18 July 2010 Hi David I have just revisited your website and I am (still) so impressed with your work. I like the progression into very real simulation of natural media. I was very surprised to read that you don't sell your work. That's amazing considering that it never ceases to impress. Your water colour of Girls on holiday in Brazil is absolutely beautiful and is really close to the real thing. Awesome. Please continue to impress and inspire those of us that can only dream about producing such amazing work. Regards, Ashley

Thank you very much for your kind email.  I'm very glad you enjoy some of my work and that it is helpful to your own.  The main reason I don't sell my work is that no one asks to buy it!  Best wishes David

2 July 2010 Hi David, My name is Wayne Osborne. I live in Miamisburg Ohio just southwest of Dayton. I really love your work. You do the kind of art that I aspire to do. I have Corel Painter 11 and Photoshop CS4. I have been using Photoshop for years but not really as a painting tool but to create web graphics, abstract art using plug-ins, and graphic design. I am not retired and want to use my time doing what I have wanted to do for years, but never had the time, learning to paint and pencil draw in software. I have been practicing for about two months now and hope to have some artwork up on my imagekind site soon. I really like the art work you do. I want my work to be close to the kind of art you are doing. I have had a terrible time during my life drawing the human figure and animals. Landscapes, buildings, and plants are no problem, but I have block when it comes to drawing living beings. I want to overcome this! Do you have any advice? Also you have a very nice, well-organized web site. Thanks for your time Wayne Osborne

Thanks, Wayne.  Nice of you to get in touch.  I'm glad you like some of my pictures.  Although I have drawn with a pencil and pen, and painted in watercolour, almost all the work on my website is clone painting of one kind or another.  That is, it uses brushes in Painter and Photoshop to paint with colours from one image, usually a photo, into another, usually a blank image of the same size.  The fun is that you do not have to be a skilled draughtsman to get the subject in an image accurately depicted on your blank sheet.  In Painter this is with clone colour painting and in Photoshop, something of the same effect can be achieved with the Art History brush and the Pattern Stamp Tool used as a brush.   The challenge is to end up with a cloned image that looks like a painting rather than an exact copy of your starting photograph.  Achieving this requires that you understand what real natural media  - like oils and watercolour - look like, how texture appears in natural media, how to prepare a source photo so it will make a good painting, which brushes to use and in what style, and what processes to apply to your cloned image to finish it. There are some tutorials on the Corel Painter website which are worth looking at if clone painting appeals to you.  I think there is one on that site that I contributed some years ago to Painter magazine which has easy, intermediate and advanced walkthrough examples. Good luck with your painting. Best wishes David

I am so glad that you brought the subject up of clone painting. I was wondering if what I was looking at on your site to be clone painting. I have a serious question about ethics on this matter. Yes, I have been studying how to do just that with a tutorial CD I got from Lynda.com with John Derry explaining everything about Painter 11 and that is one of the subjects. My dilemma is, is cloning a form of cheating? Please, I am not trying to step on your toes, just the opposite, I want to know how you feel about someone buying your artwork believing that you painted it the old traditional way of just looking at the subject, on location, and painting like De Vinci, compared to what you are really doing, tracing? I want to do what you are doing, I am working on a piece right now, but I am bit reserved about presenting it as a pencil work or oil painting work, when it is not, it is software work. And even beyond that one can get Painter to do AutoPainting, I don’t have to know a thing and I can create an art piece that could pass as a Seriat or VanGogh to the novice. So help me out here, how to do you reconcile your work to your buyers? Also thanks for the tip on the Art History Brush and the Pattern Stamp tool, those are two tools that I have never used in Photoshop. Well, that will change soon.

I never sell my work.  If I did, I'd make clear that the images are cloned.  It would be wrong to sell your cloned work as being free-hand painted.  Also, I always credit the original photographer - where it wasn't me - on my website.  I quite accept that some people think that clone painting is less skilful and tantamount to cheating.  A long discussion can be had about that but basically for me there's enough of a challenge in creating realistic natural media simulations using whatever help I can get.  I'm happy with that.  But you should not represent your cloned images as something they are not.

