Generale dei Sanguinari – Gadir’s Minotaur – Minotaur demigod 1.3 – Mesh avatar – Second Life

Related posts:

Related posts:

Nuovo generale di Apotheosis tutto in 3D disponibile sul mio Marketplace in Second Life:

Related posts:

Max: Hi Ramón, and thank you for being here in the hokmaph blog, you are famous in the open source graphic world mostly because Gimp Paint Studio, can you tell us something about the new release based on the 2.8 code?

Ramón: Thanks Max for interview me on your blog. I will try to do my best… so let’s get started.
Gimp 2.8 is going to be a big change in some ways. We now have the “single window mode” wich is good, presets tool editor and new dynamics dialog. That means lot of work to update the GPS 1.5 but is almost done. I am working to make more presets using tags too. This way we can make SETS based on TAGS like we have in mypaint or Krita.

Sets are fun and very effective. We can have for example a set to make “Sketch work” with only 5 presets. This is good because we don´t have to search again in the entire list of presets to select another preset. Also is good because we can gather presets from different tools inside a tag. For example in “Sketch” tag we could have Pencils presets and Erasers
presets all together. That is a huge change that improves a lot the work-flow. And finally we can´t forget all the NEW dynamics (Thanks to Alexia Dev.) controlled by curves, not sliders. Total freedom to control pressure opacity, size range, rotation, color changes…

I have deleted lot of brush nibs for the moment, because i think we don´t need too much brushes.
But this could change if users need them.
I have made several sets so you can use now GPS in “old way” or NEW way wich is cool.
Lot of good things that are coming soon, stay tuned!

Max: As Artists often do, you made your own work tools, tell us how and because you made the MyPaint Concept Design Set.

Ramón: I came from a very “classic” training and therefore i looked for the “classic” tools in every software that i tested. When i discover Gimp i was amazed. Good program, free, customizable and offering the possibility to add new things. That captured my attention. I had a good background on Photoshop, Painter, SAI and opencanvas, so i tried to get the best of them and translate to gimp. This is how GPS started.
But programs are always different, you can´t mimic them completely, they have their own personality.

I made the concept design because i love to sketch fast. And it is a very good way to develop ideas. I f you know Sumi-e technique or watercolors is like watching the clouds. Shapes transfer ideas to your mind and then you paint defining these shapes. Is like a game.
I realized that we had in mypaint lot of good brushes but no one of them was specifically for Concepts but Final-pieces painting or Drawing. My paint has very customizable procedural brushes so i decided to play with some parameters to make something new but very focused. I also made the icons in Inkscape trying to emulate the real media appearance and i ended with a good bunch of icons to be used in mypaint or another program.
So concept-design set was made to work fast and freely with not too much detail at first in a wet-wet style, but also has detail brushes to ink like 0.4 or 0.8 pens.
It is a small and not closed set, so please modify it, and if you made something interesting share it again with the community.

Max: What was your first computer and how your passion for computer graphic born?

Ramón: PC 486 with 4mb RAM and 170mb HardDisk. The seller said “you’ll never fill the 170mb ever” (lol NDMax)
I started painting with MSpaint, but sucks! the limitations were too high in color and size. but DeluxePaint was a good discover, good 256 color palette and nice “prehistoric” tools. So i started to use to paint my first 640x480px graphics. it was crazy because blending colors was ugly, and there wasn´t antialias so i made it by hand. we are talking about the 90′s.

Max: Can i ask your point of view on the future of opensource graphic programs?

Ramón: I think we are in a good moment. we are finishing 2011 and FLOSS is getting stronger. Of course we have to still work in a different fields, most of them very specific for high-skilled users, but for students and amateurs the software is ready to be used in 200%. But we have to be honest and admit that we are missing some important features on paint-programs. like texture .There are ways to make it but not too flexible.

Max: What is your favourite paint program (open and proprietary included)?

Ramón: I think we have a common mistake here. We don´t have to choose fortunately in freesoftware wich is the best. Honestly i think all my tools or programs are my resources. So it depends of the task, i use Gimp, MyPaint or Krita, alone or combined in different work-flows. That means more creativity for me.

Max: What is the work you have been more satisfied by?

Ramón: I think there are some favourites in my folder, but lastly it was my NixiePixel portrait.

I love this portrait. It means lot of things to me. It was done in Gimp and i have received lot of feedback. It was done as a homage to her and as a challenge for me. Drawed from scratch and it was very fun. The hair was crazy but lot of people love her hair so i think i did my job well there. of course you can.
Nowadays i think i could do it better because when you finish a piece you still seeing mistakes but Overall i am very happy with the final result.

Max: Who is your favorite artist? There is an artist you are inspired by?

Ramón: There are lot of artist that i like both traditional and digital. like Soroya (light), W.Bouguereau(skintones and color), Monet (energy) they are only few of them. I tried to pick the best of each one of them. but they are the masters, i am still learning every day.

Thank you very much Ramón!

For all our readers here the website of Ramón Miranda:

http://www.ramonmiranda.com/

Related posts:

Here’s the Gadir’s Minotaur from Apotheosis novel (available in italian only), picture from Second Life simulator, you can get the mesh avatar from my marketplace.

Buy here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/67416

Related posts: