So this year will be my fifth year using computers to paint. Before that I used acrylic paints on canvas the good old fashioned way to some degrees of success.
I knew about digital painting at the time but had avoided it for quite some time as I always felt it was a little bit like cheating. This of course was back when I thought the program did all the hard work for you. Yes, I really did think that clicking a button would automatically paint the hair for me and all I needed to do was select the area. Oh, how little I knew about the subject!
Then one day, an artist by the name of AG+ created the most amazing piece that I have ever seen, the 25th Anniversary of the Legend of Zelda.
I first saw it on the gaming website, Gamesradar.com and I was blown away by it. It was the piece that made me realize how good digital could be. So, I saved up as much of my wages as I could and even worked over time to buy me an old version of Photoshop, which is still the version I use today!
The most epic fan art of all time. Period. |
While I have never been able to pin down their official site, nor do they seem to have any Facebook or Deviantart pages, I have found much of their work on-line.
Over the years however, their work and style has had less and less of an impact on my own style but without this piece, I may never have given it ago or at the very least, not at that time.
So to AG+ I say, thank you for helping me start down the long path of digital painting!
From here, the artist who inspired me gets a little fuzzy and I'm not sure of the order of who so I will do them in random!