#and slowly i just started doing more and more digital art and less dry media

[newvegascowboy]

Thank you all so much for the kind words! I appreciate it a lot!

july 5th, 2021 vs july 24th, 2023

bit of an Artist Evolution, but also character evolution. two years of drawing Red! the roots are the same, even if the details have changed.

2 years ago, i was extremely new to digital art and was kind of fumbling my way through photoshop, trying to figure things out as i went. that didnt exactly change, i just got a lot better at fumbling.

then i lost photoshop, had a meltdown, and got CSP. lather, rinse, repeat.

im getting more comfortable working outside my comfort zone. or i guess, expanding that comfort zone. there's still a lot i dont like about my art - and a lot i feel i need to improve on, but i think im getting there, however slowly. im learning and figuring things out, though that never really stops. i look forward to seeing where im at in another two years.

thanks yall for sticking around!

[mysticsparklewings]

On The Edge

It feels like it's been quite some time since I sat down and got to work on a more involved mixed-media project. And in plenty of ways it has, but I have been working on other artsy projects behind the scenes, which I should be posting sometime soon, I hope. Anyway, this artwork had to be moved to the top of my priority list and also my upload schedule (some of those other projects are already finished, just back-logged) because this is my entry into the Arteza Awards hosted by, shocker, Arteza, and the deadline to enter was the 24th. I actually started working on this piece a week or two early, but me being me, I procrastinated and only just barely got it posted to Instagram with the appropriate tags (per the contest rules) with about 20 minutes to spare.  Then again, maybe that's a good thing because I've been known in the past to pull some of my better work out of thin air at the last minute. If that proves the case this time, it would certainly be to my advantage. Anyway. There was no set theme for the contest. The main rules were that you had to use Arteza supplies and they needed to be visible in the image posted to Instagram. I understand why, but I normally don't photograph my art with the supplies because I can usually get more accurate colors and proportions with a scan, and you can pretty much always see the details way better on a scan. But considering the prizes on offer, I wasn't about to let that stop me. I figured I'd just post the supply image first, then add the scan so you could swipe to see it. That way I could have my nice scanned version and still follow the rules. (Also, since they specify Instagram is the main platform for the contest, I'm assuming it doesn't matter if I don't post the supply picture everywhere else. If it does...whoops :P ) For reasons I don't think I should get into here, I knew I needed to go for something kind of high-impact when you first glance at it. But it also needed to not be too involved, lest I be working on it well after the entry window closed and my efforts become somewhat less valuable. I'm not exactly sure how, but this led me around to a concept I've had floating around in my head for a while: A girl (because I am one and know I can draw them better) standing on a mountain top, that looks as if she's one step from free-falling. Originally, I dreamed up this idea hoping to make it into an acrylic painting, but (aside from that fact that I didn't get around to executing the idea until now) I do not own Arteza'a acrylic paints (though I have wanted them for quite some time--It just hasn't happened yet) and also acrylics are not my strongest suit, so now did not seem like the time for an impulse-purchase that could compromise the integrity of my work and therefore my chances in the contest. Although for the day I do get my hands on their acrylics, I now have a solid idea to use to test them out.  ;) The Arteza supplies I do have at my disposal are their tube watercolors, woodless watercolor pencils, and 72 expert colored pencils. Which as I learned the last time entered a contest hosted by Arteza, is a fairly limited variety as to what I can actually do. The watercolors by far as the most versatile and my personal favorite of the three though, so they're what I used the most of here. Also, somewhere between deciding to run with my standing-on-the-edge idea and actually doing it, I also decided to add-in the wings in this constellation style I've used somewhere infrequently but am very fond of. As a result, the whole concept has a very similar feel to me as this artwork that I found here on dA years ago and fell so in love with that it spent a good few months as my desktop wallpaper. Obviously, the two images are very different, but to me the idea of the wings is similar: Their structural integrity to fly is questionable, as the wings in the original image appear to be made of glass. Maybe it matters, maybe not. Same thing here: Maybe the wings are really there and just look like a constellation, or maybe this girl just stood in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time. Is the girl even there? Is she real? Can she die? Does it matter if she falls? Would she choose to fly at all, whether the wings work or not? It's sort of a Schrodinger's Cat situation, and something about that is really intriguing to me. Anyway. I started out with a digital sketch this time, mostly to iron out the kinks with...well, everything. I knew getting the right pose would be difficult, and I actually had a pretty different one of her looking out over the edge, maybe clutching her chest or something, originally, but I just couldn't get it to work the way I wanted to and I really struggled to find references for it, so I went with the pose you see here, that I found references for by accident while looking for the other one. I have to admit, seeing the final product I think this pose might actually have been the better choice anyway. The mountain/cliff/whatever I was also having a hard time finding references for, at least for exactly what