Happy Monday all! Here is a portfolio piece I created last week. I incorporated some scanned papers in this one to see how they would work. For the dog and the little girls hair, I used toweling. Unfortunately that texture was lost when I reduced to 72dpi. Aww, well.
I'm getting ready to re send my little dummy book out into the world. I wanted to revamp the final art samples to reflect my new style. I mentioned this over at Twitter and said I would share it, so here it is. Click to view larger.
Here is the original felt version:
and here is the updated one:
I have given up the desire to make the new style look exactly like the original felt. I was stressing myself out too much with it and realized that it was defeating the purpose of... less stress.
I'm often asked why I transitioned to digital and there are many reasons. Number one, it's a lot of fun! I have way more freedom now and I look forward to experimenting and exploring. Now, I can try several color or pattern scenarios without having to commit.
Another major reason is it's much easier to meet deadlines. Over the years, I've noticed more and more that publishers are wanting changes to the final art. This was challenging with my traditional pieces. Often, it meant completely starting over, even if it was a minor (to them) change.
Artist's starting out that work in textiles ask me if I think they should work digitally. My answer is no. Not if you truly love what you do and it's your form of expression. There is nothing like the look of traditional fabrics and stitching. I still love its natural, organic quality.
I just particularly enjoy working on the computer. If you move to digital just because you think you "should", you'll be unhappy.
