Native American Dakota nation chief quote

This work I started as an analog airbrush with a physical airbrush gun and real paint on a T-shirt, that I photographed and edited extensively (adding plenty detail) in Affinity Photo many years later. I appreciate the Ctrl+Z and History of digital tools to get things closer to where the image is in my mind (without getting my fingers covered in paint). Digital art creation in my view is in no respect inferior to the traditional analog way of conceiving. It takes effort to reach the point where artists want to be, the tools they use are just different.

Most recent edit in Affinity Photo

In the early 90's of the previous century I discovered CorelDRAW as an amazing tool. Later I fiddled with Inkscape, after which I worked with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign on a professional basis. When Adobe started their ridiculously costly subscription model, I discovered Affinity suite and switched to those programs. Most recently I ran into the magnificent VectorStyler, so I guess I evolve along with the tools that become available to artists that are continuously looking for tools that help them express what is in their mind.

Click the image to see a larger version in Google's Lightbox

Halfway the 80's of the previous century I happened to run into a Native American lady of the Comanche nation, who lived on the edge of an Indian reservation, who told me a lot of her culture and what life is like in her area. It is nowhere near to the fake representation that the Hollywood moguls prefer to offer to the public. To unassuming people that live in a comfortable place in the West, it is bizarre and mind boggling what life is like in a place bordering a reservation. Even to those, like me, who live in a way that sets themself apart from most of the the common people in their area. In spite of the difficulties that minorities are forced to deal with, the spiritual wisdom of their ancestors remains lingering in the minds and hearts of their offspring.

Geronimo - from analog airbrush to digital art

 

In the previous century I was deeply involved in the Dutch airbrush scene and sprayed a lot of portraits, in which a returning preference was the airbrushing of Native American chiefs and warriors. Some of those portraits were not finished or could use improvement. After the turn of the century I leaned more towards creating digital art and not too long ago I decided to rework the old portraits with digital means. One of those is the portrait of the famous Apache chief Geronimo of which you see various stages below.

While airbrushing with airbrush guns and paint I usually used the Iwata HP-BH airbrush gun and various paints, mainly Illu-Color and later Inspire H2O waterbased paint. In the digital episode of my life I initially used CorelPaint until that program began to crash more often than not, particularly when exporting work to the png format from Corel's cpt format. Some 5 years ago I accidentally ran into the Affinity suit and changed to Affinity Photo for pixel editing.

I gave the document a look that suggests a canvas background in Affinity Photo that I thought matched the portrait better. This is easy to do in Affinity Photo by using various Filters and Layer Effects. Digital art creation allows to make many different versions with different feel relatively easy, while printing techniques have evolved to a stage that makes it difficult to distinguish analog from digital art. In the case of this portrait I could for instance, choose to have it printed on canvas and give it a lacquer layer, which would give a convincing impression of authenticity to the observer.

I still like to pick up the Iwata's every now and then, but today my main focus is on digital art creation. It is an entirely different way to work, but unlike many airbrush purists, I like to endlessly fiddle in the software that allows to infinitely apply changes without the headache that that the traditional analog trade forces artists to make. The oldest stage - the unfinished analog airbrush - is at the bottom and the various digital tinkerings are above that. Click on one of the images to see them in Google's Lightbox that allows to flick through the images by turning the mouse's scroll wheel.

Fourth digital stage

Third digital stage

Second digital stage

First digital stage

Unfinished analog airbrush portrait