I wanted, so in the end I had to mostly wing it. I think it turned out okay, though. The wings were probably the most challenging part to plan because I wanted something between traditional butterfly/fairy wings and something that stretches out farther like bird or bat wings. I toyed with the lines for a long time until I got something I was happy with, and then I actually went in and did the constellation lines for both sides by hand instead of doing one side and making a flipped copy, because I wanted to make sure I kept the overall shape of the wing on the (our)right (her left), as after all the warping I did to get the original lines, I wasn't sure I could replicate the process again. I also drew 2 or 3 versions of a simple dress over the figure before giving up because I wasn't happy with how any of them were turning out and decided that I would instead preserve her modesty with magically misty cloud-things. Although, it's kind of a shame because that ended up mostly hiding the one piece of hair clinging over her left (our right) shoulder. :P But once the digital sketch was done so I had some idea of what I was doing, it was time to move on to the traditional, actual artwork. I cut a piece of my 100% cotton paper down to size (nice paper because I didn't want to be held back in that regard--go big or go home, as they say) and then held it up to me screen to trace my cliff lines into place, and some vague markers for the figure and her wings. My idea from the very beginning was to make the galaxy largely with watercolor in such a way that it gives the wings color and focus, without having to actually color all the individual segments. This means lighter colors towards the main area of the wings, and getting darker as I moved out/away from them. Now, because it has been a while since I was painting with watercolors regularly, I did set aside a smaller piece of the same paper and busted out a practice baby galaxy before diving into the final. I learned very quickly I was going to have to be extremely careful with my placement of this orangey color and black, less either of them ends up mixing with colors they weren't supposed to and leaving me with a big muddy mess. (The practice piece did survive though and I'll be posting it some other time.) Before I could get to the fun part [the galaxy] though, I painted the mountain with a mixture of black and blue, which actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would. It took several light layers of blending out the paint built up slowly, but ultimately I'm pretty happy with how the color for it turned out...Even if it's still kind of up for debate how much it looks like a "mountain" or "cliff-edge" or not.   With that out of the way, I cut some paper to act as a mask for that section and then spent far too long going back and forth, putting down layers of color and blending them out, dabbing color on and waiting for it to dry, rinse, repeat, trying to get the Galaxy portion just right. I was actually having a fair amount of trouble getting the right color balance, and as sometimes happens with these things, I was pretty worried about how it was looking before I went to bed that night. (I had procrastinated just long enough that I had 2 nights to do this is; the bulk of the painting took place on night 2) But the next day, once it was fully dry, it didn't look so bad. It did need just a few more touches before I went in and added the splatter/stars, though. So I broke out the colored pencils, which I really should have done sooner because they were much easier to blend out and had a bit more covering power over the watercolor than...more watercolor because watercolor is often transparent and there it can be hard to cover with it. Admittedly, I still had more worries about the "naked" galaxy, but then I went to splatter town with the white, added a few pointed stars, and as it usually does, that really brought everything together and made it look a lot better. Never underestimate the power of a good splatter-fest! ;)  I must say though, I underestimated the combination of the white watercolor and white colored pencil together when I moved on to the figure and wings. I was trying very hard to not use my white gel pen (because the rules for the contest didn't say if it was okay to use non-Arteza supplies in conjunction with Arteza supplies or not) and so I was sort of bending over backward to find another way with my limited resources. (Although I assumed using a lightbox to see the lines underneath the paint, as is a normal practice for me, wouldn't really matter because it's not like you can really tell from the final product anyway.) Still, even though a mixture of paint lifting, the white colored pencil, and the white watercolor were better than I expected, I still ended up having to punch the lines up a bit digitally to get them to pop the way I wanted them to. But oh well, at least it made a nice glowing effect and mostly worked for the cloud-mist covering. :P  Overall though, I do really like how it turned out. If it weren't a little on the small side I might actually consider using it as my new wallpaper/banner art everywhere. Maybe that's a conversion project of some kind for another day? Point being, I'm pleased. I probably won't place in the contest because I'm just too small of a fish in this pond, but I made some pretty art and it was mostly fun, so no harm done. :)  Actually, if this could maybe be the excuse my brain needs to get back into posting regularly, that would actually be really great. I miss it, despite what my most recent journal entry and my spotty activity levels might lead one to believe. If it is, I hope you guys don't mind seeing some crafty things thrown into the mix! :D  ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings 

____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[ernmark]

were you able to see mikaela buckley's nsfw art on her Secret Patreon Blog? because 1. i'm pretty sure one is based on one of your fics and 2. i would love to see you write something based on any of them

Thank you for thinking of me!

I did, actually (I admit I’ve been dragging my feet about it, but it occurred to me that @disasterscenario‘s comic and her Penumbra stuff brings me a lot of joy, so it’s only natural that I should actually give her money for all the media I consume. Also, you’re not the first person who’s informed me of Penumbra porn, and apparently I have very little willpower in that regard.)

My great big ego took one look at the picture in question and went “OH MY GOD, IT’S THAT FIC!!!” A more rational part of me realized that a whole lot of people probably had the same idea, and she’s as likely to have gotten it from one of them as she is to have come up with it herself. Regardless of where it came from, I freakin’ love the pic. 

Ahem.

If you want to see that art in particular, or you’re also a general fan of Mikaela Buckley’s art, you can check out her patreon hither. 

If you have seen The Post, then you might recognize what I’m describing from one of the images. If not… well, I’d call it “handsy”. (Okay, so I may have drawn from a couple of pics, but one in particular comes to mind.)

I think it’s safe to say this fic is NSFW.

Ramses isn’t exactly the first rich guy who’s offered to keep me on retainer– I’ve had a few clients with deep pockets and lots of enemies, but most of them are the type that make me want to scrub down with steel wool after I’ve shaken their hands, so I tend to decline. Sure, the pay is good, but I’m not that kind of girl.

Besides, what am I gonna spend it on? More booze? Or a new liver once the one I’ve got finally decide it’s had enough of me? It’s not like there’s anything that I want desperately enough that I can’t wait for a paycheck or two to clear (as for anyone… well, money wouldn’t fix that, anyway).

So I sit on my money. Buy my booze. Pay off the debts I’ve been neglecting. Get a tune-up for my death trap of a car. 

And when I’m energetic enough to be bored and bored enough to do some window shopping, I make an impulse buy. 

It’s a practical purchase, really. I have needs, after all, and Ramses keeps me too busy to do much on the dating scene… and besides, after that disaster with… with what’s-her-name, I’m not in any hurry to get back into it. This is a nice substitute: a short-term interface that lets me see and feel and fuck like there’s a whole other person here with me, except without the awkwardness and expectation of reality. All the met needs and none of the mess. 

Yup. Exactly what I need.

Okay, so maybe I shove it under the bed and don’t touch it for a few weeks. Buyer’s remorse is a thing. 

Only, like I said, a lady has needs. And they’re not the kind of needs I’m interested in dealing with on my own. So I break out the interface, and I read the instruction manual a few times over because like hell am I calling in Rita to help me figure it out, and then I put it on.

It’s a hell of a lot of work for a process that shouldn’t take all that long, but hopefully it won’t take so long after I figure out the basics and get it set up. First I need to program in the auditory failsafe, then I need to program in everything I am and am not okay with, and then I start entering in my preferences on partner– gender expression, physical sex, body type, all that stuff. You can even scroll through the profiles for all the models they use. They’re all fairly attractive, in one way or another, but none of them really stand out to me. I’m near the end of the very long list and I’ve pretty much decided to settle on whatever when I spot a name. 

It isn’t a name I know, but it feels familiar all the same. Seeing as I’ve got nothing better to do, I make the selection: Solomon Clay.

My every muscle tenses at once. “Halcyon,” I tell the interface, triggering the failsafe. “Goddammit, I said Halcyon!” 

I yank it off me, breathing hard. It can’t be. It goddamn can’t be. He wouldn’t be that– that stupid, not after all the effort he put into hiding his face. He wouldn’t be that bold–

Okay, so he would be that bold. Especially if the profile is hidden in the farthest corners of a decently expensive program. And it’s not like most people buy a porn interface to look at the stars’ faces. 

Slowly, carefully, I put the interface back on. I was right about it being faster the second time: my preferences are all saved onto the software, and this time I don’t even have to search.

“Give me Solomon Clay.” 

And suddenly I’m on an expanse of silk as far as the eye can see– or I think I am. I’m not exactly paying attention to the decor so much as I am to the man who’s sharing it with me. Peter Nureyev is lounging in front of me, wearing an amused smirk and not much else. Well, a little bit else, but the big crystal necklace and ear cuffs and bracelets don’t really count, and the rest is perfectly tailored so it doesn’t actually hide anything. God, it looks good on him, though: gloves so long they almost reach to his shoulders; silk stockings that stop at his perfect thighs and held in place by a slinky garter belt, and a slip of fabric that might be called a thong if it had less dignity. All of it is black, all of it so thin it’s almost translucent, all of it classy and refined and so very Nureyev. 

