Rangefinder Magazine
May 2005

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Profile: Fay Sirkis by Harvey Goldstein
Master Portrait Artist

Fay Sirkis from Brooklyn, New York, is a photographer/artist (she believes the titles are synonymous). “These are exciting times because of where digital technology has taken us. I feel like a kid in a candy store!” Her candies of choice are Corel Painter IX and the new Wacom Intuos 3 Tablet. Fay says it doesn’t get any better than capturing an image with a digital camera, painting with Painter IX, and using Intuos 3 as the canvas.

Fay wanted to paint since she was a small child. Her parents enrolled her in YMCA art classes. While her friends studied music, Fay studied art. Art was her music; she says she could hear the colors singing on her canvas. Painting was her outlet, her quiet time, her time to be creative. Unfortunately, that all ended in the late 1980s when she developed a low tolerance to the smell of the oils and acrylics. It was affecting her health, so she had to give up painting.

In the 1990s Fay moved into the graphic design industry to fill the void left by painting. She attended the Pratt School of Professional Studies in New York City to train for the computer world. She became a certified web designer and was certified in the essentials of printing and pre-press at Rockhurst College, also in New York City. She worked as a freelance graphic artist and a graphic design instructor. She designed book covers. She designed books for a children’s publishing company. She did it all. She even held the title of art director, but she wasn’t painting. She tried digital painting, but she was not happy with the results. She was not getting the quality she was accustomed to with traditional brushes.

Her world changed when she saw a demonstration of Corel Painter. The more she worked with Painter, the more she realized the possibilities of what she could create were endless. With her introduction to Painter, her focus changed. She made the career move from the graphic industry to the world of photography. “To me, photography was always a form of painting, only instead of a brush, you paint with your eyes, and instead of paints, you capture magical moments with the camera. When I look through my camera lens, I see a picture and visualize a painting.”

Fay credits WPPI as an integral part of launching her new career. She attended her first WPPI Convention in Las Vegas in 2001 and found that all she needed to know about the photography industry was under one roof. It was at WPPI events that she met Joseph and Louise Simone, Jeff Lubin, and the late Don Blair. “WPPI deals with the creative side of photography. The speakers invoke passion; at the convention in 2004, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house… There were tears of laughter, emotion and joy.”

Following her first convention, she realized she wanted to get back to portrait painting and she could do it through the digital world. She wanted to study with someone with a fine arts background, many years of experience in the photography industry and a strong digital background. She found all this with Jane Conner-ziser and scheduled a week of one-on-one digital art lessons at Jane’s studio in Florida. Fay says this week was a turning point, “We had a great week together, photographing, painting and just being creative.” Fay’s new career was evolving, and she was doing what she loved best: painting.

Fay is a Norman Rockwell fan. As a child she would stare at his pieces and wonder if they were paintings or photographs. “His paintings always told a story, and the detail of his work could hold my attention for a very long time.” Rockwell would project a photograph onto canvas, trace the photograph, and, after it was all sketched onto the canvas, begin his painting. Fay mimics Rockwell by digitally capturing her model then bringing the image into Painter, where she clones it, adds a layer, and proceeds to paint. Fay has even named her favorite brush “The Rockwell”; it is the brush she uses to paint all of her detail, much the same as she painted traditionally with her #1 brush.

Fay finds it interesting that for years photographers have been trying to capture photographs that look like paintings, while artists tried to create paintings with such detail that they would resemble photographs. She notes that not too many years ago, if a photographer wanted a painterly photograph, he or she would send it to an artist who would apply paint directly on the photograph. Unfortunately, the results often fell short of the photographer’s expectations. Enter Painter into the photographer’s world.

The key to digital painting is in the control and feel of the stylus pen. Do not press down too hard. Even by barely touching the surface, you affect the pixels underneath. You are halfway there once you have control over the stylus and have mastered the technique of blending. Once this is accomplished, experiment with the many brushes and colors, and start blending with Grainy Water. The two most important aspects at this stage are to experiment and have fun.

Fay says that with Painter IX, the candy in the store got sweeter. Corel designed Painter IX after listening to photographers and artists about how they work with Painter, and then customizing it to fit their needs. With technology moving so fast, she can now achieve the style she was used to with traditional painting. Corel Painter allows her to draw and paint as she did with her traditional tools, brushes and media. The exciting part is that she discovers something new everyday. Fay has been invited to join the Corel Beta Team, working with them and watching IX evolve.

Fay believes no other software can mirror the look and feel of real brushes. Not only is this the fastest version of Corel Painter, with some brushes performing up to 10 times faster than previous versions (and all brushes working twice as fast, on average), but this latest version takes digital painting to unprecedented levels. The Artists’ Oils Painting System, Quick Clone for Photographers and Snap to Path Painting are all new in this version.

