The Day That I Decided I Could Draw...

At the start of BoundingSquirrel, I only had one aim: to explore what the heck someone nearly 40 was doing trying to develop a skill they never thought they had (and had never previously missed). Ever since, I've done my best to describe that "dribs-and-drabs-followed-by-giant-leaps," journey.

Never once during that time did I ever feel I could "really draw anything." At some point, I reasoned, the whole bizarre circus was going to play itself out, and I'd go back to being "normal" again. Writing, reading, thinking...and never venturing beyond stickmen.

Yesterday, I finally realised that that will (probably) never happen. And that I'm fine with that.

I set out to draw (well, digitally paint, with good old Twisted Brush Pro, again) a cricketer. For my Dad's 70th birthday. (If you're not familiar with cricket, "not out" means "still batting".)

And then...

And, joy of joys...it pretty much turned out that way. 

Of course there's a lot I would change or do better-as always. And there will surely be new and different challenges right up ahead...That's life... But somehow, it was a tiny piece of evidence, a tiny bit of confidence,  that just pushed me into the, "yeah, I can do this," camp. (The picture shows Zazzle's mock-up of the card, with their font).

Watch this space whilst I work out what happens next...

Spring Daffodils...At Last

I'm excited more because we've actually *got* daffodils here at long last than anything else. To celebrate that, here are a couple of daffodils in digital oil pastels.

And that's about it for this week because, like everyone else here in London, spring's belated appearance is all I can think about.

The background for these little guys will have to come later,  I'm more interested in poking my alabaster face out of doors whilst the miracle lasts...

Besides, I couldn't help noticing that even without a background, they make quite a nice pattern.

 Maybe it'll be just the thing for that foray into Spoonflower.Com I keep thinking about.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better go and catch more of the spring before it thinks better of it and disappears again...

19/04/13 Update: Since it's got all chilly again, a single daffodil now has a background...

For speakers, phonecases and other giftss with a daffodil pattern, have a look at:

Bright Yellow Daffodil Pattern speakers by BoundingSquirrel
Shop for a iphone travel speaker online.

Three Things I'm Loving This Week...

Three things I'm loving this week...

1. The wonderful colour psychology infographic by Carey Jolliffe, posted at Lifehacker by Melanie Pinola.

2. This timely post entitled "Why You'll Never be Ready" at ForTheCreators.Com.

3. And lastly, I'm doing the happy dance, because I've finally managed a digital painting of a building. (Digital painting, you'll remember is something I'm still much more nervous about than photomanipulation, photography, or graphic design).

 This building will not win prizes, has many faults, and will not be going in the gallery. But the fact that I'm showing you this at all is a testament to the power of the FortheCreators blog post...So here goes...

What I Learnt From a Revamp...And a Great Book

If you've followed BoundingSquirrel for a while, and today's image post seems familiar, you'd be right. The first version of this image appeared in a previous post.

Trouble was, the original never felt quite "right", somehow. But I couldn't identify what was wrong. How could a simple picture and some text still not feel "right"?

Or at least, I couldn't identify what was wrong until I read the rather wonderful Digital Art Wonderland, by Angi  Sullins and Silas Toball. In case you're wondering, the answer to my problem was that I needed better, "authentication of text"...A.k.a playing around in much more detail with the composition and blending options of text within Photoshop. (Ever keen to put learning into action, I also applied these principles in the images in this post and this one.)

But whether you have this or any other digital art problem...or no problem at all, but you'd still like to drool at lovely images, this is a fabulous book.

Yes it's already been out for a year or so. (I think I heard about it before, but didn't feel ready for it as an absolute beginner).  But if you already know at least some of your way around Photoshop, I couldn't say enough good things about it. In any event, many of the techniques described seem reasonably, "evergreen," no matter how much Photoshop gets updated around them. And the encouragement in the text would inspire anyone with even an ounce of desire to create digital art, whatever the year happens to be.

A point to bear in mind

BTW, I bought the Kindle edition, but only because I can read it on a colour tablet. This book is crammed with colourful images, so if your e-reader is black and white, a hard copy really will be a good investment.

Finally, yes, the link to the book below  *is* an affiliate link, and if you decide to buy it that way, I will get a (tiny) percentage of the cover price. But if you enjoy creating digital art, get hold of this (in whatever way works for you). It's a lovely, and inspiring, read.

Happy St Patrick's Day...

We live in a part of London that celebrates St Patrick's Day very seriously indeed. Which of course means there will be as much merriment as possible tonight.

So, although I only have Irish ancestors, it seems appropriate to get into the spirit of the thing with this little picture. The basic idea was, "Why not create the look of a sampler for a traditional Celtic blessing, in the same way that people have always done for biblical verses?"

Anyway, enjoy. As ever, although I created this a couple of weeks ago I *still* didn't get my act together in time to put it on sale anywhere for March 17th. Maybe March 17th 2014, instead...

However, you can send and enjoy it as a free ecard whenever you wish, and not just on St Patrick's Day.