidays. We may extend this date for a few more days, however holiday rates and rush shipping fees will apply.

Celebrity Chihuahua Topaz

Last week we shipped our first celebrity dog. This Chihuahua is Mr. Topaz and he belongs to legendary rock & roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.
His daughter Phoebe ordered a custom portrait of this sweet little Chihuahua. I enjoyed skimming through her blog to learn that Jerry has a bad habit of sneaking tater tots and oatmeal cookies to Topaz. Last week I e-mailed Phoebe to get permission to blog on this project. Topaz was a joy to work on due to the terrific high quality original image. The image above was chosen among a group of 4 proofs.

The web is such an amazing place. We have shipped to Japan, Germany and England. We have also had been commissioned to create portraits of famous humans such as Bill Gates & Steve Jobs for an executive conference put on by the Wall Street Journal. Now we are thrilled to have even pushed pixels for one of Rock & Roll's living legends. I have always said I am not one to be impressed by celebrities, but it is pretty easy to get a tad star-struck when you are allowed to play with their pups, especially when the pup is as cute as Topaz.

Free Shipping On Large Painterly Portraits

Today's promo is for free shipping on a 34 x 34 painterly portrait, stretched or rolled.
To take advantage of this sale just click here.

French Bulldog Portrait

This is Ruby Louise. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Miss Ruby in person and I shot the original photo for this project. Ruby's Dad is going to be promoting us in January at the Dallas Market center. Ruby is s sweet girl and when I met her she was full of energy and curiosity.

Warhol Inspired Portrait Offer

This month I will be posting pet portrait specials that are only being promoted through the blog, and the specials will only be live for one day. You never know what day of the week a special may be posted so I hope any reader that is interested in a custom portrait will check in on the blog a lot this month.

Today's special is for all those Warhol fans out there. Order any size 4-panel Warhol style pet portrait on-line today and receive a free 8 x 10 one panel print from the same proofing set. If you have ordered a Warhol portrait in the past 2 weeks and would like to take advantage of this just e-mail us today and we will add your project to the list to receive a free 8 x 10.
Use Promo Code: 1103warhol
Order Online Today!

Offer expires at midnight 11/04/07

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Andy Warhol In The News:
Check out this blog post over at artnewsblog.com about a new perfume that the Warhol foundation is creating in collaboration with Bond no. 9. Radaronline also has a clever post on the subject, asking the question: " Wanna smell like Andy Warhol's Factory??? You know, that emblematic eau de smoke, urine, heiresses, and tin foil? ".

A Warhol portrait of Elizabeth Taylor is being sold by actor Hugh Grant estimated at up to $35 million. read more

The University of Michigan is expecting a huge addition to their permanent art collection. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is gifting them with around 150 photographs by Warhol. read more

Warhol's 1981 portrait of convicted newspaper executive Conrad Black goes on sale at Christie's next month for as much as $200,000. read more

A Fall Morning With 3 Scottie Dogs

Playful chasing tease,

Sweet winds stirring up the leaves,

Games with clever trees

Elusive prey earthward bound

Vanquished foes end in crunches

- Dan Collins

An early morning walk with the Scotties revealed that fall is here. Pixel enjoys chasing the leaves as the wind stirs them up on the pavement. Last year Dan wrote the poem above about her antics. This morning I created the quick wacom sketch of Pixel and her foes. I grabbed the leaf below on my walk and scanned it when I returned from our walk. The change in season really makes me want to slow down, doodle, bake, take photos, and in general recharge my battery. I have to do those things in small stolen moments. Like the rest of the country we are in full holiday mode, the next 2 months will be very full.

A Friday that feels like a Monday

What an afternoon. I just found out that my incoming e-mail is bouncing and it is a problem with my e-mail provider that will be fixed by 5:45 tonight. In the meantime I just spent the entire morning sending out e-mails to people trying to touch base and follow up on pending approvals.
Ok ...tech stuff happens right?
With only about one inch left to print on a very large print the HP just ran out of yellow ink, so we are having that sent over by courier ... ( I was informed it will take awhile due to some huge wreck on the freeway).
To top it all off my middle-scottie-child and hot-house orchid Ajax is having a bad tummy today.

I want to go back to bed.

Happy Halloween Yall!

Boo!

Is "Talent" Overrated?

"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work". - Stephen King

Yesterday I started this post on "talent" and then I abandoned it because writing is not one of my natural talents. Today I decided what the heck, if the post is about talent being overrated then why not throw caution to the wind and toss this out there.

Sometimes I think talent is overrated. I am fortunate in that I have been told all my life that I am talented, and I have always had the ability to tap into my artistic talents to create and achieve things. I have heard "your so talented" since I was about 5 years of age and so I have always been a bit cavalier in my mind about talent as a commodity. I have never seen it as something that you can run out of someday, nor is it something to hoard or to dole out with a teaspoon. Talent "is", it just "is". I have it, and so do millions of other people I see on the web and in the world.

