I'm here for two things - to improve my art skills, and to share the good word about Open Source Software.
So for everything I post, I'm also posting the open source tools (all available free, right now) I used to make that piece. My goal is to make a lot of art, and to get well acquainted with the suite of digital art tools available to me (and to all of us) while spreading the word about the incredible miracle and feat of human ingenuity and generosity that is Free and Open Source Software. You'll be surprised by the breadth of tools available.
Presently, my life circumstances allow me to devote time to honing my digital art skills. My partner and I are looking to build some games together, and right now my art skills are not at the level they need to be in order to make the games we want to make.
I stopped making art sometime when I was a child. I am now somewhere between my late 20s and early 30s, picking up where I left off. Technically, I started picking up where I left off with pencil sketching in a notebook last spring, but now, at long last, I have a computer that's able to run art programs. So I'm taking the next step(s).
I see good bones in my art, like it really *could be* something if I stick to it, but I have a long way to go in honing my technical skills before I'm ready to save anyone (or make the digital art of my dreams).
So here I am, revisiting Tumblr in the twilight of social media, as the world descends deeper and deeper into conflict, the nations tighten their grips on power and control, and the people everywhere grow poorer and hungrier.
But let not your heart be troubled, for, have you heard the good news? There are free and open source programs out there for all, whatever device(s) you're using. And if you download them and learn how to use them, then, well, you'll have the means of production at your fingertips and the sacred power to create - a power that many would see set behind exorbitant paywalls.
And if you have the ability to make art, music, etc., then when times get hard and the old comforts don't work or aren't available, you can create. And if your barrier to creation was the high cost of digital art programs, then let that no longer keep you from the arts. Please, come join the party.
As the turtle character voiced by Don Knotts says in Cat's Don't Dance - They can break your cookie, but you'll always have your fortune.
So I'll be over here making silly art, building games, writing stories, designing maps, generating music, building playlists, and having an all around good time while I have the chance. All with free programs made by the people, for the people, and available to you, the people, entirely for free.
[I used Krita and a very cool brush pack from FizzyFlower making this painting yesterday (the link will take you to the latest version of their big brush pack with links to a google drive download and a gumroad download).]
https://krita.org/en/download/
https://krita-artists.org/t/fizzyflowers-essential-brushset-version-2-with-400-brushes-cloud-paint-hair-fur-fx-foilage-trees-leaves-texture-smudge-and-more/38580
