We have with us today Jose Paulo , a digital artist with more than 10 years of experience.

I came upon Jose's works while sourcing for art-tributes of the late David Bowie previously.

Currently based in Portugal, Jose pursues his passion in photography, creativity and digital art full-time. We have invited Jose to share with us his experiences and knowledge of digital art and photography, as well as some of his artworks.

Qn: Can you share with us how you created these images of David Bowie and Paul Walker above?

Firstly I search for an appropriate image to suit the mood. When I have chosen the best picture to work with, I use some brushes and filters from photo-shop, and mix the colors with different textures and blending modes. I usually use the overlay or multiply mode, depending on the color of the background. After about 2 hours, I complete my work with finishing touches to the images by mixing in some more colors to bring out the mood behind the pictures.

The David Bowie picture has much color to it, because I want the image to represent his life. The Paul Walker image is more monotone in color, as I want to give a more dramatic look to it because of his life story and because I hope to highlight the effect of his death. (Very tragic death).

Qn: What are some creative accomplishments you have achieved so far that you are proud of?

Some of my creative accomplishments was to have my works featured in advanced creation cover magazine (above), and my Desktopography artworks (which are also pictured above).
I've also created an art homage to Steve Jobs (above) which is displayed in an art gallery in New York.

Qn: Tell us more about your photo-shop and photo manipulation techniques? (What do you usually use these techniques for? And what software do you use? Are there limits to what photo-shop can do to a 'disastrous' shot?)

I usually make use of all the tools that are available on photo-shop, because I work on a wide spectrum of artworks. However, I use the brush, selection, pen and clone tools from photo-shop more frequently. For the selection tools I use a lot of the pen tool, because this tool gives me more precision when trimming images. I use the brush tool very frequently because I use a lot of masks and the brush tool is the only tool that I can use to erase some parts of an image, or accentuate certain parts of the image. I use the clone and healing tools more for retouching on my beauty and fashion works.

Essentially I use photo-shop 95% of the time and 5% on light-room.

Photoshop can help tremendously to poor quality photo-shots, but as for miracles to save a disastrous shot, I think it might be impossible, because having a good, original shot is eventually pivotal to the quality of the final result. If a shot is good to begin with, the image can be further improved on, but if the shot is really bad, though we can improve little, we can't produce a good, final result. In conclusion: a good shot is the beginning of a very good work ;)

Qn: Do you have any tips to offer on fashion and beauty photography?

Retouching is crucial to produce a fantastic look, but bear in mind that can also completely destroy a good image if done excessively.

For beginners I recommend studying in detail the techniques of "dodge and burn". By practicing such well-known techniques, their work may become highly professional soon.

Qn: Lastly, have you read any books or instructional medium on photography and/or digital art that you can share with us?

For all kinds of photography I recommend reading Ansel Adams' books (they are crucial to helping one understand photography).

As for digital artwork, I'm a self-taught digital artist - all the things I know today were the result of years of reading tutorials and a lot of practice.

We thank Jose Paulo for sharing with us his artworks and experiences in this interview. For more of Jose's works, you may visit his website at https://www.zepaulocreation.blogspot.pt/ or https://www.behance.net/zepaulo

Jose also has a deviant-art page where he shares his artworks, and a facebook page dedicated for art-lovers.