Ever wonder how I create my digital art? I’ve been asked a number of times how I do what I do with photographs and a computer, so I thought I’d share a little about my creative process with you. I began my journey into digital art 5 years ago, when I turned a photograph I took of a tree in my parents’ backyard into a dramatic, surreal piece of art in Photoshop. I’ve actually been experimenting with my photography in Photoshop since I got my hands on Photoshop 2.0 (around 1997), but in 2005, after being a member of the DeviantART community (a wonderful source of inspiration) for about 2 years at the time, my photo-manipulating/digital art creations went to another level.

My process is 1 part planning (utilizing my photographic composition & design knowledge) and 9 parts experimentation. When I say “experimentation”, I don’t mean I go crazy trying anything and everything until I get a result I like. Okay, maybe a little! I apply a lot of techniques that I’ve taught myself over the years to see if they’ll work for a particular piece. I also often come up with completely new techniques or ideas. Each project goes through an evolutionary transformation and manifests on my screen by fusing many elements together to create a unified work of art.

Here I will outline a very basic, very abbreviated version of my digital art creation process, using the “Avalon Revisited” cover art as an example…

Step 1: Found photos, removed subject from background, arranged photos on canvas.

Here you see a public domain photograph of the Houses of Parliament found on the WikiCommons website. Normally, I try use my own stock of photographs for most of my art, but since I’ve never been to London to take a photo myself, and because the project required it, I had to settle for this very nice license-free stock photo. You also see a carefully cut-out photograph of our mysterious steampunk model.

Step 2: Added some “steampunk” elements and experimented with layer blending options.

I found the clockwork, gear and cog photographs on the WikiCommons site and cut them out from their respective backgrounds. You can see some layer blending has been applied by the almost negative effect of the clockwork and the variegated color on the cog. At this stage I also smoothed out the pixelization and digital noise from the photo of the model.

Step 3: Texture!

Added clouds and an overlay texture image, adjusting opacity and probably playing around with the layer blending options again.

Step 4: Added coil, clock and more texture

Added more texture using clouds and a grungy photo of a rusted metal surface. Erased the center of the rust image to allow most of the art to show through, leaving a little to frame the edges. I also added the coil and clock face for some more steampunk flair.

Step 5: Flatten and Filter

When I get to a point where I am happy with the layout and placement of all the elements, have the color adjusted to my liking and just the right amount light density and contrast, I flatten the entire image. With the flattened image, I do some more color, levels and contrast adjustments before playing around with special filters.

Step 6: Filters and Backtrack Adjustments

I use Photoshop filters or additional plug-in filters to achieve a more polished look. For this piece, I added a vignette filter that also brightened the center a bit. Because digital art can often be moody and unpredictable, I often went back to the un-flattened file to make adjustments. Here you can see that the cog on the left, inside the clockwork, is more pronounced/constrasted. I also resized the subject and nudged her a bit to the left. These were just a few of many many adjustments. I’m quite the perfectionist, and while sometimes that can become an obstacle, thankfully in this case that trait helped make the final image a success!

Step 7: Final image

It’s finished! After many more adjustments to the final flattened image, I decided it was ready for print. I sent the final version off to the publishing company and the author, who were both very pleased with the final result.

Step 8: Final Cover Design

InDesign was used to lay out the final design. I created all the design elements except for the publishing company’s logo and bar code. The industrial-looking metal placard and screws were created from scratch in Photoshop. This shows the full image stretching on to the back of the book.

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It seems so simple when I write it out like this. In reality, this particular project lasted many countless hours scattered over the course of a month and a half. But it was definitely worth it, and I’d do it again if the opportunity presented itself!

I am very excited to unveil the book cover art I created for author O.M. Grey’s debut novel “Avalon Revisited”! Miss Grey commissioned me after viewing my digital art work on my website. It is truly an honor to be asked not only to create the artwork, but to design the entire book cover as well as the chapter headings. This is my first book cover/design project and I must say, I loved it!

