Just what I need - another medium! June 19, 2018 08:44
I've been messing around with ArtRage, which I got a while ago, thinking I would try sketching out designs for acrylic paintings, since it seemed I often just got stuck in the middle of a painting because I did not work out composition well. Yes, I had plans to be organized, but I ended up not using the software much at all, especially not for that.
For the past week or so I've been messing around with it to create digital landscapes. I've seen some real nice ones in the past few months, and I like the idea of making art without needing any of a number of supplies. Plus I have to say that being able to endlessly modify an image appeals to the perfectionist in me. :) But I kept getting problems with the program halting or not doing what I wanted for unknown reasons, almost as if there were layers created without me knowing about it. It wasn't until after I'd purchased the program and was looking for instructional videos on it that I found out I could have just used Photoshop Elements, which I have used for years to modify my photos of paintings and images for my sites. I never even thought about using it to create art. But I thought what the hey, give it a try. At least I know it would not be freezing up with a large image file.
I poked around and found various books about making digital art with Photoshop, but they were all for the full-bore version. Nowadays you can use it for $21/mo, but for years you had to spend hundreds of dollars on it, and frankly, for me it was way more software than I would ever use or even be interested in (like "bullet-hole effect" type stuff). Then I found this book, specifically about using Photoshop Elements to make art. Sounded good, but you know how that is. You can think a book is going to solve all your problems and then you get it and it's either so simplified that you'd like to smack the author for having the audacity to call it a book or it's way way too complex.
I got it yesterday, and right away I can see that I can actually learn to use Photoshop Elements with this book to make art. A lot of stuff I have tried to do just messing around is explained in the first chapter or so. So now I am looking forward to making more art, this time digitally.