Art Update

Here is the updated image from the last post. I am having a ball in Adobe Illustrator and I am discovering new ways to get the textures I want. I am particularly happy with the planet cloud details as well as the texture on the foreground panels. It took a bit of wrestling with the program but I solved some functional issues.


I look back on some of my earlier efforts with the program and can see where I have made some progress in my understanding. I really did miss using it. I was just never satisfied with the earlier results. They were fine for some of the basic freelance work but I've never been satisfied with "fine" when it comes to my personal art. Maybe someday I'll explain why I stopped using it five years ago.

My earlier Illustrator work seems almost primitive now that I look back at it. This marks a slightly new direction, or at the very least, a new set of skills in the picture-making process.

I've come to the point in this piece where I set it aside for a while and look at it again in a few days. I find that I can have fresh eyes when I do. I don't always have the luxury of such time but for this one I am experimenting with technique. Not creating to a deadline.

If I still like it in a few days it may become a portfolio piece.