Art School: Summer Term, Tori.

Tori (Conte 1710B charcoal on newsprint, 16x20"). Drawn from live model in ~2 hours.

Close-up...

I wish I had more time on this one.  I would have liked to have spent more time on the face and hands but wanted to practice rendering the body.

Many thanks to my instructor, Stan Prokopenko, for his help.  Stan has started a series of videos on YouTube on how to draw the portrait.  They're really well done and fun to watch.  Check them out....
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV

Sketchbook: Belly Dancers.

Belly Dancer I (Pencil and watercolor in Moleskine sketchbook, 4x6").

Belly Dancer II (Pencil in Moleskine sketchbook, 3x6.5").

At the Escondido Renaissance Fair, I took reference photos of belly dancers and knights in armor, among other things.  They've been fun subjects to draw.

Sketchbook: Elephant Seals.

Elephant Seal I (Pencil in Moleskine sketchbook, 6x5").

Elephant Seal II (Pencil in Moleskine sketchbook, 6.5x5").

Elephant Seal III (Ink in Moleskine sketchbook, 7x5"). I applied the ink with a W&N Series 7 #2 brush.

As mentioned in a previous post, I don't particularly care for the overly blended pencil look.  Perhaps it's an over-reaction on my part, but I've been experimenting with other methods to create values.  I opted for a more pen/ink/etching based rendering composed of cross-hatching and emphasizing the form by rendering in the direction of the shape.

This past January, Juliana and I went on a road trip up the California coast.  We started in San Diego and ended in Bodega Bay with several stops along the way.  When taking road trips, it's easy to focus on the destination, so we tried to let whimsy be a guide, and stopped at anything that piqued our interest.  One of those stop brought us to an elephant seal colony near San Simeon.  It was amazing to watch them interact and move.  They are such strange and awkward creatures.  Mating season had begun which made them territorial and caused frequent confrontations.  The drawings above were based on my photos.

Art School: Summer Term, Elan.

Elan (Conte 1710B charcoal on newsprint, 16x20).  Drawn in ~2 hours from a live model.  Many thanks to my instructor, Stan, for his help.

Art School: Summer Term Week Three.

Zara (Oil on canvas board, 10x14"). Painted from live model in ~2 hours.

I wish I would have had more time on this one to add nuance to a few areas.  In a local art store, I found a canvas board measuring 10x14" and used it for the first time for portrait painting.  The aspect ratio works really well.  I always have a difficult time painting Zara, but generally speaking, I like how this turned out.  I find that the colors have harmony.  I tried four different approaches for painting the face.  I began by tiling (laying small tiles of paint of different color and values next to each other), but found that I started to lose the form and wiped it out.  For this same reason, I don't particularly like the way Renoir paints women because his impressionist tiles don't render nuanced form very well, leaving all his women's heads looking like balloons with eyes.  My final tact was to cover the entire face with a thin glaze of its relative color (like a watercolor) and then followed the form with longer strokes.  I then used small tiles and accents to add transition values/colors.  Many thanks to my instructor Meadow for her help.

Here is my initial lay-in:

It was drawn with a mixture of transparent maroon, sap green, and ultra-marine blue.  The drawing came together quickly -- around ten minutes.  I spent another ten minutes using a Q-tip dipped in turpentine to remove structure lines and clean some edges.  I also found it to be an effective tool to create a wash and develop shapes for the darker areas.

Elyssa (1710B Conte pencil on newsprint, 18x20").  Drawn from live model in ~2 hours.

Curly hair is always difficult to render in a short amount of time so I had fun with it, indicating the curls with a few loose, squiggly lines and wavy scribbles.  I'm relearning how to use the Conte 1710B pencil so there is some ramp-up time with that but it's starting to come back to me.  I often have trouble creating an attractive transition shape when the shadow on the side of the face runs into the cast shadow of the neck.  I treat them as two separate shapes.  My instructor, Stan, gave me some great advice when he said to combine them into one shape and fill the entire area with a single value.  Then go back and add nuance to the jaw-line.  That helped a lot.

Female Portrait On Newsprint.

Female Portrait On Newsprint (1710B Conte charcoal on newsprint, 16x20").

