Christmas Digital Painting By Katherine Lightwood

-

Christmas Digital Painting

By Katherine Lightwood



Christmas has always been very close to my heart. Even though I am not that religious but this time of the year always makes me nostalgic. Carols, church bells, goofy hanging socks, and writing wishes were something I always wait since the start of the year. No matter what my situations were every time I felt amazing on that day. I am fortunate enough to share some of the fondest memories with my loved ones. My first Christmas memories that I can remember was with my Dad. When I was a kid, my father used to take me to long bicycle rides through foggy roads in search of 'Christmas Tree' (that's what I used to call any plant which looked a bit conical). And if we were lucky enough, we would get some dried shrubs so that we could make something out of it. Once we found a beautiful tree branch exactly like the shape of a Christmas tree and we brought it home. Me and my dad decorated it as we wanted.

That night I wrote my first letter to Santa and hanged it on a sock outside my balcony and eagerly waited for him to come and read my letter. But like every little kid's heart, mine also broke when he didn't grant my wish nor he came to visit me. Well!! these were little bittersweet memories of my childhood Christmas.

As I grew up, I started to get a bit more matured and stopped pining over Santa eventually. I remember when I was in 6th grade there was a poem in our textbook called 'The Drear-Nighted December' by Robert Frost. Whenever I read that poem I got very sentimental as if it was reminding me of a Christmas memory that has been erased from my mind.

If anyone knows me, they would know that I am really really hyped about Christmas Carols. During my school days, a girl named Sylvia used to sing 'Silent Night' at morning assembly at Christmas Eve. And oh my god! Where shall I start!! I have never heard such a heavenly voice. The way she used to hit that high note looking up at the sky was simply mesmerizing. And that was one of the most amazing moments I can remember about Christmas.

Another memory that should and must share is the one I spend with my best friend. Oh, those good old days! What a craft freak we were! Wanted to make Christmas Tree out of the scratch. After lots of failed attempt and wasting our little pocket money in vain we created something. Well! she was happy with her 'temporary tree' but I wanted a 'permanent one' which have to look realistic (you know setting unrealistic expectation is what I am passionate about). Everybody at my home was so annoyed at me that time, but I finally made what I wanted and at the end of the day that freaky business worth everything.

Recently, our teacher gave us an assignment about making some digital art about Christmas. I was so blank at that time that I couldn't decide what should I make or anything that I could remember is inspiring me because things are getting a bit rough lately. The heavenly joy and bliss that I used to feel in every Christmas seem to fade away as the days were passing.

So, late at night frustrated with everything I decided to take that out into my personal diary. As I started turning over the pages of my diary I found an old picture of Mary and baby Jesus. It was really beautiful. And that's when I thought to make a digital painting of it. I clicked a photo and opened a new document of Adobe Photoshop. At first, I started by drawing a sketch of the character and then started giving a base color to it. After I was done with my base color I slowly started developing the painting focusing mostly on the skin texture. While I was developing that painting I was listening to a song 'Mary Did You Know' which was covered by the band "Pentatonix". It was really matching with the theme of that painting. It was getting very difficult to recreate that same texture of such an old painting. I was spending a lot of time on it. I couldn't focus much on my regular classes for Adobe Flash. My teacher was asking for homework and all I could show him was my poker face. Digital painting is REALLY HARD and TIME-CONSUMING and people need to understand that. I was running out of deadline so somehow I completed it by working up all night. I did ask for a day from my teacher and finally submitted this assignment on time. Unfortunately, that painting wreaked me as it was the hardest painting I've ever done. And this is finally what I came up with.


Well!! My friends this is time for me to sign out. May this Christmas brings you all the joy you deserve and may god bestow you with love and tranquillity. Till then Merry Christmas from me and my colleagues of Crimson Creed

You can also follow us on Facebook.

Katherine Lightwood 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eighteen hits the year 2018 By Rahul Kumar

-
Image
Eighteen hits the year 2018 By Rahul Kumar Hello, guys!! This is Rahul Kumar and as I said will be back with my next post so here I am as promised. How are you all are doing? Looks like everyone is quite exercised this week and yeah it is kind of last week of this year 2017. So, I am really excited for 2018 and another thing is yesterday was my Birthday and am 18 years old now and in Two days its gonna be 2018 what a coincident, 18 hits for the new year of 2018. Two days back we had a guest in our house they got me one of my favorite sweets called  Ras malai. It was one of my loveliest birthday celebrations ever. I was really happy spending a day with my family and took a break from all my works for a day. But the day before my birthday was the worst thing happened. And the reason was, me and my friend Nikhil Medar we were totally consumed in one of the works given by our teacher. We were running out of deadline and another thing was that it was one of my friend Ha...
Read more

Understanding the Meaning of Grief By Katherine Lightwood

-
Image
Understanding the Meaning of Grief By Katherine Lightwood  A constant gnawing that feels like that you have rocks churning in the pit of your stomach. Absolute exhaustion after sleepless nights. Unpredictable and sometimes uncontrolled crying or being completely emotionless. Feeling so bad that you question whether you will ever feel better.  If you ever feel this way then you are not alone. It doesn't matter where you live, work, how much money you have or how you vote. Man or women, adult or child when you lose someone important, you grieve. Although we all grieve at one time or another, our individual grief experiences often differ. For one thing, there are many kinds of losses and the feeling each evokes are very different. Not only is someone's reaction to loss is very unique, their individual experiences matter too, how they manage grief. There's no magic wand to wave to make the pain go away. But we can gather knowledge to help understand how ...
Read more

Last Verse of the Setting Sun By Katherine Lightwood

-
Image
Last Verse of the Setting Sun By Katherine Lightwood Frozen wind and the scarlet light, The day sets with a silent demise. Giving the promise of a beautiful tomorrow, Till then, the meadows will drench in sorrow. Holding light but very tight, The demons of the night are dancing in delight. Under the shadows, hiding in the night, A beating heart that starts to recite... Melancholy lore of a broken kind, Lore of winning wars that were left behind. Lore of valor and cruel tragedy, The lore was sung by sweet maidens with a silent melody. Lore of brave soldiers who would come home, Their tale would be cruel like the gladiators of Rome. But now, the fire is dead, With few sparks burning, but the ashes are sad, And there's no light, in this frozen night, As they say, demons of the nightmare are dancing in delight. Now they say the light will come, with the turn of the sun, The warm breeze will blow, over the meadows, it will run. Will the light come... Or ...
Read more