“Here at last,” he purrs, resting his head on one knuckle. “I’ve been waiting for you.” 

There’s a spike of adrenaline, and I almost use the failsafe again– but no. No. This is just a pre-recorded message. It’s part of the program. It’s got nothing to do with me leaving him in that hotel, or shoving the interface under my bed and pretending it didn’t exist.

He hums contentedly. “So. Where shall we begin?”

I should begin with an apology. I should begin by groveling at his feet. I should…

But that doesn’t matter, does it? Because no matter how much I apologize, this is just a program in a computer. A digital projection of him. No matter what I say, he won’t really hear it.

“I just…” my voice breaks. “I just want to look at you for a minute.” 

Another warm hum. “That sounds lovely.” He lays back, sprawling across the silk so I can see every inch of him. 

He looks younger– he must have been in his twenties when this was recorded– and he’s somehow even more lean and willowy than when I knew him. His skin is flawless, his muscles toned and perfect, his hair artfully disheveled. But it’s him. Oh god, it’s really him.

My hands are shaking when I reach out to touch him, and his skin is warm and smooth under my fingertips. I can feel muscle, and beneath it the hardness of bone. While I run my hands over his chest, he tips back his head and sighs. 

“You like that?” I ask, my voice dry.

“That feels wonderful.”

And that’s… that’s permission, isn’t it? To keep touching him.

What am I saying? It’s a porn program. Of course it’s going to be okay with me touching it. But I have to ask. I can’t look at that face and not ask.

I touch him slowly, reverently. He deserves more than that– he deserves more attention and care than I know how to give, but I have to try anyway. He chuckles when my hands brush his bare skin. Moans when I card my hand through his hair. When my fingers slip under his garter belt, he gasps sweetly, his leg rising like a reflex. I bend over him, pressing my lips to his knee, and then slowly make my way down until I’m kissing his feet. I don’t know how else to let him know how badly I fucked up, how sorry I am, how much I need him to forgive me.

The program probably interprets it as a submissive gesture, because he’s sitting up now, his gloved elbows on his stockinged knees, and the look he gives me is dark as an oil slick.

“Do you want me to take over for a while?” he asks, and I nod frantically. I don’t know what else to do with myself. He’s here but he’s not and there’s so much I want to say but I can’t– 

"Come here.” The command in his voice is inescapable. “That’s right. On your knees.” The silk of his gloves glides across my skin and circles my entrance. A single finger slips inside me, and I’m gasping. 

“It’s lovely to see you like this,” he purrs, stretching me open with an inexplicable slickness. It’s happening faster than it rightfully should, but I don’t care. I can feel the stretch, the burn, the sweet friction of his fingers inside me, and I push against it.

With his free hand, he swats at my ass, and I gasp. The sting of it sings against my senses. 

“Not until I say so,” he warns. “You’re not finished yet.” 

“Goddamn getting there.” I’m panting, my whole body shaking as he plunges deeper inside of me. I grab at the sheets, just to have something to hold onto. And then his fingers find just the right spot, and it’s like I’ve been lit up from the inside. I’m writhing on the sheets, trying to press myself against his hand just so he’ll do that again. 

His free hand wraps around the back of my neck, pressing me back into the sheets. “Ah-ah. Not until I say so. You’re in my power now, remember?” 

“Yes,” I gasp, trembling against him. “God, yes, whatever you say-- just please do that again.” 

“You’re lovely, do you know that?” He laughs, his fingers twitch against my prostate, and I might just melt here and now. “Absolutely beautiful. And nobody else gets to have you this way. Only me.” 

“Only you. You’re the only one I want. Nobody else.” I’m babbling now, but I don’t care, not when he’s pushing me closer and closer to the edge. “God, Nureyev, I need you, I need you so bad, please--” 

“Very good.” His hand tightens around my neck. “Now there’s one last thing I want you to do.”

“Anything.” My voice is muffled in the silk sheets. My back is arching. “Anything, please. I’ll do whatever you want, just say the word. Please, just--” It ends in a frustrated keen. 

He leans close, his lips inches from my ear. “I want you to come.”

I wouldn’t dream of disobeying. I don’t even know if I could.

I come so hard I’m left shaking on the sheets. I’m soaked-- there’s sweat dripping down my skin and tears from my eyes and come pooling in the sheets underneath me. I’m still weak-limbed and nearly limp when he gathers me into his arms, cradling my head in his hands. I’m too hazy to understand the words he’s whispering in my hair, but I don’t think they matter when he’s holding me like this. 