“Avalon Revisited” is a Paranormal Steampunk Romance, so it was a good healthy challenge for me to create something for a genre I haven’t worked in yet. Steampunk is awesome. And very popular, from what I’ve learned! I hope I’ve done the book, and the genre, justice.

Now available for digital download from Amazon!

Come back later for the “Making of the Avalon Revisited cover”…

If you block out all the traumatizing stuff, I had a GREAT year!!!

January

· My first magazine cover publication. The Meadow was chosen for the cover art of the first issue of The Fairy Society Magazine

· The trip to Eugene, Oregon, with my friend Rachel Keay to attend the FaerieWorlds Masquerade Ball. Walking through Downtown Eugene at night, in costume, feeling ridiculous, trying to find the theatre while freezing our wings off!! A homeless man finally told us where to find the place, HA!

· My first solo exhibit. Thank you Seattle (Lynnwood Arts Commission). After being snubbed by some galleries in my hometown of Cleveland, this was satisfying.

· Hired as a contractor by a start-up Web Design company and being an integral part in developing company structure. I was promoted to Creative Director in less than 2 months. Hoping when I get back to Seattle this will still be an open opportunity for me and that the company will thrive in 2010 so I can finally -finally-, after all my hard work, have permanent employment and a steady paycheck for the first time in 2 years. We’ll see…

February

· Began collaborating with Rachel Van Asch of Van Asch Clothing. I worked on transforming many photos into enchanting digital art for her this year! So far they’ve appeared in two magazines.

· Meeting and making my first friend in Seattle through a serendipitous Google search she did while looking for artists to create her album artwork…the lovely and talented Aradia!

March

· The trip to Vancouver, BC. The most beautiful city I think I’ve ever seen. So far…

April

· Photo shoot with Aradia for her album cover and website art. It was fun to get to know her and we really seemed to click and have a lot in common. I was unable to finish her artwork due to my emergency move back Ohio two weeks later, but it was still great to work on this project for her. By the way, her music rocks!!

· This isn’t really a highlight in terms of success, but for experience it definitely is. I was a vendor for the first time at an art fair. I sold one thing. At least the drive home from Tacoma was magical! Ben and I were so hungry after the event that we got a pizza at the nearest Little Caesar’s and ate the entire thing in the car! Then I drove the rest of the way home…the sun was shining and the views were incredible.

May

· Finally meeting Tara who introduced me to Camlann Medieval Village in Carnation, WA. We feasted on delicious authentic medieval food at the Bors Hede Inne…an amazing May Day Feast!

· The rest of this month and all other events relating to it I do not care to remember…

June

· Reuniting with all my amazing lifelong friends in Ohio! They are a huge part of why this was a great year. Highlights are definitely driving out to the west side to hang out with Katie & Jenn, meeting baby Logan for the first time and the fun times I had with Maria, and Andrea being there for me when I needed someone most. I’ve been friends with these beautiful people for many years, some since we were 6 years old!

July

· July (well, from May until this moment) I worked like a madwoman for my freelance clients while making countless trips to the hospital and spending many nights with my husband as he went through 14 cycles of chemo and major surgery. I didn’t want to mention my husband’s traumatic and devastating cancer ordeal on this list, but to explain how much I had to overcome, it’s necessary. Due to all the medical bills that, literally, arrive daily, I have to keep us afloat financially, and I am doing a decent job of that with the help of my freelance clients. Also, without them throwing tons of work at me to keep me busy, I would have lost my sanity long ago. Hardly a moment goes by that I’m not working on something. Work, especially work you love to do, is a great way to deal with stress.

August

· Big art spread published in UK magazine, FAE (Faeries and Enchantment) Magazine’s Summer ‘09 issue! Now available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and more outlets in the US! Karen & Michael run a truly stunning magazine, please do go check them out! I love my fey friends in the UK!

