http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/ kdmatheson's gallery of images en-us 120 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/547494

Golem is an ancient hebrew name for a magical creature that is created from clay and earth, then brought to life through the use of kabbalistic incantations and prayers.

Throughout history , stories of the Golem have been known, in biblical literature, jewish folklore, and even into modern day film and literature, one of the most famous versions being Mary Shellys , Frankenstein.

Photoshop for layout to Painter, All sorts of media on this one.. back out to Photoshop for finishing touches.

By Ken David Matheson.]]> Sat, 06 Oct 2007 23:45:54 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/547122

Thoth is a piece attributed to the Egyptian God Thoth... A Deity of Higher Knowledge, Wisdom, and Enlightenment.

Thoth was originaly a pencil skech that made it into Spectum Issue #13 so I decided to scan it in and redo it in color using PS and painter.

I used the line art from the sketch to create an outline in photoshop and try to subtly preserve some of the original texturing, I then brought it into Painter and used acrylics, airbrush, and some watercolor layers on this one to give it its color and shading, added more texturing and sharpened some of the old texturing to try to get it restored. Back out to photoshop for some level and contrast enhancement and some finishing touches.

Hope you like it.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:44:09 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/546279

Anazazi... is a take off from the the ancient, native american word anasazi , which roughly translated means; those who came before, or the early ones. This piece was inspired by visiting an ancient Indian reservation and hearing stories which question or existence as humans and how we came to be from those who came before us.

I wanted to get sort of a rock carved, bas relief, yet modern day textured effect with this piece.

Photoshop into painter for some background and shading, out to photoshop for some effects, finishing touches, and tonal changes.

By Ken David Matheson

]]> Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:22:41 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/545812

Kronos or often refered to as Saturn .the God of time. He was fabled for killing off his children before they could reach maturity and claim his position as a ruler and deity.

Kronos was a cruel man much like Cronus the Father of Zeus.

Photoshop to Painter, Gauche, oils, and charcoals, Real Bristle brushes, back out to Photoshop for refinement.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2007 10:49:11 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/545316

visitantes , Spanish for visitors... i realized that after painting a few pieces that begs to ask certain introspective questions, that this piece pertains to the question of , who are we??? Where did we come from? Perhaps if we were able to travel far into our ancient beginnings we might learn something entirely different, about our true origins and progenitors. Perhaps we came from some far away place, an unexplainable time or dimension, traveling, and stopping by to visit.

Acrylics, Charcoals, and Oils in Painter, adjustments and further filtering in Photoshop.]]> Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:23:06 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/542904

Azimuth is a word with so many interesting meanings that I decided to do a piece that 'encompasses' them all. Mainly space and navigation as well as Massive artillery batteries and the machines used to drive all of it. The takes place in space, almost of a spaceship but I didn't want it to be that literal. There are all sorts of navigational, astronomical devices as well as artillery and engines to power them embedded within the piece.

If you look up the word Azimuth ion Wikipedia, it explains this piece in more words than I would be allowed but the definition above pretty much sums it up.

This piece was done in Photoshop and later touched up in painter.

Hope you like it.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:33:30 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/542065

Pink Fix. As a child i always remember seeing cartoons and animated movies in which inanimate objects would come to life and carry on as though they were human beings... Clocks sprouting arms and legs, toasters with eyes and ears dancing around and singing, brooms with arms carrying buckets of water, etc... I thought it was so bizarre... to the point that i began having vivid dreams about everyday objects coming to life and growing human limbs.

in pink fix , a clothespin begins to morph into a fleshy growing mass, whereby, the Pink FIXation of inanimate objects is brought to life.

Pink Fix was originally done in 1995 with acrylics but I have since brought it into Photoshop and augmented it with more texturing, changed its tonality to be more pink and added a couple more details.]]> Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:17:52 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/541358

Naked Lunch refers to the William Burroughs book, Naked Lunch. After reading the book for the first time I was inspired to create La Dolce Vita, later on i saw the David Cronenberg film , which was based on the book. I read the book again, and decided to create a piece that referred to the story.

