Photoshop Tutorial on Doggy Eyes

This week I proofed sweet little Oscar. His original photograph was pretty awesome. The only real issue I needed to address before I could start painting was the eye to our left (his right eye), was a tad bit dark. I created a quick video tutorial that shows my process.

Join me in Dallas on April 11th and 12th for a Photoshop workshop where I teach my students to use the wacom drawing tablet and the smudge tool in Photoshop to create stunning pet portraits from their very own snapshots. Over the years I have had so many clients that like playing art director and I know half of them were closeted artists themselves. I really enjoy teaching Photoshop to people and letting them have the fun of creating their own original pet portraits. It is not an easy fast program to conquer, but in this class my students do walk away with a basic understanding of the tools and techniques that I use to create my art. This class usually fills up so don't wait to sign up on-line at the Creative Arts Center Website.

Pet Portraits with Toys

"Beufford"
© rebecca collins /  artpaw.com

I love doing artwork of pets with toys!  In this case the client asked me to change the green toy to red. She had ordered a small 14 x 14 and yet the square format did not allow for the entire long toy to be included so I offered her a free size upgrade to a 20 x 14. This is an unusual long rectangle and a custom size that fits the subject(s) perfectly.

You can check out all of Beufford's proofing options over at Smug Mug.

Productive Day

"Kota"
© rebecca collins artpaw.com

Well today was productive and I am finally turning the corner on this dumb flu virus.  Evelyn came in this morning and she shipped out Kota and organized the shipping shed.  I spent most of the morning on the computer ordering supplies and working on a couple of portrait projects.

This afternoon I was rather naughty and took a break in the middle of the afternoon to rest and watch Mr. Peabody and Sherman.  I never watch TV in the daytime, but this children's animation was just the ticket for me today. The dogs curled up next to me and I really enjoyed this clever movie with characters from my childhood. Higgins gives it 4 paws up.

Sick Days for the Self Employed

A lot of folks think that being self employed means having an easier time taking off for sickness and emergencies. In reality those of us that work at home have nobody to answer our e-mails or phones when we are sick and nobody at all to handle our projects. And when your office is only 10 steps away from your sick bed it is so easy to say, well I have time for one blog post or I can answer e-mail for 30 minutes and then that turns into half a day. 

I am battling a weird flu and My Dr. wants me to take off until the 16th, feeling a bit better I was going to ignore him today and then Higgins decided to step in and he chewed up my drawing stylus.  So I guess this one blog post will indeed be my work today at Art Paw.

I only have like 3 pending projects right now, I do not think I am terribly behind on anything if you are one of those clients, hang tight and know that I will be back at my desk on Monday.

I know it was Higgins it even has one of his little grey hairs on it.  What a little stinker.

Unexpected Beauty

Some of you guys that follow the blog know that for the last 6 months we have been undergoing a major renovation and addition to our tiny East Dallas bungalow.  We have been living with a big tree house in our back yard ... very big.

Sometimes it has felt like there is this giant war zone of construction mess happening in my backyard, and yet sometimes the rawness of it all and the different stages are just so very beautiful.
 
Today my breath was taken away by the beauty of these tree shadows hiding behind a plastic sheet they recently placed over this window opening.

Tree Shadows

When I saw this unexpected beauty as I was going out to my mosaic shed today I was reminded that I need to try to enjoy the waiting a little bit longer and to enjoy each stage. This weekend if it is nice we plan to have a picnic in the upstairs studio on Valentine's day. The natural lighting is so pretty up there on a nice day, and soon our open air tree house is going to be closed up.

Below I will post a few more pics and below that a quick video slideshow for those that want to see more.

I do not know why but I love this shot

Sunlight falling on wires

Sometimes I can not believe it is real ... upstairs is my future studio

New Pet Portrait Blog

Hey guys, I have some exciting news.  I have launched a new pet portrait blog. I will still be posting here at the Art Dog Blog, but it is my hope that the new blog will become a teaching tool and it will be the main place where I share video tutorials and works in progress. I have to do a shout out and thank you to Kathy Weller for gifting me with this terrific domain a couple of years ago. I am finally ready to take advantage of it. Check out the Pet Portrait Blog.com and also look at my Photoshop Classes page to sign up for my April workshop.