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Wow! They're great! You've got a great Christmas card with the penguin. I'd buy it...

I loved Creaturehouse Expression! I mourn it's passing, murdered by Microsoft.. I still have version 3. The cover of v3 of the User Guide with the fairy with the pink crumpled papery wings was just exquisite. I don't know the rules of gaming, but have you considered the free 'Snow' asset that come with Affinity Photo, perhaps downsizing it, selecting an area of it and making a Snow brush with which you could set the spacing and then paint? You could save several white dab versions as .pngs and import them into the brush so that there is a more varied brush stroke. I use this method all the time to create my brushes...

Lovely. Looks like gingerbread. I could eat it!

Beautiful artwork...

Oh God, yes! I'd buy it...😀

Hi William, Wow! I've been to the link to investigate. I read the piece (ch21) on the second link you sent (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/localizable_sentences_the_novel_chapter_021.pdf) and the poem, which flowed beautifully, and I have read the author's note. It was really very interesting, but so surreal. I'm not sure I understand from reading that little snippet what it's about so I will have another look later... I love that you are enjoying writing it and designing the graphics. Writing, art and design should be enjoyable. I think you are living in another dimension. It is such an original idea. 🙂 It will take me a while to understand it, I think...

Good point, carl123... Maybe I should do a Christmas version and add Rudolph's nose glowing like a beacon that all non-flight woodland creatures can follow to safety. And maybe in Williams 'fire in the office' book, he can have Santa Claus leading the office workers to safety. All except the ones that 'don't believe' in Santa. They'll probably scurry around in the office and die of smoke inhalation. Never mind. Although, I imagine both fires will have died out by Christmas... 😄 William's children's books might be out by Christmas too, eh?

I think you may have the formula for a winning children's book there, William. You could do the illustrations in Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. Maybe two books; a fire in the woodlands, and secondly, a fire in the office. Who will survive? I see a board game too (maybe to rival Monopoly?) Something tells me that the 'fire in the office' book might not sell as well as the 'fire in the woodlands' book... 😄

Yes, thanks, Tomek. It's a great list of very helpful resources you have compiled and kindly posted. Many thanks...

Ha-ha! Well spotted! While I was putting it together I did wonder whether, if the fire is raging rapidly through the woodland in all directions, leaping from tree to tree and setting alight to the undergrowth, do the animals, in their terror, follow the same route to safety as the birds or do they tear through the woodland in a blind panic, avoiding the fire and smoke as they come across it... And I agree with you: I don't see any similarity between Piero di Cosimo's wonderful painting in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and my own, but it was a great compliment to receive from William. But did you notice that one of the deer and wild boars in Piero di Cosimo's painting have men's heads?

Thanks...

Thanks, William. I'll check them out... 🙂

I love Renaissance art and adore Italy, especially Venice (my favourite place) and Florence. I am fascinated by the Medici and the Borgias, Savonarola and the 'Bonfire of the Vanities' (not the To Wolfe book) and especially the Byzantine empire and the siege in 1543 of Constantinople by the Ottomans. Indeed, some of my Affinity Photo brushes that I created to use in my artwork - the silver and gold brushes, pearl brushes, jewel brushes like ruby, emerald, diamond, sapphire, lapis, are all inspired by the wealth of Renaissance Italy and the Byzantine empire.

Wow! Thanks William, I had a look at the painting you mentioned. It's beautiful. I've never heard of Piero di Cosimo. Apparently, he painted it in 1505, oil on panel. Truly a master... 🙂

I wanted to create a mist-laden forest using a colour palette that I created, but as usual, it evolved. I think I used one of the fog overlays by Paper Farms but I can't remember which one. I created the artwork in Affinity Photo. The 'fire' effect is just a few abstract brush strokes which I turned to 'Screen' in the Layers panel as on 'Normal' they don't look any good. I have added the Affinity Photo file of the 'Fire' effect brush stroke, also a .jpg of what the fire looks like on black background, and a .png with transparent background. The Affinity Photo file has the four individual brush strokes that I used in my artwork. I attach the 'Spooky Brown Wood' colour palette I created plus a screengrab of the colours in the palette in case anyone wants to use it. Spooky Brown Wood.afpalette Fire.afphoto