The PixlBlog

Is Pressure Sensitivity Coming to Tablet Devices Soon?

2012-01-26T09:57:00.000-06:00

Click image to jaja Kickstarter page.

Brisbane-based Australian inventor Jon Atherton has developed a unique approach to enabling pressure-sensitive input for tablet devices like the iPad.

The jaja is a stylus that uses high-frequency sound to interpret 1024 levels of pressure-sensitivity which is delivered to the tablet via its built-in microphone. The frequency of the low-volume sound used is above the range of human hearing. This approach bypasses the need for standardized protocols like Bluetooth.

The jaja will utilize an SDK available to developers for implementing the jaja's input into their apps. Expected price when available is $70.

I sure hope this Kickstarter project becomes a reality!

Think You Have Good Color-matching Chops?

2012-01-25T10:27:00.000-06:00

Click image to test your color-matching skills

Design website Method of Action has put together a great tool, Color, for assessing your color-matching skills. Increasingly complex matching problem are presented in a time-limited fashion, forcing you to make quick decisions. Your given a score based on your selections (and an opportunity to try again).

Good Luck!

Mark Zimmer: The Relativistic Observer

2012-01-25T09:23:00.000-06:00

Click image to visit the Relativistic Observer blog

My brother-in-pixels and good friend, Painter creator Mark Zimmer, has recently launched a blog, the Relativistic Observer. With his terrific insight, Mark covers a wide variety of subjects:
The future, technology, gadgets, MEMS, Painter, creativity, energy, world events, security, cryptography, image processing, mathematics, and my past. Oh, and maybe a few songs.
Mark is an inveterate note taker (a page of Mark's notes is shown above) and shares many of his insights, including the creation of Painter, which I was fortunate to be a part of. He also writes about his musical composition chops and shares some of his songs.

A good read and highly recommended.

John Derry featured on Photoshop.com

2012-01-19T08:31:00.000-06:00

Click image to visit photoshop.com

I'm honored to be currently profiled on Adobe's photoshop.com. This privilege gives me the opportunity to showcase my recent work. Via an interview, I detail my working methodology, as well as offer a downloadable set of free sample artists' brushes for Photoshop CS5.

Happy Holidays from the PixlBlog!

2011-12-23T10:25:00.000-06:00

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Happy Holidays from the PixlBlog!

Halfway to the Sky

2011-12-01T15:21:00.000-06:00

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The above image was auto-cloned in Painter 12 from a photo I recently shot while in San Francisco. I'll be detailing this technique in my upcoming lynda.com title, Painter 12 Essentials. I'm currently in the process of authoring this title. Expect to see it out sometime next quarter.

Incredible Miniature Display in Hamburg

2011-11-30T14:34:00.000-06:00

This video proudly shows the largest miniature railroad in the world, Miniatur Wunderland. It includes a full air terminal with arriving and departing aircraft, luxury ships, rock concert, football stadium, and more.

Simply amazing!

Painter 12 Essentials Sneak Peek

2011-11-26T10:53:00.000-06:00

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I'm in the midst of writing my Painter 12 Essentials title for lynda.com. I'll be detailing how I'm utilizing the new Clone Source palette to build up an interpreted image. This painting is a sneak peek at what I've got in store. The source of this painting is a photograph of some succulents growing out of a wall I shot a few years back.

Arched Oak

2011-11-25T09:42:00.001-06:00

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This unusual oak tree—a favorite of mine—resides in a nearby park. I have no idea why it has chosen to grow this way, but it makes for an interesting portrait of a unique tree.

I'm currently working on my Painter 12 Essentials title for lynda.com. Scheduling has gotten moved around and I won't be recording until sometime in the Jan/Feb timeframe. Expect its release sometime later in the first quarter of '12.

Stumbling into History

2011-10-10T14:33:00.001-06:00

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During my most recent trip to Southern California, I photographed this interesting architectural landmark near the Santa Barbara airport. This is a Barnsdall Rio Grande Oil Company gas station built in 1929 and turns out to be one of the most architecturally significant structures that represents the best existing examples of California gas stations built in the heydey of automobile travel up and down the California coast.

Besides its architectural significance, this station was utilized as the set for the 1981 remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice, starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange.

You can read more about this unique location here.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

2011-10-06T07:01:00.000-06:00

John's Watercolor User: Thomas Churchwell

2011-09-16T06:31:00.003-06:00

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Artist and photographer Thomas Churchwell writes, "I enjoy your brushes John. I purchased them this morning and have been watching videos and learning them all day." By the looks of this initial effort, I think Thomas is off to a good start!

You can see more of Thomas's work on his blog and website.

John's Watercolors are $35. You can purchase these brushes by clicking the PayPal "Buy Now" button below. If you don't have a PayPal account, an option to pay via credit card is offered as well.

If you have an example of art created with John's Watercolors, send me a JPEG—your work may get featured here!

If you've been frustrated trying to master digital watercolors, John's Watercolors for Painter are the answer!

Joan A. Hamilton's Digital Watercolor Tips

2011-09-13T19:43:00.000-06:00

Sunfall by Joan A. Hamiltom

Digital watercolorist Joan Hamilton has posted a creative tip, Beginnings of a Looser Style of Digital Watercolour with John Derry's Watercolour Brushes, detailing how to add an extra dimension of color bleeding with my Watercolor Brushes.

If you are interested in digital watercolor, Joan's regular posts consistently offer a variety of perspectives on the subject.

lynda.com Painter 12 Essentials Greenlighted

2011-09-12T10:58:00.001-06:00

I'm happy to report that I'm in the process of authoring a Painter 12 Essentials title for lynda.com. Painter 12 Essentials should be out before the end of the year.

Imagine

2011-09-11T08:04:00.002-06:00

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I was in New York City 3 weeks before 9/11 and enjoyed a Saturday photographing the city. After 9/11, I put this homage together. It seems like a fitting time to re-post it.

California Street on Nob Hill

2011-08-26T20:38:00.003-06:00

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Just Steve.

2011-08-26T08:41:00.009-06:00

I'm normally not a name-dropper. I've had this short incident held in reserve for years, and it now seems like an appropriate time to relate it...

In January 2000 at Macworld in San Francisco, Mark Zimmer and I were in the process of wrapping up a press tour for Metacreations Painter 6.1. At trade show events such as this, there are often small press rooms reserved for companies in which to conduct interviews. Mark, myself, and our PR person were in our press room preparing for the day's interviews with the Mac press. As I remember it, the PR person was organizing press materials and Mark and I were busy setting up a Mac on which to demo Painter.

Suddenly, a head popped into the doorway. It was Steve. No entourage or posse. Just Steve. Initially, I was the only one of us who saw him. In the most casual voice I could muster, I said, "Hi, Steve!".

"Hi guys! I just wanted to pop in and say, 'Break a leg!'", he said. We thanked him, wished him a good show and Steve was gone as quickly as he appeared.

Our PR person was absolutely floored. "That...that was Steve Jobs!...OMG!"

Mark and I managed to play it cool and say something like, "Oh...yeah...Steve."

That would be the end of my story except for one small factoid I possessed at the time: Mark previously confided in me that Steve had been in contact with him regarding working for Apple. Steve Jobs has long been known for his finesse at cherry-picking world-class talent. Mark was—and is—one of the brightest engineering pixel-slingers out there.

I've no doubt that Steve's brief appearance at our press booth door was designed to provide a small nudge to Mark in the direction of Apple, but it also provided a snapshot into Steve's inner-workings. The man is always thinking in terms of how to better Apple. Something as small as a quick "Good luck" certainly made our day and see the man devoid of ego...just another Mac-head wishing us well.

By the way, Steve's elixir worked its magic. Three years later, Mark became a Software Development Engineer at Apple, where he works today.

Escheria

2011-08-25T10:34:00.002-06:00

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I've been playing with my recent spiral staircase photograph and applying the recursive Droste effect. to it.The result is somewhat Escher-like.

Below is a 100% crop of the center of the full-rez image. Be sure to click on the image to see the full resolution.

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Spiral Stairs at San Francisco's Embarcadero Center

2011-08-24T09:15:00.000-06:00

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I've been fascinated by the oft-photographed spiral staircases in San Francisco's Embarcadero Center for years. I finally got the opportunity to photograph them myself during my recent visit to the City by the Bay.

I thought this image would make a good candidate for the Droste effect. Below is a sample:

Click image to view larger

I'll most likely be doing some further experimentation!

Michael Tegland Artworks

2011-08-16T10:08:00.002-06:00

"Roland" - 2009
Graphite and chalkboard paint on birch panel
24 x 16 inches

Full size detail

Artist Mike Tegland, my good friend and studio mate back in my analog art days, recently launched his website, Michael Tegland Artworks, to show his work. Mike has developed a unique drawing style influenced by the Viking, Celtic and Native American cultures.

Mike's intricate compositions are drawn in pencil on birch panels prepared with chalkboard paint. Depending on the lighting, the graphite line work can appear either lighter or darker than its dark gray background. The result is a dynamically changing view depending on the viewer's relationship to the lighting angle.

When he's not in his studio, Mike works as the Chief Preparator at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. Mike is represented by Modern Arts Midtown in Omaha.

My Latest lynda.com Title is Now Live

2011-08-15T14:37:00.001-06:00

The production elves at lynda.com have been working overtime...so much so that my latest title, Transforming a Photograph into a Painting with Adobe Photoshop, has been released ahead of schedule.

The above introductory segment from the title provides an overview of its content. This title additionally comes with a specially prepared version of my Artists' Brushes for use with the title's lessons.

And—to add the icing on the cake—Colleen Wheeler, content manager for design at lynda.com, just informed me that Transforming a Photograph into a Painting with Adobe Photoshop had the most viewers this past weekend by a factor of 2!

Russell in Wonderland

2011-07-30T07:34:00.002-06:00

Click image to view larger

I'll be detailing how I painted Russell Brown in his Mad Hatter outfit at the Photoshop "pop-up" store at 550 Sutter near Union Square in San Francisco next Monday, August 1 at 6:00PM and Tuesday, August 2 at 3:00PM.

If you are in SF and are a Photoshop aficionado, stop by and visit. The store will be open daily through August 6th. Who knows, the Mad Hatter himself may make an appearance!

Adobe Photoshop Store Opens Near San Francisco's Union Square.

2011-07-27T07:43:00.003-06:00

Click image to visit Photoshop Store site

If you haven't heard, Adobe is operating a temporary Photoshop "pop-up" store near Union Square in San Francisco. For two weeks, the Photoshop team is hosting artist talks, classes, and digital imaging activities at 550 Sutter.

I pleased to say that I'll be presenting on the subject of Transforming a Photograph into a Painting next Monday, August 1 at 6:00PM and Tuesday, August 2 at 3:00PM.

If you are in SF and are a Photoshop aficionado, stop by and visit. The store will be open daily through August 6th.

Keep Your Heads inside the Window!

2011-06-26T15:16:00.000-06:00

Click image to view larger

As a part of prepping my upcoming lynda.com title, Transforming a Photograph into a Painting with Adobe Photoshop, I did a test painting to isolate a few of the techniques and come up with the best way to describe them.

The photo came from my iphone 4, then into CS5 for the expressive interpretation into a painting. For my brushes, I used a set that is to be included with the title.

Seven Minutes That Will Inspire You

2011-06-21T15:30:00.000-06:00

Sit back, relax, and be inspired (watch at the highest resolution you can):

[via]

End of Spring Storm Rolls Through Omaha

2011-06-20T20:36:00.000-06:00

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A storm extending from South Dakota to Oklahoma rolled through Omaha this evening. The College World Series was in session, causing some mild panic by the out-of-towners not used to this type of weather. As it turns out, the storm's bark was much worse that its bite, but it sure looked nasty as the gust front rolled into town!

There are many reports of trees down in the area as some winds clocked in at 70mph. More threatening is the rainfall, which won't help the flood situation along the Missouri River—which Omaha is adjacent to.

Pixelated Universe

2011-06-10T10:12:00.001-06:00

Cool animation by Cyriak Harris.

as seen on Bad Astronomy

Coming: Transforming a Photograph into a Painting with Photoshop

2011-06-10T09:37:00.001-06:00

Click to watch preview segment

I've gotten the green light from lynda.com to author a new title: Transforming a Photograph into a Painting with Photoshop. This video title will detail my expressive interpretation process from start to finish. Included will be the set of brushes that I use throughout the course. I'll be recording the title in Ventura, CA this July, so you can expect the release to be a few weeks after the production.

I'll have more information as I'm working through the process.

John's Artists' Brushes User Redux: Dominic Orologio

2011-05-25T14:37:00.000-06:00

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Artist Dominic Orologio sent me some tasty examples of his work done utilizing my brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5. I featured Dominic last year in an earlier post. Dominic writes, "I'm getting back in the swing of painting again since a year long distraction that is my 9-month old baby boy, but I'm getting there. Here are a couple recent and unfinished pieces (using your brushes, of course). one's a portrait study thats getting turned into a random portfolio piece (trying to stay focused on created a cohesive editorial portfolio, which is sometimes harder than one would assume) and the start of a crime noire book cover."

Click image to view larger

You can see more of Dominic's work at his website.

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 are available for $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Artists' Brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

Wacom Bamboo Stylus and Adobe Eazel for iPad = Optimized Mark-making Experience

2011-04-27T14:17:00.000-06:00

I've been recently experimenting with two soon-to-be-released iPad-related items: Adobe Eazel and the Wacom Bamboo Stylus for iPad. Used together, these tools offer tablet-based artists a superior mark-making experience.

One of my early concerns while participating in the pre-release cycle for Eazel was the requirement to use a five-finger gesture to call up the user interface (color selection, brush size, opacity, options). I prefer to use a stylus with the iPad and reliance on the five-finger gesture impeded my workflow. Thankfully, the engineers incorporated a single tap in the image corner to call up a persistent UI that appears for adjustments until a another single tap on the image dismisses it. With this optional mechanism in place, it is now effortless to incorporate a stylus into the workflow.

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The Bamboo stylus has a very nice feel in the hand. It has some weight to it (20 grams) and is nicely balanced, making this stylus very comfortable to use over extended periods. Another big plus is the stylus tip: At 6mm in width, Wacom claims that this stylus is 25% narrower than others on the market. This slim tip profile provides an excellent sense of precise placement.

On another note, last week my 3-year-old MacBook Pro bit the dust (logic board failure). I ordered a new Quad-core Intel Core i7 MacBook Pro, which should offer quite a performance enhancement over my now-dead machine. As soon as I'm back up and running at full power, I will be producing an over-the-shoulder look at these new tools. Stay tuned!

SF to Paris in Two Minutes

2011-04-14T09:18:00.000-06:00

SF to Paris in Two Minutes from Beep Show on Vimeo.

Artist Nate Bolt shot a very cool time-lapse video on a recent flight from San Francisco to Paris. Using a Canon 5D Mk2, a tripod, and an available vacant row on the 747 flight, Nate received permission from a friendly flight crew to record the flight through the window. The result is a mesmerizing video that includes some dramatic Aurora Borealis moments.

You can see more of Nate and his partner's work at their website.

A Painting Hot Off the Eazel

2011-04-12T06:47:00.001-06:00

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Created with Adobe's recently announced Eazel painting app for the iPad.

Adobe Extends Photoshop CS5 Functionality to Tablet Devices

2011-04-11T08:41:00.005-06:00

Adobe today made several announcements that include three new Photoshop companion tablet apps, Creative Suite 5.5, and a new software subscription model.

The three initial Photoshop CS5 companion apps are for the Apple iPad: Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop. The apps are designed to enable users to create custom color swatches, paint and drive popular Photoshop tools from tablet devices. These apps are examples of what is possible using the new Photoshop Touch SDK

Eazel lets digital artists create rich realistic paintings with their fingertips and introduces a new kind of interaction between “wet” and “dry” paints. These paintings can then be sent directly to Photoshop CS5 for compositing or for taking the artwork further. Eazel artwork is initially created at the tablet's native resolution of 1024 X 768, then re-rendered at 4X resolution (2024 X 1536) in Photoshop. The resulting artwork can then be further enhanced or saved. Eazel will be available for $5 at the iTunes Store.

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Below are some early tests I did during the pre-release cycle:

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Color Lava utilizes the iPad as a natural-media style mixing palette for Photoshop. Users mix colors with their fingertips creating custom color swatches and themes to wirelessly transfer back into Photoshop. Eazel will be available for $3 at the iTunes Store.

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Nav increases workflow efficiency by letting users select and control Photoshop tools using the iPad as a control surface, customize the toolbar, browse and zoom in on up to 200 open Photoshop files or easily create new files. Eazel will be available for $2 at the iTunes Store.

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I've been involved with the development of these apps as a member of the pre-release team and I have to say I really like the extension of Photoshop via a tablet device. These initial three apps provide a window on the future and it will be very interesting to see what other developers come up with utilizing the new Photoshop Touch SDK.

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 products are scheduled to ship within 30 days, with availability through Adobe Authorized Resellers, the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store in North America and Adobe Direct Sales. Estimated street price for the suites is expected to be US$2599 for CS5.5 Master Collection, US$1899 for CS5.5 Design Premium, US$1799 for CS5.5 Web Premium, US$1699 for CS5.5 Production Premium and US$1299 for CS5.5 Design Standard. Upgrade pricing and volume licensing are available.

