Digital Painting: Coffee Cup Photo Study

Oh man, dropping a pink and blue gradient over a photo is so satisfying. Mwahaha. Time to share the two digital paintings I managed to finish in 2020. Catching up on sharing stuff, yay!

Below is my digital painting followed by the source photo, which was a Pexels CCO photo (which was originally created by Engin_Akyurt on Pixabay). This coffee photo used to be my go-to placeholder when working on different web development projects, so it holds a weird nostalgia for me.

During the painting process, I had the source photo on one monitor and Photoshop open on my other monitor. My focus was on replicating the light and shadows, as well as texture: the wood, the ceramic, the milk foam, the paper. The painting session was back in…omg.. August of 2020, so I have been sitting on this little painting for a while. It was during a fun crafty video chat session with friends, so I was screen sharing my progress with them. I think it took about 2 hours total? Maybe 3? I don’t remember how long we talked.

Sadly, this is one of only two paintings I finished in 2020. The other was a 15 minute painting I made just for a phone background:

For how quick it took me, I really like the “ember” effect I was going for. It’s still my home screen background, so it’s working out I guess. ^_^

I’d feel bad that I wasn’t more productive, but whatever, I’m going to cut myself some slack for not feeling creative or motivated during a stressful pandemic. 🙁

Today was grocery pick up trip, very yummy Indian take out for dinner, and then virtual belly dance class, followed by chatting with my mom on the phone for a bit. Now I’m drinking candy cane tea (omg, so good!) and plan on catching up on Critical Role while doing some sort of art.

‘Til next time!