I reach up and touch his cheek. He feels so solid and warm and strong.

This moment is everything I’ve ever wanted. It’s absolutely perfect. He’s absolutely perfect.

That’s how I know he isn’t real.

It’s weakness that makes me draw it out. I wait until I stop twitching before I open my mouth. “Halcyon.” 

He stops short, his lips frozen around a half-spoken word, and then he disappears. The come and sweat and tears are still there, but now they’re uncomfortably cold, and I’m alone in my room.

I pull the interface off me and shove it back in its box. I should throw the damn thing out. I should smash it into pieces. I should drown it in the kitchen sink until it short-circuits.

Instead I shove it into a dark corner under the bed. 

Sooner or later I’ll talk myself into using it again. Sooner or later I’ll be desperate enough to pretend that I’m looking at him, and not some digital echo. I’ll probably hate myself then as much as I do now, and I’ll probably think the same thing that I do now:

That it was worth it. Because just for a few minutes, I had him back.

[vuyotshingi-blog]

Fast as the internet

                                           Digital Framed Artwork

Times have changed since the range of mountains from 4 000 years ago where The San Bushmen, Africa’s oldest hunter-gatherers, lived in the massive Drakensberg and carved what we know today as artwork. The largest and most concentrated group of rock paintings in sub-Saharan Africa was created over that time, creating a vast body of art on the walls of caves and rock shelters. Today the digital world and the innovative ways of technology has not only improved the human basic needs but the one of the highlights of contemporary modern framed artwork. Advanced technologies are making research materials more widely accessible and allowing scholars to ask and answer new questions. With the mass going industry of framed artwork, influences of the technology have become the new SCREAM by Edvard Munch.

First of all, traditional art is physical and digital artwork mimics and makes the artwork more complete, more real; more fulfilling to create and see. Traditional artwork is one of a kind. It can’t be copied magically; you’d need to go through the same process of creation once again to create a copy. It’s something you can touch, smell, feel with all your senses, both during the creation process and later, when it’s finished. You don’t only see the “art” but also its physical carrier. This gives the artwork a certain value, as it can be owned by only one person at certain a time and can be destroyed forever. Digital artwork can be created on a computer but they are later printed and sold as copies of the original artwork.

caption:[ youth pupils view the popular culture of digital framed artwork in a gallery]

in the early 1980s when computer engineers devised a paint program which was used by the pioneering digital artist this was the first use of the term digital art. Digital art is simple, clean and convenient to produce. graphics on a tablet are a pretty thing to look at and your computer is already there on the desk which makes everything easier and less effort as there are no tools needed. You just turn it on, open the app and that’s all and start creating to finish, then simply close the app, turn it off. No time wasted and more importantly, you don’t need to clean anything because that is the hardest thing in the world. And the best thing is not needing to wait for a layer to dry before you paint another, fantastic I tell you. A general category for works created using digital technology, whether in the form of tangible hardware, such as computer monitors or electronics, or software, such as graphics editors, websites, and programing languages. Sometimes termed “computer art” or “new media art,”. The experience of viewing art and architecture in new ways has been enhanced by stimulating and the development and application of tools to simulate digital teaching. Digital art challenges boundaries between mediums.

Caption:[ digital framed artwork displayed in Cape Town]

“From works of early computer art like Hiroshi Kawano’s algorithmic interpretations of Piet Mondrian’s iconic gridded paintings, to programming and digital printing in the 1960s, to Cory Arcangel’s hacked Nintendo cartridge generating “Super Mario Clouds” (2002), digital art exists in a constant state of flux as technology continues to advance and transform.”

Through being effortless and less authentic, digital art is considered by many a lesser form of art, or not art at all. The disdain towards digital art come from this ideology as you can spend a week creating a beautiful artwork and have it met with disregard just because it was done digitally and not traditionally.

First of all, the imaginative sector of telling your computer what to do and having it done for you, not by you creates conflict among artists as many people don’t understand digital art at all. They think that you slap a few ready-made images together and call it art through photo manipulation.

the letters are created digitally, but the content is created by the writer on a computer in which doesn’t mean it’s written by the computer. They don’t understand that programs for digital painting give you the brush, but they don’t move the brush for you in any way. It’s the same with digital art, the strokes are created digitally, but the painting is created by the artist. With move of times digital artwork has made its mark on the industry moving faster as the internet taking the field by storm. Even though traditional framed art will never lose its touch, digital framed art work is slowly moving into the filed as many copies are being sold every day and cheaper than traditional artwork.