SweetDreams Digital is my own artistic corner of the web where you'll find my 2D and 3D computer-generated art and digital photograpy; free tubes, pages sets, textures and other goodies; tutorials for Poser and Paint Shop Pro; some games (for when you don't feel like creating, LOL); cards for all occasions; links to other great sites; and my store.

As time goes by, I'll be giving you a little taste of the main site here....I hope it will whet your appetite for more, and you'll take the time to visit and see it all!

I began to learn html and put up my first web site (now defunct) in spring of 1998, and discovered the joys (and trials and tribulations) of digital art when I began designing with Jasc (now Corel) Paint Shop Pro in late 2000. I learned most of what I know of PSP through trial and error, a host of wonderful tutorials on the Web, and membership in an excellent graphic design mailing list - and I've progressed so far that I'm now writing tutorials, and making tubes and textures of my own! Although I am branching out some into Adobe PhotoShop Elements and Corel's Painter Classic, I think PSP will always be my first love - perhaps because of its very forgiving nature and unlimited "undo" function!

In September of 2001, I was introduced to Curious Lab's Poser, and was immediately hooked - since I can't draw a recognizable stick figure without labeling what it is, the ability to create people and animals and fantasy characters opened a whole new world for me! Even after almost 6 years of working with Poser4 ProPack, I've still only barely scratched the surface of what this program can do, but I am enjoying every minute of the learning process, and am delighted to find that I have reached the point that I can help others who are just beginning to use the program. Although they've now come out with newer versions, I haven't tried them yet - but someday I will, along with DAZ|Studio! I also enjoy using Bryce and Terragen to create some very interesting (and often very realistic) landscapes and backgrounds.

For Christmas of 2001, I received an Olympus D-150 Zoom digital camera, and yet another whole world of imagery opened up for me! (I'm now on my third Olympus - a D-535) I thoroughly enjoy taking pictures of anything and everything that looks remotely interesting, but my favorite subjects are my 14-year-old daughter, our 12-odd cats, and all the various plant life wherever we go. Some of the pictures I leave "as-is", but I also like to use PSP7/8 and PS Elements to modify them with special filters and painting effects, and have a huge collection of plugins to get just the result I want.

I have recently begun to explore fractal art, and 2 of my favorite programs are Apophysis and Fractal Explorer, as well as KPT's plugin, FraxFlame.

Thumbnails and more coming here soon....meanwhile, the links below go to the Gallery thumbnail sections of the main site and each will open in a new window. Newest images are shown first. Please note that some of the images may contain artistic nudity, particularly in the Poser galleries. The thumbnails of the images do NOT contain nudity, but those images that do will have the thumbnail marked with "N", should you not wish to view images of this type.

Most Recent Poser Images


Made with PSP Only


Digital Photography


Photo Manipulations

Copyright can be very confusing, especially to the newbie or average layperson, so this is to try to make it a little easier for everyone to understand....no "legalese" here, just a few concepts I hope we all can grasp....

Basically, the best rule of thumb to go by is If You Aren't Sure, Don't Use It!!

First and foremost - Images on the web are put there for your viewing enjoyment, not for your use in your own artistic endeavors. You cannot see an image on a site somewhere, save it to your harddrive and incorporate it (or parts of it) into your own images - and this means any site, whether it's a gallery, a news site, a movie site, a personal site, or even a porn site. The same applies to images in "print" - books, magazines, TV shows and movies, etc. - you can't scan something out of print media, or capture a still and use it to make your art, not even "fan art".

It doesn't matter how much you overpaint it, or filterize it, or chop it up or down - it doesn't matter whether you are doing it for commercial or non-commercial use, it doesn't matter if you're posting it on the internet in a forum or in a gallery or making a web page or a banner ad or a sig tag for your own personal use....the fact is, you can't do it. It's against the law, and if you are caught by a copyright holder who wants to get nasty about it, you will spend the rest of your life wishing you hadn't. (And don't think you won't get caught - artists tend to recognize their own work, and works of others, and are very protective of their own rights and those of their fellow artists.)

If you see something somewhere that you just absolutely have to have, then do the right thing - contact the original artist and ASK if you can use the image. Compliment their work, tell them exactly how you wish to use the image, include a sample of your other work, and you may be pleasantly surprised....many of those artists who will scream bloody murder and go for the throat if their art is "snagged" will be remarkably cooperative when asked for permission....but if the answer is still a resounding NO, take it gracefully and don't use the image anyway. (This applies not only to using someone else's work in your own images, but also to putting someone else's works on your site - even if you provide a link or credit to them, you still have to have written permission first.)

Now, just in case you were going to argue "Fair Use"....basically, forget about it! The ambiguous "Fair Use" clause does not extend to collage, parody, political or fan art, and it certainly does not allow any commercial use....it applies only to images used for teaching or review purposes....and even then, it's not a bad idea to get permission first.

So, you're asking yourself what the difference is between commercial and non-commercial use. Non-commercial use means you don't make any money from your use of an image - you want it for a personal web page, or a sig tag, or email stationery, either for your own use or to share (for free) with others. Commercial use means you will make money from the image, in any capacity - whether by incorporating into an image of your own that you sell, or selling the original image itself, or putting it into a package for sale, or even using the image in an ad for something entirely unrelated....if at any point you will make money, that's commercial use. Some images are available for non-commercial use only - if you want to use them commercially, make sure you have that right.

Now some greyer areas....people who use Paint Shop Pro and PhotoShop also face the issues of tubes, stamps, masks and brushes - these are valuable tools, and there are many resources on the web for them....but you have to be wary of copyright there, too. Just because a person offers a tube or brush or whatever for download doesn't mean they have the right to - a tube of a copyrighted image is still copyrighted to the original artist, and can't be used. Many people think that by "creating" one of these elements from an image, they have made it their own and can redistribute it to others, but this is not the case....all those tubes of Disney characters, and Precious Moments characters, and Pokemon characters (just to name a few) are, in fact, copyright violations and are illegal to use. There are some good, reputable sites with downloadable design elements - however, they usually don't include images you recognize (such as Disney characters) and they usually say something to the effect that everything here is their own ORIGINAL work.

Through this Cafe Press-powered store front, SweetDreams Digital has a large selection of high-quality, image-related merchandise available, such as mouse pads, mugs, coasters, t-shirts, tote bags, and more. The store is divided into five sections, "General Designs by Item", "General Designs by Image", "Kid's Stuff", "Teen Stuff" and "Holidays" - to browse the store in its entirety, click the Store logo below, or use the section links to narrow your search. All links will open in a new window - to return to this page, close or minimize the new window.

SweetDreams Digital Merchandise

General Designs by Item

General Designs by Image

Kid Stuff

Teen Stuff

Holidays

Thank you for shopping with SweetDreams Digital - please check the store often for new products and images!

Want your own free store? Click HERE for more information!