The Digital Muse

Digital Freelance Artist Susan McKivergan

F.A.Q.

I’ve decided to add the “Frequently Asked Questions” page to answer some common questions I receive on a daily basis. If you don’t see what you are looking for here, please feel free to email me any other questions you may have.

If your question is in regards to Copyright, please check my ©opyright page.

Q. Are you still taking fan art/gaming sig requests?

A. I take commissions, but I no longer use gaming screen shots or anything like that, I use either real models/photographs or I use 3D, you are welcome to commission me for a portrait or full body painting of your character.

Q. How do you do these artworks and how can I learn to do them?

A. I use Photoshop CS, Poser 7, Photographs, custom brushes, & my Wacom Tablet. I am self taught, I never went to school for digital arts. I used tutorials available online free, and I figured everything out myself. No I won’t teach you. However, if you ask me a specific question about something I might be able to answer it. I will not, however, just turn over everything I ever taught myself to someone who is not willing to even try to help themselves, so stop asking, help yourself first, if you can’t achieve your goals that way, I will gladly assist you on a specific question or problem you are having.

Q. Do you freehand your artwork or is it a photo or something else?

A. Most of my works are a combination of digital painting, photographs, and even 3D, also each piece usually contains some information in the artists description in my deviantART Gallery, and usually I will write in there what I did to the base image, which I usually use a “stock photo” or a 3D render as my base and work from there. Many times I use photos just for reference, or I may use a small part of the photo and paint the rest by hand. Most of my works will appear in the Digital Art > Mixed Media category simply because I use other programs as well (like 3d renders for backgrounds) and then repaint them or because I use several techniques to finish an artwork, all intertwined with digital hand painting.

Q. Will you take all my old photographs and make them look new or will you make me into a fairy?

A. Sure if you are willing to pay me, I don’t work for free, this is my hobby and my job, email me and we can discuss it. But you will be required to provide high quality photos yourself in the poses you want to be painted in if possible.

Q. How do you make the backgrounds?

A. It depends – I have made backgrounds from brushes, from 3d programs like Vue 6 and Poser 7, and I done a lot of hand painting on them, also in the past I have used photographs. Some are also backgrounds I have purchased from renderosity that I paint over and manipulate to my needs.

Q. Do you use a mouse or a tablet?

A. I use a Wacom Intuos3 9×12 and I absolutely LOVE it. I can’t see how I ever did anything without it, if you are serious about your work, I highly recommend investing some money into a tablet, you can get them as cheap as $99, or spend over $1000 at the Wacom store. Mine was around $450.

Q. What are your other “tools of the trade”?

A. Well besides Photoshop, I sometimes use Vue 6 to render a background in 3d and repaint it, also I have Poser 7, every great once in a while I will pull out my good old sketch pad & pencils and scan something into my pc as a base to work from. Tools I use w/in photoshop are brushes mainly, and sometimes styles/actions, not to mention many many of the other tools w/in the program!

Q. So where can I get the stock you use?

A. You can do a search for it on Deviant Art or simply visit the DA Stock Gallery, or follow the credits in my image description.

Q. So what is the best advice you can give me if you are not able to teach me?

A. Open photoshop, dive in head first, play with all the tools, get familiar with how things work and what they do…Buy a book if you like, sometimes its helpful to people, it will certainly help you look up terms and tools and such, I never really used mine. If you are really stuck on something or wish to chat about art my MSN Messenger info is on my main DA page, but please remember I am a stay at home mom of 2 kids and I am very busy so I don’t mean to be short with people but sometimes it just can’t be helped, just try again another time

Q. What do you charge for artworks?

A. Please check my Commissions Page for more info.

Q. If I place an order when can I expect it to be completed?

A. I usually request at least 2-4 weeks for completion, but if you need a “rush order” it can be done in much less time – and there is usually an added fee.  Please note – sometimes things do come up – just in any job, so if you need it by a certain date you must tell me!

Q. What will my artwork look like when its finished?

A. I have many artworks in my galleries, please feel free to take a look at these artworks to get some ideas. No two pieces are ever exactly the same, so in that aspect they are unique and you can rest assured yours will also be unique. Each piece is usually a collaboration of the customers ideas and my creativity. Feel free to express your ideas freely and we can come up with something you will be happy with. If you would like a specific color scheme, mood…etc. please let me know before I start your artwork. If you would like to leave it completely up to me that is fine as well, just be aware that I am going to work with your photos the way I feel best suites them, drastic changes after the work is given over to you will be an extra charge.

Q. Can I use your artwork for my blog/website templates/sigs?

A. No.  If you would like you can purchase a license to use some of my images from www.upyourart.com, these are NOT for commercial use.  If you would like to use something of mine commercially you MUST contact me directly via email to discuss the usage and price.

Q. So what else do you do?

A. I am at stay at home mother to a 12yr old and a 3yr, I am also married. Besides taking care of my kids I do my artworks, manage my personal site, & manage my Cafepress store. I usually have several commissions lined up or resources to create and sell to other artists. I am very busy!  I am also one of the 2 Digital Art Gallery Directors at deviantART.com!

Hope this helps clear up some questions!

More Questions and Answers to come as I think of them. Please see the “Copyright” information page for questions regarding anything to do with copyright. If you think there is a question that should be added to this FAQ please email me.

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