Yuko Shimizu: An Illustrator That Blends a Contemporary Edge with Traditional Japanese Art

Yuko Shimizu, an award-winning New York-based Japanese illustrator, has been focusing in traditional Japanese art. You may have come across her work on book covers, billboards, Pepsi can or in the pages of the New York Times, but recently The Folio Society has commissioned the illustrator of over 10 years to illustrate a new collection of historic Japanese stories..

Japanese Tales consist of 170 tales which have been around for almost a millennium. They involve characters such as scoundrels and saint, magical healers and ghosts, as well as a range of demons and deities. Colloquial translations of Royall Tyler does not only provide the reader with a window into cultural heritage of Japan but also shows that human conditions – such as jealousy, compassion, lust, benevolence, charity, greed, – are not so far removed from our own experiences.

The Folio Society asked Yuko to illustrate the collection, merging Japanese style with contemporary influences. She has made single and double-page, full-color illustrations alongside black and white line drawings. The illustrations are presented in a blocked-cloth binding and blocked slipcase and a die-cut. The new edition is finished with silvery page tops and a marker ribbon.

Creating illustrations that not only pay homage to Japanese heritage but also help to make the tales relevant to contemporary readers is no small achievement. Whether or not Yuko has succeeded is up to the readers to decide.

References

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/illustration/illustrator-yuko-shimizu-on-blending-traditional-japanese-art-with-contemporary-edge/#2

https://www.creativeboom.com/features/yuko-art/

How Blockchain is Revolutionizing How Digital Art is made

Historically, digital art has been easy for any person to plagiarize for their own benefit. Many digital artists have been finding it difficult to sell their artworks for a price that reflects their actual value. Using tokenized assets on the blockchain, however, artists now have a way of making their work scarce.
To protect their work, digital artist are tokenizing each piece with a certificate of authenticity. They just set how many copies they want to exist and create a corresponding number of tokens. When an artist sells the artwork, he/she pass along the token as proof. Although someone can still replicate the artwork, it loses its value because it lacks the authenticity token.
Projects such as Anime Coin allow you to upload your artwork directly onto their platform and set the available quantity. In addition, you can avoid costly middlemen by selling your work directly on the ANIM decentralized exchange.
With the help of blockchain technology, digital artists are selling their work as effectively as those in the physical space. The increase in revenue generation is expected to cause a boom in the number of digital artists.
Several artists are also using blockchain technology to combine apparently unconnected art fields. They’re merging the physical and digital spaces in ways that were formerly unthinkable. IAMA Coin and Plantoids are two examples of this phenomenon.
References

5 Ways Blockchain Technology is Changing How Art is Made

10 Ways Blockchain Technology is Changing Art

Stephen McMennamy: A Digital artist Who Creates Incredible Images by Combining Objects with Food

In today’s day and age, it takes a lot to blow someone’s mind. However, Stephen McMennamy’s work in which he combines normal objects with food is truly incredible.

Based in Atlanta, Stephen is an art director who interest in photography grew when he was introduced to Instagram in 2012. He creates completely seamless optical artifices which he calls “combophotos”.

Stephen’s inspiration for combining normal objects with food first came in 2024 when, with a banana in hand, he found himself near New York the Empire State Building. Since then he has created a wide range of astounding photos.

Some of his most striking conceptions include a forklift carrying a meatball, a truck with donuts for wheels, fruit loops being put into the back of a truck, a paintbrush changing into a bowl of spaghetti and the top of a tomato growing from a boxing glove.

Since pursuing his passion in photography, Stephen has garnered a remarkable following. He currently boasts of 286,000 Instagram followers with a lot of them commenting on his fantastic photos.

Stephen constantly looks around for things that spark his imagination. He always looks for objects or props that can make his digital work amazing.

References

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/digital-artist-photography-combination-food-objects-instagram-stephen-Stephen-a8270956.html

https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/photos-combined-side-by-side-stephen-mcmennamy/

 

Five Free Photoshop Tools for Painting Clothes

The various options offered by painting software today are making it possible for digital artists to create their brushes and to recreate almost all the effects of traditional media. Custom brushes–extracted from photographs or made manually – are an innovative and wonderful way to add texture to paintings. Here are five brushed for painting costumes.

