It all started with a big box

filled with rainbow coloured crayons ...

 

Like many small children, paper and crayons went, well, hand in hand.

And colouring inside the lines was not high on the list of priorities, of course!

 

Where I was able, I focused as much of my schooling as possible on the visual arts. I relished in the freedom it gave me to express with images what was not so easily conveyed with words. In my free time, I kept working on art by re-drawing various images I came across. In a way, it was a study of the different art forms.

Two of my favourite images I remember doing in high school involved replicating the missing half of a portrait image from a magazine, and a more unstructured image that I created where the world was contained within & around the human form. Sadly, I no longer have either image.

 

Along the way, I started learning how to create websites, which in turn introduced me to some other art programs like Adobe Photoshop and Corel Paint Shop Pro. Then later, I came across DAZ Studio and Bryce, bought some sets to use with the programs, and soon after moved on to Poser. This gave me a whole new angle on creating art for myself, which of course grew into the art I am now submitting for contests and by request for others.

 

Imagery is highly important to project, be it in photo editing or in graphic creation. It is the image that will draw the person in, and it is that image which will encourage them to stay and to return many times. If the image is created properly, it will remain in the viewer's mind long after they have stepped away from the image itself, as long as the right look, feel and impression are conveyed from within the image’s depth.

 

I found excellent sites with forums, tutorials, resources, and the best part -- encouragement & support. Of course, this same support I also found in friends and family as I wandered my way along a new path with a different direction for my art. As with any new learning project, there are failures and there are winning pieces of art. I am finding that I tend to work on my images until they are just right in feel and in appearance. When I look back at my progress, I can see how I have improved, and where I still want to develop my skills to a finer degree, as well as getting glimpses of where else I can take my art focus for image content & themes, and more.

 

 

Although the years have passed since the creation of my very first piece of art, those years have brought numerous changes in my knowlegde, ability and focus. Yet one principle has ever remained at the fore: to NEVER let go of the dream ..... instead, give it wings to carry you further.