Interview With Digital Painter, Chris Cold
Chris Cold is a talented artist who specializes in digital paintings that focus on the paranormal. His art feature sci-fi creatures and events and contain vibrant colors. In today’s interview Chris shares some interesting tips about his art.
Q Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?
Hello, my name is Chris Cold and I’m a digital painter. I started creating stuff in Photoshop like 3 years ago after I saw a blog with concept art. I don’t recall the artist’s name but I clearly remember that many artworks included a lot of planets and space related scenery which is why I was inspired to create space art.
Q From looking at your portfolio we see that it is mostly made up of paintings. What exactly draws you to that specific style instead of say photo-manipulation, or abstract design?
If I would compare photo-manipulation with painting I personally think painting everything from scratch is much more impressive than Googling photos and then mixing them all together in Photoshop. Not saying that it’s easy (it’s a different skill from painting) but relying on other sources will make your art less versatile. About abstract art… I think nebulae are abstract-looking… but I’m trying to stay away from abstractionism simply because I cant tell a story with abstract art.
Q What do you think is your biggest challenge in terms of your paintings? Have you overcome this obstacle yet? If so tell us how.
Right now my only goal is to paint/write a graphic novel. I have failed many times already and I’m sure I wont be satisfied with my first novel when I finish it but I feel that illustrating a story from the beginning to the end will help me to improve my skills a whole lot.
Q Your paintings always look futuristic and sci-fi inspired, are you a fan of the genre? And what usually inspires you to create these amazing paintings?
Yeah, I like sci-fi and fantasy. I think most of the time I’m inspired by other artists and many of my favorite ones are usually sci-fi artists so I guess that explains it. Every time I see a great artwork I’m always like: “damn, that’s good… now I need to make something better than that”, although I rarely make it better 
Q “Electric Pulse” is a very cool painting that gives off a strong powerful vibe, please talk a little about its creation conceptually as well as in Photoshop.
Well, I didn’t really plan it out (it took only a few hours to finish and happened spontaneously) I started with a sketch, then added values in black and white and then colors. I don’t use many layers in Photoshop and no filters/effects (blur is the only exception), but if do use some custom brushes, basically they are just standard brushes with textures applied but very useful sometimes.
Q In your design process do you usually sketch out an idea before coloring it or just start out painting it right away and free styling?
Depends on what I want to do but I almost always start with a sketch even if it’s just a speed painting. I believe the initial sketch is the most important part of my work, if I can get it right I’m sure I will be able to finish the rest of the painting very soon and without trouble. Also, I usually have the idea in my head before I start painting so I only improvise with minor details and not important objects.
Q All digital painters use tablets when designing, so tell us what tools you use to create your amazing paintings? What does your specific equipment bring to your design that you wouldn’t get with another tablet?
Yes, like many others I also have a tablet, a Wacom Intuos4. It’s pretty awesome. When I first started with digital painting I only used a mouse and even though I only used one tablet in my life and cant say how it is better than any other I still can tell you that it’s far better than a mouse,
ha-ha. - painting with a mouse is real torture, everyone who wants to be an artist should get a tablet.
Q Thanks again for providing Psdtuts+ with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?
It was fun and I wish good luck to all fellow artists with their careers and
dreams.
- Chris
Chris on the Web
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Out of ALL the interviews this is the only one I’ve taken time to read all the way through. This artwork is beyond inspiring. A++
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Same here, Evan – only one to read through to the end.
Always been a fan of digital painting. Very impressive, Chris lookin’ forward to your graphic novel!
I wish I was born with such talent ^.-
Well, even him wasn’t. Practice is important to everyone ;3
Good collection of abstract images! incredible!
omg this guy is so amazingly talented. Could you really only squeeze this much information out of him? I would like to be more involved in his whole process, and all I got from this was he uses blur and sketches it first. Tuts should really make these into podcasts as well. Amazing art!
Oh my god. What a fantastic artist!
completely agree on what he says about photo-mainps too, and I wish I could digitally paint.
considering that he uses no filters those paintings are amazing
i can said just one thing Great talent , actually i like all paintings the colors Everything
I was thinking of buying a Wacom for myself as a Christmas present, but now I know for sure, this is awesome!
Fantastic work, great inspiration and excellent technical talent.
wow
Where does a beginner start in digital painting? What techniques are used here? Is this purely photoshop?
+3 Amazing!
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Any way you can get a .psd file out ofthis guy and post it here?
Would provide even more, invaluable insight…
LC
Great paintings!
love it
great style – rocks hard
Chris Cold is an extremely talented person to digital paint these from scratch. They are fantastic images. I couldn’t imagine ever creating anything close to it. I look forward to his graphic novel.
beautiful, such a talented artist!
Was the artist by any chance Greg Martin? He makes great space related works.
Yeah I was thinking that too! I studied his Artwork in high school to create my space pieces – http://skaremedia.com/evolution
Wow. Amazing art. I don’t understand why people don’t read all of these interviews though. It cracked me up to read, “Only one I’ve read to the end!” Wow..
Anyway.. Great job and very inspiring work.
Outstanding work..a definitely must watch on Deviant Art!
Wow..his work is outstanding!
what a great piece of work , really worth sparing time here
Chris Cold is the truth. The “Gather” artwork above was actually used in Greydon Square’s recent album, The Kardashev Scale: Type I. It is fantastic to see his art penetrate both the atheist & the hip-hop communities. I must say, Mr. Cold’s art tells a story that is beyond words.