NOW! - Get My New Tutorial - Free!

The first 10 people to enter their email in the comments section below will get a free copy of my latest tutorial - "Making Art For eBooks & Story apps" !

But please don't get it if -

You're an expert in photoshop. This new tutorial was designed for the person who isn't very familiar with digital graphics and illustration. It is a basic tutorial on scanning, cleaning up, working in photoshop, creating assets, managing an image library, working in layers, making animated GIF's, making PNG images, light animation techniques, etc. It really won't teach you anything new if the a fore mentioned is well within your wheel house.

However...

I also made an hour long Youtube video that teaches how to make a story app using Talespring.com (below).



This video will take you through the entire environment of Talespring.com. This is a companion video to the paid videos. Think of it as "part 2" The reason I didn't want to include it in the paid series was to separate myself from Talespring as far as any liabilities or responsibilities. Also, if Talespring decided to upgrade or change their online tools I didn't want it to detract from the overall resource that the paid version is meant to be...and, the paid version will deliver good information for working with many different app builder tools.

I will be fulfilling the free videos on or before Wednesday, Nov 27th.

Good luck!!!

Get My New Video Tutorial - FREE!

I'm finally finished!!! Wow - these videos take a while to put together...and then there's the normal mishaps that take place like my kids barging into my studio asking if they can go to their friends house...or one of my personal favorites - the unplugged mic that you notice after a half hour session - trucks driving by etc.

So lets do another give away!

"Making Art For Story Apps & eBooks" will be live at Folio Academy in the next few days. I'd like to give away 10 copies to you guys.

THIS IS NOT THE GIVE AWAY YET - how it will work:

1. Sometime between Monday & Friday the 30th of November I'll make another blog post announcing the give away.

2. If you see the blog post - quickly enter your email in the comments section below. Please use the email that's already associated with your Folio Academy account - or if you don't have an account just enter your primary email address so I can set you up with your free account and video.

3. I'll give a free video to the first 10 people who leave their email in the comments section.

Last time I did this if I recall right we gave away 25 copies of my last video in just over an hour! Here's a link to that one.

Tips: 

1. Have your email address an anything you might want to write ready to just paste in the comments section so you don't have to worry about spelling under pressure.

2. Some people use Google Reader to keep up on blog updates quickly so they won because of that - simply "join this site" on the right in order to get up to date information.

GOOD LUCK!

Having Fun In Photoshop

Here's a quick one I just finished -  I'm trying to gear up on my Photoshop skills for an upcoming video tutorial that I'm working on.

Other things I'm currently working on:

Video Tutorial for Folio Academy - Making Art For eBooks & Story Apps - almost finished! check back after Thanksgiving for the give away! I'll be making the announcement so if you want to get my public updates you can follow this blog.

Working on a new Picture Book for next Halloween! - I wish I could show character sketches.

Working on a few freelance projects  - also can't show them :(

Working on my next story app - I'll be using Kwiksher - a photoshop plug-in and it looks really sweet!

and....the semester is coming to a close! Time to get some stuff done!

Learning From A Master: Donato Giancola

Last night Donato Giancola spoke to BYU, UVU, USU, and SLCC students about his work. I couldn't fight through the crowd to get to meet him but in his talk he mentioned that he was going to go out today and shoot reference for up-coming Lord of the Rings Paintings and he really needed good pictures of mountains.

So I weaseled my way into taking him for a hike with Justin Kunz (former Blizzard Studio artist). Note: sometimes good weaseling skills are better than money, degrees, connections, bow hunting skills, etc.

I asked if he knew where to go to get some good shots and he said he was just going to drive around and shoot whatever he stumbled on - no no no...we can't have that...

If you're one of my facebook friends you know I go hiking every now and then and post a few pictures :)

So naturally I had to inflate my knowledge of the Utah mountains and offer my services as his guide - and I took him to my stash.

Donato is very personable and I related to many of the things he pointed out in his lecture about teaching, making art, and life.

