Digital Illustration |
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Drawing is the key. Concept sketching. Thumbnails. Brainstorming. Whatever you want to call it, Dave Titus illustrations always start out as line drawings in traditional graphite. If there isn't crumpled paper torn up and thrown in the wastebasket (or behind the desk or under the chairs) then the brain really isn't working to full capacity. Some days the images come more quickly than others but the drawings manifest on paper at some point before they ever get to the computer. Piles of sketchbooks line the shelves in the studio and even spill out onto the floor. The ideas are sent through email or posted to the web for approval. If it wasn't for the scanner they would probably still be faxed or Fedexed but now the stuff is scanned directly into Photoshop and delivered directly to the clients inbox. Once the final approval comes in the painting starts. These things used to be painted in traditional Airbrush (The old Iwata brushes and masking tools are in a box in the back of the studio covered in dust and crumpled paper basketballs.) But now it's Photoshop. A million paths are added that correspond to the lines and masks needed to create the desired shapes and colors. These paths can be used in combination with both hard and soft edge selections to create faded masks or steel-cut edges. Brushes, patterns and textures make up the painting tools that work within the digital friskets. When it's all said and done the images are sent out into cyberspace to their selected destination, but do they really even exist? Is it really "art"? The ones and zeros just float around in the air we breathe until someone with access decides to stop and look at them in the correct order that they were put together. When they decide they like what they see they send money and the process is complete. Pretty cool considering the only physical art is the pencil drawings piling up in the studio getting tattered and old. Dave Titus |