In a nutshell the book deals with one mans personal journey of drug induced nightmares and bizarre hallucinations, at times the detailed observation of these incredible visions is so amazing that you begin to experience them as completely real.

The book and Movie are so psychological and metaphorical, I'm sure it means something different to everyone who reads it. Throughout the book, a variety of strange beings and creatures, haunt and persecute the author, i tried to depict some of them, in my own personal way, I wasn't really trying to illustrate the actual book, i was more interested in creating the kind of mental state that the book inspired.]]> Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:24:04 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/540753

This is the Mushroom Man, my friend and confident, he whispers in my ear late at night and gives me advice about my work.

This was the very first piece I ever did digitally. It was done in Photoshop many a year ago mostly with a 1pt brush for the detail and hair.

I hope you like him.]]> Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:00:59 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/540364

Lord of the Flies is true evil incarnate. Not to be mistaken for required reading in high school about a bunch of stranded kids. Lord of the Flies is my perception of evil. After having many of my pieces called Evil for a while I decided to do something truly wicked and hence, LORD of the Flies.

PS and Painter.

]]> Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:01:26 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/537360

DreamScape2007 is sort of a representation or an extension of another piece of mine called Alpha Theta. It is represent the full Delta 2 level of sleep and the dreams that you see during that time.

As usual, I started in Photoshop with textures brushes and some general line, brought into Painter and, added a layerbrought down the opacity to 50%, refined my lines, flipflopzoomboom merge down, over and over and finito.

Hope you like it!]]> Fri, 07 Sep 2007 04:56:16 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/536444

Felino-Canino which in spanish it is roughly translated to mean "like a dog / like a cat" it's a personal reference to how sometimes two opposing energies can often mutate, and meld, eventually beginning to transform, one into the other.

In many of our daily relationships we see this underlying phenomena. As human beings, it is our nature for us to sometimes become a product of our environment and sometimes visa versa, Felino-Canino refers to than in a human sense, whether it be our girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, or our co-workers. Sometimes, one dominate energy of another starts to be inherent in a less dominate opposing personality.

I started this piece in Photoshop with line and texture, then I brought it into Painter and finished it up there, then I brought i back into Photoshop for final refinement of color, levels, contrast, and copyright.
Often when I'm asked what my favorite is, I say this one.

I hope you like it,

Thanks,

By Ken David Matheson]]> Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:45:33 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/536179

Sabrotoni. Spanish for little sword. A sort of personal parody on Star Wars. Little Yoda and his tiny light saber battling it out with the forces of the dark side. In all seriousness, it is the depictation of the david in all of us who eventually has to face the ugliness of Goliath and prevail with courage. The piece represents mankinds nature to fight for what he believes in, even as one man, the power of the pen is mightier than a large sword.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Tue, 04 Sep 2007 05:26:17 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/535862

La Dolce Vita, Italian for the good life. i was reading the William Burroughs book - naked lunch, while i was working on this piece, i loved the book! It was so visceral and squishy! The painting for me is a depiction of souls in Purgatory, waiting to pass on to the next level. Whatever that may imply. May be good - maybe not so good! The light colored figure on the right side of the piece represents a sort of gate keeper or guide, The oval extension coming off its body is like a large shell-like pelvis, where the souls must pass through, an Astral Birthing.

I used Photoshop to start, brought into Painter to finish, then out to PS for final touches.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:13:03 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/535402

Metamorphosis is a piece that reflect the stages of the soul leaving the body or being pulled away. It was another study of being able to pain or rather capture the moving pictures of this piece that were in my head. Each slice is a unique blend to the next slice, there was no copying or pasting done here.

This piece was done in photoshop with a mouse so it may look a bit rough around the edges. I have since touched it up a bit in Painter.

Metamorphosis is not an evil piece despite what you may think. It is the natural transgression from life to death and illustrates each stage from terror to acceptance and finally to angelic bliss.

I would really appreciate any comments, but I would also appreciate any ctis to help me to become a better artist.

Please try to keep this thread in particular on topic and clean of any sales questions, etc...

