Tag Archive for ‘Magic’

A mermaid & her friends

This is my latest personal piece Hitchhiker, it’s really a self portrait as I Australia is pretty much a big island & most of the population stays close to the water, the interior is a desert that has its own beauty, but a harder life than the flourishing rainforests & rolling green hills. I have lived near the ocean & spent much time in its waters all my life. Going to the beach where my grandparents had a bathing box (little beach shack), & on my grandfathers boat we’re early memories. He made a little ledge that I could stand on & steer the boat, I would have been all of 5 yrs old & it was a 35 foot cruiser… I remember feeling so special. We would catch a heap of fish & my Dad & Papa (granddad) would clean the fish on our way in, stopping at the farewell boy to feed the local seal pack. It was a most incredible life, we were very blessed. We would spend most of our summer & spring there, & go fishing throughout the year. I then started waterskiing, sailboarding & swimming was very prominent in my school years. I joined the Lifesaving club at 12 & was a Life Guard by 13… I also started sailing in my teen years. The eco system & life forms below the sea are diverse, it’s like another planet down there…. filled with so much beauty & so needs to be preserved.

As I was painting this piece it sort of morphed into myself, looking back at old photos I can see the resemblance although it wasn’t intentional. This is also a special piece as it’s much more stylistic than my previous work, I was relearning everything & I’m of the opinion learning real anatomy etc is so important, so once you have gained the fundamental skills, you can then push the anatomy, play with light & go in any direction style wise. It was a necessity to learn how to draw people, I didn’t before 2 years ago….I thought I couldn’t, but I wanted to start working as an illustrator. I had to bite the bullet & learn…… of course now it’s all I want to draw, whether a portrait commission or a fantasy humanoid….. I just can’t get enough of drawing the human form.

I hope you enjoy this piece, I’m embarking on a new venture into collectable digital art, this is probably going to be the first piece I will be offering for sale. More about this very soon…..

Be kind & take care of each other, be safe – Lion

Hitchhiker

I have just started a Patreon account!

Hey all, hope you are doing ok? I’m really excited, we have just come out of lock down (thanks COVID), & it’s amazing being able to see family & friends…. plus things like shopping or going out for a meal!

These little things are such an a important part of life, when we have our freedom taken away, it can be so depressing. We have more than 20 days with no new cases, & 3 days of no active cases at all in Victoria… this is amazing as we had the majority of all cases throughout Australia….& it was spreading everywhere.

I’ve finally decided I’m not going to wait any longer, it’s time to launch my Patreon page…. I’ve been sitting on this for 2 years, & I don’t know what will happen as I don’t have a huge following. I do hope that those who do follow & support me, will take the time to read my story & see the rewards I will be sharing with my Patrons are full of value. Check it out, even the $1 tier gives you some great resources… & the highest tiers have very special rewards, I spent much time really thinking about how I can give back for helping me to follow my dreams.

Take care, stay safe – Lion ❤️

https://www.patreon.com/michellewebb

World Lion Day – 800 voices for 800 lions!

I’ve joined Blood Lions, by submitting my Lion Heart artwork to 800 voices for 800 lions. To put pressure on SA government to stop the export of Lion bones. Blood Lions is a documentary about canned hunting……I first saw this when I was helping FTLOW, raising awareness about the plight of lions in tourism & canned hunting in SA. One of my artworks sold for top price at the screening auction, i donated the money to help with screening costs. To hear more about this, & see all the art & photos that have been submitted click link below.

http://bloodlions.org/800-voices-for-800-lions/

Lion Heart – 800 voices for 800 lions

Keeping your life going during Covid Crisis.

Hey all my lovely followers,

I hope your doing ok, these times are challenging with social distancing, job loses & worrying about family & friends health. I think it’s really important to find the things that make you happy & devote time to it. I’m lucky, art is my happy place & my income… So work wise things are humming along…my recent position as a Corel Painter Master has been very helpful in this respect, & also seeing rewards when you’ve been working hard is always satisfying. I try to put my emotions into my work… It’s a great way of facing the things that are bothering you & releasing them. What are you doing, Are you creating while in isolation? Is it helping you get through this? I really want to know what I can do to help you with this… Tutorials, articles… critique sessions? Would any of these things help you to move forward with creating. I’m currently working in a new project, here’s my rough…. What do you think the story is behind it? Let me know how your going!

Take care & stay safe, peace out -Lion

Adobe Photoshop CC to be released for iPad in 2019!