When designing the hair, I was inspired by Gustav Klimt's painting, Mermaids (below).  I love how their hair envelops their face and becomes its own entity, providing a safe sanctuary.  It protects them.

Art School: Summer Term Begins.

It's the beginning of my summer term at Watts Atelier.  I usually only take one class a term, but decided to double down over the summer and take a whopping two classes.  I'm taking a portrait painting class and a drawing class titled, "Head, Figure, and Quicksketch."  I take this latter class at least once a year.  It helps me to reconnect with the basics while also developing better design and nuance.

My first portrait class of the term was yesterday and this was the result (Oil on canvas board, 9x12")...

Many thanks to my instructor, Meadow Gist, for her help.  Overall, I like the construction and flesh tones.  But it needs some refinement and shapes need to be better designed.

Until I find my rhythm a few weeks in, I feel like I'm in survival mode when painting a portrait from a live model in two hours.  Abandoned in the woods, you worry about establishing a shelter, getting food, and making fire.  After that is settled, then you work on building a hammock and decorating the cave with some fresh cut flowers.  In painting, I'm trying to get the drawing and flesh tones accurate, then I want to establish solid value ranges, identify key plane changes, and get all of the canvas covered.  And once all that is done, then I'll add the flourishes.  As I progress this term, the survival aspects happen quicker, and I'm able to spend more time on the fun stuff.  I still always battle with the "grass is always greener" aspect.  If I paint thick, I wish I had painted thinner.  If opaque, then transparent.  If looser, then tighter.  It's a conflict I will never win.

I struggled with the far eye.  I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get that far eye to read in a way I found pleasant.  I pushed and pulled.  The angles and edges have to be perfect.  I went to the San Diego Museum of Art today and investigated how other artists negotiated the far eye.  To my dismay, they all kind of sucked in their rendering.  At best, they downplayed it so that attention wouldn't be brought to that challenging area.

I looked at one of my favorite paintings in the museum... one by George Dawe titled, Portrait of a Dignitary in Turkish Costume.

And then I zoomed in on the eyes....

Egad! The far eye is huge and looks closer to the viewer than the near eye.  Since this was a commission, it was unlikely that Mr Dawe painted the eye exactly as he saw it since a bulging eye would have been unflattering.  I guess a few of us struggle with that part of the painting.  Although if you're going to error, perhaps it's best to go with non-distinct rather than bulging.

Now... With Backgrounds.

Experimented with adding backgrounds to the previous drawings...

Julie With Rectangles (Watercolor, gouache, acrylic, and ProWhite on illustration board).  A little homage to Klimt.  It doesn't show up well in the photo, but I used metallic paint so it flickers in the light.  Originally I had inked the creases of her dress with a nib and lots of directional lines but it created an odd pattern that didn't work so I covered it with a simple gouache rendering.

Cori (Watercolor, gouache, colored pencils, acrylic ink, and spray paint on illustration board).  Had some interesting times with this one.  I kept covering the surface with different materials (gouache, oil pastels, ink, etc.) and scrubbing them out.  This final version is blue acrylic ink as the background base.  I then covered it with white spray paint and scraped out parts to reveal the blue underneath.  I like the textutre and random patterns.

Kate (Watercolor and ink on illustration board).   I went with a simple background.

Four Figure Studies (In Progress).

I took a 15x20" piece of illustration board and quartered it for some figure studies.  My goal was to get some reps in before Summer term begins at art school and to experiment with rendering and backgrounds.  Each image is a 5x7" cropped version using pencil and watercolor.  I've been sitting on them for the last day, trying to figure out how to create an unconventional and interesting background.  I also want to find new ways to heighten the intensity of the figures.  Hmmm.  In progress.

Clockwise starting from top left: Julie, Tamara, Kate, and Cori.

Art: Julie With Satchel.

Julie With Satchel (Pencil, charcoal dust, and watercolor on Bristol board, 8x9").

Lately I've been obsessed with trying to get a smooth pencil finish on works without using a finger or tortillon to blend.  I don't like overly blended works.  I feel like every 6th grade art teacher instructs drawing students to take a paper towel and blend the hell out of everything.  That's what I was taught.  The problem is the technique creates cool looking artwork while covering up a multitude of drawing inadequacies.  As such, students never develop skills beyond this.  Over-blending removes all nuance and results in a homogenized surface.  We end up with a lot of blended artwork that hovers in this middle-ground of sound without fury.

