Category: Training

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Catching my breath.

Looking back on my career so far, it would seem that I spend most of my time living through periods of deadline panic with large projects, followed by periods of lesser panic where I figure that NOW I can finally gain some control over my life and relax.  This delusion is then followed by the next period of deadline panic with a large project.  I’m a slow learner.

Last week, I finished another DVD for PhotoshopCAFE, which definitely falls under the ‘deadline panic with large project’ category.  While I know that it will be ready for Photoshop World in Las Vegas the first week of September, I would imagine it will be available sooner than that online.  This was a big one for me.  While my first DVD effort was on cartooning, I’m pretty comfortable with that process, so even though the actual recording was hell (why mince words?),  the subject matter was fairly routine, as I’ve been drawing cartoons in that fashion every day for a number of years.

This second DVD, the recording and painting were both challenging, but still very enjoyable.  The editing, however, was just challenging.  I enjoy painting more than any of the other creative work I do, so I wanted the painting in the DVD to be my best effort.  While I’m pleased to say that I think I achieved that, I’m relieved that it’s done.  I ended up taking an involuntary day off once all the files had been sent, because I was completely exhausted.

Finished a commission of a cat painting this week.  There’s a great back story to this one, but I can’t share it, or the full painting, until after the client gives it as a gift.  Keeping secrets is often part of the job.  But I’m happy with how it turned out.   Recording the painting DVD created a little pressure (self-induced, of course) to up my game, and I’m looking forward to my next wildlife painting.  I’ve been thinking about this one  for almost a year and I’m excited to get started on it.

This week, I intend to finish a painting of my parent’s dog, Bailey, a wonderful little shih tzu with a great personality.  Been wanting to paint her for awhile and pleased I finally get to give this gift to my Mom.

I’ve got one more large illustration gig to wrap up in August, but other than that, I’m almost caught up.  I still have my regular editorial cartoons to draw, and five or six extras to get done in advance for my week away at Photoshop World Las Vegas at the beginning of September.  But, all in all, I think I’m finally going to be able to find a few days of downtime soon, gain some control over my life and relax.

Did I mention that I’m a slow learner?

Posted on by — Leave a comment

And the winners are…

Ground Squirrel TotemOver the past month, I’ve been offering up a weekly prize on my Facebook page, a contest with the rather unimaginative name, Monty’s Month of May Giveaway. While there are almost 300 people who currently ‘Like’ that page, there were about 40-60 that entered the contest each week, including a number of friends and even a few family members.  This is why I had to have an impartial person make the draw each week.  I have to tell you, it was a lot of fun for me and I really want to thank those who participated.  I’ll definitely be doing this again.

The winners and their prize choices for each week were as follows…

Week 1: JAKE KODAK, small Grizzly print

Week 2: DANA McKAY, small Wolf print

Week 3: TONY DRUMM, large wolf print

Week 4: PAT WENDT, large ground squirrel print

BONUS: KEVIN LEBLANC, training dvd

Some of the comments over the month made me laugh out loud, as did the very feeble tongue-in-cheek attempts to bribe or coerce me.  My totem paintings are the most enjoyable work I’ve done to date and it’s flattering that so many of you wanted a print. In a perfect world, I would have given a print to everyone who entered, but I’m just not that wealthy…yet.

The questions I asked over the four weeks gave me food for thought.  Week 1 gave me a little insight into what you do to be creative, and as I said on the Facebook page, I agree that cooking is definitely a creative pursuit.  I’ve watched my wife experiment in the kitchen and she’s come up with some wonderful dishes with her own personal flair.  Cooking and baking is definitely NOT a skill or talent I possess, so I have a lot of respect for those who do.  I would encourage everyone to make time to be creative.  Try those artistic pursuits you might have been afraid to and just do it for the fun of it.  Nobody has to know but you.

