Technical Difficulties

My Internet access has been down since I installed Microsoft's latest update. It seems that it interacted badly with some firewall programs. On the plus side, my computer is performing better than it has in a while. Before I found out the real cause of my problem, I ran all of my anti-spyware, adware, etc., defragged the drive and uninstalled some old programs.

Still, it was a bit annoying.

Patents Pending - Floyd

Another "Patents Pending" cartoon presented for your amusement (I hope!!).

Artist - A person who creates art

Its kind of funny. You spend time on a painting, working out the details, pulling all of the elements together. You finally get it done and decide to take a break. How do you spend your break time? Sketching. Sketching and looking at other artists' sketches. Getting inspired and sketching some more. Looking thru old references and sketch from them. Then one sketch starts to show potential. You develop it a little bit more. You start to see some possibilities. Its starting to show some personality. You take it further, adding details. You're moving from sketching into drawing territory. You're working lights and darks. You're forming a "back story" for the character in your mind. You're starting to think about settings and environments. Color palettes start to suggest themselves. You realize that your "break" has led you right back into the process that you were taking a break from. And you're flat out enjoying it!

I think, at this point, you can call yourself an artist.

And I think that this'll see paint sometime soon.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Final

Step Eight:

I decided that I liked the original dress design better and went back to it. The work that I've done on most of the layers won't be changing so I merge the painting down to 3 layers and save it as a second version, just in case.

I create a new layer and go to work on the leaves. I work with my fingers near the alt key to sample colors from the painting and the palette. I'm also constantly resizing the brush using the bracket [] keys. I'm switching between a hard edge and soft edge brush as I work.

I add veins to the leaves, not really being too precise while I'm doing it. I'm going for creative realism not photo realism. I decide to add the berries to break up some of the green.

Step Nine:

Now to add sunlight on some the leaves. I create a new layer and set it at 42% opacity. I select a lighter version of the sky color and paint the selected leaves with a low opacity brush. I group and collapse the layers that I've added. I use a blending brush and work the foliage. I soften some edges, work more color into the shadows and do a little shaping.

Step Ten:

I work the hair now. I add colors from the skin into the hair, shaping the mass of hair behind the braids. I highlight the hair with blue from the sky. I work on the shell of the ear, adjusting the shapes and colors. I make a few refinements to the face and begin work on the body. I don't go into the same amount of detail as I did with the face. I don't want it to compete for the viewer's attention.

Now I start on the dress. After its complete, I step back and decide if I need to add accessories.

I decide that accessories are needed. I do a image search on Google and look at several pieces of jewelry. I then make up a pattern for the jewelry and paint it onto the figure. I think that they do a fair job of framing the face and drawing the eye.

Finally, I use a custom watercolor brush to add some texture to the face. This completes the painting.


Hopefully, you found something that you can use in your own work. Feel free to leave a question or comment.

Thanks for sharing the ride!

Warm Up

I thought I'd post this quickie that I used as a warm up before returning to work on the fantasy portrait. It started out as a ballpoint pen doodle. I scanned it and painted it in Corel Painter 9.5.

Independence Day Painting

Happy Fourth of July for everyone who celebrates it. I know that I'm early but, Ive never been one to stand on ceremony! :-D

This is the result of an idea that I got yesterday. I finished it in pretty much one setting. I sometimes get a idea or concept in my head and just have to get the painting done. This was one of those ideas. It came out pretty close to what I imagined in my head.

Big

Yard work and other tasks ate up my free time this evening, so no new update on the fantasy portrait. Just so you don't have to look at an unchanged page, I'm posting this paint sketch from earlier in the year. I enjoyed exaggerating this figure. This was one that was stopped and started a couple of times, but I finally got it done.

I'm sure that I'll finish the portrait over the long weekend, so stay tuned.