Cassie and Licorice remembrance Portrait, October 2025

 I digitally painted this as a remembrance for two dogs our family grew to love and adore. The dog in the foreground, Licorice, has passed to the great beyond. The background dog, Cassie, is still kicking.

Compositing reference images

I used two separate photos of the dogs, both taken in a similar setting. I then used AI image generation (XeroGen Forge) to create the green blanket Licorice is lying on.

Stephanie Memorial Illustration

Medium: Digital

Tools: krita, using custom digital brushes

Duration: Approximately 10 hrs, over 5 sessions

On February 12, 2025 my cousin Stephanie Fryer passed due to a combination of diabetes and illness. Shortly after her passing my wife suggested I create a digital portrait to memorialize her and her life.

As has been the case with most of my illustrative work from the past 2 years I sought to use digital techniques in the most traditional way possible.

From this I advanced my skills as an artist and illustrator. I also learned how much of her mother Ellen she had within her. Studying every detail of her face, as I worked, helped me to see that clearer than ever. As is the case with all of the daughters of God, she was beautiful inside and out. I look forward to getting to know her better in the next life 

Christmas Newsletter Illustration, 2024

Deciding on what exactly to do this year proved a difficult decision for me. In years gone by the imagery flowed with greater ease, or I already had an image waiting in the wings. Starting around Thanksgiving, after mulling it over for a couple weeks, or so, I finally decided on sharing something that goes well beyond the Christian mainstream. A concept that is alluded to briefly in the Bible, that has an expanded meaning due in no small part to the Book of Mormon and modern prophetic revelation. This Christ centered idea of the Tree of Life is deeply meaningful to me and my family. Every Christmas, not only do I share the story of the nativity, but I also include Nephi's vision of the Tree of Life and its meaning. The ideas engendered in his vision of our Lord and the Tree have become inseparably welded into my heart and mind whenever I see a Christmas tree. For me the Christmas tree is a symbolic representation of the Tree of Life pointing us to God through the living Messiah, even Jesus Christ.

The first part of this post will be about the process and tools I used to create the illustration. If you are willing to stick around, the second half will be a more in-depth explanation of the meaning behind the illustration.

An Epic Play Mat

At the beginning of October my youngest son approached me with a task of creating an illustration for a playmat. Essentially this is like a mouse pad, only larger. It will be rolled up, then unrolled, when he is ready to do some serious card gaming.

I accepted the challenge. Before I even began, he came up with a mood board and instructions for the playmat. I love how he used a little typographic hierarchy to tell me what is most important about the illustration. 

Together we figured out I needed to produce an illustration 24 inches wide by 14 inches deep. 

With that, I dove into creating this. To expedite the speed in which this would be produced, I chose to use a combination of AI image generation, compositing techniques, using Affinity Photo, and digital illustration where needed.

Bison Study Aug 2024

Final Digital painting by Aaron Thorup. Purchase a Print.

 

I started this particular study sometime last year. A good friend gave me an art book called Painting Wildlife TEXTURES Step by Step, by Rod Lawrence. This book highlighted using a technique of gradually layering the paint to build up the details. The idea of applying the same techniques to a digital painting intrigued me.

Digital Painting - Crane

Well, what can I say. I took an overly long break from posting on my blog. Well, time to dust off the good ole keyboard and make a new beginning. Over that past six years I have engaged in a ton of graphics for the Public Engagement department for Horrocks. While I find the work useful to the communities in which we serve, the creativity factor is lacking greatly. I do a ton of maps, signs, flyers and other collateral for various civil and transportation projects.

I will only post on such things if there is some kind of interest beyond the norm. No, here in this blog I wish to share an ongoing chronicle of creative dabbling's, and ongoing projects. I like to share what I learn. I will also share, from time to time, my inner mind, thoughts and feelings.

The following digital painting exercise was completed in about four to six hours, over a couple month period. Keep in mind I do this as a hobby on the side. Being a working father and husband my time to indulge in this is limited. Have to spread things out.

Overall, I'm happy with the final result of this painting. While Affinity photo isn't the absolute best tool for digital painting, it can produce excellent results.

Detail of the head and Neck of the Crane

Detail of the Wing area

Detail of the Feet.

View of the workspace with photo reference on the left.

Final digital painting of the Crane