September

· The drive with Starlie to Pittsburgh to be a part of a crowd 3,500 strong in a beautiful outdoor setting to witness the best Mediaeval Baebes concert ever!

· Becoming a finalist in the Boston Globe’s National Parks photo contest. I’m pretty sure  Ken Burns at least glanced at my photograph of Mount Rainier while choosing the winners

October

· Studio portrait sessions with friends…they were a lot of fun and for a brief few weeks I felt like I was ready to open my own portrait studio. I still have nearly 1,000 photos to go through and edit, oy!

· Baking pumpkin rolls with my friends Kristy, Jenn & Katie…dinner at the restaurant with the bad art but amazing pizza!

· Scary Movie Marathon 2009, with Ben, Johnny and my brother. Discovering some great Japanese horror films.

· Making the cover of Spirit Seeker Magazine.

November

· Another big art fashion spread for Van Asch Clothing published in Alt Fashion Magazine. I think this is some of my best work ever.

· Made the cover of Spirit Seeker Magazine, again!

·Teaching myself how to tat (lacemaking). I finally found a craft I really love that I can do without the aid of studio space and tons of supplies.

December

Since nothing really happened this month, I will group all the amazing Seattle experiences of 2009 in here (when we were still living there). It was hardly glamorous, and I spent a lot of my rare time out and about in traffic, but I still have some great memories of all the ethnic restaurants Ben and I experienced, the breathtaking views of the mountains just one block away from our apartment, the confidence and excitement I felt about my job hopefully becoming permanent, and all the dreaming about how we would do a lot of traveling around the Pacific Northwest again in the summer. I wish those dreams, simple things that many people take for granted, had come true.

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2009…I left out a majority of the mean things you did to my husband and I because I refuse to let the fear bring me down. I do thank you for all these good moments, and let’s hope that your friend 2010 will bring happiness, success and HEALTH. And although many of my goals for this year, like getting passports and beginning to plan a trip to Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales, were once again put on the back-burner, I have hope that next year and the year after will be transformational years full of progress and excitement. And stability.

This summer I was asked to create more art for Rachel Van Asch of Van Asch Clothing. When she sent the reference photos over I knew this would be another exciting project to work on! Lovely models wearing beautiful and edgy clothing from the Van Asch “Unique Boutique” inspired a more fashion-focused approach to the images I created for them. These 5 images were featured in a fashion spread for Alt Fashion Magazine issue 14. I introduce to you my new art series, Fierce Faeries….

Models are wearing: (image 1) Titania Top – €68.00, (image 2) Devotion Top – €62.00, (image 3) Silver Siren Evening Dress- €95.00,  (image 4) Victorian Lolita Bell Skirt – €95.00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had the pleasure of developing & designing the official websites for authors Christine & Ethan Rose. This included special sites for their two (so far) published novels, Rowan of the Wood and Witch on the Water. I helped send Witch to the Top and bought the book from Amazon on October 15th, but didn’t get around to picking it up until a few days ago. Illness is good for one thing..reading! I fought through my sniffles and coughs to read this book in about 4 hours over the course of 3 days. And to think I recently marveled about people who can read 500+ page books in a day! Well, now I know how they do it..they’re sick and stay home in bed all day!  Here is my Amazon.com review for Witch on the Water…

Once again, Christine & Ethan Rose have weaved a thrilling tale of magic and adventure in “Witch on the Water”. Like its predecessor, “Rowan of the Wood”, this is an enchanting page-turner that has it all. It is filled not only with the wizards, vampires and heroes from the first novel, but new enigmatic characters are introduced to take this story by the reins and alter the course of events for our courageous heroes and vicious villains. The numerous plot lines come together so very well and are each in their own right interesting stories that could stand alone as their own novels; especially the journey of the magic wand, which we learn more about in this story. Something very evident in “Witch on the Water” is the tone…it is much darker and dangerous. Sweet, innocent Cullen finally begins to fight all the forces that are against him. Dark, destructive secrets are revealed. The cruel vampire Fiana is more ruthless than ever. From the characters to the intermingling plot lines and transitions, everything is described so descriptively and simplistically that I can’t help but think how well this would render on the big screen. There were times while reading this that I could actually picture in my mind how a director would create the scene. I cannot wait for the veil to the Otherworld to open again next Samhain so I can find out what happens next!