In week 2, I wanted to know what your favorite cartoon character was, and I was surprised to see a few I’d never heard of, so I looked them up, and received a little education.  As for the rest of those listed, it was like a taking a walk through my Saturday morning childhood and I really enjoyed that.  Incidentally, Wile E. Coyote has always been my favorite.  You have to respect somebody who never gives up, no matter what life (or a Warner Brothers writer) throws at him.  I’m a big fan of Looney Tunes.

Week 3 asked you for your favorite movie character, and I love that so many of you seem to like movies as much as I do.  I must confess, however, to being shocked that nobody listed Carl Spackler from Caddyshack as their favorite movie character.  “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort?”

And finally, in Week 4, I asked which wild animal you’d like to me to paint.  Some of the animals you mentioned are already on my list, such as a beaver, sea otter, fox and cougar.  Others were welcome additions to my current list, especially the bison.  I even went as far as looking at some reference photos for that one after it was suggested, as I think that fur would be an interesting challenge.

One thing is clear, many of you want to see an African series, and I assure you, I’ll eventually get to it.  Lion, giraffe, cheetah, lemur, gorilla,…it’s a big list.  I agree with my friend Gudrun who suggested the hippo.  That leathery skin would be a challenge, and I’d like to give that a go.   Looks like I’ll be going on safari in the future, or spending more time at the Calgary Zoo.

Finally, I was able to give a DVD away to another cartoonist, and I hope that perhaps some of the things I’ve learned will contribute to his development,  just as other artists continue to contribute to my own.

Once again, thanks to all who participated.  I quite enjoyed giving these items away.  For those who didn’t win this month, thanks for being such good sports about it.  Hopefully you still had a little fun, and there’s always next time.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Monty’s Month of May Giveaway – FINAL WEEK!

For the final week of my giveaway, I am giving away a copy of my training DVD, Cartoon Illustration Techniques in Photoshop! This is the first DVD that I’ve done for PhotoshopCAFE, and a $49.99 value!

Now, I realize that not everybody who follows my work uses Photoshop or has any interest in being an artist, so while this is a prize some people will want, it’s not one that everybody will want.  With that in mind, I’m offering a choice!

If you have no need of the DVD, I am repeating LAST week’s prize as the alternate, a 16″X20″ matted paper print of your choice from the ones I have available in my online store. That’s the BIG print!  You can choose the Moose, Wolf, Ground Squirrel or Grizzly Totem.

All you have to do is go to my Cartoon Ink Facebook page, click on Like (if you aren’t already following that page), find the FINAL WEEK post (look for the image of my DVD)  that asks you to comment, follow the instructions, and you are entered!

You have until Thursday, May 26th at midnight MST (that’s MOUNTAIN time), and I will announce a winner on Friday!  I’ll find an impartial person to pick a random number that will correspond to the list of entries.  GOOD LUCK!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

And your little dog, too!

I’m working on my next DVD for PhotoshopCAFE! This time, I’ll be teaching the brush and composition techniques I use for painting animals.  Even though MY paintings of animals have a whimsical and caricature quality to them, I realize that not everybody is into that style.  So for this DVD, in order to appeal to a wider audience, I’ll be painting a more traditional looking animal portrait.  The painting techniques are exactly the same, but without the cartoon and exaggerated features evident in the animals in my Totem wildlife series.

Meet Don Diego, a wonderful little fella who belongs to Scott and Pat Wendt, the owners of Bluestem Books in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Pat is a good friend of mine and she is a very talented photographer.   Anybody who knows Pat and Scott knows Don Diego, and from the first time I saw him, I wanted to paint him.  Fortunately, Pat has graciously allowed me to use Don Diego’s likeness for this DVD, and I’m thrilled about it.

Now, this photo you see here, taken by Pat Wendt,  is not the one I’ll be using for the DVD.  Pat provided me with a great reference photo to use, and I’ll reveal that in the DVD itself.  Unlike many other Photoshop painting DVD’s on the market, this is not going to teach you to ‘photo-paint,’ which involves manipulating or painting over a photo.  Everything I paint begins with a blank canvas in Photoshop and no photo is ever part of the finished painting.  I’ve been accused of photo manipulation in the past, and while that’s sort of a compliment (even though the accusation is never meant as one), I’m looking forward to showing a complete painting from start to finish, to finally put that to rest.  But you still need a good reference photo to work from (or a VERY patient pup), and that’s where Pat’s skills as a photographer come in, not to mention a handsome little subject like Don Diego.