When it comes to talent and earning a living it is my opinion that talent is only a thing of value if you also have a kick-ass work ethic to go along with it. Talent will serve you well only if you have faith in yourself as a well rounded person with brains and skills beyond your obvious "god given" talents. I believe talent will always take a backseat to passion and that the most talented artist on the planet will never earn a dime with their artwork if they are not passionate about their work. So yea, I would have to say that in general talent is overrated. You should value your talents and nurture them, however never work under the false assumption that your unique talent is going to make you special or make you stand out. Your unique talents are only one tiny piece of who you are are and what you have to give to the world.

German Shepherd Portrait

This is Nash and he just makes me smile. He looks like a flower to me with that one ear straight up, then there is the ear ( petal ) that points to the right, and of course the lazy tongue that creates yet a third flower petal in my mind. He is just a happy looking dog.

French Bulldog Art With Pattern

Yesterday I was in a playful mood and experimented with pattern on top of a sweet Frenchie named Elle. Bold and graphic this new look may not be a client pick, but what fun to offer them something completely new in addition to my standard painterly style shown below.

Art Paw On TV!

Our artwork is going to be featured today on TV in Houston. Art Paw was contacted to create a special portrait for Great Day Houston's show host Whitney Casey's little pup Nolita. We are thrilled for the exposure and very happy with how this fun little Beagle portrait turned out. I'll be sure and post a link to the episode once it is on-line.

Yogi The Boxer

Unaltered Photo Of Yogi The Boxer ( above)

Yogi is a piece that Allison and I worked on together. For the past year or so I have been training both Allison and Diane to work with the wacom tablet and help me with the painterly portraits. This has become our most popular style and keeping up with the demand has become difficult. I still try to have a strong hand in every painterly portrait that goes out since this is my signature style.

On this piece we sat down together and discussed the original photograph for about 15 minutes. I asked Al to create more ear on the right and to place in an extra paw. Yogi is adorable and yet I thought that the original pose made this pup look just a wee bit sad. By perking up that ear on the right and adding in another playful paw I was hoping to lighten the mood a tad.

The image below was created by Allison, using the smudge tool. She has a wonderfully soft approach to the wacom and her technique is lovely. She never adds color with the paint brush or finger-painting tool however she is totally the queen around here with the smudge tool. You can see that addressing the glow eye , ears and paws have really perked this pup up. You can click images for larger versions.
Below you will see where I have started to play and have added some more color and bolder strokes here and there. You see it most around the ears, snout and paws. I like to have strong jabby-strokes and some visible line work present in most of my work.

The image below is my favorite and the one the client picked. Here I rotated this girl and erased some blanket to free up that ear on the right. By rotating her I created a much more playful pose. I used the posterize filter on this at a low opacity and then went in with some loose line-work on top using the wacom. The color is really starting to pop here.
Below I decided to just push it to a wild extreme and colorized the heck out of this girl playing with a halftone pattern along the way. This is not my favorite, but a fun option.

You can see in the small thumbnails below that composition is everything and it is important to not let your original pose or photograph limit you. I find that composition is the hardest thing to teach, and that too often new digital artists will limit themselves by the reality of the photo in front of them.

By working as a team on projects we end up putting in a lot of time on every piece and the creative ideas and sharing of skills have been making us all much stronger.

Me & Tommy at the Beach

Me & Tommy
Originally uploaded by artpaw

Well, my 3rd day back at work after a 4-day break and I am missing the ocean. I am working hard to get caught up with all the new orders that have come in this week, and all the projects from earlier this month still needing some attention. Tomorrow I think we are going to tear the office apart to rearrange and make room for my new machine. I finally broke down and got a new Mac and went ahead and upgraded to photoshop cs3. Life is good, but with every new tech-tool in life there is the ultimate awkward time where nothing quite fits or works perfect yet.

Pet Magazine Cover Art

We just returned from a quick trip to the beach yesterday. We left on Friday and took the Scotties so the blog will be full of doggy pics in the ocean very soon. Today I am posting a magazine cover we did for the Chicagoland Tails Magazine. I worked on this artwork way back in the spring and so it is exciting to see it come to life. Their designer did a great job with the aqua font and groovy floral touches on the text place holder at the bottom right. We are thrilled for the exposure in Chicago and have even had a few calls already. Our thanks go out to Natalie for contacting us with this great opportunity.

Chloe The Yellow Lab

Today I have been playing around with Chloe. Her portrait will hang in the nursery to keep her newest human "Baby Quinn" company. If you scroll down you will see the order that I created these 5 proofs in. Click images for more detail.

Soft Painterly style with solid green background in image above. Below I added in a low opacity brick wall with abstract flowers painted on it. The textural grunge quality of the brick wall below gives the piece a very urban feel.

Below I slammed on a posterize filter and increased the hue saturation. I then painted a loose black out-line around the subject and added a red tennis ball so that Chloe's stash of hoarded toys would be larger. The filter and black lines serve to flatten the piece a bit making it more graphic and stylized. This is one of my favorite proofs. I love the color.
Remembering that the client wanted soft subtle color, I desaturated Chloe a bit here and gave her a blue wall.
Below I used a conte sketch filter in blue & yellow then played with the opacity of that layer over the original layers. The effect is cool and would make a great illustration for a magazine.