ArtCtrl

Good morning. The art creation has been slow as of recently. I even tried to draw last night. I sat on a table and had my sketchbook and clutch pencil. I just couldn’t do it. I was unable to draw. It frustrates me.

So I have very little new art to upload, so here are some works from GIMP that I did several weeks ago - they have just been sitting in my drafts - may as well get them posted.

Focus on scale with the shoulder - the perspective seems to be working - large arm (almost too large!). I like this piece, something about it - that cartoonist feeling happening.

Grayscale added. I used a dark gray for the darks and a mid gray for lights, didn’t bother with tone on the shirt (just left it white) - negative space creates the shirt. In the background I went with a very light gray. One area that is frustrating is the nose - I’ve gone in with a black and it stands out like a sore thumb. This should be dark gray.  Color added. I kept with color I was use to - dropping their opacity to 20% and using them as a wash over the gray. Yellow for the skin and blue for the background. Maybe I should of gone in with a red in areas?

And the video. Enjoy.

Another portrait. This time was a double. I like drawing multi figures in a piece - makes it easier for measuring! Sorry there is no line for this. Make a mistake and painted the gray over the line - losing the line. There is evidence of the line in there! It must have been a bad day when I did this as I have no color version of the work. Oh well, here’s the video:

Video. Have a great day.

Currently sitting in Levin library. Thought I’d better make a post since it’s been a few days. I’ve been more focused on Python code recently than painting. I feel I’m making some large strides forward with Python.

Anyway here’s a landscape painting I did from imagination. 

I sniped the line and when straight to tone.. This is quite different to how I usually work - focusing on similar techniques as Feng Zhu - creating chaos and attempting to create a scene out of it. This is something I need to practice, maybe using some of my sketchbook works as inspiration but not painting over them.

I used a range of crushes - a custom flat brush that I often use in my works and also chalk - another brush I commonly use. 

Color. The colors used - blue for the sky, yellow for the pillars and ground. I’ve also go a red along the bottom - this could be some sort of river or lake.

That will do, back to python code. Before I go here’s the video:

Several days since my last update. Had a birthday… though I never enjoy birthdays. For the painting today I took a older line work I had done in GIMP and added tone and color. Compard to the origi I’ve been sticking with four grayscale tones that I’ve got on my custom color palette. They offer a decent range of tones. I don’t hate this work, but it’s certainly not my favorite.  Color. I dropped the opacity even more than usual - 19%. I’m not sure what to say about this. Maybe I need to start working in new ways in GIMP - I’ll go watch some concept art videos for inspration.

Lastly, here’s the video.

I used GIMP on my laptop last night to mash together reference for the painting this morning. Preparing it last night meant I was able to get straight into the painting this morning.

Here’s the painting -

Reference. I searched my laptop folders for files that I haven’t used before - mostly life drawing works and such. I may as well use these works as part of the street scene works. Man of these drawings are not uploaded to the blog it would be helpful to get these uploaded.

Back to the reference. I used oil pastel figures in the foreground on the left and right. I use a pencil drawing of skins character Cassie for the head on the right figure.  The drawing in the center was from my sketchbook - a Wellington drawing. At the top traveling horizontal is a photograph, I took this year ago of the Wellington Rowers building on the waterfront.

Line. I had problems with finding line ares to trace - it’s lacking information and compososion somewhat. I am happy with how the figures turned out - especially the legs on the left and the overall shape of the right.

Tone added. Again I’m especially happy with the figure on the right and legs on left figure. The pole in the center, center left and left in the distance helps scale the piece - this is certainly good. There are areas in the environmental that needs more highlights - maybe where light is hitting.

No color sadly - I’ve been bad with my file management and corrupted the color version.

And finally the video:

It’s been a busy few days - I’ve been going into my Mothers work and doing painting with the kids - 4 year olds. When I made it home I got stuck into a digital paintings in GIMP. It’s been a awhile since I did an environment work so decided to

Alright, here’s the works:

Mashed together a drawing from Levin, a landscape from Alchemy and a photograph of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs - focusing on the singer. I’ve drawn this image of the Yeah Yeahs before - in pencil.  Line. I am concerned with the scale and perspective of the Karon O figure - especially with the cars and pole in the back. The pole looks like it’s coming out of her ankle.

