Tag: dogs

AI art

Bringing my ideas into Artificial Intelligence

Michele B. Naquaiya
original art using pen marker, watercolor pencils on all purpose paper, with no water
AI creation after some simple edits, I think It captures the idea well.

I created the little girl in the rain with an umbrella full of holes, and her little dog walking walking in puddles and puddles of rain. The little dog is wearing rain boots too, and the picture included fun whimsical scribbles of a few tree and plant stumps.
I brought it into an AI creative engine and I was very happy after a few edits, to come up with the little girl trying to shelter her two puppies from the rain. I think it is pretty charming. AI read my scribbled tree and plant imaginings as more puppies. That’s ok, I like it. It kept the mini yellow umbrella on top of the pink umbrella and I like that too.
The third and fourth picture is the art on products. These images were created in Freepix. All in all, I’m getting better at this and I’m happy with my efforts. Notice that in the mug the left image is my original art and the right image, is AI version. I have lots of further options to go, but I thought I would just share this main idea, with the results.

Reproduced on a fabric tote bag
This is interesting, a separate image, one for left side, one for right side

Comments appreciated. I would love to hear what you think. Have you tried any ai art creations lately?

alphabet, animals, dogs, fonts, kids, storytelling art, whimsy

I am not a Chiwawa dog in Spanish

Michele B. Naquaiya

 

chiwawa'nosoy-card

This little guy is a welsh corgi.  Of course he is.  Once upon a time a little girl wanted him strictly because she thought he was one of cute Mexican dogs they call a chiwawa.

He made a little ruffled bark and told her, “No, I am not a chiwawa dog.”  She took him
home anyway.  They lived happily ever after.

I have combined my  love of fonts; this one is Dino Kids, with pencil sketching and digital ribbon and bow, drawn on my Cintique by Wacom.  enjoy.  purchase

alphabet, dogs, horses, cats, fonts, Illustrations, kids, simple photoshop, step by step, how to, thoughts behind the work

You’re On a Roll

Michele B. Naquaiya

youre-on-a-roll-web

When it comes to humor, everybody has an opinion.  The world revolves around people putting opinions of  other people’s creative work into a niche.  Critics enjoy this because they can sit outside and look at it and not be threatened as they are only observers and not the creators.   The truth is, corny or not, people laugh at puns and somebody always will–so let’s move on.  What’s the fuss about all this?

Well, this was an idea I had and was reluctant to proceed because it is a classic “pun” or “play on words”.    My thought was to put a baby in the hot dog bun and draw that.  I got cold feet.  So I did this instead.  Call me a coward but I’m trying to put fonts and images together as a self-motivated interest and I’m trying to stay true to my goal.  That’s my newest M O, so for the sake of being a little more traditional and not wanting to offend anybody, here’s the newest drawing.
I sketched the hot dog in the bun with a ball point pen and scanned it in greyscale. Then opened it in photoshop and painted it in with a few semi-transparent shades of various colors, making a layer for each major item: hot dog, bun, and of course the text.  Did the same for the little dog.  For me, drawing simply like this in photoshop is super easy and very rewarding.  When it was completed, I saved it as a psd file and then removed the background and saved it as a png. Then I combined all the artwork layers.  I am sure this is not the preferred method, but I just plow ahead and do whatever works.  When I grow up, I want to be able to use AI and know what I’m doing.  After years of PSD, I just keep trying and keep learning.  I hope to learn one new thing every day.

When I studied graphic design in college, I drew in AI all the time and was never intimidated. I remembered putting images on to a thumb drive and then bringing them to a professional printer and staring in awe and these gorgeous glossy huge prints spit out my artwork.  I was in love.  Now after all these years, the program is scaring me.  But Adobe is  making improvements that certainly make it more intuitive.  I will continue to plow ahead in the hopes my memory comes back and I can learn new things.

The wonderful font is Hansel  Texture and I think it’s great.  I will be using it more I hope but this is the first time.  I am keeping all these images super simple and super big.  I like seeing them big on t-shirts and I like seeing them on kids’ onesies too.  That’s where I’m at and wow, how fun would it be to see this on adult onesies, if there were such a thing.

Here’s the art on some stuff.

dogs, horses, cats, thoughts behind the work

Friendly Dogs of Mexico

Michele B. Naquaiya
big dog
This big guy is on my “to do” list and I can’t wait to paint him.

Dogs can melt your heart.  There are a lot of dogs here–of all breeds and sizes.  Most of the time it’s easy to spot the dogs that are well cared for and have homes.  They are groomed, look healthy and well fed.  Most of these are usually found around their caretakers’ homes or businesses, as in the big dog in the photo above.  If my memory serves me, he belongs to a carpenter and hangs out in the front doorway of the shop every day.

I’ve never run into a dog that has been super hungry or dangerous.  They all sort of hang out in theirO given area with their designated people.  Some make their scheduled rounds to plazas and restaurants and visit the Malecon every day, just in case somebody did not finish their helado or ice cream.

When a dog is hanging around without a home you can tell because they look like they are seekers.   Often kind people temporarily adopt them and make sure they eventually get a permanent home.   Lots of x-pats make it their mission to do this.  They pay for their shots and neutering and move on.  I am impressed.  This kind of work is usually done by  retired couples who may have the property or the means  and the big hearts to do it.  Sometimes single old women  (watch out,  I’m in that bracket) share their time, dollars and compassion. They have clubs and groups and cafes that they go to just to keep the word going.  It’s a system that works.  They connect with public agencies that help.  Sometimes they find adoptees who take the dogs back to the states and keep them there. Their communication networking is astounding.

A local doggie phenomenon here seems to be two-fold:  Midnight wailing of dogs downtown and roof dogs joining in the chorus.  Roof dogs live on the roofs of the brick buildings behind the Ajijic walls.  Just look up and you will see them peering down at you.  This keeps them off the streets and in a friendly family culture.  They guard, sing, and watch from up above.  I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve grown to really love the “dog” culture here.  So far I’ve never seen a bad event.. That doesn’t mean it does not exist, I have just never witnessed one.

Somewhere in my “to do” list, I have a chihuahua roof dog looking down and me and growling fearlessly.  I need to find that photo as he is painting #2 to do.  So many dogs, so little time.