Treasures in the Dark
Digital Painting and Photo Manipulation of a Mysterious Fairy
by Justin Gedak 2017
I've been wanting to start some more fairy paintings for awhile now. I know there's already a ton of amazing faerie artwork out there already--but I've still been feeling like it's a theme that I want to explore. It's like they're a part of a world that exists just outside the corners of our eyes. A place unseen and full of mystery. Artwork based on fairies always seems to have a surreal sort of dream-like feeling as well. I really like that.
It's also fun to see my take on the subject. To wander into those dream-like worlds, and see what comes up from the shadows as I create the artwork.
I actually very rarely know how I want my paintings to turn out when I start them. When I do know in advance, I tend to get bored with them early on. The not knowing of what I want, or how the artwork will turn out seems to keep things interesting for me. This is why for the digital works like this, I never really draw out any concept sketches. I just sort of take a photo or two for reference, and see what comes out as I'm painting.
This fairy artwork was created with a combination of digital painting and photo manipulation using Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, and a Wacom Intuos Pro drawing tablet.
The stock images I used for reference for this one were from ArtReferenceSource and Mithgariel-Stock
For anyone wanting to sign up to my mailing list, I'm giving away a free full resolution digital download of "Born for Battle". It's a very large image, 9000 x 6750 300dpi, and I figured it would be interesting for people to be able to zoom right in to see the details and brushwork. Also, anyone with access to a good printer can print off their own print of it without having to order anything online.
Click on the image below to sign up and get your free download