Thank you for your comments.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Sat, 01 Sep 2007 17:35:24 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/534239

Chandra. Is in reference to chandra the hindu goddess of the moon, and fertility. and similar to other ancient mythological goddesses, such as Ishtar and Diana.

Originally this was an acrylic non digital piece that I totally redid in Photoshop and Painter, not only to make it a digital piece but because I felt able to embelish it with the new tools in Painter X and all of my new tools since I did this painting some 10 years ago.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:50:33 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/535035

Neptunes Daugher - Neptune the great God and procreator of the sea, mates with a mortal woman, and begets a daughter, who is borne of a nautilus shell, although her father is a god, she still has the longing and desires of a human who waits to be released from the sea, and to live amongst mortals.

This piece did start in my sketchbook, in 2004. I scanned it in and worked on the line art and shading as well as the color purely in photoshop. The piece took one day to complete, approximately 5 hours or so. I was working on another piece and they were both finished within 6 hours so it was a fast piece but it turned out having a lot of detail.

I would appreciate any actual critiques on this piece as to how I could improve as an artists.

Thanks,

Ken David Matheson

]]> Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:03:57 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/537942

The Messengers - I kept dreaming about these figures for a very long period of time. They represented dream interlopers or thieves of delta because I would always wake up after they took me where they wanted me to go.

I've always perceived them to be menacing but in fact they have shown me the path to many of my pieces.

I know this sounds crazy but these elongated figures with hats kept showing up in my dreams and the next day I would find inspiration. One day, I finally painted them and now I don't hear from them often.

I hope you like them and they don't haunt you as they have me.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Sun, 09 Sep 2007 09:01:10 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/533470

Osirus. From the egyptian lore of Osirus. The powerful god who was murdered then was transformed and reborn as an eternal god. There are many references to this story in this painting and many details that depic the story if you look closely.

Photoshop, purely.

By Ken David Matheson.]]> Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:26:25 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/533078

This was a study of symettry and eing able to duplicate two totally different paintings without duplicating them with the ctrl=D r copy pasting. I acttually painted this twice to match as much symetry as possible. I offset one imgage slightly from the other so you could tell.

Alpha=Theta are out brainwave activities dring sleep when during theta, we are on the cusp of Delta or REM sleep and with Alpha we are on the cusp of theta r we are ust starting to fall asleep. I wanted to catch the essence of brainwave activity between 2 intermediataryy levels of sleep proccess'.

I used photoshop only for this particular painting to try test the boundaries of CS3 and also to gain more understanding of CS3 extended edition.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Sun, 26 Aug 2007 13:19:40 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/532777

Kajaroo is the name of a beautiful hindu temple in India. The entire structure is covered with incredible carvings of intertwined figures, fantastic creatures, and other worldly beings and gods. To me this piece is a sort of cerebral cathedral of towering spires and organic growth.

Started in PS with line and texture, brought into Painter using Acrylics, some Airbrush and bristles. Back out to PS for final touches.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Sat, 25 Aug 2007 08:52:04 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/532487

aurora2007]]> Fri, 24 Aug 2007 10:49:06 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/533739

Wulpurgis]]> Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:15:46 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/532384

Puja was a piece I did that I really wanted to focus on certain parts of th human anatomy such as the centerpiece. A close friend of mine, Dennis Mcbride, wrote a series of short stories Very dark and surreal. One was titled "Puja". It was a tale of a woman who continues to grow very, very, old but never dies. She lives in the dark basement of her home. The people in her neihborhood are aware of her and they begin to treat her as though she is some type of pagan goddess, whom they bring daily offerings of human flesh! A sort of contemporary "Kali" in the suburbs! The word - Puja is a Hindi word meaning sacred offering or gift.

By Ken David Matheson
]]> Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:31:58 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/532380

King Fischer]]> Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:21:15 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/532024

Income Bent 2 is a piece that exhibits the metamophosis of man's stress and worry as he gets closer to being broke as many of us starving artists have been at one time or antoher.

