ImagineFX_Issue_150_August_2017

1 Lay down a base – don’t

work on a bLank canvas!

Starting with a blank or plain canvas can

be incredibly daunting and leave you a bit

lost, maybe even procrastinating. I prefer

to lay down some blocky, abstract colours

underneath a sketch to break the ice with

the empty canvas and kick-start the mind.

These colours don’t have to be anything

final! They just provide a complementary

base to work upon, that bests the

intimidating look of an empty canvas.

Reduce the detail and focus on the concept and

vision that you want to communicate

2 learn keyboard

shortcuts

Familiarising yourself

with the shortcuts of

your creative software –

like the Photoshop ones

shown here – is crucial if

you’re keen to develop a

faster workflow. Doing

so can save you a lot of

precious time in the

workplace. Make an

effort to customise them

so they suit your way of

working, too.

art shortcuts

to awesomeness!

Creative shortcuts aren’t for lazy artists, says domareen Fox. They help

you streamline your painting process, so you can focus on getting better

These days the art

community is full of

people suggesting

techniques that will

help you to get your art

down on the digital canvas more

quickly. To less-experienced artists,

this might come across as diluting

the thrill of the creative experience,

or to put it more simply, cheating.

However, in a hectic studio

environment where deadlines always

seem to be fast approaching, cutting

those corners can decrease your time

spent on those routine painting

stages significantly. Does this make

you lazy? Absolutely not!

We artists are presented with tools

that enables us to put on to the

canvas what we visualise in our

mind. How you get there doesn’t

matter – it’s what you create that

counts. I work on a fast-paced

animation production, where time

management is key. Upon starting

my job, I had to adjust to this busy

environment and carve out a more

effective way of working. And what

follows are some of the methods

I use to beat those pesky deadlines.

Artist insight

domareen Fox

location: Germany

Domareen has worked as

a designer for animation

studios across the UK for

the past three years.

She’s currently an art

director at Studio Soi.

http://www.dommifox.com

Artist

ProFile

86 August 2017

Workshops