Linen texture

This brush makes texturing linen very easy. Just paint the preferred folds and, on a new layer, paint some horizontal or vertical brushstrokes. Remember to keep the size of the brush small and change the hue regularly.

Painter:

This spackled brush is used for texturing brocade fabrics. Although it looks plain, when used correctly it is extremely powerful. If you want to get the best from this brush, use it at full opacity and constantly adjust the lightness between the applications.

Silk and satin

Silk and satin is a hybrid between an Airbrush and a Ragged Edge Hard Round. It is a wonderful blender and texturing tool. It is effective when painting textiles with smooth color transitions, such as silk and satin.

Spattered Blood

Made by accident, this brush proved great for making stains on clothes, particularly for a spattered blood effect.

Glows

This brush is useful for all types of jobs. It can simulate most sorts of reflections and glow on brocade, sequins and metal objects, as well as act as a sun or sun stamp. It can also be used to create the fairy dust effect.

References

Krista Kim: A Digital Artist Who Uses Technology to Create Healing Art

Krista Kim is based in Toronto. Born to South Korean parents, she has lived in Seoul, New York, Singapore, and Tokyo. She cites her father, a martial arts supreme grand master, as a mentor. Performing martial arts and watching him practicing superhuman acts growing up taught her about becoming her own master.
After pursuing a degree in political science at the University of Toronto, Kim obtained a master’s degree in fine arts from Singapore’s LaSalle College of the Arts. In the middle of her studies, she switched focus from expressionist painting to digital art. According to her, she decided to move to digital art because light is the new ink.
Currently, Kim exhibits at art fairs and in galleries globally in New York, Miami, Brussels and Paris and is writing a book on the Techism movement which she hopes to publish next year. She presents artwork in the public space because she wishes to give back to society. Since she believes that people need meditative environments, she creates healing art using the digital technology.
Kim’s artworks give forth meditative energy and showcase the healing aspect of digital art. They are luminous and promote the well-being and mindfulness.
References
https://www.forbes.com/sites/yjeanmundelsalle/2018/03/08/like-a-new-digital-rothko-krista-kim-uses-technology-to-create-meditative-healing-art/#ad0846b7cc65
https://www.forbes.com/sites/yjeanmundelsalle/2018/03/04/artist-krista-kim-and-lanvin-harness-the-power-of-digital-technology-to-create-a-more-humane-world/#588481512e4d

Lilian Darmono Explains How to Draw Animals Accurately and Convey Personality

Lilian Darmono has specialized in illustration and motion design, and her visualization of animals is amazing. She has pursued a motion design career for over 15 years. She has worked with brands like Mastercard, Honda, Unilever, and Google. She explains how to draw stylized animals with accuracy

According to Lilian, preserving the environment and nature should be important to artists. She’s illustrated educational animations about endangered species, public service announcement videos by Australian councils, a campaign on bottled spring water for Flaunt and Axis animation, and character design on wholesome produce from British farmers for Hornet.

Lilian explains that it takes time to come up with the right balance of charm and personality against accuracy. It also takes time to find the balance of stylization against scientific accuracy.

One of the greatest places to start honing your animal drawing skill is practicing drawing from life because it trains eye-hand-mind coordination. Then, find the right references images and understand how to interpret these references into illustrations that are usable for animation.

Drawing out an animal’s personality and character is as important as accuracy if you want to create a connection between your audience and the animal, especially is the work is expected to elicit an emotional response.

References

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/illustration/illustrator-art-director-lilian-darmono-on-how-draw-animals-accurately-convey-personality/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/liliandarmono/

Four Amazing Tools That Let You Paint in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality has been established for only a few years. Although it’s has been recently dominated by artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR), it seems hype surrounding virtual reality is set to continue. The following are four amazing tools that let you paint in Virtual reality:

Google Tilt Brush

There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of Google’s Tilt Brush application for the HTC Vive in 2015. Cartoonists, painters, artists, designers, and dancers were commissioned by Google for their Artist in Residence program. The app allows professional artists to paint in 3D space inside a virtual reality world, utilizing an assortment of brushes to make amazing art. It can work in both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.

Unbound Alpha

Unbound Alpha was launched in January 2018 and is still under development. Using the app, artists can create 3D sculptures together with other users; therefore you can create artwork collaboratively.

Substance Painter

Substance Painter is the reference finishing application for VFX studios and 3D animators. It can be used on the HTC Vive headset.

