If you thought watercolor paintings were a little too traditional for your taste, then you haven’t heard of Daniel Mackie. After working over 10 years in Photoshop, the UK-based illustrator abandoned the software and picked up his pencil and watercolors.
As Mackie tells us, “My decision to abandon Photoshop was based on a frustration with the color. With Photoshop, all color seemed to taken on a sort of Photoshop flatness. But more importantly, I felt with using Photoshop I never had to make a solid decision because I could always undo it with the command ‘Control-Z.’ With watercolor, you have to be sure what you want right from the start. If you know what outcome you want before you put a mark on paper, you will get better results.” All of Daniel’s illustrations are now hand drawn and painted on 300gsm Saunders watercolor paper.
Mackie recently won ‘Best in Book’ in the Creative Review Illustration Annual 2011. Judge Kuchar Swara says, “I was really impressed with the level of detail and attention to the figure and its distortions of scale.”
To see how these super fresh pieces all come together, and to get a real appreciation for his craft, make sure to drop by Mackie’s blog.