Further information regarding the new software subscription model can be found here.

Rounding out Oakland, Iowa into a Stereographic Projection

2011-04-09T12:23:00.002-06:00

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I was cruising around western Iowa earlier this week scouting photographic opportunities when I encountered the small town of Oakland. This farming community has a very nice main street district with several great examples of late-19th-century commercial architecture. Being on a stereographic panorama kick, I took my panoramic shot of Oakland's business district and promptly circularized it.

iPhone 4 Bends Panoramas into Circular Projections

2011-04-04T13:38:00.002-06:00

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I've been using my iPhone 4 to shoot panoramas using Cloudburst Research's AutoStitch iPhone. AutoStitch is very good at correlating and stitching a set of input images even without sequentially entering them. This makes taking large scenes with overlapping imagery easy to fashion into a panorama.

Another great tool is Infoding's free Tiny Planets app. I can take a panorama assembled in AutoStitch, input it into Tiny Planets, and end up with an interesting stereographic circular projection.

The above images were shot at Kenefick Park here in Omaha where two historic Union Pacific locomotives are now on permanent display. How these two massive locomotives were relocated is another story in itself. Tiny Planets can flip a stereographic projection in two opposing orientations, as seen above.

Predator: Amazingly Accurate Object Tracking

2011-04-01T21:19:00.002-06:00

Zdenek Kalal, a Czech student at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, is working on an advanced learn-on-the-fly object tracking algorithm that looks to be very accurate. This is the sort of voodoo that shows up in SF films like Minority Report. But in this case, it's real.

Zdenek also has a series of 12 videos that illustrate various potential applications of this vision system

John's Brushes User: David Muldoon

2011-03-31T12:38:00.000-06:00

Click above image to view larger finished artwork

Artist David Muldoon, living and working in Dubai, created this image from a photograph of a row of WWII-era RCAF Harvard trainers using both John's Artists' Brushes and John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5.

David writes:

"All work was done on my Wacom Cintiq 12 with your Cloning Action, I used ONLY a combination of your Artist Brushes, as well as the Dry Media Brushes and a final contrast adjustment in CS5. I really enjoy working with these brushes so much so that I haven't worked in Painter even though I had a new computer system built specifically for digital painting within Painter!!!"

John's Artists' Brushes and Dry Media for Photoshop CS are each available for $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created with my brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

iPhone App Creates Unique Circular Panoramas

2011-03-26T12:18:00.000-06:00

Click image to view larger

Tiny Planet Photo is a recent iPhone App Store addition that does a great job of twisting photos into circular panoramas. The output is currently limited to 1000 X 1000 pixels; hopefully, the developers will be able to increase the output in a future release.

The above images are some examples of my playing around with the app.

It's getting so the iPhone offers a complete digital camera and and darkroom in your pocket.

The Aurora Borealis for Those of Us South of the Arctic Circle

2011-03-25T14:09:00.001-06:00

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Living far south of the North Pole, I've only seen glimpses of the Aurora Borealis throughout my lifetime. This recent long-exposure time-lapse photography by Norwegian Terje Sorgjerd is said to offer the best experience short of traveling to the Arctic Circle. You may recognize the background music...it's Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for the last scene in Gladiator.

Nature is often stranger than we can imagine.

Swiss Artist's Knife

2011-03-19T16:37:00.003-06:00

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I was going through some of the boxes we've dragged with us over the years and uncovered my Swiss Artist's Knife. I did this back in my Cranbrook days while pursuing a MFA degree. It required locating a suitable existing knife, disassembling it, and adding the new knife elements.

I particularly like how I retained the existing corkscrew—obviously a key component of an artist's tool set!

How Does That LCD Display You Spend Hours Staring At Actually Work?

2011-03-17T09:36:00.000-06:00

Every wonder how that thin LCD display that you stare at all day displays text and images so well? This video provides a highly intelligent answer.

Is Display Glass in our Future? Corning Thinks So.

2011-03-16T11:29:00.000-06:00

Corning Glass is developing glass that has embedded display technology. This promotional video demonstrates possible uses.

Cool Mercedes-Benz Print Ads Highlighting Creativity

2011-03-15T18:49:00.001-06:00

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Mercedes-Benz has done a series of very nicely designed print ads focusing on the right-brained logic and left-brained creativity that goes into their automobiles. Well executed.

Mercedes-Benz Left Brain / Right Brain Ads

Panogaea—Mac-based Panorama Mapper

2011-03-14T08:51:00.001-06:00

Click on image to view larger

If you are a Mac user interested in unique panoramic manipulation, there is a new application out by You Go Mountain —Panogaea— that is available for a very attractive $4.99 in the App Store.

Panogaea is capable of some very unique spherical re-mappings and has an extremely easy-to-use interface enabling concatenated transforms. Above is a simple example I did, but it is capable of so much more. I'll be exploring this app for awhile!

Zhangjiajie in Snow—Awesome

2011-03-10T15:58:00.005-06:00

Click to see more

China's Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area comprises the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, the Tianzishan (天子山) mountain ranges, BaoFengHu (宝峰湖) and the Suoxi Valley (索溪峪), and is a very popular filming and tourist destination. This area is purportedly the source of inspiration for the floating mountains in the motion picture, Avatar.

I've seen photography of this area before, but never in snow...jaw-droppingly beautiful.

From Photograph to Painting Webinar this Thursday

2011-03-08T13:13:00.001-06:00

Click to view Quicktime movie

I am giving a webinar this Thursday as a part of the the Winter Digital Art Summit. I am going to go through the process I've evolved for interpreting a photograph into a painted result. Although I'll be using Photoshop CS5 during this session, the concepts are equally applicable to Painter.

From Photograph to Painting
Thursday, March 10, 1:00 PM Central Standard Time

My session is described below:

I like to think of various art forms as each having a unique visual vocabulary. Painting, for example, has a unique visual vocabulary: brush strokes, canvas weave, and oil paint’s color range are attributes unique to a painting. Likewise, photographs have a unique vocabulary. Key elements of the photograph include sharp focus, depth-of-field, and high detail.

The appearance of software such as Painter and Photoshop —coupled with the phenomenal growth of digital photography— offers photographers and artists even more expressive choices with regard to the photograph. A current trend is the interpretation of a photographic source into a traditional painted appearance. This session describes the implementation of visual vocabularies to expressively interpret your photographs into successful paintings.

I'll be giving a live demonstration of my techniques during this approximately 2-hour session.

The webinar is being recorded, so you can either attend the session or download the video at a later time. The webinar is $47.

The sign-up page for the Photograph to Painting webinar is here.

I hope to see you there!

A Look Behind the Names on the Photoshop Splash Screen

2011-03-07T19:51:00.000-06:00

John Nack has posted an insightful video in which members of the Photoshop authoring team describe the process of migrating CS5 to a 64-bit architecture.

The video provides an interesting look at the faces behind the names on the Photoshop splash screen, as well as describe some of the "inside info" that is involved in engineering an application with a sophisticated code base.

Virtual Digital Airbrushing on 3D Objects

2011-03-04T11:37:00.001-06:00

Professor Bruce Thomas and his team at the Wearable Computer Labs at the University of South Australia demonstrate a virtual airbrush painting on 3D objects. A great example of augmented reality.

Brian Dettmer: The Book Surgeon

2011-03-03T11:53:00.000-06:00

Click to visit Brian Dettmer's website

Artist Brian Dettmer is creating some of the most innovative books-as-art sculpture I've ever seen.

Brian describes his process:

In this work I begin with an existing book and seal its edges, creating an enclosed vessel full of unearthed potential. I cut into the surface of the book and dissect through it from the front. I work with knives, tweezers and surgical tools to carve one page at a time, exposing each layer while cutting around ideas and images of interest. Nothing inside the books is relocated or implanted, only removed. Images and ideas are revealed to expose alternate histories and memories. My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception.

You can see larger images of Brian's work here.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye...

2011-02-22T11:17:00.000-06:00

Click to visit LROC moon viewer

Have you ever wanted to get a nice close-up view of the moon? Well then, you're in luck! The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Wide-Angle Camera was programmed to photograph 1300 separate images of the lunar surface during December 2010. The images were then compiled to produce a lunar mosaic that comes in at a jaw-dropping 24,000 X 24,000 pixels.

For more information, visit Discover Magazine's Bad Astronomy blog.

Paintmap: Innovative Geolocation-oriented Painting Sharing Website

2011-02-20T15:00:00.001-06:00

Paintmap is a website that corrolates a painting with the location it was created on a Google map. The project appears to still be in its infancy, but show a lot of potential. As the database of submitted artwork grows, Paintmap could easily become a great site for browsing paintings by both location and the artwork.

