# Holiday portraits



## sigmadog (Dec 29, 2016)

It was a busy Christmas for me. I was commissioned to do a couple pet portraits; a horse and a dog.

Also, I painted a portrait of my younger sister who died in 2015. I created it as a present for my two nieces and one nephew (her kids).


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## TKent (Dec 29, 2016)

These are amazing (as is everything you do!!) Are these digital?


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## sigmadog (Dec 30, 2016)

TKent said:


> These are amazing (as is everything you do!!) Are these digital?



Yep. Digital using Corel Painter.


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## SilverMoon (Dec 30, 2016)

Your work never fails to astound me. I swear the horses look sued! You captured a hugely engaging personality in your sister. Certainly, the best Christmas present for all. So much talent in that bag of yours, Santa.


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## The Fantastical (Dec 30, 2016)

Love the horses...


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## TKent (Dec 30, 2016)

I have illustrator. Is Corel Paint better for straightforward digital painting?  I see that 2016 is pretty cheap now, is it a good version? I bought a tablet (not Wacom, some kind of cheap knock-off) but you draw on a black board and it shows up on your monitor. I cannot for the life of my get this technique down because my eyes want to watch my hands not the monitor. I see there are ones that are drawing tablets where you draw directly on the screen. I remember you saying you had a drawing tablet. Can you tell me the cheapest one that you'd recommend? 



sigmadog said:


> Yep. Digital using Corel Painter.


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## sigmadog (Dec 30, 2016)

Corel Painter and Adobe Illustrator are two completely different beasts. 

Illustrator is best for creating vector-based, hard-edged illustrations/art. I mainly use it for creating logos, but I've also created illustrations with it when I need something clean with smooth lines and edges.

Painter is best for creating art with a more traditional feel. You can set a paper texture to mimic rough canvas and depending on the brush you select, it will interact with the texture of the paper (like pastels or a dry oil brush). There are lots of brushes to work with. Too many, if you ask me. I've created a custom palette that holds about 15 of my favorite brushes and I seldom deviate from them (except when I'm feeling experimental). I use Painter 2016. I think they have Painter 2017 out now, but most of the new features bore me.

With Painter, you are better off using a pressure-sensitive tablet like a Wacom Intuos or pressure-sensitive monitor like a Wacom Cintiq. It took me a while to get used to the Intuos because you have to watch the screen while your hand is on the tablet. Once I figured it out, I was good to go and worked that way for about 10 years. In 2012 I splurged for a 22" Cintiq that is essentially a pressure-sensitive monitor on which I draw directly using the Wacom Stylus. They have Cintiqs in different sizes. I think the smallest is 13". Not sure of the cost these days, but the 22" in 2012 was about $2K.

I haven't had experience with anything other than Wacom. They've got a lock on the market. But Microsoft just came out with the Surface Studio that could potentially give Wacom some competition. There are also tools like Apple iPads and Microsoft Surface that have active screens. I had an iPad for a couple years but didn't like the restrictions of that platform.


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## TKent (Dec 31, 2016)

Wow, this was soooooo helpful. I was trying to paint with illustrator and it was pretty cumbersome. Going to try Corel 2016 with my Turcom (cheap) drawing tablet. Then if I stick with it, I'll reward myself later with a decent drawing tablet. I adore your work. Honestly, it was a post here in this forum where you were talking to someone about shadow that got me inspired again.  



sigmadog said:


> Corel Painter and Adobe Illustrator are two completely different beasts.
> 
> Illustrator is best for creating vector-based, hard-edged illustrations/art. I mainly use it for creating logos, but I've also created illustrations with it when I need something clean with smooth lines and edges.
> 
> ...


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## escorial (Dec 31, 2016)

horses confirms my belief in animal behaviour and you carried that of with the dog too...all so cool


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## Bard_Daniel (Jan 1, 2017)

Nice! Especially liked the one of the horse. Well done!


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