I received an email today from Adobe, announcing the release of full Photoshop CC for iPads…..not a watered down tablet version, the full program as an app. This is a game changer for several organisations…. firstly Savage- the Procreate gang, who’ve really held the monopoly of iPad artists, secondly Wacom…the Mobile Studio’s biggest selling point is Photoshop & Corel Painter…these full desktop programs can’t be used on tablets… third, is Corel, they really need to follow with Painter 2019 on IPad to stay in the game.. These are my opinions only of course, I bet there will be some worried faces in these 3 software & hardware giants boardrooms today…

I do want to add though I love my Wacom Cintiq, my iPad wont replace it as the size difference is to great, I love Corel Painter it’s still my favourite program by far, & I also love Procreate it’s a brilliant app to just get stuck into painting without all the unnecessary photo edit tools…. I do wonder if any of this will change when Photoshop CC for iPad’s released……

Corel Painter 2019!

Hey all, I just received Painter 2019 on disk…. Inside was a leaflet & there was my artwork staring me in the face! I’ve been very lucky to have several pieces of my work featured in Painter launches over the last couple of years, but this is the first time it’s been used in packaging. Corel really celebrate the artists who use Painter, & involve us in many ways with opportunities to submit artwork for competitions, inclusion in new software launches & regular features on social media. There’s a wide community that can be found in the Discovery Center & Painter Factory, along with the usual social media pages. You all know of my love for Painter, in my opinion it’s the best software available for artists of all kinds…. nothing comes close the real media brushes, amazing papers & tools, we are only limited by our imaginations. If you haven’t used Painter, jump on over to their website & download the free trial….it’s 30 days, with all features just as if you have purchased the program. I guarantee you will love it as much as I do, make sure you check out some tutorials to get the full overview of this complex software. Painter 2019 is definitely Corel’s flagship aimed at professionals,  but if you prefer a simple UI that you can just pick up your stylus, select a brush & paint Painter Essentials may be better suited. It has many of Painter 2019’s features & amazing brushes that the hobbyist or those new to digital art can enjoy, with an easier learning curve…. you can trial Painter Essentials also…. so maybe try both & see which you prefer.

Here’s the link to the Painter website http://www.painterartist.com you will find all the links you need to trials, tutorials & communities, basically all things Painter.

Magic on iPad pro

Painting in my studio, nothing beats my Wacom Cintiq…it has plenty of screen real estate  & I have a secondary screen also on which I’ll generally have refences  & sometimes I’ll even move tool palettes onto…although these days with Painters palette draws & all my short cut buttons I don’t really need to. However when I’m travelling, or just want to do some painting at night relaxing….either in front of tv or in bed, I just love my iPad Pro! Coupled with Procreate app, I can pretty much paint anything, the newest release has some awesome features including a warp tool & all new brush menu. This piece below I did last night when I couldn’t sleep, it’s just so easy to pick it up & begin sketching, I would truly recommend it to any artist digital or traditional….there’s a lot to be said from mapping out comps before starting a big project, esp when working traditionally….it’s a good idea to have at least a rough of your painting, to get composition, values, lighting & colour worked out before you hit the canvas. So think about it guys, love Lion  💖

Watch me paint this on my on my YouTube channel https://youtu.be/laOQ8VpLXrU

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Feature in Art/Edit magazine

Hey all, I’m very happy to be featured in Art/Edit magazine for their winter edition.. it’s available at newsagents throughout Australia, & targets art collectors, corporate designers & interior decorators. It’s a great opportunity to get such exposure. I have a number of things coming up over the next few months, one being a competetition that I was invited to submit for an international art magazine… To win that would be something special, so please keep your fingers crossed for me! I’m trying to find time to get more tutorials & the expansion of my site done, but I’ve been very unwell which has set me back a lot… the illness I have isn’t playing nice, & causing a lot more pain than usual, & usual is a lot of pain….so it’s hard for me to get anything done atm.

Hoping ill be better in the next week, & then it’s onwards & upwards! Lol someone said that to me recently, & brought back memories as it was the motto on my primary school crest! Geeze that’s going back a lot of years…..don’t want to even think about that!

Anyway, take care…..talk to you all soon  – Lion F7B189F9-647C-407F-AAF9-497BB2FA997B

Girl with a silver nose ring…

This was a piece i created for a challenge…. my take on Vermeer’s classic Girl with a pearl earring. I see her as a young teen, innocent but smart….. what does this say to you?

Created in Painter 2019, used a few awesome impasto’s along with glazing & sketch brushes. Thanks for looking, follow me for future updates & don’t forget to check out the rest of my site….there’s some giveaways & info about myself & my art….plus videos linking to my YouTube channel which has lots of new tutorials just added with more to come soon.

Vermeer classic