11.29.2012

After break

After some failed hard drive problems, I'm back.  Doing another semi speed painting tonight from a photo from last winter.  Struggling with this one, but I'm finding it easier to break the stutter halting of creating a painting...whatever that means.

I'll update later...busy trying to get a board game done...bllaahhh..Happy Holidays all!



4 comments:

  1. Sooooooooooooo nice, dude! Sorry to hear about the hard drive but this is looking great!
    Keep looking for the color of the shadows, it really seems like you're getting a sense of that in here, with all the purple trees and whatnot. Gorgeous atmosphere going on. That sky is so subtle and wonderful. Okay--enough with the praising. Critique!
    You should consider changing up your brush size a bit, things start to look redundant in certain areas, like in the clouds and in the trees. Just introduce some small pressure sensitivity and then make it more drastic over time, perhaps?

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  2. Ok I'll mix my brushes up a bit. I try to start off with bigger brushes and then merge down as the details start to be done...I confess this entire thing is the work of only one chalk brush, sometimes I tend to space off in a way with brushes.

    Big problem I run into both in traditional and digital is I often don't push darks and lights enough..but I'll work on that.

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. You only need to push your value range as far as the atmosphere dictates, in this case, I think it's fine being a little muted and in the middle range. It's far better to work in this range and then bring in the contrast than to work only in contrast and have your work end up looking garish with no subtlety.

      As for the brushes thing, it is tough to force yourself into variation, I know I've heard Craig Mullins talk about how he switches brushes really often but I think it's a learned skill. Kind of like how some artists constantly rotate their pencils so they stay sharp for longer, just takes practice.
      Honestly, brush monotony is one of the biggest things plaguing me in my work right now, and the only way to fight it is to make yourself really uncomfortable.

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  3. Ah, I know that intersection, Reminds me of KC, complete with the bleakness of winter, i actually miss that bleakness quite a bit now that im going into my second winter out here in Cali...

    I also favor a handful of brushes and am trying to break out of it as well. I agree with Eric on the value range, thats probably my biggest sin is always pushing too much contrast and it ends up being really fake looking.

    This also reads fine as a thumbnail, which I think is 75% of the work as far as setting up a painting goes, so I think this is pretty successful as a speedie.

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