Uploaded on youtube today:
[link]

The write up there:

And now for something completely different... And a fun little fact about me: This artist who draws a lot of mean scary dragons LOVES KITTIES! Seriously... I'm a sucker for cats. I love em. Not much into dogs, but cats always get me.

Anyway-- The art is another practice/portfolio piece. Photo realism is a HUGE plus right now for my portfolio. For those who question what the point is to doing this, I'm telling you right now. And believe me, a lot of people make comments about it being a waste of time, etc. ("Just use a camera"!) It does help in more ways than one to show that I can do this. As always-- it strengthens the abilities, but more than anything the demand from my clients to see stuff like this in the 'folio is high. So there you go.

For this piece, I had a reference photo off to the side... I didn't follow it verbatim-- (there was also another cat in the photo that I didn't paint, and had to improvise detail.) For this one I really went for the advantages that Photoshop offers for convenience to the artist. For example, those speckle looking brushes that come in their brush palette work REAL NICE for fur and hair! But having said that, it doesn't mean that the computer does any of this for you... It is still 100% freehand painted by the artist. This is another favorite comment people like to pick on... The whole, "Yeah, but can you paint it with real paint?" attitude. Of course you can. This is essentially the same abilities and skill. Just a different medium.

Also, I think I should mention that even though I fire back at a lot of the critics the way I do-- I don't do it necessarily because I am taking it personally. (once in a while I'll get irritated and roll my eyes and snap back something). But to be honest, I do it for the people out there who are young, struggling and have yet to find their footing in their passion for art. My rebuttles are for them. Every now and then I get a comment from someone who tells me I shouldn't worry about what others say about my work... Truth is, I don't. But I do want to be a voice whenever I can for the others out there who need to hear those responses from someone in the field who can reassure them. I am very passionate about this aspect of art and it's critics for this reason... I hate arrogance, and I hate hate seeing people stepping on others' dreams. And since I am very confident in my work, and enjoy a good career doing what I love, I can't resist responding the way I do sometimes.

UPDATE INSERT:
Critics are fine. I'm talking about the haters and arrogant people. The ones who are just not being nice. By all means, I am totally for being able to accept criticism. But there is HUGE difference in some of the comments I was referring to, and legit constructive criticism. There needs to be definite discernment between the two.

I have been through some nasty hard starving artist times in my life... And I'll never forget it. And so I do care about those others who may go through the same woes.

Also, I want to mention that I started a Facebook acct for my art. I had a lot of people that I didn't know who they were trying to add me on their facebook account, and I noted that some of them were from youtube. But since I have my personal facebook account for family, friends and some professional peers, I figured that most of the youtube viewers would not be interested in seeing family pics and what not-- so it was logical to start a separate account for the art career stuff. I will be putting fun stuff on there, like drawings I did as a kid etc. for some who were curious about that.

You can find it by searching "Chris Scalf Art" on facebook.

Photoshop CS (Mac)
Captured with Snaps Pro X
Wacom Intuos 3
Actual time to complete approx. 2 hrs and 15 minutes.