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Brooks and Roscoe

topdogPet Portraits

A Christmas commission. Using separate photos as reference images can sometimes be a challenge.

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Cole, a Curly Pet Portrait

topdogPet Portraits

This is Cole, a particularly curly – and happy – fellow. This regular commission came to me in late October, just before the Christmas rush, so I’m including it in my Christmas commissions list anyway because once I finished it, the orders came pouring in. The client only supplied one photo, not normally a good thing. But in this case it was a clear, well-lit photo that I was able to work with. In order …

Characteristics of an Initiation Ritual

topdogUnpopular Opinions

It may sound esoteric and overly intellectual, but pay attention, because we’re living through it right now.Comments are open! Please add yours below. About the AuthortopdogTopdog is Steve Merryman, a graphic designer (retired), and illustrator. Living in the woods, Steve can often be found working on portrait commissions. In his spare time he paints, writes, shoots guns, cuts trees, hikes with his dogs, savors a beer or two, and searches for the perfect cheeseburger. He …

Pet Portrait of Bella, a Yellow Lab

topdogPet Portraits

Here’s a screen-capture of a recent pet portrait commission of Bella, a lovely yellow lab. The actual portrait took about six hours, but I’ve compressed it all down to a nifty three and a half minutes. I composed a special musical background for this piece using Apple Logic music creation software (I’m a musical imbecile, but the program has tons of loops to play with). The customer for this portrait found me via WilderWealthyWise, a …

Oregon Health Authorities: “Covid19 Is Serious!”

topdogUnpopular Opinions

Comments are open! Please add yours below. About the AuthortopdogTopdog is Steve Merryman, a graphic designer (retired), and illustrator. Living in the woods, Steve can often be found working on portrait commissions. In his spare time he paints, writes, shoots guns, cuts trees, hikes with his dogs, savors a beer or two, and searches for the perfect cheeseburger. He studiously avoids social media and is occasionally without pants. Almost Dailies: Happy BoMarch 24, 2024Beorn in …

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Falling Leaves and the Hazard of Experts

topdogUnpopular Opinions

The Death Rattle of Western Civilization continues. As the foundations of our culture are being destroyed from within by means of 1) hysterical panic over a 99.9% survivable virus, and 2) spittle-flecked irrational hatred whipped up over a media-enabled fictionalized caricature of the President, it’s important to take time to appreciate the little things. It’s almost Halloween, and the leaves are still on the trees. This is unusual. Also, we were buried in eight inches …

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Rejected by Shutterstock

topdogArt and Design

Tonight I had a batch of cool photos rejected by Shutterstock, and I’m a little pissed off, to say the least. It’s certainly Shutterstock’s right to reject photos. As a new contributor, I’ve had a few photos rejected and it’s part of the learning process to find out what Shutterstock wants. In each case, I understood the reasons given for the rejection. But this is different. I shot a large collection of rose images using …