Inspirational Artist 

Thursday, 20 June 2013 - Posted by Shwe Thiri Khit

This week, I would like to introduce an artist who inspires me a lot.  Her name is Denise P. Garbis,  she creates exquisite, stylish and pretty feminine artworks. I'm sure you will find what she has to say, very interesting.  


Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you started your adventure with doing art?

From a little girl I always loved to draw & color. I admit I didn't care for art in school, but loved doing my own

type of art on my personal time. I started out by simple drawing which eventually turned to airbrushing. People
actually paid me to create images on Jackets, cars, wall murals & even nails. I've been working with computers since

a young teen (thanks to my dad's business) and have been on the Net since 1989. It wasn't until 1996 I discovered the

magic of digital creations. I started out by doing web templates which eventually lead me to digital art & from there

I have been none stop. I have done work ranging from the head of the Boxing referee commissions to Jane Doe who

livess down the road. I have been published from book covers to billboards. I continue to sell my art prints on line

& at local small shops while I continue working on commercial & private commissions.


Where do you get your ideas and inspiration for your work?

Gosh, that's a tough one. I guess Life is my inspiration. All the beautiful things life has to offer that are free &

we take advantage of. I feel sometimes the real world can be cold, so in my digital world, everything is sunny, 

happy & magical. It's the best way to share a smile  :)


You have a unique style, which some people may call ‘whimsical’. How did you get there? How did you develop your style?

This is easy... I tell everyone I am child trapped in an adult body *giggle* In other words being a kid at heart

makes it easy for me to create such whimsical images.

Can you please share the process of creating pretty faces as a digital artist? Which software do you use?

First let me say I am in no way a shallow person. I myself have many flaws, but I love and admire all that is

beautiful. I also love glamour, even though I can be such a tom boy at times. My main software program is Adobe

Photoshop CS, a mouse & my tablet. There is a certain look I like and some have said my trademark. Each character

(as I call them) is repainted from head to toe. Some actually altering their original features, as well as painting
the hair from scratch & many times the clothing. I do this in order to achieve the exact look I want. I consider my

art to be a type of mix-media, being I use many different sources.

What kind of emotions do you usually give to your characters?


Happy, upbeat & positive

Your characters’ hairs are always pretty. Do you paint them? Please tell us how you create such lovely hair.

Ahhh the hair... my signature trademark some would say. Yes, the hair is painted from scratch & honestly it takes me

the longest. Even after all these years. The hair is done in Photoshop using my tablet which is a Bamboo Create by

Wacom.


Your backgrounds and accessories look superb. How do you enhance your paintings?

My backgrounds are an assortment of items. they consist of actual photos, renders that are done in Poser 7 (by me),

brushes & hand painted items. All are combined in Photoshop & arranged centering the main character. Each background

is created for that specific image.

As an artist what message do you carry?

If you believe in your talent & most of all yourself, with patience & perseverance there is nothing you can't do. In

time you will achieve the success & recognition you have been working so hard for.

What part of the creative process do you find the most difficult? Is there anything, in your opinion that you would like to improve?

I find the hardest part is the idea & then bringing that idea to life on canvas. As far as improvement, I am always

striving for improvement with each image I create. There is no such thing as perfect, but each image is a learning

experience for me to take to the next level.

How can we find you? Please share your links to your cyber presence.

You can find me at the following sites...

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Inspirational Artist 

Friday, 14 June 2013 - Posted by Shwe Thiri Khit
This week I would like to introduce another inspirational artist, Camilla d' Errico. I don't say inspirational mindlessly, I really mean it.  Her artworks look special and resemble cute looks of manga characters.  I am really glad that she accepted my request for an interview.  I'm sure you will find what she has to say, very interesting.  

  • Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you started your adventure with doing art?
·       I’ve always really loved comics and cartoons, and fantasy and storytelling, so in high school I started designing my own characters and stories. Moving to a bigger city to go to arts school afterwards was a big step for me in the right direction, and I wanted to get my artwork out into different places and on different projects. So I started showing my work to galleries and submitting to contests, and working on comic projects and exhibiting at conventions, and things moved along more and more.
  • Where do you get your ideas and inspiration for your work? 
·       I feel inspired by lots of things- almost everything, from interesting words to beautiful things in nature both large and small. Even textures and fabrics can fill me with ideas.
  • The girls in your paintings have very pretty faces – please share your story how you
    develop the characters through their faces. 
·       I know with my girls and characters that they have something to share and I want to feel what they express, and express what they feel. Emotion can play a role in how I want a figure to express themselves, they might be crying or looking shy, or full of wonder. These expressions are important to me and to them.
  • Your girls appear to be main characters in the paintings together with little animals as supporting actors. Can you please share the relationship or meaning between them? 
·       Often my paintings will have thoughts or ideas that build into them, and the animals can be symbolic. Sometimes an animal can stand for multiple symbols, like butterflies or lovebirds. Butterflies are beautiful but also signal change and have a short lifetime. Sometimes the animals build a theme, for instance, Canadian Tiger incorporates animals all found in Canada.
  • You chose many different colour lines. I feel these lines create excitement for the audience. How did you choose your color pallet? 
·       My colours can sometimes be a reflection of what I want to express, or what the painting wants to express. I love colours so much, I want my paintings to share that, and often strong colours contribute to the fantasy element or place-less-ness when the figures are in a colourful emotional space you can’t place geographically.
  • As an artist what message do you carry? 
·       I think as an artist I have lots of different feelings and messages at different times. Some of them are very personal and show only through the finished painting. Some messages I’m more vocal about. For example, my painting Zebramilk features an endangered Zebra Shark and the girl is crying tears of crude oil- spills of which are threatening our oceans and their wonderful creatures. However, my paintings messages can also be deeply personal and interpretive to the viewer. I’ve heard lots of different interpretations, everything from paintings about lost love to girls wearing helmets from alien visits. If these messages make a positive impact on the viewers experience I think it’s great they can have that experience of my art.
  • What part of the creative process do you find the most difficult? Is there anything, in your opinion that you would like to improve?
·       I think a hard part of the creative process can be if I have a tight deadline, or something comes up and makes my schedule tighter for getting to spend the full amount of time on a painting comfortably. I’ve had many long nights in my studio painting until very late, because it can be hard to fit everything in, but the paintings must take time. I think this is challenging for lots of artists too.

Visit her website at www.camilladerrico.com
 And online store store.camilladerrico.com where the sales directly support her.
She like to chat with her fans and post new art on facebook.com/camilladerricoart
Twitter @helmetgirl
Instagram @camilladerrico
Camilladerricoart.tumblr.com
And Camilla d’Errico on DeviantArt

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Inspirational Artist : Sarah Joncas 

Monday, 3 June 2013 - Posted by Shwe Thiri Khit
Since we touched upon the lightings and dark tones this week I would like to draw an example from one inspirational artist.  She is no other than Sarah Joncas who has created many outstanding artworks.


Sarah primarily uses oil and acrylic paints and her characters resemble her so much that sometimes one may wonder if the portraits themselves are hers.  



What's most attractive of her unique creations can be explained in three points.


  
First one is the masterful play with lighting on face and body.  Moreover the choice of background colour within the artwork has always been natural and blends in really well with the main character.  The lightings are right on the spot and create an invitingly seductive.  Her ability to demonstrate the details in her art is surely a unique strength I think. 



To know her second strong point, just look at her works, not only can she do the lighting so well, but also she is superb in using contrasting colours.  What I noticed at the first glance was the dark blue and red theme which adds extra highlight to the painting.  So although her artworks may appear dark, because of that contrast, you can see it's dark with strength.  


Last but definitely not the least is that she can marry the graphic-arts with detailed illustrations.  The graphical drawings can definitely draw the attention of many people.  But of course I love this kind of artworks - so like attracts like and I am biased :) 
“If they seem sad or lonely, the room encasing them might be bland or alienating. What I was done for the generic-ness of the room, geometric and empty, the solarity light beaming downward…”

“The environments are just meant to compliment the emotions and atmosphere of the girls in my paintings, as well as give more understanding to why she’s feeling that way.”





Have a look at the one I created below.  My choice of colour, facial and hair styles of the pretty girls I create are similar to those of hers and I get tons of inspiration from her.  Enjoy! 




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Inspirational Artist : Enchanted Doll 

Monday, 27 May 2013 - Posted by Shwe Thiri Khit

This week, I would like to introduce an artist who inspires me a lot.  Her name is Marina Bychkova, a Russian-Canadian figurative artist, and a founder of Enchanted Doll. She creates exquisite and pretty porcelain dolls. 

I have came across her works about two years after creating my own characters.  And I've loved her works from first sight. 

May be it was easy to love, because I found similarities in style of my girls' facial expressions and her dolls.  Somehow I feel there's a connection between our works.  And I've been following her works on doll creation for some time. 

When you give some attention to her dolls' faces, you will see the face full of emotions.  Sometimes painted with sadness, shyness, insecurities, worries or expectations.  But I doubt if she add these feelings with purpose, rather all her dolls' faces appear to be full of those feelings naturally and effortlessly.  I have to admit I don't know the life story of her but I am sure that she's a successful doll maker and that she's passionate about what she does.

Her dolls are elegantly sculpted and articulated works of art. Strikingly nude, engraved or adorned in opulent sculptural costumes of precious metals, gemstones, and rare found objects, each doll intricately conveys an aspect of our humanity.

She said “The reason I love making dolls is because it’s such a multidisciplinary art form. I’m not content working in just one medium such as painting or sculpture, and dolls offer me a very diverse and satisfying tactile experience. To create a doll I get to do it all: sculpture, industrial design, painting, engraving, mold-making, drawing, metalwork, fashion and jewelry design. I want it all, or nothing!” 
- Marina Bychkova

The doll faces are done in detail with fine touches.  You can see her step by step approach from her website.  Let's have a deeper look into how she creates her doll faces. 


Look at how the eyes are made.  They look sparkling and so alive, filled with so much emotion.  The eyes are very detailed too.

The lips are full and shiny.  Not like having lipstick on but more of a natural shine. 

Choice of skin tons are another favourite.  Very crafty I have to admit. The colours she chose are dynamic, with the cheeks looking more reddish giving out a soft and gentle outlook for the doll she made. 


I like that so much that I created an artwork myself taking inspiration from her. Have a look the right picture. >>>  

The choice of skin tone plays an important role if you want to express a lot of emotions.

Even if the differences can't be seen easily between different expressions, you can notice the differences in feelings from the faces even when they are under the same theme. 

The takeaway here is to practice again and again so that the moves become natural.  Now you can see how I take inspiration from other artists and how I infuse it into my own works.  You can see more of her beautiful dolls from this link. 

The more creative ideas you have on how to create a face, your inner mind will definitely help bring you there.  The more details you can do, the more lively face you will create. 


www.enchanteddoll.com

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Online Workshop GIVEAWAY!!! 

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 - Posted by Shwe Thiri Khit
As a launch for Pretty Portraits online workshop, I would like to do a giveaway. To qualify is simple: just press "LIKE" and "SHARE" the post on your Facebook wall. Here is the link -  After 100 shares, the lucky winner will be selected from those 100 sharers. Join my facebook page - www.facebook.com/ShweKhitArt.  Thanks a lot :)


(Ah in case you've decided to purchase the course and then still win the giveaway, you can get another course or a print of one of my artworks)


Find more info of the workshop - http://www.shwethirikhit.com/p/pretty-portraits.html


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