Dan in Dan

[Artyczar]

This is technically a drawing, but I almost posted it in the Contemporary forum with my other "Dans." This is also not the greatest photo. I don't have it anymore, so I can't take a new one, but I made it on a 20-inch square birch panel.

 

[Terri]

I love this! I really like your use of birch panels.

What medium did you use here?

 

[Artyczar]

THANK YOU Terri!

This is just pencil. I treat and seal the panels though, which takes a couple of days. This picture doesn't do it justice. They are pretty. I sold this one before I could get a good pic.

 

[Queen Bee]

It is so cute. Hope you don't mind but I tried to make you a better image since you don't have it anymore. Maybe one of these is closer to the original.

 

[Artyczar]

Thank you Queenie!!! Yes, the second is quite a bit better. How did you get rid of some of those blue-ish spots?

What happened mostly here is the top got faded, or blasted out with too much light, so the top-most Dan is pretty ruined.

 

[Queen Bee]

I will not tell my secrets. Being a photographer after all the editing I've done it was an easy quick fix. The top Dan would be difficult to fix. Lighting was the main problem with the photo.

 

[laika]

Cool! It kinda looks like pyrography. But the medium matters not, when Dan is the message.

Edit: Dan has that universal appeal that belongs in a petroglyph in Utah or on the wall of a cave in France.

 

[Perry]

Neat Arty.....kinda reminds me of cave art.

 

[Triduana]

This is great. I love all the overlapping Dans!

 

[Donna T]

So many Dans! I love the way they interact and overlap. The sealing of the panels doesn't disturb the pencil marks? I like the idea of Dans being been found in the caves of France. Someday they will no doubt be discovered etched on the moon's surface ... the Dan on the moon.

 

[P. Barrie]

I like the spaces in and around. Gives me a feeling of time lapse. I see the Klee influence.

 

[Iain]

I love the way Dan overlaps Dan making new shapes. Wonderful!

 

[CMorPaint]

I think this is really cool. Your top most Dan is just floating into the scene. His dark feet will overlap the next one under him and he will be home.

 

[triss]

This is wonderful, Arty! So glad you posted it in Drawing - I'd never have thought of getting this effect with a pencil. The result on the birch panel is beautiful. (And I don't think I've commented on any of the Dans before - absolutely love them!).

 

[Artyczar]

I will not tell my secrets. Being a photographer after all the editing I've done it was an easy quick fix. The top Dan would be difficult to fix. Lighting was the main problem with the photo.

I'm not a Photoshop expert, but I'm pretty damn good at it. I tried pulling the blue out of the yellow in Selective Color and a few other things but couldn't isolate it enough to get the splotches out. I suppose if I tried harder... I have never needed to mess with the raw file I have for high def images (no one has wanted to publish it or anything), so I've just left it alone, but thank you for giving me something I can use on the web.

I only ever took a fast snap of it in the first place, and it pretty much sold right off the easel. I didn't take a proper image of it in the shade outside, which is what I normally do unless I hire someone.

 

[Artyczar]

Thank you so much laika, Perry, and Kay! I will be sure to go to France and spray paint over those petroglyphs as soon as I get my plane ticket!

 

[Artyczar]

So many Dans! I love the way they interact and overlap. The sealing of the panels doesn't disturb the pencil marks? I like the idea of Dans being been found in the caves of France. Someday they will no doubt be discovered etched on the moon's surface ... the Dan on the moon.

Donna, Thank you too! I do have a couple of Dan on the moon pieces.

I use a universal sealer and fine sand the panels between coats that allows my to use any media on these. I usually prep them for oils however, so I have to seal the front and the backs (and the profile supports as well since they are all glued together). The result looks very pretty and the wood needs to be one piece, not pieced together since I don't prime these with white. The 2" profile makes them look really nice hanging on the wall as well.

The pencil take well to them pretty after the last sanding, but I admit, I pushed the harder pencils into the wood a bit deeper so they'd come out darker.

 

[Artyczar]

Patrick, Iain, Cindy, and triss: Thank you for your wonderful words! Patrick--thank you for the Klee comment, he was my favorite growing up. I am so happy that Dan has touched people. That is what he was supposed to do, just like how he appeared to me in the first place. I don't believe I made him up myself. He just came out one day.

 

[Queen Bee]

I'm not a Photoshop expert, but I'm pretty damn good at it. I tried pulling the blue out of the yellow in Selective Color and a few other things but couldn't isolate it enough to get the splotches out. I suppose if I tried harder... I have never needed to mess with the raw file I have for high def images (no one has wanted to publish it or anything), so I've just left it alone, but thank you for giving me something I can use on the web.

Believe it or not I don't have Photoshop and have never used it. I do have other photo editing programs. The one I use the most is not even made anymore. Raw files are easier to edit. Then I take them to my favorite program for further edits. Shooting your art work outside in the shade is the better way to go.

 

[Artyczar]

Interesting! I understand the editing software not made anymore. I used an old version of PS for 20 years. It was a bootleg.

If I had the piece still, I'd take a new pic. If I really wanted to I could borrow it from the collector, but I haven't really "needed" to.

Thank you again!