ArtCtrl

Slow on the digital painting recently. I’ve been filling up my sketchbook with pencil drawings. This morning though I went to Lower Hutt Starbucks and finished a cityscape work and started a painting from life. Here’s the result. Great to get something uploaded since it’s been several days.

Here goes -

This is the reference I used. On the left is a sketch from Hastings, center is a building which is visible from parliament  and the right is a pencil line sketch of an area on Cuba Street. I started merging together my pencil drawings into digital paintings towards the end of last year and it’s been great to get back into it again, I’ve really only been working on RedditGetsDrawn works so fun to do some work that involved just the environment - no characters!

Line work. The center building was the first area to complete in line. I went and did the grayscale tone for the building as well before deciding it needed more detail and bringing in the reference on the left and right. Fills up the page.

I wanted to make sure that the three pieces worked together without feeling out of place, where they line up is important. Overlapping and such is not a problem.

And gray-scale tone. I used a range of brushes in this work in order to give a variety in texture. Make sure to balance those lights and dark throughout the piece. Looking back

Color. Wanted to keep with colors I was familiar with, but added in a brown to experiment with. This is working well with the reds. The right side of the page has evolved since color has been added, no longer is it a pillar but instead it’s a building structure. These things happen.

Some portrait painting during my time in Wainui. These were used as demos to show Michelle how I digitally painted.

Here we go: Since I only have the laptop currently I used one monitor for this. The reference was placed on the left side and I worked in the line on the right.

Regina Spektor.  I was explaining to Michele about how I don’t use the smudge tool. I decided to show her the tool and this is the result. We compared the smudged to the non-smudged. She liked the smudged version better. Personally I like the non smudge. Being about to see the brush strokes and use them as part of creating the form. 

Color. Showed how I use a limited amount of colors but a range of tones of each color. New color for the shirt. 

Reference for this were photos on the shelf. I drew the characters, the frame around them, and the mantel piece they sit on. Turned it into a landscape work with the clouds in the back and scaling of the photos. 

Black and white. Focused very little but instead just gave the impression. In the background I defined the land. The characters are lighter than usual. Black frame septrates them from the landscape scene. On the left is square tiles. I like these for the ground. Above this a character is erupting from the land. 

Color. I said in a recent post I wanted to use more browns in my work. Here I’ve done this with the land. Experimenting with the saturation levels of the brown - interesting grays appearing on the right hand center. For the water I used the green - exploring a range of brushes. I like the center area green - it has a flow to it that works. Building up those tones is helping.

That’s all for today.

careers@pikpok.com

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Busy day today in Wellington. Opened up GIMP this evening and did one digital painting. This was from RedditGetsDrawn.

I noticed this photo in the morning, I did a quick check of RedditGetsDrawn and noticed this images straight away. It’s a full figure, and an interesting background with the trees and ground. Certainly something I can work with. The skin tones aren’t washed out either - there is a range to work with.  Line. I had a weird body posistion curled up in bed for this. The lines are rougher than usual. There is more line, even unnecessary line. Grayscale. Focused on the character with the gray rather than the background. Struggled with elements of the character - the hands especially. Happy with the tones in the facial area.

Color. Used a new purple for the ‘white’ areas. This looks fine when mixed with a range of tones. I tried the purple for the hair as well but it didn’t look correct so switched to an orange. Suits it better. For the jacket a red was used, no tones though. In the background - green for the floor and blue for the sky.

This was a demo I did for Michel

Here’s some more digital works. This time I used reference from RedditGetsDrawn.

Portrait photo reference. I usually go for photos that have more of the body but this one was interesting with the tape covering her mouth. The background was plain, with only the vertical tiles. I added in quick flicks. I wanted to work different here - created a map top down view rather than a perspective looking over the ocean to the hills in the distance.

The tone changed the map idea with more of a focus on perspective  - the normal way I do these scenes. I’ve used range of brushes. Normally I stick with the one brush in the whole painting but adding more adds texture and variety to the piece.

Color. Went with a orange for the skin. Since I’ve been using a range of tones with the color I feel I can explore other colors without having problems of the colors not working together - like in washes. Using the range of tones allows for clarity and flow within the color - and spreads throughout the whole painting.

This was a great reference of these two people. When I was little my uncle would give me piggy back rides.  Extremely large scale for the figure sitting on the others shoulder.

Grayscale tone. Much of the work is flattened out - the ground area doesn’t contain the texture that the line version had. Minimal focus on the face details - leaving out eyes/nose/mouth.

A range of saturation was used in the figure. Previously I had only worked with adjusting values. I love the brush for the leaves. 

Figure on the left. I used a photo I took in Wellington for the environment  I often just use my imagination. Working from reference will be helpful. Especially using my own photographs.

Mixing up the colors with a blue for the figure. Pink was used in the building, not sure how I feel about it - doesn’t fit the flow of the painting. Maybe a nice brown would have worked better. Fun times with the green, covering the majority of the painting. The hills and sky in the distance are painted blue.

Slow recently on the blogging. I’m not that motivated to upload my photographs to my photography blog here due to the slow connection and continued timeouts. I need to head to the library and see how the connection is there. When I was in PakiPaki I had a decent connection that allowed me to queue 5 or so photos without a timeout. In Wellington I uploaded 200 no problems. I really need a fast and reliable upload speed.

