June 2005 AOM - jgmart

Each month the Renderosity community votes on The Renderosity Artist of the Month Junes AOM is Mixed-Media artist, jgmart [John Molino]. We congratulate John for his outstanding collection of Mixed-Media images.

Who is jgmart and how did you come by your username? I do have to start out by saying, THANK YOU - Artist Of The Month, WOW! To even have my work shown on this site with all these amazing talented artists is a privilege. I am honored and grateful. The jgmart stands for John G Molino ... No, its not George, thats as much as Im giving you. I live and work in New York. Currently, I work in finance. Art (digital and traditional), I do as much as time allows. Creating art is the one thing that can get me up early and keep me up late. "How did I come by my username?" Its probably the most uncreative thing Ive ever come up with. My initials and the word art - its so boring. I was creating my first website, trying to come up with something clever to put before the dot com. Thats what I came up with. People ask me, JG-Mart, is that like a store? (laughter) How long have you have you been creating computer graphics? I actually started working with computer graphics in 2001. I had no idea what I was doing, but I do know I was fascinated. I had a copy of Painter Classic that came loaded on a computer, or I think it was with a scanner I had just purchased. I messed around with Painter for a while, but it does have quite a learning curve, and at that point I didnt want to invest a lot of time in learning all about it. At about the same time, I came across the e-on software site. Not sure how that happened - could have been a graphics magazine ad, or something. The first time I saw Vue desprit, I thought, I have no idea how thats done, but I have to try that. I purchased Vue 4, and from a link on the e-on site I made my way to Guittas (gebes) site. Her wonderful tutorials showed me how to complete my first landscape with Vue. The link on her website led me to Renderosity and the rest, as they say, is history. Do you have traditional art experience? Yes. Ive worked in acrylic and watercolor for many years. Im essentially self-taught. I started working with oils at the beginning, but they dry WAY too slowly for me. Acrylics and watercolor are more my speed, although, Ive been known to take a blow dryer to my acrylic paintings. I love computer graphics. Software like Vue is so amazing to me - just look through the Vue gallery - the artists there always inspire me. But, as much as I love creating in a 3D programs like Vue, I have a deep desire to push and pull paint around a canvas - and I figured out how to fulfill that desire digitally, with Painter. What are you currently working on? Currently Im working on (digitally) creating images in Painter that I had previously created with traditional media. If you view the last few images Ive posted in my Renderosity gallery - they are all based on traditional paintings I did years ago. Im also getting into printing my work. I print some of my images on Arches Cold Press watercolor paper. I really like the results. I add touches of acrylic paint and pastel to the print. Its an interesting look, and gives me a chance to combine both traditional and digital art. What software/equipment do you use and why? For 3D work, Vue Infinite - Ive barely scratched the surface with Vue, but the look of an image rendered in Vue is beautiful. The main software I use is Painter, currently version 9, and Photoshop CS2. Most of my images are mixed medium. Ill do the majority of the work in Painter, then all color enhancement/correction, in Photoshop. They work really well together. I work with A LOT of layers, and its pretty seamless moving an image between Painter and Photoshop. For hardware - I recently purchased my first HP - its a 3.2ghz, 1gb ram, with a 160gb hard drive, 256mb NVIDIA GeForce graphics card. I have a 19 flat panel monitor. I print on an Epson 2200 ink jet - And, what I consider my most important piece of hardware - my Wacom 9X12 tablet. What do you think your best piece of work is and why? As far as images Ive posted on Renderosity, (can I pick two, please?) Id have to say Old Mill - its far from perfect, but its one of my most complicated Vue images - and Winter Barn - one of the first successful images I created in Painter. It took me weeks to get the effect I was looking for. Those two images are so my style. I love old barns and mills and country scenes. Winter Barn As for my traditional work, I did a watercolor about 10 years ago, that was my best work to that point. I sold it. I dont have one photograph of it, and I dont know the person who bought it. That was a good lesson for me. Digitally created Images are so much easier to keep a record of. Its always good to see how far youve come. The Old Mill Why do you like to work with 3D/2D software? I was going to answer this question by saying, graphics software is so easy to undo and correct your work endlessly, but thats not it. As a matter of fact, as I get deeper into working with a program like Painter, I almost never undo anything. I let the image progress naturally and include every brush stroke I make. It adds to the depth and character of the image, I think. Plus, a program like Painter, really has no limits. Its an endless supply of art materials. I dont have to run to the art store to get a tube of Alizarin Crimson in the middle of a painting, and I love brushes. I buy brushes for my traditional work and end up never using them. I just collect them. Very strange. With Painter, you can make infinite brush variants - unlimited looks. Its almost as much fun as creating the image itself. Who/what inspires you? Nature is my biggest inspiration. Living in New York, Im close to the Hudson River. I get to hike along there often. You can pass an area a dozen times and although its a familiar place, theres always something new to see - especially with the changing of the seasons. I believe we come from a source that knows nothing but good. And that source created a world where everything can inspire you, if you take the time to look. And of course, there are so many artists here that inspire me. I dont even want to start naming people, because I know Im going to leave someone out. Lets just say, whenever Im having a creativity block, Renderosity is a place I can go to get the ideas flowing again. How has this online community (Renderosity) enhanced your work, relationships, and learning? I love Renderosity. When I first got here, I hung out mainly in the Vue Forum - there was Mike J, Varian, and of course Guitta (Gabe). Everyone is so willing to share their knowledge. Even if the person Im asking doesnt have a specific answer for my question, they can usually point me to someone else here who probably has valuable information. Renderosity is a fun, creative place. I think my favorite thing about Renderosity, is that all levels of creative experience feel welcome here. Parting comments/advice to other Artists? Ill finish up by passing on some thoughts that were told to me when I first knew I had a desire to create art Dont wait for others approval to create art. If you think you need someones go ahead to make art a part of your life, youll never start. Were on this earth for a short time. Live now! Create now! I use to think, Ill wait until I retired from my regular job before I became passionate about art. That was pretty bold of me, to be so sure Id be around after retirement long enough to explore the creative process. No one has a guaranteed promise of tomorrow. We only have now. Create wonderful art - in your own style - using the tools the way you want to use them. Renderosity has given us a wonderful place to share our creations. Thank you all! Health, Peace and Love

We invite you to view jgmart's Renderosity Gallery. To learn more about Renderosity's Artist Of The Month [AOM] award, and to view our past AOM's, please visit the AOM 2005 page, which can also be found on the sidebar under Highlights.