From the website:

Paintmap is a geolocation-oriented painting sharing website with the following goals: on one hand, it allows painters all around the World to locate physically the subject painted by others and learn about the artistic activity at a given area. On the other hand, Paintmap allows Google Earth users to complement the physical and photographic knowledge of a given area with the artistic descriptions provided by users. Last but not least, Paintmap will contribute to the capture of our nature and human heritage through the artistic work of users as a record for future generations.

Simple Line Copied 500 Times = Entropy

2011-02-18T14:34:00.001-06:00

A Sequence of Lines Consecutively Traced by Five Hundred Individuals is an interesting visualization of what happens when a drawn line is carefully traced over and over by multiple individuals.

Each individual was given only the previously traced line to in turn trace. Each tracing introduces small errors resulting in an imperfect copy of the previous copied line. The result is a gradual degradation of the line. This video provides a visually interesting animation of the 500 tracings as they are sequentially played back.

Interpreting Photography into Painting Webinar - March 10

2011-02-17T19:22:00.000-06:00

I am giving a webinar as a part of the the Winter Digital Art Summit. The summit is running now through March 11. Fifteen artists will be giving webinars covering a wide range of topics.

My session is described below:

Visual Vocabularies: Interpreting Photography into Painting
Thursday, March 10, 1:00 PM Central Standard Time

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I like to think of various art forms as each having a unique visual vocabulary. Painting, for example, has a unique visual vocabulary: brush strokes, canvas weave, and oil paint’s color range are attributes unique to a painting. Likewise, photographs have a unique vocabulary. Key elements of the photograph include sharp focus, depth-of-field, and high detail.

The appearance of software such as Painter and Photoshop —coupled with the phenomenal growth of digital photography— offers photographers and artists even more expressive choices with regard to the photograph. A current trend is the interpretation of a photographic source into a traditional painted appearance. This session describes the implementation of visual vocabularies to expressively interpret your photographs into successful paintings.

I'll be giving a live demonstration of my techniques during this approximately 2-hour session.

All of webinars are being recorded, so you can either attend the session or download the video at a later time. Each webinar is $47; there are also multiple-webinar package deals available on the Digital Art Summit web site.

The sign-up page for my webinar is here.

I hope to see you there!

The Droste Effect: Mise en Abyme

2011-02-15T15:58:00.007-06:00

I've been experimenting recently with the Droste effect. When applied to a source image, it is recursively repeated, resulting in a fractal of the original.

Below is the source image:

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Below is the Droste effect applied to various iterations of the above source imagery:

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I used Tom Beddard's excellent—free—Adobe Pixel Bender Droste Effect plug-in filter for Photoshop CS4/CS5 and After Effects. Full directions for installation is available here.

John's Artists' Brushes & Dry Media User: David Reid

2011-02-15T07:49:00.001-06:00

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Artist and photographer David Reid created this surreal landscape using a combination of John's Artists' Brushes and John's Dry Media. I first profiled David's work last June.

David writes, "I just thought you'd like to see another one of my paintings created from your fantastic brushes. This one was created from a mixture of the dry and media brushes.

I added some depth to the brush strokes to give it a more 3D approach. It too about 3 hours in total, though am still not sure of the hat and scarf though the umbrella seems to work well.

The brushes I like the best are the the flat blenders and chalk dry brushes as the texture they give is fantastic. Many thanks for creating the lovely brushes."

You can see more of David's work at his website.

John's Artists' Brushes and Dry Media for Photoshop CS are each available for $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created with my brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

Nomad Brush Offers iPad New Stylus Option

2011-02-14T11:23:00.000-06:00

Artist and architect Don Lee has come up with a new entry in tablet styluses, the Nomad Brush. The concept behind the Nomad Brush is to offer users of the iPad and other capacitive touchscreen devices a more natural mark-making stylus.

Lee says, "I love to sketch and paint, and like many of you, I found the iPad to be a great digital sketchbook and canvas. However, I found that drawing with my finger was awkward. After trying out many styluses, I failed to find a suitable one…so I invented the Nomad Brush. Each Nomad Brush is carefully handcrafted and made with exceptionally conductive materials. This allows the brush to be extremely responsive, making brushstrokes immediate and effortless on any capacitive touchscreen device."

The Nomad Brush works with any painting or illustration app, acting to provide the user with a more natural mark-making experience. Note that this stylus does not automatically create strokes that appear to have come from a natural-bristle brush. This capability must come from an app's mark-making capabilities.

For example, if the user chooses a thin pencil-like stroke in the host app, the Nomad Brush will then create thin pencil-like strokes. What the Nomad Brush does offer is a more tactile drawing/painting experience via the feel of a brush-like stylus in the hand.

The Nomad Brush is now available for $24.

Watching Time Pass at 2,564 FPS

2011-02-11T19:47:00.000-06:00

Cool super slow motion video accompanied by some nice editing by Tom Guilmette:

View Michelangelo's Masterpiece Interactively

2011-02-11T09:32:00.000-06:00

The Vatican has a nice interactive VR panorama online that lets you zoom in and view Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel masterpiece...and you don't even have to crane your neck! (Flash required)

Click to view interactive display

Viewing Distance Changes the Reading of a Painting

2011-02-10T19:26:00.000-06:00

In the painting below, the viewer's distance from the image dramatically affects how the image is interpreted. Viewed from afar, this painting almost resembles a photograph:

As the painting is approached, the brushwork begins to emerge:

At close range, the imagery becomes almost abstract:

Click on the thumbnail below to view the entire painting at full resolution:

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This painting is an interpretation of a photographic source I did using my Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5.

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 and John's Dry Media are each available for just $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using my brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

HDR Steam

2011-02-09T09:48:00.001-06:00

Omaha is headquarters to the Union Pacific railroad. As such, we get treated to outings of the company's two operating steam engines. Below are a few more pseudo-HDR images processed with Photoshop CS5's HDR Toning filter highlighting this 20th century technology. I use Alien Skin Exposure 3 for the B/W conversions.

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Crystal Still life

2011-02-08T15:08:00.000-06:00

I've been experimenting with getting the most out of the iPhone 4's camera. This is a shot of some crystal samples I have: amethyst (front), quartz (middle), fluorite (left rear), and calcite (right rear). The initial shot was brought into Photoshop CS5 and further processed.

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Architectural Decay in HDR

2011-02-07T16:54:00.003-06:00

We grew up near where Interstate 80 now cuts through Omaha. As a result, there were many old houses and structures that were tagged for removal in advance of the interstate. As kids, we spent a lot of time exploring these curiosities. This fascination remains with me to this day.

Whenever I'm on the road, I keep an eye out for abandoned structures. In the midwest, there is a continued elimination of small farms by corporate agri-business. Many of these mega-farms have abandoned farmhouses and out-buildings on the property. When I find one, I'll make a point of documenting these decaying structures.

I usually don't have a tripod with me when these opportunities knock. As such, I've never played around with combining multiple exposures into HDR images. HDR (High Dynamic Range) tools utilize multiple bracketed exposures, combining both highlight and shadow information to arrive at a final image with greater tonal range than an individual exposure is capable of.

A few months ago, I began playing with the HDR Toning filter in Photoshop CS5 and was pleasantly surprised to find that this filter is great at pulling HDR-like tonality out of single exposure images. The result is an enhanced textural quality not prominent in the original image.

Below are several of my architectural decay images that I've run through the HDR Toning filter.

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Cell Phone Cameras Come of Age

2011-02-03T15:30:00.001-06:00

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I've been experimenting recently with the iPhone 4's camera capabilities. This technology is a great image acquisition device for multiple reasons. In this age of digital cameras, there are several options when it comes to what level of device you choose to carry. For specific subjects, a full-sized DSLR is often necessary. A less-cumbersome point-and-shoot can often fill the bill. And then there is the everyday, I've-got-no-photography-planned time we tend to exist in.

We carry a cell phone almost constantly, so it is not an additional item to bring along like the aforementioned dedicated cameras. Fortunately, the quality level of cell-phone cameras has steadily increased to the point that it can capture serviceable imagery. What makes the iPhone unique, however, is that—besides the fact that it is primarily a telecommunications device—its functionality can be enhanced by downloaded apps. This expanded capability makes it both a sophisticated camera and digital darkroom in one compact form factor.

There is another interesting trait this device possesses: Its very immediacy via its portability and limited features imbues the cell phone camera with a nonchalance of use that I don't sense with dedicated cameras. If you're toting a dedicated camera around, it's likely that your image-capturing perception is purposely focused. An iPhone camera is a constant companion that can be utilized as simply as making a phone call. As a result, I find myself shooting imagery that I never would have considered in the past. In other words, it frees you up to casually capture the world around you.

