ArtCtrl

It’s been a nice day. Went for a walk and took photographs. Pretty flowers, and food! This afternoon I decided to sit down and do another painting (I really don’t produce enough paintings).

So here’s the painting. Dads Hens:

Reference I used. This is a photo I took recently of my Fathers Chickens. You can view more of the photos over here. I used this photograph as reference on my laptop monitor - and painted on the desktop.

When was the last time I drew a animal on the computer? It’s great to draw a different subject. This was very quick to get down and certainly helps my visual library.

Gray scale tone. I started with the eye- the darkest gray and worked out from there. I decided later it was too dark and make it lighter. That’s the great thing about working digital - if it isn’t working then just paint over it. I used two tones for the majority of the Hen, bringing in a third later for dark highlights. The background, a layer of light gray.

Color now. Used the same colors as the painting I did earlier today. I’m really enjoying these two yellows and how well they work together. No red in here. Maybe I could of created an environment for the Hen to be in. Poor thing, just covered with blueness.

Here’s the video to go along with the painting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqWvplhPeAg&feature=youtu.be

Woke up not as early as I wanted to. I think it was 8:30. Freaked out as I went to paint and was unable to find my tablet pen. End of the world. I gave my room a tidy to find it - sure enough I found it under my keyboard. The freak was off.

Here’s the painting -

This is the reference I decided to use. It’s the line work from a painting last year that I wasn’t happy with. View the post here. I imported this line drawing into a new GIMP file - slightly larger than the original so gave me room to work around the edge… add extras on.

Here’s the line done. As you can see the drawing has been extended at the bottom, adding in more vegetation and water areas. Other lines have been extended to fill in gaps. Figure added to the left.

And tone. I started with the figure on the left - the darkest gray. I then moved onto the sky and filled in the rest of the areas with tone. I experimented with making the tree branches in the same gray as the figure but it was too strong, dropped it down so it doesn’t clash.

Color. I added red into, something I haven’t been happy with. Decided to use my normal red and a black version, helps with making the color not so dominate and balance it out. Maybe a lighter version of the red? Two shades of green for the water. Yellow for vegetation, and blue for the sky.

Here I’ll include the painting I did previously from the reference:

As you can see I’ve clearly improved since this painting. There is more detail, areas just made up, and a better sense of depth. I don’t like the pink colors in this work either - the red is certainly stronger.

And finally, here’s the video:

I woke early this morning. 6:30. I switched on a episode of The Walking Dead and started painting. I mucked around a little but managed to get a painting finished. I’ve spent the rest of the day cleaning and getting washing done. It’s still not 100% but cleaner that what it was.

Here’s the painting I did this morning -

I grabbed random drawings from my Levin drawings folder with the intent of adding water elements into the image. All three reference images offer interesting contrast. The right side is lacking a little with drawings, but I can just fill it in with lines. There is enough here to work with.

Ok Line done. As you can see I’ve changed the image somewhat, adding water behind the foreground area. Drifts into the horizon. Scatted around the edge are vehicles  trees, and buildings. I want my paintings to have a more 3d feel to them, create scenes that could then be modeled out - not just use this painting as a background - but create from within.  And tone. People are lacking on this work. It’s been quite usual lately for me to include them. I used my standard flat brush but also mixed it up with a watercolor brush.something different. The tree in the middle is strange and out of place. It wasn’t this dominant in the line drawings but I brought it out in the tone. Doesn’t work.

And color. I’ve really gone off using that red. I even tried darkening it to see if it would help - decided to not go with it though. At least I got the yellow in - two versions of it - the light (which i always use) and the dark (which I need to use more). Blue in the background could do with another shade, the opacity was high (90%) when I painted the sky - doesn’t help. 80% is good.

Video (also includes unreleased paintings):

Till next time.

Woke up early this morning and got straight into painting. Finished off one I started last night. I’ve been happy with the direction that my paintings have taken recently.

Here’s the painting: For the reference images I used two sketches merged together - both were drawn on Cuba Street, Wellington. I’m happy with both of these drawings and together they offer plenty of detail.

Line. I traced over the reference material and added extra areas. Most notable is the water in the background - water has been a big in several of my recent paintings - something I’ll like to keep developing.

Grayscale tone added. I started with the three figures on the middle right and filled them in with black before moving onto other areas in the painting - the ferret, vegetation and tree trunks. The lightest gray was used for the sky and water, with a mid and dark gray used for the dark areas of the water. A mix of light and medium grays for the building and objects in the foreground.

Color.  I liked the minimal color I used in yesterdays piece . Today I managed to also color objects with a yellow - and a darker version of the yellow. These two colors work together well - I’ll keep developing it. No reds, often I find the red to be over dominating.

I’ve been spent the majority of my time in Unity working on a game. It’s been fun, but I still believe it’s important that I paint regularly. So I started this painting this morning, got interrupted  and had to take a break. I got back to it this afternoon and finished it. I want to take more of my paintings into Blender and model out 3d assets from the paintings. I need to get back into making 3d posts on this site - it’s very dominated by my digital work.