He's a great example of a man committed to excellence, teaching, and family.

Thank you Donato for making Nov 15th a great day!!!

New Tutorial! Beginning Photoshop - LIVE

I just finished a new video tutorial for Folio Academy - a basic video series on how to get started in Photoshop. We had been receiving requests over the past year to offer a video that would help the person who has never used Photoshop get started.

This tutorial is a focused on helping the student learn Photoshop for painting in my Digital Painting in Photoshop tutorials Parts 1 & 2. Instead of being a general beginner course I leave out all the photo editing specific tools and methods. I only teach the tools, settings, windows, and controls that I need to make a painting in photoshop. I do share my Wacom tablet settings and opinions as well.  If you're familiar with Photoshop you won't need this video but will probably be fine jumping into parts 1 & 2 of Digital Painting in Photoshop.


If you know anyone who has wanted to move from traditional mediums like acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, etc - this video might be just the thing to get them started.

If any of you have already purchased my Digital Painting in Photoshop parts 1 or 2 and would like this beginner course please just leave a comment below - make sure you leave your email address associated with your http://folioacademy.com/ account so I can look you up - and I'll GIFT you this new tutorial for free!

One more thing - I do not paint in this new video but I do explain how to get around in photoshop in the most basic ways - and how to use many of the tools. Check it out at Folio Academy - click here.

Have You Ever Cried Over Your Art?

Have you ever shed tears because your art didn't turn out the way you wanted it to?...then you're an artist.

Have you ever gotten angry over your art?...then you're an artist.

Have you ever torn up your art in frustration?...then you're an artist.

Have you ever burned a painting in anger?...then you're an artist.

Have you ever quit being an artist?...then you're an artist - face it.

Have you ever been defensive of your art?...then you're an artist.

Ever purposely hid your art?...then you're an artist.

Had a temper tantrum over your art?... you're an artist.

Felt like you'll never be as good as _________?...you're an artist.

Wish you were appreciated for your creative contributions?...sounds like an artist.

 

If you answered yes to any of the questions above you my friend are an artist - deal with it. You cry because you care. You're anger will make you better because you have a  vision of what it could have been - should have been. Your passion fuels you to push on - push past. Your fear is motivating. Your emotions are a result of your desire. You are learning to speak a visual language. You may stray but were meant to create. You have a calling.

I was never the best. I am not the best. I almost got kicked out of my college illustration program. I later taught in the same program. I don't draw as well as some of my students. I cringe at the piece above and remember the feelings of disappointment because it didn't turn out half as well as the vision in my mind of a cool family portrait. I'm glad I can laugh at it now - you can too - we learn by doing. Doing and failing and doing and failing...and failing again but learning from our failures.

This process should be taught in public schools. It's not. It's a beautiful natural way to learn. The reason we struggle is because we've not been taught to embrace this process. We take it personally when we fail.

I have cried, gotten angry, yelled, torn up, quit, and shed tears over my art. I was never content. I am not content. I won't be content. I love what I do. I love sharing what I do. Do you?

I am an artist and so are you.

My New Story App - I Eat You! - Live!

I'm really happy to announce that I Eat You! is live in Apple's app store! I learned a ton working on this little puppy - I mean fish. And as fate would have it my sister found a typo right after we submitted the app! Dang it! Even after my wife and I went over it a bunch of times! Well - I'm not going to tell you which word it is - you might not be able to find it either - and no this isn't a marketing stunt - I'm not that clever. Anyway - the good thing is I can make the fix and offer it as an update - presto! Can't do that with print...or with Amazon or Pubit ebooks. If you take your file down to replace it on Amazon or B&N you will lose your sales rank - kiss of death if you were getting sales...one more example of how Apple thinks things through before they launch.

My next story app will be a bit more complicated - working out the story now - I love working with sound, animation, illustration, and voice! So much fun!

I'd love to get feedback on this app if you decide to check it out. The target age group is about 3-6. As soon as the update goes into effect I'll start submitting it for review. Check it out here.