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I'm not tied to doing all of my image adjustment with the iPhone's apps. I frequently download the images to my desktop machine and perform further refinement in Photoshop. However, there are apps that can massage the initial images to take them beyond the iPhone camera's native specifications. For example, the 5-megapixel iPhone camera captures images at 2592x1936 resolution.

This native resolution can be increased via stitching multiple shots together with apps like Cloudburst Research's Autostitch. Autostitch allows you to shoot multiple overlapping images in any any order or arrangement. Autostitch's intelligent algorithms analyze the selected photos and create a seamless result. Images of up to 18 megapixels are possible. Below are a few examples. I've left the unfinished edges on some examples to show how Autostitch composites multiple overlapping photos:

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Another panorama app with a twist is Boinx Software's You Gotta See This. YGST creates a David Hockney-style overlapping collage by having the user point the iPhone camera at the intended scene and wave the camera during exposure:

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For low-light situations, I've been using Pictional LLC's TrueHDR. This app takes 2 photos in quick succession, capturing one exposure for shadows and one for highlights. The images are then merged, providing a wider tonal range than an individual exposure is capable of:

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Yet another app I've been having fun with is Dominik Seibold's Average Camera Pro. This app automatically takes multiple pictures (immediately or after a timer expires), calculates the average picture out of these and normalizes the result, to make the lightest pixel become white. The result is a highly noise-reduced image. It's great for low-light situations containing non-moving subjects.

I decided that I'd go outside the box of this app's intent and used it to capture the traffic and roadside lighting in a moving vehicle (my wife was driving). I even waved the camera in front of the LCD-lit display of the car radio during a couple of the exposures. Average Camera is capable of up to 32 successive exposures:

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Even when an image has visible noise, it is the perfect starting point for expressive interpretation with painting apps like Photoshop CS5 or Painter. Photography sensation Chase Jarvis coined the phrase, "The best camera is the one you have with you". Cell phone cameras certainly fit this definition.

Google Art Project provides Gigapixel Views of the World's Art

2011-02-01T09:57:00.003-06:00

Google's Street View has been put to a new—and exciting—use: viewing the great art of the world's museums. Some of the famous works are available to peruse at extremely high resolution—some seven-thousand megapixels big! If you've ever visited a museum and examined a painting at close view to take in the individual brush strokes, then you'll love the Google Art Project. From the prese release:

Over the last 18 months Google has worked with 17 art museums including, Altes Nationalgalerie, The Freer Gallery of Art Smithsonian, National Gallery (London), The Frick Collection, Gemäldegalerie, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, Museo Reina Sofia, Museo Thyseen - Bornemisza, Museum Kampa, Palace of Versailles, Rijksmuseum, The State Hermitage Museum, State Tretyakov Gallery, Tate, Uffizi and Van Gogh Museum. The results of this partnership, which can be explored at www.googleartproject.com involved taking a selection of super high resolution images of famous artworks, as well as collating more than a thousand other images into one place. It also included building 360 degree tours of individual galleries using Street View 'indoor' technology.

Nothing can match the experience of actually visiting a museum and viewing art in person, but the Google Art Project comes pretty close.

Awe-inspiring Fractal Animation

2011-01-21T15:18:00.000-06:00

Hit play, sit back, and be amazed...

Surface detail from subBlue on Vimeo.

More details of Tom Beddard's art here.

Happy Holidays from the PixlBlog!

2010-12-23T21:24:00.001-06:00

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I miss the days of mailing holiday cards. For more than 25 years, I created and printed (later, I had it printed) a card made with digital painting tools. It seems that the custom is being quickly obsoleted by email cards, which have a definite "green" factor. A tradeoff is that you can send your greetings to a potentially much larger circle of friends and acquaintances.

The above image is my artwork for this year's greetings. It is based on a photograph I shot in Chicago (on Michigan Ave.) 3 years ago while we visited between Christmas and New Year. I've been working towards creating a greater distance between the source photo and the painted art. For example, I added all of the pedestrians in this painting, which were non-existent in the original.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and continued creativity!

Adobe Update Improves Photoshop CS5 Painting Performance

2010-12-07T08:07:00.004-06:00

Good News for Photoshop CS5 users...Adobe has issued an update (12.0.2-Mac) (12.0.3-Win) that significantly improves painting performance, among other things. From Adobe's Photoshop CS5 Update Page:

The most significant fixes in the Photoshop update include the following:

A number of potential security vulnerabilities have been addressed
Top type and font crashers found in the field have been addressed
A number of performance issues have been addressed
Crash opening 3D layers has been addressed
Color Engine crash has been resolved
Intermittent file format issues addressed
Shift scrolling bug fixed
Sharpen crasher fixed
Marching ants not seen at certain zoom levels fixed
Metadata focus distance issue addressed
File info bug addressed for Orphea Studio jpg files
TWAIN crashers fixed
Brush cursor bug fixed
Histogram progress bar issue fixed
Droplet issues addressed

The update is available for Mac and Windows: Mac|Win

Go grab it and start painting!

John's Watercolors User: Kenneth Broström

2010-12-03T10:11:00.001-06:00

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Swedish artist Kenneth Broström writes, "Thanks for your brushes! I'm still trying to learn. This is a portrait of my daughter. I used a photo for the sketch only the rest is made in Photoshop and Painter. Thanks again from Sweden!" I think Kenneth is figuring out the brushes very well!

You can see more of Kenneth's work at his website. (I've utilized Google's Translate in the link so that text portions are converted to English.)

John's Watercolors are $35. You can purchase these brushes by clicking the PayPal "Buy Now" button below. If you don't have a PayPal account, an option to pay via credit card is offered as well.

If you have an example of art created with John's Watercolors, send me a JPEG—your work may get featured here!

If you've been frustrated trying to master digital watercolors, John's Watercolors for Painter are the answer!

Figurative Painting: Best of the Best

2010-11-21T18:10:00.000-06:00

Waterhouse Gallery of Santa Barbara, California is currently exhibiting the Great American Figurative Artists Exhibition 2010. This exhibition highlights the best in American figurative painting.

It's a highly instructive show for taking in the applied techniques of figurative painting. Be sure to click on the thumbnails to view a larger image...and prepare to be humbled!

John's Dry Media: Railway Express Agency

2010-11-16T15:41:00.000-06:00

The Union Pacific Railroad Museum recently sponsored the 50th Anniversary Special, a commemorative excursion of the Union Pacific's legacy steam engine 844 and historical equipment. The excursion made a swing through Council Bluffs, Iowa to pick up lucky passengers for an day-long roundtrip on the legacy train.

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I got the chance to shoot some photos of the engine and train while it was on display in the Council Bluffs UP rail yards. The classic UP yellow cars caught my eye and I ended up doing a pastel interpretation from one of the shots:

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I used my Dry Media brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5 to create the pastel. Below are a couple of 100% scale close-ups to provide a sense of the brushes' texturing capability:

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John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 are available for purchase at $19.95. Enjoy chalk and pastels without the dust!

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5
If you have an image created using John's Dry Media, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

Map Photoshop CS5 Functions to the Wacom Intuos4 Control Surface

2010-11-04T09:33:00.001-06:00

Click to download PDF

I've put together a PDF file that details my setup for mapping Photoshop CS5 functionality to the Wacom Intuos4 control surface. The settings primarily focus on maximizing control of the Mixer Brush, as well as shortcuts for Photoshop's color selection tools.

For example, you can use the pen's barrel buttons to switch the Mixer Brush between opaque and blender behavior, as well as load your brush with multiple colors. You can set up the ExpressKeys to display the HUD Color Picker with a single button press. You can set up the Touch Ring to scroll back and forth through history—hey, let's go back to the future!

You may not want to use all of my settings, but they will act as a good starting point to evolve your own preferred workspace. You can download my CS5/Intuos4 PDF using the link below:

Intuos4 Mapping_PS_CS5.pdf

Adobe MAX Class and Digital Painting Session

2010-11-03T12:31:00.001-06:00

Last week I was at the Adobe MAX Conference in Los Angeles, I co-taught a class, From Reality to Renaissance, with Russell Brown.

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I taught the painting component, in which the class (70 participants)—using my Artists' Brushes— interpreted a photograph of a recreation of a famous painting as an exercise. Wacom provided an Intuos4 tablet and 6D Art Pen for all of the workstations.

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Yes, that is Russell as Whistler's Mother...

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Artist Bonny Lhotka worked with students to prep and output their artwork via multiple methods. Art could be printed out on canvas and and then embellished using media provided by Golden Artists Color.

