I don’t know how you plan on observing Earth Day, but this my traditional way to celebrate. It turns out that on average, the middle of April is a great time to burn slash.About the Author Topdog is Steve Merryman, a retired graphic designer, illustrator, and unrepentant asshole. Steve can usually be found working on a portrait commission or some other artwork. Steve fills his days by painting, writing, shootin’ guns, cuttin’ trees, hiking with …
More Guns = Less Crime
A video that is sure to trigger several people I know, some CPL information and revised Gun Safety Rules
Digital Painting Demo of Brooks
This digital painting demo was created way back in November for a Christmas pet portrait order. In this demo, I show the whole screen including the software palettes and my reference images. I use an older version of Corel Painter (from 2019). My current system is a bit slow for the latest versions. Typical of software these days, there’s a lot of feature bloat in the newer versions anyway. The final size of this portrait …
Some John Hiatt, for your pleasure
John Hiatt has been a favorite of mine for several years now. He’s got a new cd out and it sounds like a lot of good stuff like this.
Characteristics of an Initiation Ritual
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
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!”
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: Rocks and Snow graphite seriesJune …
Spokane Pet Expo Cutest Pet Winner
Last fall we participated in the North Idaho Pet Expo to promote our side business, PetArtWorks pet portraits. It was our first trade show. The day before the show, while we were setting up, we were approached by the event coordinator who liked my work so much she asked if we’d be willing to offer a free portrait to the winner of the Cutest Pet Photo Contest in the Spokane Pet Expo scheduled for Spring …
Sherlock – a Digital Painting Demonstration
I’ve had a couple portrait commissions going the last couple weeks. I decided to create a video of my process creating this Sherlock portrait.