Facebook Quill

Facebook Quill supports animation capabilities including an animation brush and traditional frame-by-frame. Originally born out of Oculus Story Studio, Quill was created for creative needs for director Wesley Allsbrook and director Saschka Unseld.

References

Surreal Photos That Appear as If They’re Out of a Dream

Russian digital artist creates fantastic images by merging digital art with surrealism. A talented filmmaker, creative director, and photo manipulator, Yurich’s growing collection of conceptual photography evokes wonder and mystery and encourages other artists to explore their imagination.

According to Yurich, photos help him to share his life experience and his thoughts. He prefers to save his freedom as not a professional photographer.

By merging human subjects with majestic landscapes, Yurich’s photos often tell stories of human’s interaction with nature. In one of his images, a person stands in the middle of a field, surrounded by big jigsaw pieces that apparently belong in the sky. A second photo shows a girl gazing out the window of a submerged train, with many dolphins swimming alongside. In another photo, a man is seen painting the transition from day to night. In its way, each scene is a fascinating escape from reality

In some cases, Yurich does not use Photoshop to create his surreal scenes. Instead, he sets them up in real life. For example, in one of the photo, a portrait of a woman appears to have a torn pencil making some marks on her face. The trick-of-the-eye photo was created in-camera, with the creative use of makeup.

References

Surreal Photos Look Like They’re Straight Out of a Dream

http://www.platonyurich.ru/

Three Digital Painting Apps for PC and Mac

What are your favorite mobile apps for designers and artists? Today we will look at some of the best PC and Mac painting and sketching applications for artists.

Adobe Photoshop CC

With Adobe Photoshop CC, you will get access to numerous brushes that you can add to by creating your own or downloading more. This software is constantly being updated. Photoshop CC 2018, the most recent version, introduced controls over brushes smoothness and a new brush presets panel to make organizing your numerous brushes easier.

Corel Painter 2018

Corel Painter 2018 comes with new features and enhancements including applying a texture source, glazing, and customization of interface layout. In digital form, this app is one of the best apps for replicating traditional media. The biggest improvement of the last few years is the Thick Paint brushes .If you want to emulate thick paint effects, Corel Painter 2018 is an amazing version to pick up.

Rebelle 2.1

Rebelle 2.1 mimics the way actual color blending, mixing and drying works. Therefore, it is easier to create digital paintings using custom brushes, spreading and making water drops by leaning the ‘canvas.’ The app features many new amazing additions such as amazingly realistic watercolor behavior, improved brush engine, group support for brushes, a handful of new shortcuts, papers & stencils and tracing layer adjustments.

References

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/creative-software/best-digital-painting-software-apps-for-mac-and-pc/#3

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/reviews/creative-software/corel-painter-2018-review-worlds-best-painting-software-can-now-create-thick-layers-of-paint/

http://www.escapemotions.com/blog.php?post=rebelle-21-update-released&id=170683970292

Top 3 Websites That Will Help You Improve Your Art Skills

If you are keen on improving your creative skills but do not have the time to attend classes, do not give up yet. You can achieve your dream by using online videos, tutorials, and courses- a simple and accessible alternative to classes. Here are some of the best sites for you.

Miss Led

Miss Led is a fashion illustration website launched and run by Joanna Henry, a London illustrator, and director. There are video tutorials of over two hours of learning organized into chapters. The basic structure of the chapters has three steps;

drawing a basic figure;

adding color; and

finishing with pencil and ink.

The online tutorial will cost you only £59.99 (US$77).

Art Tutor

If you are looking to master drawing and painting from your studio, art tutor is the right website for you. As a member of art tutor, you will have access to all videos which you can watch as many times as you wish. There are also specific courses covering pastels, watercolors, colored pencils, acrylics, and drawing. The monthly subscription fee is £14.59 (US$19). You can also choose a six month or yearly subscription options.

Virtual Instructor

The virtual instructor will also help you learn painting, drawing and digital artwork at your convenience. Unlike the rest of the sites above, there are plenty of free tutorials on the virtual instructor. However, for some courses, you will need to part with £14.64 (US$19) in monthly subscription fees. There are also yearly subscription options.

 

References

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/creative-business/9-best-video-tutorial-websites-for-painting-drawing-graphic-design-more

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-sites-teach-basics-drawing-art/