'Girl with the Panda Hat' (AKA 'Butterflies and Music') by Daniel Grant Newton

'Girl with the Panda Hat' (AKA 'Butterflies and Music') - Painting by Daniel Grant Newton

Bam! ... kapow!  A new painting for the week, called 'Girl with the Panda Hat'. 

(I dedicate it to you and all my blog readers, because I want the fun and freedom and love for art and connection expressed in the artwork, for you.)

So I was talking with a fellow artist (and multi-location gallery owner) who is looking to display my new work (more on that later if it pans out).  And he was a big fan of my painting 'The Green Fiddler runs through my mind...', particularly because of the movement, spontaneity and creativity.

Unlike my other paintings which had taken planning to execute (e.g. sketched out the idea on a pad, then on the canvas) before attacking the canvas, the green fiddler piece was just attacking the canvas with a very limited plan of attack.  I'd been inspired by an artist, and hurried with the paints and got that inspiration on canvas.

And so was this one.  I also kept it more loose, being more concerned with the feeling and flow than accuracy.  I also didn't take myself away from the paints to document my process with the camera.

Anyway, it was very fun to paint, and I might add some more loose, unplanned eruptions of inspiration into my portfolio.  So watch out.

Peace, love and butterflies to you, your family and your friends,

Daniel

P.S. I've got some really exciting stuff planned for this blog this year that I'm a bit tight lipped on at this point in time, but if you want to ensure you get them when they come at ya like Cleopatra, then ensure you use the subscribe option at the top right of this page.

'On Either Side of the Whispering Wall' - Painting by Daniel Grant Newton (DGN Productions)

'On either side of the Whispering Wall' - Painting by Daniel Grant Newton (DGN Productions)'

A new painting this week.  I had the progress photos for this painting, but they mysteriously disappeared.  Maybe they are on the other side of a magic wall.  Maybe they slipped through the slits of time and space.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this painting, and it stimulates you to think and to imagine and to grow.  Yes, that is quite a hope, but let me let you in on a secret.  I hope all my artwork and stories inspires you to stimulate your imagination, growth and thinking.  That's the sort of big time dreamer I am.

Until next time, goodbye friends.

(That goodbye sounded a little more serious on paper than I had hoped.  I was looking for a passing gesture of momentary separation, perhaps like we were talking at a party and somebody passed between us, breaking the conversation, but only for a moment before we cheerily come back to where we left off.  

Not the teary farewell at the train station where one runs after a train through the bellowing smoke with a hanky waving in the air, trying to savour each curve and angle of the other's face to play in one's imagination until next time.  That was not the send off I was going for.

But perhaps, to ensure this goodbye is the former, and not the latter, and to ensure you think, grow and imagine some more with me, put your email in the box above above above right and join my blog family.  Or, if you have already, find something you really like on my blog and send it to a friend.  After all, the more of us thinking, growing and imagining together, the more fun it is!

Okay, this time I'm saying goodbye for real...

No, you hang up.

No, you do.

Okay, fine then.  We'll do it together.  On three.  1, 2...)

New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Fan Art ... and how I did it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan art by Daniel Grant Newton (DGN Productions). Characters include Leonardo, Donatello, April O'Neil and Casey Jones.  Daniel does not own these characters or have any rights to them.

Hey there, hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend.  If you do not celebrate the day, and do not worship rabbits who bring chocolate eggs, then I hope you enjoy had a relaxing time away from work all the same.

Perhaps you were reading my book Don't Shoot the Messenger?  Well, if you were, thank you, but possibly a bit sacrilegious considering the content.

Anyway, today I thought I'd share with you some fan art I created for a TMNT fan art competition I was invited to enter on Deviant Art.  I also thought I'd give you a behind the scenes look at how I create digital art like this, as I've done with my paintings previously.

So here I go.

First step I take when creating digital art is to sketch out a drawing in my pad, in this case the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with April and Casey.  Often I do not give it any shading, as I plan to do that in Photoshop, but this time I did shade it.  Also, usually I draw a background, but this time I decided I'd create that in Photoshop.  Below is the initial sketch.

Step two I scan or take a photo of this drawing and put it into Photoshop.  If I have drawn it with a pacer, and not proper graded art pencils or charcoal, I will turn the contrast up.  Then I'll fix any mistakes, like Casey Jones' arm and stretching the picture ever so slightly.  And in this case, as there is no background, I will cut out the background.  I did however leave a little of the background this time to look like sewer mud and sludge being flung everywhere.

