Wow those are awesome paintings. I like the flat color shapes look.

March 08, 2006 1:37 PM

These paintings are amazing. Really like this effect.

LOVE this... could you do a tutorial for the paintings?? How you go froma photo to painting?

Love the paintings!!! Did you happen to use photoshop?

Tina Rothwell ... Yes, indeed. I start by using the cutout filter. I play around with the settings until I get a starting image that has the right amount of layers. Sometimes I have to play with the levels in the original image to get the cutout filter to do what I want it to do.

The next step is to pick out some uniform colors and paint bucket the cutout shapes.

After that, I use my Wacom tablet to tweak the cutout shapes to either simplify or add detail where appropriate.

I go over every edge with a Photoshop paint brush. I make sure no area is smaller than the smallest paint brush I like to use, which is pretty small.

By this point in the process, I've already spent days and dozens of hours on the design and picking colors.

Then I print out the design as line art and project it onto the canvas.

Next I mix the paints for each color I need in batches large enough to complete the painting.

Finally, I paint the canvas. It usually takes three or four coats of paint to complete the image. I like a pretty smooth layer of paint.

I actually have several more paintings that didn't make it onto the blog. I learn something from each one, and I've tailored my initial digital steps to incorporate that knowledge.

For me it's like an elaborate version of paint by numbers. The painting step is the least creative part; it's the meditative, craftsmanship part. Like building a piece of furniture or crocheting. It's almost like putting a puzzle together.

I know this isn't the traditional conception of how one should paint, and I'm cool with that. I love my version of the process of creating a painting. It's perfectly suited to my skills and interests. And it's totally fulfilling for me. :)