Thank you very much for your thoughts on the matter. I agree completely. I am new at this posting work on the Internet and trying to sell my art. ImageKind.com is a bit confusing for me to use. I am not sure how to go about informing viewers that the work is cloned from a photo. I will continue to investigate. I am quite surprised that you don’t sell you art. It is quite lovely. The portraits of Tim, Susan, Marcella, and yourself are very good works, but my favorites are Ducks in an Orchard (just beautiful scenery), Lilies, and Orange Lilies ( We call them Tiger Lilies here, and I have them every year both in my back patio area [just bloomed] and my front area right by the front door [due in about two weeks]) You really captured their beauty and them swaying in the wind. Thanks for responding to my questions. I feel better about what I am doing now. You keep going too, because your work is well appreciated!

14 May 2010 Hi David. Really enjoyed looking at your site and galleries again!(I have visited a few times in the past few years) I liked that I could see experimentation and evolution of your style over the years. Your art is fantastic, especially your portraits and landscapes! I thought it was so neat to see your reference photos below as well. Digital painting, particularly watercolours have been a passion of mine for some time and I love to share techniques and talk about it with other digital painters. I have had a website and or a blog for about three years, my present one for a year and it’s something I find important for me to do as a digital painter. Even though I’m self taught in all aspects and still have tons to learn I feel that my blogging and demonstrating what I am doing is of interest to many people. Doing my small bit to educate the public (including traditional artists) about what is possible with the digital medium.

Really impressed to see your work published  in Painter Magazine. You mentioned you would like to know about other sites concerning digital painting. May I recommend Karen Bonaker’s Painter Talk Forum . It is a very friendly and supportive forum with an emphasis on learning and sharing. Many of the members are new to digital art, but it’s fun to see people have such fun being creative!

I would like to suggest you have a look at my website as well. I really would like to have more comments and dialogue going on, but I guess that takes time to build. I am going to add a link to your site to my blog roll, and you may link to mine if you like. Meanwhile, it’s been great talking to you. Keep up the great work and HAPPY PAINTING! Kind regards, Joan A Hamilton http://www.joanahamilton.com/

Thanks for writing.  I enjoyed looking at your site and see you paint from scratch rather than clone (as I do).  I salute you for doing this - my thing is using a range of digital techniques and processes to simulate natural media.  I escaped to digital from real watercolour some years ago which I found too challenging and rarely produced work I liked.  It is easier for me to get decent results using digital cloning techniques in Painter and CS.  I find this approach pretty challenging but less demoralising that from-scratch painting. There's always more to learn and I am constantly building and refreshing my knowledge about artists I like so that I can try to emulate things they do that I admire.  I'm getting to know the new CS5 brushes at the moment. I have posted this exchange in my website visitors' book and this will show the links to your site and to Karen Bonaker's. Best wishes David 

8 September 2009 David love your oils. .  Would you be doing any DVD's in the near future?    Are there any trainings or books or DVD you can recomend?   I have done your tutorials and can't get enough. Here [attached] is a new image emulating watercolor even though the file says oil.  I would like to master oils like I handle watercolors.. Thanks for your help!   Your work really enspires me. Your an amazing artist! Warm regards, Mitch

The cowboy is very well done.  The treatment looks to me like an oil with a lot of watercolorish texture effects like splashes and drops added.  You might try to get the actual look of dried watercolour which often has sediment fringes and granulation effects.  Of course, gouache is also a water based medium but is opaque so it looks more like oil or acrylics.  With gouache you don’t get the texture effects you get with transparent watercolour.