Step three I create a duplicate layer of the characters and make it 'colour overlay'.  This gives me an outline of what I have drawn, and means I can now create layers under that to colour in.  I actually create a layer for each part so that if I want to manipulate or delete just the one section or colour, it won't affect the rest of the picture.  I also create the background using shapes and filter effects.

Step four time to create lighting and atmospheric effects.  In the picture below you can see I have added rain, made the mud look like mud, and added dramatic lighting.  This lighting is either a foot soldier or police spotlight or flashlight that has been cast from the right (out of shot), or a flash of lightening in the storm that is brewing.  The rain was created with angled boxes or various sizes and transparency levels, and a transparent haze around the characters and ground where the rain hit solid objects.  The lighting layer goes on top of the colour overlay layer.  And you get the final result...

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  If you did, please let me know in the comments, or write to me at danielgrantnewton (AT) gmail (DOT) com, and I'll do more for you.

Your pal, Dan.

P.S. So you don't miss out on any more cool art I post, put your email into the box at the top right of this page and click subscribe like a boss ... like the boss at the end of a level.

Mystical, Magical Crystal Ball Art Piece by Daniel Grant Newton using the Moon as the Crystal Ball

Hey hey it's Thursday.  I hope you've been having an awesome week.  Anyway, new art I'd like to share with you my dear friend.  

I used the other night's spectacular full moon and two sketches I had created earlier to make the following picture in photoshop.  Another crystal ball piece not unlike this one I did earlier.

Crystal Ball picture by Daniel Grant Newton.  The ball is actually a photo of the moon.

I'm thinking using real photos and drawings like this one to make a whole series of art pieces.  Could be fun.  What do you think?  If you like this one, put a comment in the comment section below :-)

Tomb Raider Lara Croft Fan Art created by Daniel Grant Newton in the DGN Productions Studio

A message from the studio of DGN Productions (scroll down to skip the jibber jabber and see my Tomb Raider Lara Croft fan art):

G'day there.  

Hope you've had a freaking awesome weekend doing things like skydiving onto a rooftop, then abseiling down it with no rope, smashing through a window with your bare fist and making a citizen's arrest of a cigar smoking gangster... and are looking forward to an amazingly awesome week of whatever freaking awesome thing you do.  Perhaps you make invisible windows for mimes, I'm not sure.  

If however your job sucks, read a great book/comic on the way for me.  You might like to start with one of my books, say 'The Last King of Shambhala'.  It is scientifically proven to kick holes into boring weeks and change your life forever muhahaha.  So says me when I go onto online forums and pretend to be somebody else (I don't actually have time for that... too busy abseiling down buildings and smashing through windows to make citizen arrests.  Oh, and writing my next book and comic).

Anyway, below I have created a cool Tomb Raider comic short for your pleasure, and anybody you know who loves Tomb Raider who you'd like to share this page with.  I was inspired by watching the movie at lunch and reminiscing about the first computer game I ever bought.

Have a great week and buy my book ;-)

Daniel

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) fan art comic by Daniel Grant Newton ( DGN Productions)

a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan art drawing I was playing with last night

I am a huge TMNT fan, and am very excited about the Michael Bay movie adaption coming out soon, so I thought I'd draw Raphael and Casey Jones from the franchise (see left).

There are a few bits of this drawing that are a little off, but for the most part it is good, and was quite fun to give it a little bit of my spin.

Anyway, for those that haven't seen the trailer for the film, I've included it below:

New Art: 'The Fire Shaman of London' by Daniel Grant Newton - DGN Productions

Hello friend.  Hope you are good.

Wanted to share with you a new sketch I created called 'The Fire Shaman of London'.  I think there is a collection of art forming here, check out this last sketch I posted.  It is sort of a mystical version of 'steam punk'.

'The Fire Shaman of London' - New Sketch by Daniel Grant Newton

Anyway, this sketch shows a shaman overlooking the 'Great London Fire'.

Talk soon.  Daniel

P.S. While I remember, I will be launching a new website soon for my art and stories soon, and I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE your support.  

Until then however, would be much appreciated if you could head over to my Facebook page and give it some love and press the 'like' button.

http://www.facebook.com/dgnproductions