Because of the length of time it takes to complete these paintings, much of the DVD playback will be at an increased speed, with my narration.  Trust me, you’d get bored of watching 15-20 hours of painting.  But the crucial steps will all be in real time.  I’m pleased with the DVD I recorded on cartooning, but I’m REALLY looking forward to this one on painting.  This is the work that excites me as an artist, and I’m hoping it comes through on the DVD.

 

Posted on by — 2 Comments

A DVD in the hand

My DVD’s arrived in the mail this week, some of my promotional copies from PhotoshopCAFE.

While it seems like quite awhile ago that I finished the challenging task of recording my first training DVD, it really hasn’t been that long at all.  At the time I was working on this project, it felt like a monstrous undertaking.  In retrospect, I wouldn’t change the experience, because I can now look back on it with a great sense of accomplishment.  Holding the finished product in my hand is made all that much sweeter because of the difficulty and stress I went through recording it.  Many times during the process, I thought to myself, “there is no way I’m going to finish this, and if I do, it’s going to be an incoherent mess.”

I’m now working on my second DVD for PhotoshopCAFE, and while it will still be a challenge,  I find myself without any of the anxiety I felt while working on the first one.  Without challenges forcing you to step out of your routine, there is no growth.  Even though I already knew that, it would appear that I need to be reminded of it once in awhile.  This DVD did just that, and I’m grateful for the lesson.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

The Royal Fishbowl

Let me begin by saying, I am NOT a royal watcher and there is no chance I’ll be up watching the wedding in the middle of the night.  That being said, a lot of people are following the media feeding frenzy leading up to the nuptials, so I had to do a cartoon or two on the event.

One of the most difficult things for me to do is create an image like this for an editorial cartoon.   Newsprint is a muddy, ugly medium for illustration.  The usual effort that I put into a painting is completely lost when the image is printed in a newspaper, so I have to be careful not to waste my time on detail that will never be seen.

Skin, hair, texture, subtle transitions of light and shadow…it’s all a big waste of time.  Unfortunately, it’s also what my painted work is becoming known for, so when it comes to including it in my portfolio, I’m on the fence.  It doesn’t belong with the painted portraits and caricatures of people, but probably will be fine in the Illustration portfolio.

Another reason an image like this is tough is that there is a tight deadline on it.  Editorial cartoons need to be drawn and sent as quickly as possible.  Not only am I often competing with other cartoonists for freelance spots in many newspapers across Canada, but the news changes so quickly, that the work put into an editorial cartoon often has to be balanced against the likelihood of getting paid.  This is a big event, most of my newspapers will want to cover it, so I felt it was worth putting a lot more time into this cartoon, as it can be used not only in the usual editorial cartoon slot, but as an editorial illustration as well.  I planned ahead and started sketches three or four days before I intended to send it out.  While I didn’t keep track, I’d estimate that from sketch to finish, it took around eight to ten hours.

For those who have purchased my DVD, you already know the process of sketch, ink, flat colour and shading.   I changed it a bit for this image.  While I did do an initial sketch of William and Kate, I went right to painting on a different layer, with the sketch layer as a guide.  All of the other elements were roughed out in Photoshop, with no paper sketch.

I was pleased with the painted image, and it if it were for a magazine or online publication, I would have continued with the painted look, but had to add an ink layer for newsprint, so it would be sharper and stand out more.  It wasn’t until all of the shading and painting was done that I added the ink.  Many publications have different printing processes, so the cartoons end up lighter in some newspapers.  The ink layer ensures that the image will still look decent, even if the shading gets washed out a bit.  You’ll notice, however that the ink layer was done with much thinner lines than I normally use, because the thicker lines wouldn’t work for this image.