The Gray. I started over the right side and worked left - with an effort to make interesting textures from the same brush. Maybe I should of used multiply brushes. I ignored the reference and focused on the line work - creating a tonal piece that doesn’t feel like a paint over. I have been applying a paint over technique to my works that I have found to be giving a weird look - focusing less on the paint over and more on creating an interesting paint layer.

Color. I lowed the opacity for the color to 20% and just painted over the gray. I used two blues for the sky, red for the tree leaves and ground, orange for other ground areas. The area on the left - which looks like mountains I used orange on it. I spread a green around the page - Karons clothes, areas in the background and on the ground on the left.

And finally the video. I’m happy that I have started making these videos at full HD - 1080p.

As a child where the Wild Things Was a favorite book. For this request on RedditGetsDrawn I was asked too draw this child with Wild Things. I did a quick google search for reference and found this reference that I choose to use. L ine. I had fun using the book illustration as reference - a different look to my usual street scene ones. Grayscale. Huge contrast between the figure and background. Looking at this now I think that it could of done with more lights in the trees/sky. In the following stage - color, I fixed this by using a light blue. Color. I used several large brushes in this which has given it a misty look.

Instead of drawing just a single portrait I decided to fill my page with a range of different portraits - all from RedditGetsDrawn.

I’ve been playing lots of Borderlands 2, working on a comic and arranging images within scribus.

Here’s the portrait work:

Line, red line. White background. Two of the reference images were doubles - something different.  Grayscale and color added. I saved over the gray scale layer - normally I’m good about saving off each later. I used the palette that I created in GIMP.

Now for something completely different.

I was inspired by PixelTuners video that I watched earlier this week  decided to open Alchemy (was happily surprised to find it on the desktop). The focus was create interesting landscapes from imagination  Later I would like to take these into GIMP and develop them further - maybe use them as brushes and such.

I’ve recorded a video of the process but also included images. Enjoy

The bottom left is working well, I like the cut up transparency look. Looks like mountains in the distance!  Flat but the colors are interesting. I especially enjoy the yellow and red reaction with one another.

Attempt to get some perspective into the work. The black scaling off into the distance looks like figures. Not sure how I feel about the left - the large blob of black feels out of place.

Earier version with no blue. I like the sharp directional shapes that are being created.

Some interesting shapes here. But most of all I enjoy the colors.  Surrounded by blue.  I used the black in the foreground in order to give the image some depth. One of my favorites.

And finally - the video:

I’ve decided to change my video settings to 1080 up from 720. The quality is worth it. I’m not partically happy with this painting but happy that I’m trying new things in GIMP - full screen and color palattes.

The fuzziness is frustrating me, I need to go look at tutorials instead of making the same mistakes.

I watched this video today. The other day as I was walking to my Mums place I did quick thumbnail sketches in my visual diary. I need to work with thumbnails more. I’ve used the program alchemy before - zzit was a few years ago now.  Watching this video has motivated me to re-install on my desktop - I only ever had it on my old mac laptop.

Anyway, here’s the painting I did today.

Reference I started with. A mashup of drawings from Wellington and Levin. I decided to rotate the image on the right to give the image an interesting angle - in the past I’ve only scaled and mirrored. L ine work. It was different working in 1080p - I had to stop the recording more often. It’s not a problem as it gives me more break periods during the painting. This line work is ok, I think my favorite area is the sin on the top

Tone added. Again my favorite area is the sign - the tone and contrast is working well. My least favorite area is the car in the center - it needs lights - or maybe more darks. The top right is a problem - I don’t know what the hell is happening.

Color. I used the palette option within GIMP for the first time. It seems easy to use. Pasting the colors on the page would be optimal as I don’t like working with open windows - either that or a shortcut added to open/close the palette tab.

I dropped the opacity down to 30% for the color - this allowed the gray to still have a effect on the work. I hate Sky.