2014 - present | Personal Work
Programs Used
program, length of experience
Paint Tool SAI & SAI 2 - 6yrs
Photoshop - 6yrs
In 2014 I joined an online virtual horse gamed called Horse Eden Eventing out of my love for horses, and have been a member of the community ever since. Shortly after joining I began creating art for game members to boost my in-game income, but little did I know this would become one of my major outlets for creativity in the years to come.
Creating art for the wonderful people of this game has taught me several important things including; how to work with customers, how to advertise and market my art, how to comply with strict file format requirements, and how to manage my time between school, life, and creating.
Example of a finished piece with a process gif.
I begin by stock searching through my thousands of stock images across several sites to find imagery that satisfies my vision and the customer's request. This may include horse imagery, backgrounds, wings, animals, typefaces, and etc... . Admittedly, I have become quite good at adding wings, and winged-horse art has become a highly sought-after request from the community. During the image searching process I take care to note the quality, lighting, perspective, and composition of each image. It is possible to completely redraw lighting on an image, but this can be highly time consuming and is impractical in most situations. After finding this I look for imagery for anything else the customer may have requested, such as wings or animals. Admittedly, I have become particularly skilled at adding wings and they have become my most requested addition
From there I manipulate the images together using photo my main photo editing software Paint Tool SAI and Photoshop. Background images are compiled and manipulated to cohesion, as is horse imagery if multiple are used. This is a technique used to change a horse's pose, allowing for more artistic freedom than base stock imagery. Afterwards, lighting is changed/redrawn as needed, details are added including patterning, eyes, manes and tails, and final touches are added. This process can take anywhere between an hour and up to 6+ hours depending on image quality and difficulty of composition. At last, after crediting the image a final copy is sent to the customer within the timeframe discussed. Assuming all is well with the final image, virtual in-game payment is exchanged, and I move on to the next commission.
