Hybrid

You’ve all read about my “hybrid” pieces.  Those are the works that were created traditionally (with pencils, paints, brushes and on actual paper) back in the 1990’s and either completed or modified recently using Photoshop.  Some of the original works were taken to completion with full color, while others just remained black and white line paintings (India ink on bristol paper) waiting nearly two decades for color to be applied. 

Probably the most modified painting from the 1990’s is “Blue Collar”.  I thought I would show you the (untouched) before (1994) and the after (2012).  You can see just how much the piece has been changed.  The most obvious modification is color.  Then perhaps comes the details such as facial hair, body hair and tattoos.  Almost 20 years later, I went back into the piece to correct the original painting, making the drawing more accurate.  I made his hand larger, lowered the placement of his ear, put more detail in his ear, tweaked his nipples making them larger and made the profile of his face more accurate to the model’s facial structure.   

There are many benefits to using Photoshop during the creative process, but one of my favorite uses is applying color.  As you can see from the 1994 painting, sometimes the color does not always dry even.  This was always a big concern for me.  Being a perfectionist, I wanted the color to be flat, even, consistent and flawless.  You could mix the paint to the perfect consistency, you could make sure your best brushes were cleaned and ready to go, but that didn’t guarantee a flat and even finish to the color.  With Photoshop, the color application is flawlessly flawless each and every time.