DaniDraws.com

Over the past several months, I have shared my painting process on my Ustream channel, and have received a lot of questions about my art supplies. Here is a comprehensive list of the traditional painting materials that I have used thus far, if you are interested in trying them out for yourself.

You can watch me paint and draw live every weekday. Please view the Dani Draws Live info page to stay up-to-date with the show schedule. To see examples of the work I’ve made with these materials, visit danijones.com/doodles.

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I recently made a guest appearance on a podcast by fellow artist Chris Oatley. Chris’s work includes freelance illustration, comics, and visual development for the animation industry. His podcast is called Chris Oatley’s ArtCast, and can be found on the web at ChrisOatley.com or on iTunes. I highly recommend you take a listen.

Chris contacted me a while back and we have been having an on-again off-again conversation about artists and the web ever since. Both of us share a philosophy of teaching, learning, and sharing, and want to encourage the same throughout the artist community.

I admire Chris and the work he has done so far. He has a blog where he shares his work and art in-progress, he is open and honest while talking about art in his podcast, and he also creates video tutorials where he teaches digital painting tips. He is absolutely dedicated to creating and sharing, and I can’t help seeing a kindred spirit in him.

In the episode of his podcast, we are joined by animator and motion graphics designer Paul Caggegi of The Process Diary, and we discuss the ever-growing importance of the web in the lives of artists everywhere in the hope that we encourage other artists to get started with their own web presence and creations.

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The original art from my recent Ustream drawing jam with writer and artist Otis Frampton is now up for sale on eBay.

On May 27 and June 3, Otis and I each drew our own version of the story Little Red Riding Hood, and then colored each other’s drawings. You can view the process for these illustrations here: Part 1 | Part 2

Both pieces are 8.5″x11″ and were drawn and inked on smooth bristol board. I colored Otis’ drawing with watercolor; he finished mine with marker and colored pencil.

The auction will run for three days, so bid fast.

Click here to bid.

UPDATE #2: Thanks again to everyone who came by for part 2 of our joint broadcast. If you missed the second show, you can view it here:
http://www.danijones.com/ustream/littlered2.html

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who showed up for part 1 of the Ustream drawing jam. The next show will occur Wednesday June 3 at 9 PM ET. Hope to see you there! If you missed the first show, you can view it here:
http://www.danijones.com/ustream/littlered1.html

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On Wednesday May 27 at 9 PM ET, I will be holding a joint Ustream broadcast with writer/artist Otis Frampton. The show will feature a live drawing jam where each artist will draw something based on a pre-selected theme. This will be part 1 of 2; the second part will be held next week, where we will color each other’s drawings.

This is sure to be a fun and unique event. Please come, watch, and chat.

For the event, Otis and I will each be broadcasting from our respective shows. You must have each show open in order to see both sides of the jam.

Because of this, I created a special page where you can watch and chat with each show simultaneously: http://www.danijones.com/ustream

However, if for any reason you have trouble viewing here, you can also open each individual show page on Ustream.

Otis Frampton Live: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Otis-Frampton-Live

Dani Draws: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dani-draws

Hope to see you there!

More info about Dani Draws Live: http://danidraws.com/dani-draws-live/

When speaking about artists’ websites, an art director recently made a comment that caught my attention - he is annoyed when he can’t view them on his iPhone.

The comment was half-joke, half-serious, but it brought up an important point. You never know what potential clients are out there, and what they are using to view your work.

And so I went home and made an iPhone version of my web portfolio.

Why make an iPhone website? Is it necessary?

No, I don’t think every artist should go and make an iPhone portfolio right this minute. Quite frankly, I don’t expect a lot of visitors to my mobile site. However, I DO think artists should keep these ideas in mind. The use of iPhones and other mobile phones is on the rise, and artists should always be thinking of ways to make it easier for clients to access their work. At the very least, avoid flash and multi-media rich websites that don’t work on mobile platforms.

It was a fun experiment and it didn’t take long to create at all. I know it will make at least one art director happy, so that alone is worth it.

So if you have the know-how and a little bit of time, I say it’s worth the extra bit of effort. It might not matter to most of your clients - but it might mean the world to the few who happen to be on an iPhone.

Here is an in-depth review of how I put the site together.

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Show and Schedule

I have now established a schedule of broadcasting EVERY WEEKDAY MORNING AT 10 AM EST. Each show lasts about an hour. Come, watch, hang out, and chat. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dani-draws

The show includes a mix of both digital techniques in Photoshop and Illustrator, and traditional painting. These traditional sketches are a part of my Daily Doodle goal that I have mentioned previously. They are mostly pencil sketches and watercolor stuff.

I have two major announcements concerning this traditional work:

Free Doodle Giveaways

Once a week, I am going to give away one sketch that I produce on the show. All you have to do is show up and watch.

Rules and Guidelines

• One sketch will be given away EVERY FRIDAY.
• You need to be in the chat room to participate. This means you must be watching via the Ustream channel page, not on DaniDraws.com or other website where the feed is embedded. You will not need to register with Ustream.
• At the end of the show, one user from the chat room will be randomly picked to receive a free sketch. User must be present to win, otherwise another name will be drawn.
• Winners will be required to provide a real name, email address, and mailing address via private message at the end of the show. This info will not be used for anything other than the purpose of the contest.

Hope to see you there, and good luck!

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This is the second part in a series of tutorials. You can read part one here.

When creating a spot illustration, I often create the overall vignette shape first, before I add any other colors or details. To do this, I make a clipping mask layer.

Also check out one of my older posts, Using Masks to Create a Spot Illustration, which reviews some similar methods and ideas I will use here.

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