gair

I spend on average about an hour on my pictures and probably an hour looking/studying the methods of others using the playback button. That is what attracted me to this site in the beginning. I love to see where people start. Amazing, the talent! I still don't feel that I have found my niche. Mostly experimenting. I do delete pictures; usually very soon after posted. I let out a big YUK and delete. My picture, REALLY, really bugs me but have rejected the notion to delete it so far. My favorite picture of mine is PREOCCUPIED because of its simplicity. I love making and receiving comments. Votes too. : )

mdawrcn

Yes, I got a dose of reality early on and lost a picture to save draft, after spending maybe an hour or so on it. I don't recall what it was, but I do remember I was pleased with it, and very shocked that it was gone. And though the save draft option seems to be working much better recently - it used to be that if I left TD and came back my draft was gone - now I can shut my computer down and come back and it's still there, I am still wary of getting too involved in a drawing and if I like it at all, I get anxious to submit it before it gets lost, which I think probably keeps me from putting as much effort in as I would really like to. It is a shame we can't have our own private gallery to work on as we please and until we are sure we are ready to submit. I do not have the nerve now to keep anything for very long.

mdawrcn

And thanks everyone for your replies. Some great pointers and interesting observations.

mum23

What an interesting thread! It's fascinating reading how everybody else creates their pictures! Q, I love your post-it note idea! I've got about two years worth of pictures and ideas stored away, and more are added every day! Inked gemini, I roll back in my chair too, although not as often as I should!! And polenta, I find it absolutely amazing that you do your beautiful pictures from your imagination and so quickly!! Wow!

I agree with Qsilv about the playback not reflecting the length of time it has taken to create a picture.... you don't see the thinking time, and all the undoing! I find, like polenta, that the pictures which I create in themes which I'm comfortable with are much, much quicker than those I find harder to work with.

It is impossible to estimate how long the 'average' picture takes. I would say the minimum for me for pics that make it to the gallery would be about 45 minutes (for pics such as "Too Funny" and "Jalapeño") and the maximum, about 4 hours ("Gone with the Wind). I rarely get to do a pic in one sitting, so I nearly always save and re-load. I lost about 7 pics this way (it hurt), but since TD fixed this problem at the beginning of July, there haven't been any problems with it for me.... although I do still cross my mental fingers!!

So far, I haven't done anything with my pictures. I'd be very interested to hear how they look if they are enlarged and printed if anybody has done that.

... and yes, I do delete some pictures after they've been in the gallery, although I'm doing that less now than I used to when I started here. I do 'clear' a good number of pics and doodles though. Like gair, I'm still doing a lot of experimenting... I love those moments when you plop things down next to each other and something completely unexpected jumps out at you!
It is so much fun playing with these pieces and using them to create pictures... who'd have thought it?

polenta

I don't only use my imagination mom. I can see a commercial or a photo or something and it's the basis for a pic. I don't copy well but it gives me an idea. Maybe I need an idea and then I use my imagination. It's like I adapt it so much that it's almost irrecognizable. I don't draw well, I don't copy well... but in my opinion I have a feeling for color and balance and I can use my imagination if something gives me an idea.
By the way, the BALANCE OF LINES in a pic is so important for me. I feel it, and I wonder what anyone who's studied art can say the drawing theory says about it.

mdawrcn

All of you are amazing, not only with your talent, but willingness to share. I am learning alot.

Like Qsilv and inked_gemini, I like to "go away" from the drawing. Not only will I back away, but I like to "save draft" and go away and come back and look at it maybe in a different way a little later. Again, I don't have a lot of patience to spend very much time on a drawing, for fear of loosing it, but am thrilled to know that "save draft" seems to be working like it should. I think that is very important.

Having a plan and thinking it through also seems to be pretty important in creating something special. I guess this should be obvious, but sometimes I just sit and mindlessly draw, which occassionally will lead to something ok.

I have printed some things, the resolution is too small for anything larger than a thumbnail size printing, however, I make greeting cards with ms publisher and photographs that I take, and think some drawings will work when enlarged a little to put on a card. I don't know how to add pixels, or if there is a way to do so. Am interested in Qsilv's paintshop pro. Never used it, but I do use Photoshop some and will continue to experiment.