Ok reference. I just grabbed some random drawings off the computer that I haven’t done alot with. Both of the pencil drawings are from Wellington, the best and most developed the waterfront. I really enjoy painting water so want to include it in more of my paintings. The third reference is a line drawing I did over a photograph. I want to include more characters in my work - normally I don’t use reference for figures. Hopefully this figure helps.  Th[e black certainly makes t[hat red stand out. When I was drawing this I had the reference in the background, so technically I should of used a white background. The line in this is surprisingly minimal, once I get into tone I flesh it out further and add details. The line doesn’t have to be much - it’s just a starting point.  Black and white tone. I had fun with this. Started with the figures first and got those darks into them, before moving onto the water and background. The final area to cover was the foreground. As you can see I added lots that wasn’t there in the reference or line drawing - including land in the distance. This technique adds information and detail to the piece. I’m happy with the figure. Those eyes sure are scary…

Color is minimal. I started with the sky first, covering it in blue, then the water. I used 2 greens for the ground - the same greens that I worked with previously as Wellington water. Normally I work with  just the light green but want to mix in the darker. Having a light and dark of each color is helpful.

Awake nice and early this morning. I decided to get a painting out of the wait straight away. I spent yesterday working with Unity - taking both my 3d and 2d artwork into the engine. It made me want to build something in a day - maybe for game jam where I make make everything from scratch - pencil sketch - digital painting - 3d blender - then finally unity. I think it will be a good challenge  Often I just recycle my old art assets. This will be especially helpful for the 3d.

Here’s the painting -

The photo reference. I took this photo several days ago in Levin. It’s a alleyway I often walk down. I’m happy with the photo, and photos I’m happy with are more likely to be turned into art. Here’s the art:

Line was minimal on this. Perhaps too minimal. I get better line if I mix reference together. Working with one reference isn’t enough. I added in a couple of characters to give the scene something more, and to show some scale.

Tone to flesh the piece out. Usual techniques applied - started with the figures in dark and worked off there giving a range of tone to the piece. The vegetation looks strange. I didn’t use proper reference for it. Maybe I should of refereed back to some sketch book works?

Color. I had fun mixing the blue, red and yellow together. This was mainly on the vegataion areas - they parts that I felt were weak.

Yet another painting. I’ve been doing a few. I want to do a painting marathon - maybe stay up all night and produce one painting every 20 mins. It might work better to make it a monthly goal. In one month complete how many paintings.

I know Feng Zhu suggests working on five paintings at the same time - spending 20 mins on each for an hour. In one day I need to paint 30 paintings. If each painting took me 20 mins I would need 6 hours. I use to life draw for 6 hours no problem so digital painting in that time is even easier. I think the problem I have is moving onto the new piece. Of course breaks and upload/export/blogging time has to be added. I may also want to spend more than 20 mins on some of the paintings - and that’s great if I can develop them further.

Once I have started a painting I generally don’t want to stop till I’ve finished it.

Let’s get into this painting -

I worked differently with this. Not a large amount of changes - but instead of starting with a white background I went with this gradient. It’s several gradients layered - all the colors I am going to use. I guess this gives me a base to work from. From here I can just build up the scene. I need to do this same idea with Alchemy paintings.

I went with the water and ship idea again - this fits with The New World sub-theme  I sketches in lines in random directions in order to create a scene.. For the people I used thicker blobs. They look like they are traveling to the land on a ship. The background has long skinny structure’s - they could be poles or telephone lines.

I went with the telephone line idea for the structures in the background.I like the loose, rough nature that I’ve got - especially with that black. So what’s in the scene?

Color added. I decided to balance the color - especially that red that can be dominated in areas.

I’ve been following the Environment of the Week for years over on Conceptart.org, but rarely brave enough to enter. This morning though I warmed up with that birthday card for Erik then afterwards got straight into creating a concept art painting for the EOW. The reference I used for it was of the Auckland waterfront, but I used the reference very little. These are certainly not finals - but it’s a great start.

Here goes -

The reference used:

Reference thanks to my stock images over on FreshFigure

I started this with using my first reference and creating a small thumbnail on the left. This extended and I build the scene from that. Though I started this as an exterior work it developed into Cavern of Creation. The idea was to have these figures travel on a escalation - being created. This is why there is a guzabio in the middle. I guess that character could be the queen.

Tone added. I wasn’t happy with this. Maybe it needs more darks in areas? Anyway, it’s unfinished and I moved on to the next one. I’m just treating these like thumbnails.

I used the second reference for this. I stuck with the reference but added extras to it. I especially wanted to add vegetation as I believe a new world would have plenty of beautiful vegetation  It’s common for me to draw it on the street - so why not include it in this!

I also created a large character in the water (right side). This character represents God watching over the smaller characters as they walk down the path to their new home. He could be there also to build as well - not everything can be completed in a day.

Tone helped flesh out this piece and give it a sense of direction. Overall I’m happy with the left side but have concern over the right and the lack of information. This is true for the background. The best option for this will be to treat it like a thumbnail and develop the scene further - with my own reference photos. I’ll work on this idea tomorrow, but for now here’s a color layer added -

Colors are what I’ve been using regularly. Though looking at this now I should of used more yellow - especially mixing it into the red areas. The red tends to dominant the work. I used the green for the water but it’s hard to notice - maybe needs more colors mixed in.

Oh and here’s the video: