my second and most current painting...
I don't want to be negative about the first one I did, but I knew I was going to have issues painting it. I didn't know what they'd be, but I suspected that at minimum, with this first slump-buster I'd be a little out of practice. The main speed bump I did hit that I wasn't expecting was that the paper I used was damaged. I had stretched it over a year ago and it sat stretched on that board ever since. So, when I did finally paint on it, the paint bled a little and is one reason that the thing looks a little fuzzy in places. This one, I didn't have that problem and everything is a lot sharper and I actually could create edges and work in some more detail. I chose an image of Aleon for this one.
Once again I remembered to take a few pictures during the process, so if you just want to see the finished piece and not read all of my bullshit, JUST CLICK THIS...
Not much to explain here, its the detailed pencil underdrawing that I'll gradually erase little by little as more and more of it is defined with layers of color. I decided to do one that is much more of a close-up than the last one so that when I work on her face, I would hopefully be able to avoid the major frustrations of trying to fit details in a tiny area.
I tried to block in all of the warm colors first using yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and another red whose name escapes me at the moment. During the entire course of this one, I tried to be a little more impressionistic with it and hopefully show more brush strokes and less fine blending...but since I work with such transparent layers piled over and over and over each other, some of that gets lost by the finished stage.
I just started to wash in some cooler values of ultramarine blue and yet another red whose name also escapes me (alizarin crimson maybe???) that was a much much cooler very purple-ish red. Depending on the person and the lighting, skin tones can have a lot of purples and greens in areas like our eye sockets and because of things like our veins under the skin which can be cool to capture and realize "I'm putting green there???"...can't just use the one peach colored crayon from the box.
Much farther along now and actually getting into the details in some areas. I'm starting to also block in some of the darker hair values so I have a reference for contrast on the painting as a whole to know whether certain other areas are rich/dark enough. To me, the earlier picture seems like the warm tones are a lot darker than they actually are once I put someting much darker on the page. Its all about the relationships baby. The relationships between the many warm and cool values and also light and dark contrasts.
Also, as you can see I was unconsciously committed to finishing the boobs a lot sooner than the rest of the image. lol. I've had this issue before, all the way back to college when we were doing paintings of a live model and my friend walked over and called me out for having 2 fully finished boobs in the middle of an otherwise half finished painting. Sounds normal to me.
Done for now. Hang it on the wall for a week and see if anything needs fixing once I get some fresher more rested eyes. I'm really happy with how this one came out. I didn't make too many editorial decisions from the source picture, although I didn't push the hair color as far as I could have. I was afraid of overworking, and therefore ruining it. Wasn't sure about a background either and then decided it would look strange with just a white background and only one cropped edge. Maybe if it was of her full head-to-toe figure I could have left it white like a pin-up image (or my previous painting). So I mixed a muted green up and had it fade up to white. The green would be a good opposite to the skin tones as opposed to using a matching purple (which I did consider for about the length of a hiccup).
I really value criticisms and while I'll take and love compliments all day long, I really also value critical opinions and suggestions. if any SG wants me to paint her, just tell me. I'll keep a list and do ya first come, first serve. Also feel free to put me over with your friends and let everyone know that they can buy my paintings to hang in their homes!
Like this one, they'll all go on auction on eBay after I paint them so that I can afford to keep doing this. If you like one, feel free to PLACE A BID!
I also do commissions, so if you're interested in having me paint something to match your couch, just let me know. Oh, and add me as a friend if you've read this far!!!
-BHT
I don't want to be negative about the first one I did, but I knew I was going to have issues painting it. I didn't know what they'd be, but I suspected that at minimum, with this first slump-buster I'd be a little out of practice. The main speed bump I did hit that I wasn't expecting was that the paper I used was damaged. I had stretched it over a year ago and it sat stretched on that board ever since. So, when I did finally paint on it, the paint bled a little and is one reason that the thing looks a little fuzzy in places. This one, I didn't have that problem and everything is a lot sharper and I actually could create edges and work in some more detail. I chose an image of Aleon for this one.
Once again I remembered to take a few pictures during the process, so if you just want to see the finished piece and not read all of my bullshit, JUST CLICK THIS...
Not much to explain here, its the detailed pencil underdrawing that I'll gradually erase little by little as more and more of it is defined with layers of color. I decided to do one that is much more of a close-up than the last one so that when I work on her face, I would hopefully be able to avoid the major frustrations of trying to fit details in a tiny area.
I tried to block in all of the warm colors first using yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and another red whose name escapes me at the moment. During the entire course of this one, I tried to be a little more impressionistic with it and hopefully show more brush strokes and less fine blending...but since I work with such transparent layers piled over and over and over each other, some of that gets lost by the finished stage.
I just started to wash in some cooler values of ultramarine blue and yet another red whose name also escapes me (alizarin crimson maybe???) that was a much much cooler very purple-ish red. Depending on the person and the lighting, skin tones can have a lot of purples and greens in areas like our eye sockets and because of things like our veins under the skin which can be cool to capture and realize "I'm putting green there???"...can't just use the one peach colored crayon from the box.
Much farther along now and actually getting into the details in some areas. I'm starting to also block in some of the darker hair values so I have a reference for contrast on the painting as a whole to know whether certain other areas are rich/dark enough. To me, the earlier picture seems like the warm tones are a lot darker than they actually are once I put someting much darker on the page. Its all about the relationships baby. The relationships between the many warm and cool values and also light and dark contrasts.
Also, as you can see I was unconsciously committed to finishing the boobs a lot sooner than the rest of the image. lol. I've had this issue before, all the way back to college when we were doing paintings of a live model and my friend walked over and called me out for having 2 fully finished boobs in the middle of an otherwise half finished painting. Sounds normal to me.
Done for now. Hang it on the wall for a week and see if anything needs fixing once I get some fresher more rested eyes. I'm really happy with how this one came out. I didn't make too many editorial decisions from the source picture, although I didn't push the hair color as far as I could have. I was afraid of overworking, and therefore ruining it. Wasn't sure about a background either and then decided it would look strange with just a white background and only one cropped edge. Maybe if it was of her full head-to-toe figure I could have left it white like a pin-up image (or my previous painting). So I mixed a muted green up and had it fade up to white. The green would be a good opposite to the skin tones as opposed to using a matching purple (which I did consider for about the length of a hiccup).
I really value criticisms and while I'll take and love compliments all day long, I really also value critical opinions and suggestions. if any SG wants me to paint her, just tell me. I'll keep a list and do ya first come, first serve. Also feel free to put me over with your friends and let everyone know that they can buy my paintings to hang in their homes!
Like this one, they'll all go on auction on eBay after I paint them so that I can afford to keep doing this. If you like one, feel free to PLACE A BID!
I also do commissions, so if you're interested in having me paint something to match your couch, just let me know. Oh, and add me as a friend if you've read this far!!!
-BHT
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xoxo Aleon