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Bonny instructed students on her image transfer technique. This technique results in an image on paper with an appearance similar to polaroid or dye transfer.

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Students also got the opportunity to utilize some technology normally out of the reach of most artists. Russell came up with a technique for extracting 3D height data from images (as well as adding it) and then use the information to drive a Universal Laser Systems laser to etch the image into wood.

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The resulting etched wood is then run through a Direct Color Systems Direct Jet flatbed print. The color image is printed in registration with the 3D-etched wood image. You can see some of Russell's test examples below.

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The students' resulting prints were exhibited on the MAX exhibition show floor.

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Below is the example I did for the class. Russell and MAX class assistant Monika Wolff posed as Grant Wood's American Gothic couple.

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On-demand printers MagCloud created a full-color catalog of the exhibition. You can view a PDF of the catalog using the link below:

From Reality to Renaissance catalog

I also did a session on Painting with Photoshop CS5. You can view a video of the talk on AdobeTV using the link below:

Painting in Photoshop CS5 with the Master Painter

Karen Bonaker: Artists' Brushes Paintings

2010-10-15T18:20:00.000-06:00

Karen Bonaker sent me a couple of nice examples of her work done using John's Artists' Brushes. Both paintings show off the Artists' Brushes textural and blending capabilities.

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Karen is the proprietor of the Paintertalk digital art forum (registration required).

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 and John's Dry Media are each available for just $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using my brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

Adobe MAX Conference, October 23-27, Los Angeles

2010-10-13T14:29:00.000-06:00

I'm pleased to announce that I will be a featured speaker at the Adobe MAX 2010 Conference this October 23-27 in Los Angeles, CA. My session, Painting in Photoshop CS5 with the Master Painter, is on Tuesday, October 26th, 8:30AM–9:30AM. Here is the session description:

Learn essential techniques from one of the original pioneers in digital painting and a master at painting in Photoshop CS5. Watch as John Derry shows how to quickly and easily enhance your images with the new realistic painting tools in Photoshop CS5. See how you can transform your images and designs subtly or to the extreme to get amazing results. You'll walk away knowing killer tips and tricks along with new painting ideas that are sure to add to your Photoshop skills.

In addition, I am co-teaching the Russell Brown@MAX pre-conference workshop, From Reality to Renaissance, which will feature Photoshop CS5 to interpret photographs into painted artworks. Here is a description of the workshop:

You will be creating a Photoshop painting from the portraits that are captured in class or from any additional images you might bring with you. In addition, with the help of one of our sponsors, you'll have access to a large library of images from iStockPhoto.com. You are welcome to bring your own camera or use the images taken by our professional studio photographer. Everything you need for class, from the Mac computer to the stretched canvas, will be supplied. You only need to bring your creativity and enthusiasm.

During the photography sessions, several of the instructors will be playing the roles of different characters from famous paintings. You are also welcome to bring your own costume and appear in your own painting.

We will be using a large-format printer, provided by HP, to produce a 12x12-inch museum quality painting. To cap off the event, the paintings will be displayed at the MAX opening night reception for everyone to admire. Special prizes will be awarded for the painting that is voted best of show in the class.

Russell Brown@MAX is offered as a supplement to the standard MAX 2010 conference schedule. The workshop runs from Saturday, Oct. 23 to Monday, Oct. 25.

Wacom Cintiq 21UX and Photoshop CS5 at NYC ComicCon

2010-10-12T15:50:00.001-06:00

I just got back from demoing Adobe Photoshop CS5 on the new Cintiq 21UX in the Wacom booth at New York ComicCon. Needless to say, this show is populated with an amazing variety of attendees in costume to show off their favorite superhero. I had the opportunity to walk the show floor and photograph some of the fans' amazing efforts. The above photo is one attendee's interpretation of Rorschach, a character from DC Comics miniseries, Watchmen.

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I loaded the photo onto my workstation in the booth (a $600 Mac Mini!) and used it as a starting point for interpretation into a painting using my Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5. Whenever I was asked what application I was using and I said, "Photoshop CS5", the reaction was usually one of disbelief. Attendees couldn't believe that brushwork like I was showing was possible in Photoshop!

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My brushes, along with the Cintiq, make for a very dynamic demonstration of interactive painting. But you don't need a Cintiq to experience my brushes; they work just fine on any Wacom-equipped machine.

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 and John's Dry Media are each available for just $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using my brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

John's Dry Media User: Laura Bolter

2010-10-01T10:15:00.002-06:00

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Kansas-based artist/illustrator Laura Bolter writes, "I bought some cool, new brushes for Photoshop from John Derry (one of the original authors of Corel Painter), and I've been trying them out on some projects for 123Print.

I'm liking them very much! The Photoshop brushes make Photoshop behave much like Painter, which simplifies my workflow considerably. Everything I do in Painter I have to bring into Photoshop anyway, so now I can do it all in one place."

You can read Laura's complete post—and see more of her work—at her blog, Curly's Queue

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 are now available for purchase at $19.95. Enjoy chalk and pastels without the dust!

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Dry Media, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

Two Seasons, Two Tools

2010-09-26T16:58:00.000-06:00

I just finished an image with a bit of an interesting story. Our daughter, Logan, is in her senior year at the University of Nebraska/Lincoln majoring in Meteorology. She is a member of Kappa Delta sorority, which holds an auction every year to raise money for the sorority house.

Last year, we donated a print that I did of the sorority house on UNL's campus. I shot the reference imagery in the late summer and then interpreted the photograph into an autumn scene using Corel Painter. The print was purchased by one of the sorority girl's parents and donated to the house where it now hangs in the dining room.

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This year, I thought it would be interesting to portray the same image of the house in a different season. I chose winter and did the interpretation this time in Photoshop CS5 using my Artists' Brushes.

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I find it interesting to compare the two paintings with the use of each application used to create each in mind. What strikes me—and I think that this should be a goal of the artist—is to not let expressive software impose its signature on the resulting artwork.

Looking at these images, I don't think that either the Painter or Photoshop pedigree is apparent in either painting. Rather, my style—if there is one—is what comes through the pieces.

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 are now available at an introductory price of $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Artists' Brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

John's Dry Media User: Karen Bonaker

2010-09-26T16:30:00.000-06:00

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Artist Karen Bonaker writes, "Well I must say that I am enjoying CS5. I would like to take some time and learn Photoshop better in the coming year. With that said, here is my attempt with your Dry Media brushes.

I used all the brushes and worked free hand from a sketch that I created from some scenes in Sedona recently. This is the culmination of those sketches.

Great fun and will try the clone brushes next."

Karen is the proprietor of the Paintertalk digital art forum (registration required).

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 are now available for purchase at $19.95. Enjoy chalk and pastels without the dust!

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Dry Media, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

Photoshop CS5 Clone Painting Class Offered

2010-09-23T14:33:00.000-06:00

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Photoshop and Painter author and guru Tim Shelbourne is offering a Photoshop CS5 class, Clone Painting with the Mixer Brush: FROM START TO FINISH! Tim describes his approach, "Within the course itself I’m going to be revealing an entirely new method of cloning with the Mixer Brush in CS5 which gives far more realistic results in terms of natural media, and makes the whole process much more intuitive and effective."

I've described Tim and myself as brothers separated at birth—we independently arrived at a unique feature of CS5 during its beta testing phase that enables the concept of a cloning layer. This technique is highly useful when combined with CS5's new Mixer Brush and Bristle Tips for interpreting a photographic source into a natural-media result.

Tim's class begins next Monday, September 27th. Tim is limiting this class to 30 students and there are only a few seats left. Once the course starts, enrollment won’t be possible. The price for the whole course, including Tim's on-going support is £90 ($139 USD). You can enroll for the class at Tim's CS5 School. You’ll need to register for a new account before you can enroll.

John's Dry Media User: Heather Adams

2010-09-23T14:00:00.000-06:00

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Artist Heather Adams writes, "I've been trying out your new Dry Media brushes...they are amazing and I love the textures. This is drawing a I've done from scratch using mainly the Square Chalk brush and Blender.

This drawing was inspired from a painting that I saw hanging in the hotel where I stayed on my recent holiday. Thank you so much for these wonderful brushes, I will be using them often."

You can see more of Heather's work at her PBase page.

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 are now available for purchase at $19.95. Enjoy chalk and pastels without the dust!

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Dry Media, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

On the Road: New York Comic Con

2010-09-19T09:47:00.005-06:00

I'll be in New York City at the Jacob K. Javits Center for New York Comic Con this October 8-10. I'll be representing Adobe Systems in the Wacom booth, demonstrating creative solutions using Photoshop CS5's natural-media Mixer Brush with the newly-redesigned Cintiq 21UX.

