Having some fun with Photoshop!

I've always used GIMP to paint digitally because I've never really wanted to pursue it as a professional deal. Well, I just recently acquired Photoshop to do some photo editing (I always used my University's versions, but now that I'm not in school I need my own) for art stuff. And before I really decided to give it a run on a portrait, I decided to try my hand at digitally painting with it.

And MAN was it fun!

I ended up doing a very very little picture of a horse head:

And I'm pretty happy with it! I will have to pursue more painting projects in PS when I get the time. 

It's been a while! Here's something to bring you up to date.

Alright, alright. I haven't posted... anything... in months. There's a few new promos going on and some big stuff happening, so get ready for a big information dump!

I've started working in close with a bunch of authors to do a handful of character designs and concept sketches in order to expand my horizons and offer a larger variety of work. Though most of my drawings have gone to fantasy authors, I've also had a couple of modern fiction/action writers throw some character bios my way in hopes of getting a concrete portrait they can work off of.

As you may have noticed, had you visited my website recently, we've changed locations. This means that I've had to spend hours re-coding a new website due to a recent hoster switch, but that is all up and running and ready to go!

Click here for the link!

I've started a bunch of package deals due to higher volumes of multiple orders, mostly in paintings. I have one person just grabbing a bunch for her personal wants, but also have two corporate customers working with me to decorate two different studios (a wellness studio and a music studio in Edmonton). So if you would like some information on package deals (available for purchases of 3 or more portraits), feel free to shoot me an e-mail at my shiny new e-mail set aside specifically for this business, customcommissionsms@gmail.com.

And last but not least, my tattoo designs are coming back in full swing. I've designed a whopping 6 this month after months of no interest in tattoo designs, so it's a big jump up and I'm looking forward to hearing more designs!

That's about all for new news, now let's get to some artwork!

The first couple of pieces are tattoos that I've designed for people, just a couple. They're not the ones from this month, but they're pretty cool and I haven't shared them with you yet.

This is a compass that points south for a woman from Brazil, a picture she sent me after she got it tattooed on herself.

And this one is one I did of an hourglass made out of vines in the shape of the infinity symbol. Super cool idea! 

I'm pretty happy with both designs and their owners seemed really happy with them as well! 

Now I've been working on a lot larger volume of oil paintings than normal. Both corporate customers are asking for large amounts of oil paint over the next few months, and this other woman is the same. They're time-consuming and a lot of hard work, but the results are something I'm really enjoying! Here's a quick look at one customer's pieces 

Again, both really cool concepts and really rewarding pieces. The two corporates and I are still working together on designs, but when their works get underway I will be sure to post some excerpts of them!

Alright, and one last thing. In the middle of all this ink and character design and painting, I really really really miss graphite and horses. A lot! They're what I grew up working with, and all in all graphite is my signature and FAVORITE medium. That's why I was super excited to have a friend of mine and long-time customer of CCMS (known on Blogger as FernValley from Fern Valley Appaloosas) ask about a couple of graphites of the animals on her farm. In my spare time I've been throwing them together for her, and here's a photo (unfortunately not scanned YET) of the first one!

From this photo: 

Also, new promo

New website

My last website hosting site is giving everyone the boot, so I'm currently throwing up an emergency site that will work for now. It looks awful at the moment because I'm still learning how to use the editor (very awkward HTML coding blocks...) but it should be up, operational, and much more... appealing than it is now.

Thanks for your patience!

New URL is http://customcommissionsms.weebly.com/

It's that time of year again where I've finished my year at University and my art career picks up! Except this time, I'm completely done and graduated (from music school, of all things) and I'm diving into being a fulltime artist! That means more commissions, more personal works, and more types of art! Are you seeing where this is going?

I'm now introducing a few new things to my portfolio and that means, for the customer, more to choose from. First of all, cartoon and tattoo designs are now available in colored marker. I will be posting updates on that within the very new future. The next exciting thing is concept work (character sketches/poses) and digital transparencies for line art. Why? Because over the past 5 months I've gotten over 40 e-mails asking about this kind of art. I'm not exaggerating! So I learned how to do it. Once again, examples coming soon.

So at this point, you all may be twisting your hands in frustration and going "Mel, what DO you have examples of?" Excellent question!

Wedding art!

That's right, I'm starting up on wedding art. A portrait of that special day. Here is the debut image! It's a bit of an... interesting-quality scan, but it works for its purpose! Same price as all other portraits, plus I'm still working out some of the logistics like where my reference is coming from. In this case, it's a professional photographer's photo that I used, but I'm considering offering to come out and take my own reference photos because I don't know what people would prefer. Opinions are welcome! 

New website fun!

Okay, I know it's been pretty much forever since I've posted, but music school is keeping me on a short rein so there's been a severe art lag from my end, which usually happens this time of year anyways... however, there is some EXCITING news.

First of all, we're going under a new name: Custom Commissions by Mel Shwanke

Pretty riveting, I'm sure, but everyone continually thought I was simply calling the sites "Mel's Portraits" instead of "Mel S. Portraits" which just so happens to be my first name followed by last unfortunate initial. It didn't have a very good ring, so, we now have a fancy title with a great acronym to go along with it: CCMS.

I'm also featuring a new logo. Originally it was the white background with blocky, black text and a tattoo design of a galloping Pegasus.

But I've since done some computer editing/fun framing and have come up with:




Also, on top of all this, my website has undergone the most complete re-design you can imagine. Just today I spent hours rebuilding my gallery, and I'm pleased to announce I have figured out how to make my images "pop out" of thumbnails without making the window switch over, for easier viewing and less accidental window closes (sorry for that, by the way).

So, really, just a good, refreshing update all-around! I do have some fun and fancy new works to show off sometime in the very near future, though very near may be a week from now. Or two. It's finals, and all. Thanks for sticking around!



EDIT!

CLICK HERE for the new and improved website!

Face Study

I can't remember if I posted a poorer-quality image of this, but here's a better picture than the one I had before, if I did.