Daily Sketch: Arrangement of Three Cats, in Three Colors
Mewsette, Mr. Sunshine and Giuseppe were arranged on my desk and looking out the window. I liked their arrangement and decided just to do a few quick outlines intending to add some color once I finished the initial sketch. I decided I’d like to see just a general fill of bright bold colors, not touching any of the lines, but instead of getting out my markers or paints I scanned the sketch and colored it using one of the natural brushes in Photoshop, as you see in the two colorized sketches below.
Immediately below I’ve added red to Mewsette, orange to Mr. Sunshine and green to Giuseppe Verdi, and below that I’ve added a yellow background. If’ I’d been holding a regular old brush I might have done it differently, and might have gone outside the lines, but I would have had to layer this in Photoshop and touch up the layers where things overlapped and flatten and just decided not to, though I have an idea for another time….
I don’t have a drawing pad for my computer, I just never got around to purchasing one though I often wish I had one. The tip of the Photoshop brush is angled at a natural enough angle for my hand—for my right hand. I’m actually right-handed and though I use both hands much of the time I don’t consider myself ambidextrous because my hands don’t have identical skills,but I do use my left hand for the mouse. The nerves in my arms are not arranged normally and nearly a decade ago I pinched a nerve on the right side of my neck from using the mouse, so I use my left hand exclusively. The angle of the brush, then, is opposite a right-handed brush and I know I can change it but couldn’t figure out how. Again, too much work. I just ended up with some rough edges and areas I would have filled if I’d had a real brush or more control over the Photoshop brush.
And then I decided I liked that so much, but I’d been considering a background as well, in yellow, partly because it was morning when I did this. So I added that in, but I’d been picturing a background more like rays at angles all around. I couldn’t accomplish that with the Photoshop brush, so I just did straight vertical lines.
I might not add add much yellow around the outside, and I think I like the second one without the background best, but I like this option for coloring art.
This style reminds me of an illustration style I used about a decade ago for two logos and a piece of artwork, below.
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I’ve Got Your Back, 2013
I guess that’s what brothers are for. Or it could just be that Bean dozed off, sitting up, looking out the window, while Giuseppe decided to watch me in the kitchen.
Bean’s got a few extra lumps on his outline because he moved.
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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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Bernadette, I like this one a lot…the second one is also my favorite…:-)
It’s been a while since I did one of these, Sued51, it must be the spring colors that are so inspiring!