In the spirit of Comic Con, I'll be dressed as Photoshop superhero, Russell Brown...just kidding!

If you are planning on attending Comic Con, stop by the Wacom booth (2064) and say hi!

John's Dry Media User: Susan Bloom

2010-09-19T09:26:00.005-06:00

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Artist, educator, and author Susan Bloom was a beta tester for my Dry Media brushes. Susan writes, "After help from John, to get my tools installed correctly, here is an attempt. There is a pattern overlay, that can be removed or modified. I took the painted layer and laid it over a grey background. A varied assortment of John’s brushes were used."

Susan's book, Digital Collage and Painting, Second Edition: Using Photoshop and Painter to Create Fine Art will be published next month. I highly recommend it!

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 are now available for purchase at $19.95. Enjoy chalk and pastels without the dust!

John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John'sDry Media, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 Released

2010-09-17T07:51:00.004-06:00

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I'm pleased to announce the release and availability of John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5. These exciting new brushes provide the Photoshop CS5 user with a set of natural-media chalk and pastel mark-making tools.

Included are: 2 Dry Media Tool Presets files (one for the barrel-rotation sensing Wacom 6D/Art Pen and one for the standard Wacom Grip Pen), the Dry Media papers Pattern Library, John's Cloning Layer Action for interpreting photos into hand-wrought artwork, 3 popular pastel color range Swatch libraries, and 80 minutes of video tutorials.

The following video provides a look at the interpretation of a photograph (supplied by Randy Jay Braun.) into a pastel painting using John's Cloning Layer Action:

The next video is a from scratch pastel of my ubiquitous apple still life. Note how the background is added after creating the foreground subject...try that with traditional media!

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5is available now for purchase and direct download for $19.95. For more information and purchase details, visit the John's Dry Media webpage.

If you create an artwork with John's Dry Media that you're proud of, send me a JPEG. and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

Sneak Peek: John's Dry Media Artwork Sample

2010-08-26T09:50:00.006-06:00

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I'm getting closer to releasing my Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5. I've linearized the paper textures so that all the brushes respond to the textures in a similar manner. I've now got to create the accompanying video tutorials, which will take a few days, not to mention get the web page designed. I'm guesstimating the release is a week out.

This test image was created using a still life by Hawaii-based photographer Randy Jay Braun. Be sure to click on the image to get a look at it a full scale. This will give you a good look at the dry media technique of utilizing the paper grain—in this case, mi-tientes—to overlay complementary patterns of color to create rich optical color mixtures.

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 will be offered for an introductory price of $19.95. I'm shooting for release in a couple weeks.

If you would like to be notified when these brushes will be available, Send me an email.

John's Artists' Brushes User: Lars Bjørstrup

2010-08-26T08:15:00.005-06:00

Click to view full size image

Danish freelance illustrator Lars Bjørstrup writes, "Just wanted to say that I am very happy with your great set of Artists' Brushes that I purchased from you last week. Here is my first painting with these brushes as a contribution to your pixlBlog. The painting is a still life based on one of my photographs - and a few notes on the process similar to what you describe in your tutorial videos." Click on the image to see a larger view along with the steps Lars employed in creating the image.

You can view more of Lars' artwork at his website.

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 are now available at an introductory price of $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Artists' Brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

Sneak Peek: John's Dry Media Paper Textures

2010-08-23T15:15:00.004-06:00

Click to view full image

This chart shows the paper textures that will be included with John's Dry Media for Adobe Photoshop CS5. Traditional dry media's appearance is largely dictated by the surface it interacts with. Chalk and pastel are designed to be abraded by a textured, toothy surface. The resulting pigment adheres to the surface of the paper. Depending on the hand pressure applied by the artist, the pigment may fill the grain or it may adhere only to the upper surface of the texture.

It is for this reason that the appearance of grain is a key to dry media—by overlaying increasingly lighter applications of pigment, multiple colors are applied and produce rich optical mixtures in the viewer's eye.

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 will be offered for an introductory price of $19.95. I'm shooting for release in a couple weeks.

If you would like to be notified when these brushes will be available, Send me an email.

Salvador Dali on What's My Line

2010-08-23T13:20:00.001-06:00

Surreal!

Sneak Peek: John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5

2010-08-19T08:17:00.006-06:00

Click to view full image

I've been busy working on a set of dry media brushes for Adobe® Photoshop© CS5. This set of brushes focuses on media like pastels and chalk. I've created a set of custom paper textures as part of these brushes. Artwork can be created from scratch or use a photograph as an initial color source.

Click to view full image

In the sample image, I used a photograph that I shot a few years ago during a workshop for initial composition, then used pastels that referenced the photo's colors as I drew. The image was completed by adding my own embellishments. Be sure to click on the image to view at full scale.

John's Dry Media for Photoshop CS5 will be offered for an introductory price of $19.95. I'm shooting for release in a couple weeks.

If you would like to be notified when these brushes will be available, Send me an email.

Dealing with Pixel Density and Brush Performance

2010-08-17T13:38:00.006-06:00

I regularly receive emails asking about brush performance in applications like Photoshop and Painter. Lately, I've been asked about the resolution of imagery used in my lynda.com training titles. I thought it would be useful to provide some explanation here so that it is available to a larger audience.

The lynda.com recordings done in the booth were generally done at screen resolution, but a real-world situation will often require higher resolutions. For example, offset printing generally dictates files at 300ppi (pixels per inch). Inkjet printing is often discussed in terms of 240ppi. For web-based viewing, imagery at 72ppi is considered acceptable. You can easily determine the pixel resolution of an image by multiplying the size in inches by the above ppi (pixels per inch) factors.

Let's use a typical real-world size as an example: 20" X 24". This is a common photographic print and frame size.

20" X 24" @ 72ppi = 1440p X 1728p = 2,488,320 pixels
20" X 24" @ 150ppi = 3000p X 3600p = 10,800,000 pixels
20" X 24" @ 300ppi = 6000p X 7200p = 43,200,000 pixels

Note that each of these resolution factors quadruples the total pixel count—as resolution increases, so does pixel density.

It is the density of pixels being manipulated that dictates both application and brush performance. With this in mind, we can state that performance will decrease as image pixel density increases. A one inch square of a 300ppi image is far more pixel-dense than a one inch square of a 72ppi image. There are three primary factors that affect an application's ability to handle large pixel-based manipulation.

Processor Speed
The faster the processor, the better the performance. Additionally, today's processors generally contain multiple cores. This is akin to having multiple copies of the processor available to simultaneously handle various tasks. Photoshop is multi-core aware and can take advantage of multiple cores when present. Photoshop generally performs better on newer machines because of this.

RAM Memory
Manipulating pixels is a memory-intensive application. In order to process pixels efficiently, Photoshop uses temporary memory containers—a scratch disk or cache—to hold pixels while processing calculations on them. When Photoshop runs out of RAM memory—which is fast because it is just electrons—it resorts to virtual memory, an allocation of physical disk space. This virtual memory is slower because it is a physical medium. It is for this reason that more RAM will improve Photoshop performance. It is often stated that the cheapest way to speed up a computer is to add RAM and this certainly holds true for Photoshop.

Graphics Card
Graphics cards have an onboard GPU (graphics processor unit) that is designed to specifically handle sophisticated pixel-based calculations. GPUs initially gained popularity to improve 3D game performance, but have evolved to become an important secondary processor for applications like Photoshop. CS5 specifically targets the GPU for a variety of tasks and this trend will continue in the future. As a result, higher performance graphics cards improve Photoshop's pixel handling.

Now let's look at a comparison of two systems. I'm currently using a 2.4Ghz MacBook Pro and I often find my brush performance wanting—as brush sizes get larger (a.k.a. pixel density), there is a decided lag in the drawing of the stroke. When I recorded the Mixer Brush title at lynda.com, I used their machine, which was a 2 x 3Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon Mac Pro—this machine easily handled anything I could throw at it (I probably could have taxed it with very large brush sizes).

Having been in the software development business, I can tell you that applications are generally developed on the then-current fastest processors. This ensures that the resulting app will run well on future, faster processors. The down side, of course, is that many users have older machines and will experience less-than-ideal performance.

There are two short-term fixes for this scenario. One is to use brush size as a performance throttle. The idea behind this is to adjust brush size down until you get acceptable painting performance. The caveat here is that you may find that the largest acceptable brush size—performance-wise—is not acceptable for your style.

The other performance enhancer is to add more RAM memory to your system. Photoshop is a memory-intensive app. When it runs out of RAM, it resorts to virtual memory, which is an allocation of your disk space as a "scratch disk". Because this is disk-based memory, it is obviously slower than physical RAM. So, an increase in RAM will enable Photoshop to do more work before resorting to the scratch disk. I've maxed my Mac Pro out to 6GB RAM for this reason and it definitely helps—but don't expect it to be a miracle cure for a dated processor. I recommend Other World Computing as a source of RAM upgrades—their prices are good and they supply quality RAM.

The ultimate solution is a current high-performance machine. Be aware that the merry-go-round never stops spinning and today's flame thrower will eventually become tomorrow's boat anchor. Riding the crest of technology requires periodic hardware upgrades.

Photoshop CS5: Painting with the Mixer Brush DVD Released

2010-08-16T15:09:00.003-06:00

I'm pleased to announce that my lynda.com title, Photoshop CS5: Painting with the Mixer Brush, has been released on DVD. With this release, you now have two options to access this training content: you can either purchase the DVD or access the content at lynda.com. Here is the lynda-supplied description of the title:

Join John Derry, a pioneer in the field of digital painting, as he shows how to master the natural-media painting features introduced in Photoshop CS5 in Photoshop CS5: Painting with the Mixer Brush. This course shows how to use the Mixer Brush, the Bristle Tips feature, and a new mechanism for blending colors in Photoshop to add beautiful, painterly effects to photographs, enhance artwork with paint-like strokes and illustrations, and paint entirely new art from scratch. This course also covers customizing brush characteristics and surface textures, applying keyboard shortcuts to paint smoothly and efficiently, and using a Wacom tablet to get the most out of Photoshop CS5’s painting features. Exercise files are included with the course.

Here's a segment from Painting with the Mixer Brush:

The Painting with the Mixer Brush DVD is $99; the same content is available on lynda.com via subscription. For more information, visit lynda.com.

America in Color: 1939-43

2010-08-05T12:13:00.004-06:00

The Denver Post has published a rare set of color photographs taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations. The photographs are the property of the Library of Congress and were included in a 2006 exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color.

Bound for Glory: America in Color is the first major exhibition of the little known color images. Comprised of seventy digital prints made from color transparencies taken between 1939 and 1943, this exhibition reveals a surprisingly vibrant world that has typically been viewed only through black-and-white images. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America's rural and small town populations, the nation's subsequent economic recovery and industrial growth, and the country's great mobilization for World War II.

The photographs in Bound for Glory, many by famed photographers such as John Vachon, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, and Marion Post Wolcott, document not only the subjects in the pictures, but also the dawn of a new era—the Kodachrome era. These colorful images mark a historic divide in visual presentation between the monochrome world of the pre-modern age and the brilliant hues of the present. They change the way we look—and think about—our past.

John's Artists' Brushes User: Anastasiy Safari

2010-08-05T11:33:00.005-06:00

Click to view image larger

Magicpicker developer and photographer Anastasiy Safari writes, "I want to make a small contribution with a small painting I finally made with your amazing brushes. Thanks again!"

The Magicpicker Photoshop panel finds daily use in my workflow. This panel provides a visually intuitive tool for selecting color in Photoshop. I find it particularly suited for "painting from scratch" painting. Magicpicker is available for Photoshop CS5/CS4/CS3/MAC/PC.

Click to visit Anastasiy's website

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 are now available at an introductory price of $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Artists' Brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

John's Artists' Brushes Article in Splash Magazine

2010-07-23T10:53:00.003-06:00

Click to view article

I was recently interviewed by Patricia Meisels for Splash Magazine regarding my Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5. We discussed the Artists' Brushes, plus some of the thinking that goes into brush creation.

You can read the article here.

Photoshop CS5: Painting with the Mixer Brush Released

2010-07-22T16:13:00.004-06:00

I'm pleased to announce that my latest training title, Photoshop CS5: Painting with the Mixer Brush, is now available for viewing at lynda.com. The underlined chapter segments on the title page can be viewed for free. Subscription information is available at lynda.com.

Course Description:
Join John Derry, a pioneer in the field of digital painting, as he shows how to master the natural-media painting features introduced in Photoshop CS5 in Photoshop CS5: Painting with the Mixer Brush. This course shows how to use the Mixer Brush, the Bristle Tips feature, and a new mechanism for blending colors in Photoshop to add beautiful, painterly effects to photographs, enhance artwork with paint-like strokes and illustrations, and paint entirely new art from scratch. This course also covers customizing brush characteristics and surface textures, applying keyboard shortcuts to paint smoothly and efficiently, and using a Wacom tablet to get the most out of Photoshop CS5’s painting features. Exercise files are included with the course.

Topics Include:
Understanding the axes of motion with a Wacom tablet
Choosing a brush shape and Bristle Tip
Adjusting brush angle
Loading color and control the behavior of the Mixer Brush
Modifying surface texture
Simulating the texture of canvas
Saving tool presets for brushes
Creating a painting from a photograph
Painting from scratch with the Mixer Brush

Duration:
2.5 Hours

Preview: Photoshop CS5 Dry Media Brushes

2010-07-19T10:48:00.004-06:00

Click to view full image

Arabesque is a test image I created with some new Photoshop CS5 brushes that I'm developing. These brushes are focused specifically on dry media like chalk, charcoal, and pastels, with an emphasis on surface texture.

If you would like to be notified when these brushes will be available, Send me an email.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Mixer Brush Title Coming

2010-07-12T15:07:00.006-06:00

Lobby window at lynda.com

I've completed a lynda.com video training title covering Photoshop CS5's Mixer Brush last month in Ventura, CA. The title, Photoshop CS5: Painting with the Mixer Brush, will cover the mechanics of adjusting the Mixer Brush and its companion feature, Bristle Tips. These new additions to Photoshop CS5 enable natural-media style brushes that mimic traditional oils and acrylics. I've included a lot of tips and tricks for creating your own brushes, as well as provide sample starter brushes.

A release date has not been announced, but I heard from a little birdie that it will be out by summer's end.

Uncle Russell Wants You

2010-06-29T08:55:00.003-06:00

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This is an image Russell Brown and I collaborated on for an as-of-yet unreleased t-shirt. I utilized John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5 to paint Russell's portrait in the style of famed illustrator James Montgomery Flagg (the body is the original Flagg art). Russ was planning on having the shirts for this past Photoshopworld, but got bogged down with other Photoshop CS5 pre-release activities.

Question: Is there interest in an Uncle Russell Wants You t-shirt?

John's Artists' Brushes User: Terry Whitener

2010-06-28T20:29:00.003-06:00

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Photographer and budding artist Terry Whitener writes, "I just wanted to share my very first painting ever! I can't even draw stick men. I love what your brushes do and how you helped me to be able to do this. I will only get better. Thank you for taking the time and effort to make such a great set of brushes."

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 are now available at an introductory price of $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Artists' Brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

John's Artists' Brushes User: Stephen Buchmann

2010-06-13T16:30:00.005-06:00

Click to view image larger

Stephen Buchmann, photographer and aspiring artist writes, "This is my very first digital oil painting (from a Torchi cactus blossom I took this spring). Wow, I'm thrilled how easy this is! And this was done with a kludgy mouse—I don't even have the Wacom tablet yet. I'm certainly no artist (photographer, okay), artist no. There's hope. :-)

It's amazing how wonderful and easy your brushes to use. I haven't even explored the Restore brush and cloning layers yet to bring more detail back from the original photos. This is fun! Who needs television."

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 are now available at an introductory price of $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Artists' Brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!

John's Artists' Brushes User: Dominic Orologio

2010-06-11T13:18:00.003-06:00

Click to view image progressives

Dominic Orologio is a freelance Art Director and Designer by day, and a hopeful commercial illustrator by night. Dominic writes, "I tried my hand at my life long dream recently, which is to break into the comic book biz as a cover artist. It's slow going. So now I've shifted to putting together a stylistically cohesive portfolio of editorial work. I have a couple reps that said they would be interested in rep-ing me if I put together some pieces in the style you see here. Wish me luck.

I wanted to thank you for your Artists' Brushes. They are great! CS5's brush engine is a long-awaited dream come true, and your brushes manage to take advantage of every nuance it was intended to express.

In my process, I bounce from canvas to Photoshop a couple of times on a piece. But now that I can finally achieve the life and spontaneity I would normally rely on my canvas for, it's gotten a lot more streamlined. And these brushes helped me achieve that. Very well thought out, and very appreciated. This piece took about 10 hours total."

You can view a progression of Dominic's painting by clicking the image above. Check out Dominic's work at Comic Cover portfolio and his design site.

John's Artists' Brushes for Photoshop CS5 are now available at an introductory price of $19.95. If you have Photoshop CS5 and are into painting, this will be the best investment you can make!

John's Artists' Brushes for Adobe Photoshop CS5

If you have an image created using John's Artists' Brushes, send me a JPEG and I'll feature it here on the PixlBlog!