You could say I've been taking an involuntary vacation from painting - somehow these periods just come around every now and then, and I've come to accept it. This time mainly due to personal matters, that I won't bore you with; but also because my trusty old computer finally drew it's last breath.
Some time ago I decided that my next computer would once again be a Mac. I started out on Mac's when I first ventured into advertising many years ago, and only economy (and gaming) led me astray and into the skinny cold arms of Bill Gates.
But now I'm finally reunited with Steve Jobs and his machines of immense beauty and power - I got my 24" iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo this weekend, and I'm in love! On top of that my old Wacom Intuos 1 gave up on me, so I went and got myself the fantastic Intuos 3. All this might sound a bit too convenient - my wife sure thinks so, but that's what happened

Bottom line is I'm back - hopefully for a while

DD for Family Portrait

WOW! I really want to thank all of you for visiting my site and for all your fantastic comments on Family Portrait. The response has been overwhelming, and I'm really happy that this crazy image apparently gives something back to those who dare take a peek at it. It is definitely my ambition to answer all of you, so please be patient folks.

A huge thank you goes out to the brilliant and generous
- both for featuring me, and also suggesting a DD for Family Portrait.
You're a great dude, dude!


- And no, I don't know their secret

The one single reason for my shift from cartoon lineart to painting, is without a doubt the legendary John Howe.
In my opinion, Howe and Alan Lee are still the absolute best fantasy artists on the planet; and what they can do with just a pencil is more than I'll ever be able to do, with all the digital "help" in the world.
The problem with these guys is of course, that they very rarely talk about their techniques - so when I found this article, it was a really big deal for me - and hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

Click and scroll down: [link]

Check out John Howe's other work here: [link]

I also realized that Howe published a book, "John Howe: Fantasy Art Workshop", which I just bought at Amazon.com, and am waiting for impatiently!

I bought two fantastic Gnomon Workshop DVD's this week

1. Digital Creature Painting with Chet Zar [link]
I've always been a great admirerer of Chet's traditional work, so I just had to buy his Photoshop painting DVD. It's really great, and I learned a lot about how he uses well-known Photoshop features in new ways. Everyone who knows about Photoshop knows about layer styles - but Chet uses them in such a cool way. His way of approaching a painting is much different from mine, so it was a great experience to watch.

2. Imaginative Illustration with J.P. Targete - vol.2 [link]
J.P.'s huge and incredible painting »Dark Riders« has given birth to 3 DVD's. I decided to buy the second one, because it all about working from a linedrawing into a finished greyscale valuepainting. If you get that step right, you're almost sure of success. I never heard of J.P. Targete before I saw »Dark Riders« on Gnomon's webpage, but he is a true master, and I really suggest you spend your savings on his DVD's. They're a bit more expensive, but then you also get many more minutes of incredible work.

GNOMON WORKSHOP DOWNLOADS
Many people are complaining about the pricing of Gnomon DVD’s. But if you live in the US, you really shouldn’t.
The $49 bucks you have to pay for a DVD showing your idol’s workflow is not unfair in my opinion - but when you live in Denmark like I do, it costs an additional $50 just to get it here. And when a DVD costs nearly $100, it sets a natural limit to how many of them one can buy.
So I really welcome Gnomon’s new feature, as it’s now possible to download the DVD’s, saving the $50 of pure postal expenses - cutting the price in half! However - you get cheated out of having the original and physical Gnomon DVD on your shelf. All you have now are some movie files on your computer. So if you live in america, there’s absolutely no reason why you should use the download option at the same price of a real DVD. My point is, that as Gnomon saves the cost of an original package with printed cover and DVD, plus the administration - Tthe download option should definitely be cheaper.
Anyway - I love those DVD’s and they’re worth every penny, but the pricing still doesn’t seem very thought through.

WORK IN PROGRESS
1. Right now I’m working on a piece for a Richard Johnson short, to be published in Murky Depths magazine. Visit Richard and read his really awesome stories. [link]
2. As part of my new job, I’m doing a painting about public activities for kids and young people in my town for the fall season.
3. Still struggling with an Erth Chronicles piece of Kira
4. And for some reason, people suddenly ask me to design their tattoos - I actually have 5 or 6 that I need to do in the near future. I never tried that before, so that’ll be fun as well

- All of this will of course end up in here at some point.

IN OTHER NEWS
· My son turned one year this weekend - woohoooo!
· I'm on Facebook, so come say hi, if you want

Take care!

The last year has been hectic indeed. New house, new job and a new son. But now it seems everything is beginning to slow back down, and the need to paint is returning. So I hope I'll be able to post more in the future, and I apologize for neglecting my dA friends for so long.