Other challenges with this image included creating a fishbowl castle version of Westminster Abbey, which is very tall and narrow.  You’ll notice mine is squashed, which was something I had to do to fit it in the fishbowl.  I also intentionally went with the molded porcelain ‘fishbowl castle’ look for the Abbey, rather than the crisp pristine stone look of the real church.  It really didn’t end up looking all that much like the real building, but people should get the gist of it.

Not knowing if Kate would be wearing a veil or tiara or what her dress would look like (oh the suspense is just KILLING me, don’t you know?), I didn’t worry about it.  I just put William in the same outfit his father wore when he married Diana.  While I do prefer painting more detailed work, I did have some fun on this.  Were it not for the deadline looming over me on the day I put the most work into it, I might have enjoyed it a little more, but that’s the necessary compromise every commercial artist needs to make peace with.  It’s an enjoyable job, but at the end of the day, it’s still a job.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Now Available at PhotoshopCAFE!


While the hard copy of my first DVD will be making its debut at Photoshop World this coming week in Orlando, it is now available for purchase as a download from PhotoshopCAFE. The hard copy will be available in the next couple of weeks.

This is a little surreal, having my own training DVD, but part of the natural evolution of being an artist. ‘Learn it, do it, teach it’ is a fairly common saying, and it does tend to bring things full circle. While I will always have more to learn, and will never be finished working to make myself a better artist, it’s been an interesting experience teaching a little of what I’ve learned so far.

This was a huge undertaking for me, and I wondered if I’d ever get it done, but I’m very pleased with the result, and already planning my next title. By all accounts, the second one should be a lot easier.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Coming Soon: My First Training DVD


Regular readers will know that I’ve been working on a DVD for PhotoshopCAFE for a number of months, now. With a final push through a very busy week, I managed to get everything finished this past weekend. The final editing days were difficult, but I managed to meet deadline, and the DVD is now in production.

Entitled ‘Cartoon Illustration Techniques in Photoshop,’ I recorded over 4.5 hours of training, taking the viewer through the entire process I use to turn a sketch into the finished image you see above. The majority of the lessons are done in real time, so I’m actually working while talking, and only a couple of painting sessions are sped up and narrated. This is the process I use every day when drawing my syndicated editorial cartoons and when creating cartoon illustrations in the same style.

This is my first DVD for PhotoshopCAFE with plans to record more on other techniques in the near future. It will be available for purchase online and at the PhotoshopCAFE booth at Photoshop World in Orlando next week. As soon as it’s available, I’ll be posting links.

While the entire process was difficult, and more than a little frustrating at times, I learned a LOT about audio and video recording, had incredible support from Colin Smith at PhotoshopCAFE, and am pleased with the result. My intention at the beginning of this was to record the DVD I would have liked to have had when I was first starting out cartooning in Photoshop and I think I achieved that.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

ImagineFX goes digital!


Just found out this morning that my favorite digital art magazine, ImagineFX has finally become available in a digital format. Regular readers will know how much I like my iPad, and one of the best uses for it is reading magazines. I’ve got four shelves on a bookshelf in my office containing many printed issues of Photoshop User magazine, various Computer Arts titles, and ImagineFX.

I had canceled my ImagineFX subscription awhile back because I didn’t have enough time to sit and read a magazine and some issues were going on the shelf unread. Figured I’d catch up before diving back in. One thing I love about the iPad is that I can have an entire library with me all the time, and magazines are perfect for this device. I can zoom in on artwork, read as much or as little as I want in a sitting, and quickly find an article in the future without having to sit down and flip through a stack of magazines. Best of all, it doesn’t take up any shelf space.

I’ve renewed my subscription, at a fraction of the cost, and all I’m missing out on is the DVD that comes with the printed issue, which most of the time I didn’t use anyway. ImagineFX is by far, the best digital art magazine on the market. I’m not even a sci-fi or fantasy artist, but I have learned more from this magazine about digital painting over the years than I have from almost any other resource.

Happy to now have it back, and in the format that I prefer.