Jephyr Art (Artist Jeff Curtis) - 'The One That Got Away' Color

'The One That Got Away'

Digital Painting — Posted August 2021

— Find a few of my thoughts about this
digital painting under my "laptop tale": * —

In the last year, I struggled with a decision about
getting a new LAP-TOP. My old one had crashed several
years ago and so I'd made myself content just using my "real-world"
sketchbook or other "real-world" media such as pastels etc when I
went out to scratch my creative itch (which is pretty much daily : )

Earlier this year, I found a used 17 inch that was powerful
enough to to run Blender 3D, digital painting, and video editing
software. Even pre-owned it was still a kinda pricey — but a
similar one at that same shop had been scooped up before I
could nab it — so I felt like I had to make a fast decision.

So I said a few prayers about it, and enlisted my niece's
prayers — and while still feeling very unsure about it — went in a
day or two later and counted out the money and walked out with it
under my arm — still wondering if I'd done the right thing.

The shop offers a 30 day trial — with no questions asked
on returns — so I figured if my 'Buyers Remorse'
got too bad I could still return it.

Right away, I started working with it every day— updating
it, downloading and adding APPs — and while I was at it I thought
I'd try out Krita— an AWESOME FREE digital painting software I've
talked a lot about here in my digital painting links recently — and
as I've said many times before — I ended up LOVING it! : ) .

Anywho, as I was working on posting today's painting
it occurred to me how well the new lap-top has worked out —
and thank God for answering my prayer about it! : )

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* A few thoughts on today's image: 'The One That Got Away'
(find a composite below with a few of the steps along the way)

As I've been sharing for a while now — I've
been going back and digitally painting my old pencil
drawings from my 'real-world' sketchbook — &
hand-painting them on my new-ish lap-top. : )

Although I made a few changes to it — you'll find the
original 2019 sketch for this digital painting — posted here.

Some notable changes to the final painting are the
addition of the fisherman's companion (furiously rowing for
he and his pal's lives : ), and the sea monster rider's 'light '—
which I added one day — after 'seeing' it in my imagination.

The most substantial change happened with the creature's
head and face. I was beginning to feel satisfied with the creature
itself and the back- ground — but the more I worked
on its head/face—the less happy I was with it.

Then, one day, I literally 'saw' a better face in my mind
— so I fired up my lap-top — and in minutes had repainted
it more to my satisfaction. I love when this happens!!

I'll post the composite below - showing the original sketch
and some steps along the way (when it looked more like a Chinese
New Year Dragon) — and another look at the final image.

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This image was digitally painted using Krita —
awesome, FREE! computer painting software