Here is a wonderful watercolour sketch by John Singer Sargent ["In Switzerland"] that illustrates how transparent watercolour often looks on watercolour paper; you should note all the watercolour characteristics [http://jssgallery.org/Paintings/In_Switzerland.html]. I liked your version of the boy’s portrait from my Painter Magazine tutorial you published on the Painter Magazine gallery.  A little heavy on the canvas texture perhaps – you were having too much fun with that Grainy Sargent brush!

I have a book coming out in December about digital painting – I assume the publication date is still December – I haven’t heard from the publishers for a few weeks.  It is advertised on Amazon now.  I am also hoping to make a DVD on oil portrait painting to sell from my website around the time the book comes out.  I’m still trying to find a suitable photograph and then I need to get my head round the software.  But it’s possible. David

20 August 2009 David, I happened to stumble upon your site. I must congratulate you on the quality of your work. You're obviously a chap I have a lot in common with, and you're doing fabulous things with Photoshop. Just wanted to let you know how much I'm admiring your efforts. Excellent stuff! Kind regards, Tim Shelbourne.

20 August 2009 Hi David.. I am writing you from the states. Your digital paintings are awsome and  really inspire me!    Your portrait style is organic with wonderful  tension you create with color! I can use some help here with the tutorial in painter magazine..  Getting creative with brushes... I don't seem to pick up the texture that you create with the custom sargent brush.   I also having difficulty with the bristle brush as impasto is much too strong and looks artifical.  I am using Painter 11 and followed the instructions very careuflly.  I know the paper works as if I use a conte brush i get the desired texuture which is illustrated in your finsihed picture.  It just does not work for me with the brushes you explain in the tuturial. Would love to see more of your tututorials..  Are they published anywhere else? Much appreciated!! Warm regards, Mitch

Would you kindly share with me how you achieved these paintings.. Particualry the texture and the  brushes you used. Typically when i use the oily brush its much more wet and you dont see the texture of the canvas.  Not sure what to tweek.  Thanks in advance! Warm regards, Mitch

As I recall it, both pictures were made with a customised Sargent brush.  In the Brush Creator and on the General page, change the Method to Cover and the Subcategory to Grainy Hard Cover.  Then set the Opacity to 100% and the Grain to 11%. David

21 July 2009 Hi David I really like your style of art, is it for sale and if so approx how much? (for example your poppy art is really nice). Thanks. Tim

30 March 2009 Hi David, I wanted to tell you that of all the artists' work I've seen, your use of Corel Painter is the most impressive to me.  You have incredible sensitivity to the use of the program and I'm so impressed with your work. I was a plein air painter for over 20 years.  I have since become disabled and I'm now learning Corel Painter X.  I have been following your PDF tutorial (the portrait of the young man) featured on the Corel website. I have a few questions since using the PDF tutorial and I was wondering if I could pay you to help me with these questions.  Is that a possibility? If you would be able to coach me a bit, I would try to zero-in on my questions so that I wouldn't take up too much of your time. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Cheers, Laurie

Hi Laurie I'm glad you like some of my work.  I'm afraid I can't take on any commitments at the moment because I'm working on a book I have been commissioned to write about Digital Painting Techniques.  I'm not sure when the book is being published - this year I think.  There will be a lot of material in there about the techniques I use. Having said that, do ask any particular questions you have.  Painter has a long learning curve - I learn new things all the time.  Just stick with it. Best wishes David

30 March 2009 Good Day ... I hope your day will be a good day ... While wandering through the web, in search of anything related to PhotoArtMaster Gold 1.5, I came across your site. Artists, like you, have eyes attached to your hands and fingers, and that is why your works look so easy to do ... yet impossible, unless one is an artist.  Great eye candy ! I 'use' PhotoArtMaster Gold 1.5 and enjoy the creations that flow from relatively easy input.  Since the creating company has gone 'belly up,' I have not been able to find an answer to this:  I can not get the program to run on Vista 64-bit machines;  32-bit machines, no problem.  Do you know of anyone that has run PhotoArtMaster Gold 1.5 on Vista 64-bit machines? Any lead will be appreciated. Thanks for your time and consideration. Jim, in Michigan, USA