Anyway, I shouldn’t talk about uploading photography - let’s talk art. During my trip to Hawkes Bay I took my A5 landscape notebook, clutch pencil and Fallout 3 art book. Together these allowed me to work from reference anywhere. This is especially handy in the car where I don’t have my laptop for reference (no smartphone, but really should invest in one). I also used the clutch pencil and a5 pad to draw street scenes - Hastings and Napier CBD. Sadly I lost my clutch pencil on one of my final nights in Hastings. I’m off to Wellington tomorrow so will likely buy another from the French Art Shop (I tend to not draw if I don’t have one).

I often draw from photo reference thanks to Reddit and the subreddit RedditGetsDrawn. There is another similar related subreddit known as RedditGetsDrawnBadly. Here people can post photos and they will be drawn badly. Microsoft Paint is recommended. I decided to give it a shot and open Microsoft Paint and produce paintings with the similar technique as I do with digital paintings in GIMP. 

What a great photo. It’s high res (this version is smaller than the full version) and contains the majority of the body. Love the contrast of red hair and green clothing. 

Natural Paint brush. Looking back at this now I will use the pencil tool for future works. It’s smaller, tighter and allows for more detail. This is super important as a majority of detail is lost with gray-scale color tone layers.And grayscale  tone added. I was surprised with how large the paint files were - 1200 by 900 pixels isn’t bad. It certainly allows me to do something with them in the future. 

And color added. Limited colors (four in total) but a range of tones in the color. The green for the clothing is new, everything else has been used in previous works. Working in a new program and doing something different allows me room to experiment somewhat, I feel I tend to get stuck into the same trends at times with GIMP. 

Full body pose reference. I’ll never turn down the chance to draw a full body, even if the quality isn’t the best. This allowed me to practice legs. The majority of the the character paintings I do are portraits. I work with arms and legs, but often legs are left out. 

I’ve switched from the brush tool to the pencil tool. This feels like working on the line layer in GIMP. The only thing that’s missing - red. Less of a focus on the background (usually i create the hills in the distance/objects in foreground). For this I just created a basic scene using the reference in the photograph.

Grayscale. Keeping this simple. Black for the hair/sweatshirt. Skin is light gray. Didn’t bother with tones in the skin. Light and mid gray for the walls/step. Lastly, black and mid gray for the floor. Everything works together fine.

Color. I went crazy with this is added new colors to everything. I kept with the colors I usually use (yellow for skin/red hair/blue background) but it’s not the same hex number. For the floor and steps I went with a purple. Like the last painting I used a range of tones in each color. This is noticeable in the blues and purples. 

I remember seeing this on RedditGetsDrawn. I didn’t draw it though. It’s too much of a closeup. I prefer medium or full view shots rather than extreme close up. I guess if the quality of the photograph was higher it would be alright. Damn this out of focus photography!

This was done before I switched to the pencil tool. The line on this is very basic, I add information into the painting during the grayscale tone stage (normally it’s the otherwas around!).

Went with the mountains in the distance and water coming forward to the foreground style. This is the basics for the majority of my RedditGetsDrawn character works.

Color tone. Switch around with the colors. Instad of using the blue for the sky I used it in the ground (usually I used a green for the ground). For the mountains and sky a brown was used. I think this works well for the mountains but I’d like to use a different color for the sky - could either be the blue or mix it up and use green. 

Loved the mouth location on this. Had to draw it, too cute.

This was the first painting of this series in Microsoft paint. I was still getting use to it and saved over my line layer with the color, so only the one image. I didn’t paint a gray-scale tone layer either. The usual yellow for the skin, and red in the hair/lips. For the shirt I went with a new brown. Blue in the background, but it’s just used as a fill and gives no location to the character.

I think I’m going to have to explore brown.

gghfjghjgf

Currently in Hastings. Busy with the photos, plus some drawings. This post is for the drawings I did during my time in Wellington. I have wifi.

This view is of on the corner of Tory Street and Courtney Place.

Right side of the page. Here I’ve captured the end of the building is the rail traveling in the air. On the right is a black pillar shape. It’s a sculpture in the foreground, only able to fit part of it in so framed it up against the edge.

The waterfront. I sat on the Wellington Waterfront on a Sunday morning and drew this. In the distance a ship is docked. This is where I start. From here I build out

Sitting on Cuba Street. This is a favorite spot for me. The drawing is of the buildings in front of me. I love to draw Wellington. 

Another Cuba Street view. I’ve drawn this exact scene before so great to go back and redraw.

Currently staying at a farm just out of Hastings. Slow on the digital painting, but getting plenty of Photography and Pencil Drawings done.

Here’s a digital painting I did from imagination. I had a kid observing me and giving me in instructions on what to add.

I started with the figure, then added the floor. For the background I went with large circles as hills. I was told to add a cave into the mountains, this is visible on the left. There is a figure rising from the hill.

Tone added. Much of the detailed areas in the line version are removed. Added though, is tone and shape. 

Color. I explained how I use a restricted amount of colors - three here, and that I use a range of tones (3 usually) of the colors. This isn’t finished, yellow could be added.