Fay also praises the Artists’ Oils Painting System, which she calls a milestone in the evolution of digital art. With this system, you can mix paints as though working oil paints. You can mix colors on the mixer palette and apply them directly to the canvas. Then you can blend the colors with the oils already on the canvas. You can load multiple colors from the mixer palette on an artist oil brush variant at the same time. Each stroke loads the brush with a finite amount of oil, which is then transferred to the image. As a stroke is applied, the Artists’ Oil brush loses oil, and the stroke becomes fainter. Because layers do not have the oily properties of the canvas, brush strokes applied to a layer do not fade as fast.

Fay explains terms you should know:
• “Bristling” controls the length of the bristling at the tip and tail of the stroke.
• “Clumpiness” determines the fineness of the bristles of the brush.
• “Trail off” determines when the trail off starts within the stroke.
• “Wetness” controls the wetness of the paint on the canvas, which determines how easily paint is pushed around, picked up by the brush, and mixed with the colors of the brush paint.

This may sound overwhelming, but Fay assures us it is just a matter of getting used to having all of the control you want and customizing everything the way you paint.

Fay was also excited that the release of the Wacom Intuos 3 coincided with the release of Painter IX, thereby making the candy that much sweeter! She explains that the Intuos 3 tablets feature ExpressKeys and touch strips that put powerful controls on the right and left sides of the tablet, right where you need them! They are tablet keys that can be customized to perform frequently used functions and keystrokes and are right within reach on the tablet. Fay had been wishing for a Wacom with more controls on the tablet itself, so she could paint more freely without the need for reaching out to the keyboard. Well her wish came true!

The touch strips are set to scroll up and down and zoom in and out. They are at your reach on both sides of the tablet: You can customize one side and leave the defaults on the other. Fay sets the touch strip on her right to change her brush size in Painter just by sliding her finger up and down the strip.

This setting makes painting much easier because she likes to change her brush size frequently. Wacom includes a photocopy diagram of the default tablet key settings with your Quick Start Guide.

Fay always tries to find out some details about the subject she is going to paint. She likes to know name, eye color and some outstanding personality trait. She feels this gives her a strong connection to the subjects so that they come alive in her studio. Most of the time on a portrait is concentrated on the painting of the eyes. Fay states, “The eyes always hold a story. They are the windows to the soul within.”
Fay tends to outline a lot of her edges. She likes to keep her paintings very sharp. By exaggerating the contrast between light and dark colors, it will appear that the subjects are popping off the canvas, taking on an almost 3D effect.

With a low-key image, Fay will paint in a virtual oil effect, painting the image edge to edge without a border around the canvas. In high-key images, she will paint the background behind the subject a little darker in order to bring the subject forward. She then will paint lighter and lighter, fading out from the center, leaving white space around her image. This gives her the effect and feel of a traditional watercolor.

Because Fay works alone, she will spend a minimum of one full week on each image, sometimes working well into the night. She gets so involved with her work that she simply cannot stop when the clock tells her it is time to quit.

Fay’s advice to anyone starting out (or old-timers jumping into the digital waters) is to keep learning. Go to seminars and conventions, join associations, and take advantage of what they have to offer. Look at other artists’ work, and continue to get inspired.

She recommends that anyone serious about Painter should take lessons, and after the course is completed, go back to your studio and follow step by step what you learned. After a while, take off those training wheels and start to experiment with different brushes and paints until you develop your own style that will set you apart from other studios in your area and that clients will come to recognize and love.

Fay says, “Going digital is not about replicating film cameras, but about convenience and control in dealing with the end product, a digital image that is yours to own and use in painter and paint!” Fay loves having total control. She captures the image with her digital camera, paints the image in Painter in her studio, and prints her images on an Epson 9600. Fay gets all of her media supplies for her printer from LexJet Direct. She believes for novices in printing who need a lot of hand-holding, no one does it better than LexJet.

What also excites her is that she can sell her images as limited editions. Previously, once she sold a painting, it was gone—a one-time final sale. Today, with digital imaging, Fay can sell her paintings over and over.

Fay Sirkis is a 21st-century artist, taking advantage of the technology available to her. She earns her living by painting, even though she can no longer work with oils and acrylics. Fay can be reached at her studio in New York at (718) 339-3140. For more information or to view her work, go to: www.faysartstudio.com/.

Harvey Goldstein from Branford, Connecticut, has been in the photographic industry for more than 30 years. He is a former studio owner and presently edits numerous association newsletters and magazines, as well as being a freelance writer.