Hello,

Today, I'd like to introduce you one of my favourite artists Lori =LoriVintage55 She is one of the nicest people I've met here on dA, but not only that. She was the first photomanipulator on this site which I truly admired and still admire...



She also has a stock account ~Lorivintage55stock where you can find beautiful vintage photos, objects, textures and .psd files. Below, you can see a few examples from her marvellous stock.





ARTIST

1. A few words about the artist behind the picture. Please introduce yourself.

My name is Lori. I am a 53 year old digital artist from Illinois. I grew up in the Chicago area, but I have been living in central Illinois (Peoria) for the past 10 year with my hubby (third and last!) my two cats, and my dog. I have two children, now adults, from my first marriage. No grandbabies yet…but I’ve been dropping hints to my newlywed daughter and her husband!

2. What do you do in your life besides creating art?

I enjoy camping, taking care of my animals, collecting, and arts and crafts. I love to visit flea markets, yard sales, and antique stores. I travel to Georgia a few times a year to visit my daughter.

3. Do you have an artistic background?

My paternal great-grandfather, Carl R. Krafft, was a painter and sketch artist. A few of his works are a part of the permanent archived collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. He painted landscapes and scenes from daily life. Several of his works can be viewed here: [link]

Also, my maternal great-grandfather was a photographer…more on him later.




ART

4. How did you get interested in digital art, particularly in restoring old photographs?

My maternal great-grandfather, James S. Windeatt, was a professional photographer. I have many of his photographs and they were the first photographs I scanned and restored. I guess it is through restoring his photographs that I became interested in digital art.

5. What kind of art do you like? Favourite artists?

I enjoy surrealistic art. I like Salvador Dali.

6. What is your source of inspiration?

I just love to see vintage photos come alive. I feel like I’m honoring the deceased by lovingly restoring their pictures.

7. I know you like angels and you've got an amazing collection of dolls - could you tell us about it more? When did you start collecting them and why? Do you collect any other things?

I started collecting dolls in the early 80s. Originally, I’d collect any type of doll – porcelain, baby dolls, cloth, etc – but my collection became so huge that I was running out of space to display them, so I sold many of them and kept my miniature dolls and porcelain dolls most of which are antique.

I also collect miniatures (tea sets, figurines, etc.), old postcards and photos, costume jewelry, but my biggest and favorite collection now is my collection of gumball and Cracker Jack charms/prizes from 1900-1960. I have about 1,000 of these charms and I have cataloged them in a spreadsheet and stored them in glass cases. Good thing they don’t take up too much room!

8. Can you tell us about techniques you use to create your images? /what programs do you use, etc./

I started out using Paintshop Pro, but was later introduced to Photoshop 7 by a watcher on DA. He taught me the basics of the program, and as my restoration skills increased I challenged myself to learn more about the program and how I could use it to manipulate photos. The Photoshop tools I use most frequently are the history brush (to remove color where I don’t want it), the dodge tool (to brighten up eyes), the burn tool (for shading and enhancement) and sometimes I hand paint a minor detail.





FUTURE

9. What would you like to be better at and why?

I would love to learn to digitally paint to broaden my range of subjects.

10. Where do you see your art in the years to come?

Mostly in my personal photo albums at home!

11. Any advice for new artists?

Just keep practicing!

Thank you `vulcania for the delightful interview






I hope you've enjoyed the interview and the feature - if you have any questions or you'd like to see other interviews just drop me a note and I'll see what I can do Thank you