People are always asking me, "what is digital painting?"
I was born in Central Jersey, I grew up on Star Wars, Saturday morning cartoons and the New York Mets. I always enjoyed drawing and painting. I loved making art on my Commodore 64, and I was obsessed with Mario Paint.
I enjoy doing portraits, illustrations, fan art, anything creative and challenging.
I would consider myself a classically trained illustrator, artist and painter. I graduated Kean University with a Bachelors in Fine Art. After graduating, I taught myself software for graphic design and entered the commercial art world. I joined the art department of a children's book publisher where I learned how to combine my painting and graphic art ability. I slowly began to play more with the digital aspects of painting. It was a slow and painful process, but I made the transition to digital painting with a Wacom tablet and Photoshop.
I struggled when I started to paint with the tablet. I had very little control, had a horrible time getting used to the pressure and subtlety of the pen. I would lose my patience and throw the tablet off my desk. The learning process took about 2 years of frustration, abandoning, starting again, trying and failing several techniques. Eventually, I found a process and style I liked.
I stopped trying to be perfect, I realized there was no mathematic formula. Computers are not magical tools. You can't hit a few buttons or move a slider and create art. I needed to approach digital like an acrylic or oil painting. I make my grid, draw my image, lay in my color. I use brushes that mimic the imperfect, rougher application of an actual paint brush. I like using the brush tips: Sea Sponge 2 and Dry Brush Tip Light Flow. I used some basic airbrush tips too. I work the color like oil paint, blending and softening edges. That’s basically where I am today. Just like working with acrylic or oil paint, there are some pieces that I bang out in a day, others I work on for weeks, months or years.
You can view my instagram account @kevinfromtheartdept
and
email me @ kevinmjakubowski@gmail.com don't forget the "m" for "middle name..." which is Michael.