
A lot of people have crawled out of the woodwork lately and have offered kind praise about my work. This pleases me, as I have felt that digital work is often overshadowed by the fine art community. Digital work is still work, and requires just as much skill as rendering in charcoal or paint. A traditional artist can point out the thousands of badly rendered digital pieces, but a digital artist can do the same just as easily. It's not about the artistic medium, or what tools are used, it's about technical skill, good composition, and artistic vision.
I do two kinds of work in relation to art. The first would be art that is intended for other people, such as commissions, requests, and gifts. The second would be art that I do for myself, my illustrations, sketches, and practice pieces. The digital portraits that I have been doing lately seem to fall between the two categories I have created for myself. While I create them for my own artistic betterment and enjoyment, they are at their core, portraits of other people, and are intended to be enjoyed by everyone.
Anyways, to the right we see Friendlings Redux. I thought the picture was too adorable to pass up, so after I asked the photographer's permission, I did a digital recreation of it. This marks the first occasion in which I have worked on a portrait for someone I have never met in person.
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