This was froma period of my life when I was broke and as a freelance artist, had no commisions or anything lined up for quite a while. This is how I felt during that era.

This piece was first done in Photoshop as a series of lines and texture that outlined the general image. I then brought into Painter and used the guides that I had created in Photoshop to detail the rest of the painting. I tryed to stay away from the airbrush tool as much as possoble on this one and used a large variety of brushes and mediums.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:32:54 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/531775

Mardi Gras; or eat drink and be merry, for tomorow we shall all die! A perspective on the human condition, our lust for the physical, and transient thrills, and the paradox of the inevitable that faces us all, the unsaid and never talked about inevitability of death our own deaths. The piece really reflects lust for imediate gratification. The symbols in the piece such as the phone box and other details suggest calling for that quick fix or thrill which we all have to deal with eventually in the eternity of the afterlife which is also represented on the right side of the piece.

People are interested in my techniques and how I go about creating these detailed pieces. I usually do a few concept sketches before hand, hand drawn and very rought just to get a general idea, I don't scan them in, I just work with the ideas. When I start, I usually will start in Photoshop because I've developed a huge library of special texture brushes. I use the appropriate brushes to lay out a very rough shaded and line sketch, this enables me to see more in the piece I then bring it into Painter and start a new layer and refine all of the details that I origianlly wanted and then I add all the detail that my texture brushes make me see in the piece. I flip horizontally and zoom in and out quite frequently. I see a lotmore this way. In the end, I have a very detailed line and slight shading of my piece which I then color and further refine until I feel it is finished. I don't do any drugs or get high for my inspiration, the only "ritual" I have is to listen to music and drinka lot of caffiene. I mainly listen to R&B or opera.

When commIsioned, I print them out in pieces of long sheets of 48"wide Photo or premium Bond and assemble them on site, a wall or whatever I've been commisioned to do.

By
Ken David Matheson]]> Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:50:26 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530689

Liberation]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:51:40 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/529931

The Garden Life, A piece about antient mesopotamium, the Egyptian, Aztec, and Thai, connection uder their gods and dieties. The iece has a lot of references to the starting of life and there are many symbols regarding DNA in it if you look closely.

I did this piece a while ago and iy started out as a painting but I brought it into photoshop and finished it there using a variety of texture brushes that I made. I also colored the piece in PS.

Would appreciate any critque.

By Ken Metheson]]> Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:51:35 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530692

Kronos]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:00:28 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/529709

Anthropods are some of the most ancient life of worms on the planet, they includes trilobites, spiders, centipedes, lobsters, etc. Contrary to what we have always been taught in school, that we are descendants of apes and single cell organism, this piece offers another point of view. Perhaps humans evolved from something quite different, whether it be reptile, insect or beyond the boundries of our known universe.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:47:07 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530414

Siddartha is a piece that represents a figure in the book by Herman Hess titled Siddartha. As a young man Siddartha is faced with the grim reality of the physical world and all the pain and senseless turmoil that his life entails. Distraught by it he decides to turn his back on it all, and sets out on a journey to learn the true meaning of life. Through the course of many years he is beset by many trials and transforming encounters. At a pivotal point in the story, Siddartha falls into a deep sleep, and is bewitched by beautiful supernatural beings, they torture and tempt him, luring him over to the dark side of his soul. In the end, Siddartha prevails and wins over to the light where he finds balance and inner understanding. Something that many artists can relate to. Siddartha is the figure on the far left of the scene. His eyes are shut as he dreams of the figures to the right.

By Ken David Matheson]]> Sat, 18 Aug 2007 15:30:07 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530693

lady of the birds]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:03:15 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530675

barracho]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:08:36 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530688

interlopre]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:47:02 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530687

visitante]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:44:15 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530684

duet]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:38:20 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530683

dreamscape2]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:35:52 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530694

Mango]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:06:21 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530682

dreamscape1]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:33:28 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530690

IO]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:54:23 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530679

diva]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:31:31 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530673

cycalid blu]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:04:38 +0000 http://kdmatheson.cgsociety.org/gallery/530671

ammonite]]> Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:00:15 +0000