Taking a Short Pause

It was a seriously busy weekend and I wasn't able to spend any time on the fantasy portrait. I'm planning to finish the major elements tomorrow and the final details on Wednesday.

Just so you don't think that I'm a complete slacker, I managed to dash off a quick elf doodle to stand-in until I get back to the painting.

It also gave me a chance try a couple of things. First, I sketched the doodle in blue, like the cartoonists do. The I opened a new layer and redrew it in black. That really cut down on the erasing.

Then used a few custom brushes to paint in the color and called it done.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Part 4

Step Seven:

I continue to fill in the background and refine the figure. I spend the bulk of my time working on the face and hair. I concentrate on modeling the facial features using direct and reflected light. I carefully blend the colors at the edges where two colors meet. I work the hair, taking care to shape the braid design around the head.

I figure that I've got a few more hours of painting until I can call this one done.

I'm considering adding some type of ornamentation to the figure to provide a little more contrast. I'm also thinking of placing red berries under some of the leaves for the same reason.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Part 3

When I paint, I usually don't work on one section at a time. I move all around the canvas, painting above and below layers. That's how I continued with this painting.

Step Six:

I created a new layer above the sketch layer and start working on the foliage. I finish a few leaves to get a feel of how the rest will look when I complete them. I take a break from the leaves and create another layer and start to define the hair. I restate some of the facial features and do some work on the eyes, while sometimes bouncing back to the leaves.

I made some adjustments along the way: I make the jaw line a little fuller and adjust the nose, hairline and eyebrows.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Part 2

Before I get started painting, I go out to the backyard and take a look at the trees and bushes for a few minutes. Photo refs are okay, but its always good to take some time to study the real thing when you can.

Since so much of the painting will be green, I know that I'm going to need plenty of variation of the color to create the illusion of depth. I select Painter's mixing palette and mix some yellows, greens and blues.

I'm going to continue working beneath the sketch layer for the rest of this section.

Step Three:

I create a new layer and paint in the sky and tree shapes. Next, I create another layer and begin painting the foliage, working mainly from dark (blues) to light (greens). I use yellows for highlights. Later, when I'm refining the leaves, some areas will get erased out, revealing parts of the trees. That's why I used separate layers.

Step Four:

Now I create another layer and start to work on the figure. Early into the process, I decide to move the figure layer behind the foliage layer. I get my base colors down and work in light reflecting from the foliage and the sky. I use the blues for the darker shadows on the figure. I'm working at nearly 100 percent opacity, using my pen's sensitivity to control the coverage.

Note: The image that I'm using to illustrate this part is a re-paint. I got into a flow and before I knew it, I had painted past this part without taking a screen cap. I did a quick re-creation for continuity.

Step Five:

I reduce the opacity to 10 percent and begin lightly glazing the skin, mainly with the base (mid-tone) color. I glaze with the light and dark to a lesser extent. I glaze the blue shadows with the dark. This all helps to unify the painting.

I usually work with a restricted palette. Its easier to control and it forces me to really think about my color choices and how to best apply them.

We'll be working above the sketch layer the rest of the way.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Part 1

A lot of what I've learned about digital painting has come from artists sharing tips and techniques on the web. I try to keep up the tradition by doing the same.

My plan is to take this piece from sketch to finish, showing the process on this blog in a series of posts. The finished piece will probably get posted to a couple of sites, under my tag "digistyle," but the creation process will be a blogsclusive, only being posted here.

Step One:

I do some scribbling to get warmed up and then I'm ready to get started. I've decided to do a fantasy portrait. I look over some of the references that I've collected and choose three. Two are figures that have some of the elements that I want. The other is for background reference. After a few tries, I get a sketch down that I'm satisfied with. The sketch itself is just a reference for the painting, so it doesn't need to be perfect.

I should mention that I'm working in Corel Painter 9.5 and that the sketch and the gray foundation are on separate layers. This becomes more important as the painting progresses.

Step Two:

Next, I begin working on light and shadow. I decide on the direction of my light source and begin working from dark to light.

I work out the values in shades of gray, one layer for the figure, another for the foliage. These two layers are between the sketch layer and the solid gray layer. This becomes my road map for the painting. Its not as detailed as some other studies that I've seen, but stopping here works for me. I have enough values and "clues" to begin adding color.

Ballroom Dancing - Tango

Tango. I really like this dance. The sharp, staccato moves are killer. Its all passion and power. You just feel smooth doing it, even at my noobish level.

My current Tango faves:

• Santa Maria (Del Buen Ayre) - Gotan Project (Smooth, fast, sharp with a hint of funk!)
• Singapore - Nightshift (Geisha, samisans and Tango. Nice East meets West fusion.)
• La Cumparsita - The New 101 Strings Orchestra (Classic Tango)
• Jealousy - The New 101 Strings Orchestra (Another classic Tango)
• Hernando's Hideaway - Archie Bleyer (Hey, how often do you get to dance to castanets!?!)
  

Father's Day

My Father's Day gift from my son, a copy of Frank Frazetta ICON. I skimmed through it and its a gorgeous book. Lots of Frazetta art to enjoy and learn from.

I'm a happy camper!