12 November 2008 Love your website... some terrific paintings there!  We miss you at the Inn, but I see you are busy with your own site now.  Feel free to advertise your work, if you sell it, in our new ads forum, near top of main index page.  Or just stop and say hi and show off some of your favorite paintings in our digital forums. Phyllis Stewart, Innkeeper

28 May 2008 Hi David, My compliments for your great tutorial on Charlie Gardening. I´ll try the steps with some of my pictures just to see the results I can achieve. I really appreciate watercolors and have tried lots of techniques trying to approach this feeling using Painter. Thanks for sharing your knowlege. []s. Marcelo

Thanks, Marcelo.  I’m glad you found the tutorial helpful.  Your message prompted me to add some links to the tutorials I have contributed to Painter Magazine.  I keep meaning to do a DVD and hopefully I’ll get round to it over the summer.  David

20 March 2008 Hi David, I've just looked through your website a little more thoroughly than last time I visited. I must say that your work really impresses. Do you share your methods? The portrait of Josh in Artwork 3 is amazing and I would love to know how you achieved the effect. I'm still looking for Buzz Simplifier. If you have any news on developments on that score, please let me know. Good luck with your amazing work. Ashley King

Thanks, Ashley. You're in luck with the Josh portrait. This was done for a feature on Colour Cloning in Corel Painter Magazine. The article was called "Get Creative with Cloning" and was in Issue 10. The detailed walkthrough tutorial on the Josh picture was the third tutorial in the feature. You should be able to get back copies of the magazine from their website - http://www.paintermagazine.co.uk . The cover and Josh article look like this:

Sorry, can't help you with buZZ. Should be out there somewhere. David

23 January 2008 Hi Just visited your site.  Your work is extremely well done.  It shows what can be done with professional digital manipulation with the right skill set.  You might want to take a quick peek at our site www.learndesk.com - nothing so great as what you have displayed here but some links and some examples of digital art that I have tried.  I can see that I have a lot to learn from others such as yourself Dave. Thanks for a most enjoyable visit! Cheers
Terry

I would like to provide a link from my website to yours.  Would that be a problem?

Thanks, Terry. It all takes time but it gets easier - and it's always fun. I don't mind if you want to add a link to my site on yours. Best wishes David

22 January 2008 Hi David, I came across your website while looking for BUZZ Simplifier. I am so impressed with your portraits. They are amazing. You are an inspiration to those of us who would like to do more than just take photographs. Do you know of an alternative to Buzz that I could use? Kind regards Ashley King

Thanks, Ashley.  Glad you like the portraits.  They are always interesting to do.  On buZZ – see my answer to Cindy on 2 Jan 2008 below.  I don’t know of any alternative to buZZ.  Some people on the Retouching Forum of the Digital Photography Review website say that they have, or know of, Photoshop Actions that do the same job.  I have never seen this myself.  You can get a very crude approximation – and an unsatisfying one – using filters like Photoshop’s Surface Blur and Dry Brush but they are no substitute and I don't recommend them.  What we really want is for Corel to buy the apparently failed buZZ company (fo2pix) and add buZZ to Painter 11.  David

21 January 2008 David, just discovered your fabulous website.  What a tremendous amount of talent.  I looked at your pictures and love your  work.  Do you teach classes? I would certainly love to learn some of the many things that you do.  I have been at Painter for about a year now and simply love it although not too much talent.  I find one does progress however! Thanks for your help.  Thanks too for so kindly sharing what you do on your website. Janet

Janet - thanks for getting in touch.  Apart from doing tutorials for Painter Magazine I am determined to produce a demo DVD for release through my website later in the year. I keep saying I'm going to do it but this year I mean it.  Painter is a great program that has so much depth you can spend years exploring it - and I intend to!.  Good luck with your painting and have fun! David