Dswcartoons - An Assorted Miscellanea

@definitely-future-luke I apologize. I shouldn’t pry into situations that have nothing to do with me.

As an apology, would you please come to my tea party? It’s by the Thames, and there’s a nice view.

So, back in 2015, I got to work with Sir Ian McKellen and I was SO excited (and SO nervous) so I did what I always do when I'm nervous... I made art.

I did this little painting of Ian as Gandalf and I brought it with me to London and after the session... asked him to sign it for my twin sons (they were 12 at the time).

Ian, of course, was happy to (because he's awesome) and then asked me if I'd like to get a photo of us together (because, again, he's awesome)

It wasn't until I left the studio that I noticed that he added Gandalf's rune in the bottom corner.

How cool is Ian McKellen???

Random sketch dump go

Why is the quality absolutely trash sorry about that

So, after 2 months of working on it... I FINISHED MY DRAGON AND CENTAUR PAINTING!

It was a tough one as it's pretty big (31x11 inches, I think) and there were ups and downs along the way. But... I finished it.

Then... I scanned it in.

Then... I started adding some things DIGITALLY that I was too afraid to try on the finished painting.

First... I added snow.

And... I kinda l liked it.

Then... (this is the tough one)... I added heat distortion around the dragon's mouth. (like the air's so hot it's distorting the image of the trees behind).

And... I kinda liked that too.

I posted a video about it and overwhelmingly everyone liked the digital enhancements.

So... I'm going to make the poster with this one. Not the original.

And normally... this would have bothered me. I would have felt that the original was "more true to my art", but... BOTH of these are "my art".

There's nothing wrong with adding something digitally if you don't feel comfortable doing it traditionally.

There's no "right or wrong" in art. There's no "cheating".

And despite me saying this to others every day... sometimes I need to remind myself about this too.

If you like painting traditionally but there are some things you feel more confident doing DIGITALLY? Scan that traditional art in and DO IT DIGITALLY!

It's YOUR art. You make it any way you want.

For anyone interested in watching me make this painting... I've made a playlist of the process videos here...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeVxKOfiN6m2l0dGC2qaeWdpCnnJaqzHn

Sending Big Hugs from the Hobbit Hole. ♥♥♥

Scott

mods are asleep for xmas, time to post hole