I want to achieve a smooth and even finish using dexterity and technique, while softening the occasional edge with a quick stroke of my finger.  I've been playing around with different combinations of attack, paper, and pencil.  One material I was curious about was charcoal dust.  I decided to try it out for this drawing.  I started out with a pencil drawing and partially rendered face.  I then applied the charcoal dust to the background and parts of the body using a brush.  I encountered a problem with the paper.  I used Bristol board which has a very smooth finish.  It works well for pencil, but it had no tooth to trap the dust.  It sat on the surface like beach sand on a boardwalk.  Any contact or slight breeze, and it disappeared.  I'll have to try it again using paper with a tooth.

In a related coincidence, an artist I admire posted a picture today of a beautiful pencil drawing with smooth and soft contours.  On top of the drawing sat the utensils used to create it: a pencil, soft eraser, and yes -- a tortillon.  Perhaps I can't escape its use and need to treat it like anything else -- all good in moderation.

Sketchbook: Drawings My Mom May Hang On Her Fridge.

I've been playing around with various approaches and agendas lately.  I'm trying to be more expressive by laying in things looser and not obsessing about exact rendering.  I'm constantly thinking about design.  I want to get a background in and perhaps a pattern or secondary element.  And I recently discovered ProWhite and I love it.

Here are some recent sketches:

Fish (Watercolor, ink, and ProWhite in Moleskine sketchbook, 5x8"). Based on photo from National Geographic.

Sucker (Watercolor and ball-point pen in Moleskine sketchbook, 6x2").

California Condor Skull with White Stripes (Ball-point pen, ink, and ProWhite in Moleskine sketchbook, 8x5").

Mountain Lion Skull (Marker, ProWhite, ball-point pen, and watercolor in Moleskine sketchbook, 8x5").

Wolf Skull (Marker and ball-point pen in Moleskine sketchbook, 8x5").

Paca (Ball-point pen, acrylic ink, and ProWhite in Moleskine sketchbook, 8x5").  Based on photo from San Diego Zoonooz.

Pepper Shaker While Sitting In Rhino Cafe, Coronado (Ball-point pen in Moleskine sketchbook, 2x4").

Coffee Cup In Claire De Lune Coffee Shop, San Diego (Ball-point pen, acrylic ink, walnut ink, and watercolor in Cachet sketchbook, 3x6").

Julie On Newsprint

Julie On Newsprint (Conte pencil on newsprint, 12x20").  Hadn't used the conte pencil and newsprint combo in a while so I decided to bust them out.  A little rusty but not bad.  The drawing of the face came together rather quickly which made me happy.

Sketchbook: Study Of Julie Leaning Against Side Of Chair.

Study Of Julie Leaning Against Side Of Chair (Pencil, ball-point pen, ink, gouache, watercolor, Pro-White, and possibly the kitchen sink in Moleskine sketchbook, 5x6.5").

I had a photo-shoot with an amazing model named Julie, and while the session produced many photos that beg to be drawn, I found myself enamored with this pose. I hope to turn it into a large oil painting, but wanted to do a small study first. I find these small studies to be invaluable because they identify problem areas, reveal bad habits, and allow me to figure out how things work in small scale. It provides insight.

Because the photo's high-contrast essentially dissolves into two values with a few, narrow transitional areas, I decided to use a monochromatic approach with an ink-y two-tone feel. I mixed a black using ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. I had tried using Pro White before but didn’t like its off-white color which was noticeable on white illustration board (I found that white gouache worked better). However, since the Moleskine sketchbook paper is yellowed, I decided to give it another try. It worked well. I appreciated its opaqueness, texture, flow, and ability to create interesting effects when mixed with watercolors. Unfortunately, it dries quickly, so the cap has to be put on the jar when not in immediate use.

Instagram.

I have an Instagram account where I post random miscellany. If you want to check it out, my username is: brytip

I post sketchbook work, in-progress shots, and occasional items of whimsy.