Product Description

Digital Collage and Painting proudly showcases the work of twenty-one talented digital artists. Each artist walks you through the creation of a piece of their art and lets you in on their secrets about equipment, software, favorite papers, and how their creative process begins. The artists included are:

Audrey Bernstein
Paul Biddle
Leslye Bloom
Stephen Burns
Luzette Donohue
Katrin Eismann
Paul Elson
Steven Friedman
Ileana Frómeta Grillo
Bill Hall
Julieanne Kost
Rick Lieder
Bobbi Doyle-Maher
Ciro Marchetti
Lou Oates
Cher Threinen-Pendarvis
James G. Respess
Fay Sirkis
Jeremy Sutton
Maggie Taylor
Pep Ventosa

* Discover how the computer can be used to paint on photographs, incorporating other visual materials into images
*Learn from step-by-step examples for painting, collage, and panoramics
* The associated website contains the art samples used in the book so that you can practice the different techiques

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #401029 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Review
"Using Painter and Photoshop, you'll discover ways to incorporate watercolors, pastels, oils, charcoals, and collage into your digital images." - PC Photo, Oct. 2006

"This is not a book for beginning Photoshop and Painter users; it does not give exact instruction on how to operate either program. This makes it perfect for those who are familiar with either program and want to strengthen their skills as digital artists. Inspiration can be obtained not only from rhe author's own images but the third chapter which showcases twenty-one digital artists...Bloom has made projects, with files available for download on a website, for those who want some practice with the information gained from this book." - Apogee Photo Magazine, August 2006

"Digital Collage and Painting is yet another reason why Focal Press have become one of my favorite publishing imprints. Excellent coverage of Photoshop and Painter. Contributing authors and their featured projects are well selected...The book is well written and researched and it provides a wealth of information which is both relevant and useful. The range of projects showcased and each artist's insights are something we can all benefit from. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. For anyone interested in digital painting or creating digital collages, this one is highly recommended." - Mario Georgiou, www.kickstartnews.com., Sept. 2006

"Digital Imaging and Painting Using Photoshop and Painter to Create Fine Art is a meaty read with a website to complement it." Advanced Photoshop Magazine, Sept 06

About the Author
Susan Ruddick Bloom is a Professor of Art and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at McDaniel College in Maryland. She has a BFA and an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and is well known for both her traditional wet darkroom alternative processes and her digital darkroom work. Sue has been teaching digital classes since the beginning of Photoshop and has used a Mac from the very first one on the market (128K, with a screen the size of an index card). Trained in drawing, painting, and printmaking, she was at one time a courtroom artist for television and newspapers. Her painterly skills enhance her photographic ones, and her images frequently combine techniques. Sue's work has been exhibited and collected widely.

Customer Reviews

excellent, but in some areas only
Enthusiastically written and covering a comprehensive range of topics, ideas and projects, this is an engaging book. I found the structure to be interesting, with a lot of material intended to inspire the reader at the front (including twenty-one individual "chapterettes", each involving a single artwork project, from invited contributors). The only purely instructional chapter comes right at the end, offering more detailed insight into some of the key steps and procedures used throughout the balance of the tome. And, in total, a bulky tome this is - 583 pages and 3 pounds plus a little (to be almost exact). A lot of the material presented is very inventive; for example, I do not recall seeing any of the techniques used as the basis of the worked (and finely artistic) examples within the `Painting in Photoshop ...' chapter included within any other of the now growing number of contemporary photo-art texts. Collage is taken to include the building of panoramic photographs and a whole chapter is devoted to these. However, arguably the best software for actually doing such constructions - NHIS' PTgui - isn't included (presumably because it doesn't fall directly into the Photoshop or Painter bucket). It's a shame, I think, that the urge to put the names of the two super-heavyweight software packages on the cover of the book lead to exclusions like this .... Fo2PiX' ArtMasterPro application would have been very worthy of some coverage in this case also. There are a couple of other omissions which are really too obvious to go unremarked. First, there's almost no material in the book on portraiture - for example, just two of those "chapterettes" involve using and developing full-facial images, while a large proportion of the author's own fine art work involves just landscape and still life subject matter. Secondly, there are some clear encouragements given at the outset (that is; within Chapter 1, titled `Concept') on pre- and post-visualization of the fine art. Post-visualization almost always needs to include some planning on a target size for the output/finished printed work. Again, a few of the "chapterettes" include some details on this, but it is a topic which remains pretty much absent from the remainder of the text. Overall, the careful reader will undoubtedly find a whole slew of new ideas from within this worthy book; but, may have to work independently - and/or pioneeringly - to execute some of them in detail.

Digital Collage and Painting: Using Photoshop and Painter to Create Fine Art
This book was like reading a great novel, I couldn't put it down! The inspiration was excellent. The incorrect assumption of some that "digital" means "computer generated" is debunked in this excellent work which has lots of beautiful examples of many kinds of digital art (not just collage). There are lots of step by step tutorials that are helpful and tips for using the tools of PS and Painter to their best advantage.

It is not a beginners book however as Bloom assumes that the reader is familiar with PS and Painter. Still this might be the work that makes one REALLY want to do the work needed to become proficient in these programs.

Loved it more than any other work on this subject and I already have a shelf full!!!

Suni R

A great book for learning new techniques and skills
This is a great book for the curious and creative artist who wants to use Photoshop and Painter as their tools for expression. The author provides plenty of information, step-by-step instructions and illustrations to help the reader go through the process and create his/her images. The book is not an introduction to basic Photoshop or Painter. The book is for the artist who wants to improve his techniques and learn new skills using these programs. You can practice, and apply the new skills and I'm sure that you will notice immediately the improvement on your technical skills.

The chapters on Collage are excellent and the author provides a step-by-step guide in the creative process of a diversity of images. She inspires you to use the newly learned techniques to create stunning collages. The chapter devoted to creating panoramic images is superb. You will enjoy this chapter because you can use any digital camera to create great panoramas and you don't need to invest in expensive equipment.

You will love the chapter on filters; you can practice and create new versions of some of your favorite old images. The chapter on Essential Photoshop and Painter techniques is a must for everyone who wants to be proficient with the tools of both programs. This chapter has a step-by-step approach to the method and you'll have plenty of illustrations and instructions to learn how to master the tools. The book provides five projects for you to practice some of your newly acquired skills. I'm sure that this book will help you find inspiration and will motivate you to go out and create great images with this wonderful programs. This book is a must in the library of every photographer and artists who uses digital technology.