I also did a short review of the first book in this series, Rowan of the Wood, almost one year ago to the day:

I was sucked into Cullen, Rowan, and Fiana’s varying worlds and couldn’t stop reading until they all collided! This is an exciting novel by debut authors Christine & Ethan Rose…they’ve created characters that are strikingly vivid and a plot that draws the reader into a world much like our own, yet not our own. I can actually see Cullen walking through the majestic Redwood forest…Rowan and Fiana hand-in-hand among the standing stones in Caledonia…the many amusing cats scattered about Raimund’s woodland cottage. Lovers of fantasy must give this a read because they will truly enjoy it!

Intrigued yet? Go ahead, you know you want to. They’re an inexpensive indulgence if you buy from Amazon!

My creation, “Birth of Dawn” made the cover of the October, 2009 issue of Spirit Seeker Magazine! This was created back in March as a warm-up for the FAE Magazine art, and it features my good friend Kristy Rose. Inside there is even a little bio about me.

You can check out the latest issue of the magazine, here:
http://www.spiritseeker.com

Kristy and I recently worked on some more portraits in which she portrays some popular characters from current fantasy stories. More news to come, along with some new models which I am very excited to debut!

UPDATE: One of my photographs also made the November issue!

Way back in February of last year, I told you to go out and buy a new fantasy novel called Rowan of the Wood. Over a year and a half later, Rowan is an award-winning story being sold at book stores all over the country! Its authors, Christine & Ethan Rose, are following up with a tour of Celtic faires and book store signings to promote this up-and-coming literary phenomenon. Maybe you’ve seen them on a road near you in the Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan?

Check out the websites I designed for the Rowan Empire!
http://www.rowanofthewood.com
http://www.witchonthewater.com
http://www.christineandethanrose.com

October, 2008, saw the official release of Rowan of the Wood. This October, Rowan celebrates his first birthday with the long awaited sequel being released!  Book #2 in the series is called Witch on the Water, and you can buy it on October 15th from Amazon.com.  Don’t forget!  Help send Witch to the Top!

…And catch up with the series by reading Rowan of the Wood! Available here

Here is the complete series of fairy art created for Rachel Van Asch for publication in the Summer ‘09 issue of FAE Magazine:

I am currently working on more art for Van Asch Clothing to appear in another magazine! So be sure to stop back later for more updates. Or better yet, join me on Facebook…I tend to make more updates here: http://www.facebook.com/catherineart

Next in my new fantasy art series is a piece we call Meadow.  Over the next few weeks, I will be unveiling new fantasy art I created for Van Asch Clothing that is published in a fashion spread for the Summer ‘09 issue of Faeries & Enchantment (FAE) Magazine. You can pick up your copy online or at participating Borders stores.

A princess of the human realm lies in a lush meadow of creeping grass and wild flowers. She is wearing the Lichen Green Chiffon Robe from the Van Asch line.

Be sure to Subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss the next unveiling!

Next in my new fantasy art series is a piece we call Green Fairy.  Over the next few weeks, I will be unveiling new fantasy art I created for Van Asch Clothing that is published in a fashion spread for the Summer ‘09 issue of Faeries & Enchantment (FAE) Magazine. You can pick up your copy online or at participating Borders stores.

This scene features a fairy dressed in the gorgeous Forest Maiden dress from the Van Asch line,  summoning the spirits of the forest in an arc of ethereal light.

Be sure to come back on in a few days for the next unveiling!  Subscribe to my blog so you don’t forget!