a study

This was quick..had about an hour before heading out for the long weekend :S

robot guy

Aren't we surprised...another robot. Ha!

quick study

from a photo I took from Getty images. Came in late today so wasn't as productive.

graphic study

quick study; birdie on a rock

dystopian robots

Since that's apparently all I do. lol.

graphic shapes cont'd

more graphic shapes

more graphic shapes

Scuplteyface: a study

study

this is a quick study I did of a sculpture. A few things I will say. It's easy to lose sight and turn a dude into a chick...into a dude. Haha. I'm also working on economy of brushstroke...so larger forms that read more. And I started this because I was thinking about what makes the difference (when one is painting) between a "person" or character that is living and breathing, and a sculpture. I saw a lovely photo of a guy behind a sculpture touching it. How does one paint something made to look real but that has no life in it, and one that does?

keep pushhing

Yes, that's an extra "H". I took a one-day workshop with Robh Ruppel (see, extra H). There were a LOT of gamers in there. And while yes, I too, used to cut primary school early to go to the Arcade (back in the coolest days of Mega Man lol), I really can't spend my whole time playing video games. LOL. Especially when I can spend it painting or reading. Knowledge and tiem are really important to me. It was something my family stressed had significant value. It was funny, because he pretty much said the same thing, and has an interest in film and lighting and yes, painting(which is EXCELLENT!). And, like me, he doesn't own a tv and gets up early every morning (yes, there are some of us out there who still have that work ethic). So count me inspired! It was funny watching the gamers go "Oh my...6 o clock! What?" Haha. Yeah...well guess what..my mom gets up at 2! And my parents go to the gym at 3! So there! Ha!

So I've been continuing to work on graphic shapes and form and rendering (I know, that sounds like a lot). I noticed in his book, Aspect Ratio (which is actually pretty cheap but I'm being a cheapskate at the moment because of a book I bought on being a cheapskate..which is ironic....), that he has an economy of brush strokes. He explained his disdain for "speed painting" (I never quite got into that, thank goodness) and made it clear several times to his class that everything that is worth something takes TIME and EFFORT. He equated art to exercise. What gives you the edge is doing things that your competitors do not. Those two things, I can certainly do. Pull a mint out of my butt for a piece of paper...maybe not. So...we shall see.

a black and white sketch I started

With a quick colour balance shift...

penguini!

Study of a penguin from a photo...limited general value, focus on graphic shapes and then filling in with some texture.

graphic breakups

So I'm taking a workshop with Robh Ruppel this Saturday at CDA. So I was looking at his work and thought about what Michlap said about simplifying an graphic shapes. He has an excercise where students just do the graphic shapes of things...a portrait, a frame from a movie, etc. Very interesting excercise because it forces you to think about grouping, which is an integral part of painting. So last night while arguing with people on Facebook (yes, I can be a troll from time to time lol), I also thought about doing some graphic studies to strengthen my composition skills. I took a friend's photo shoot image and did the graphic overlay. It's a fun exercise and especially in colour it helps you to think about value...picking the right colours in juxtaposition so that the shapes work together. Thank you Lindsay :)

water ice and metal

Weird. For this one I found that simplifying the water helped more than putting in every single ripple (because then it would be too muddy).

rocks

Man, rocks are hard. But I'll keep trying and I shall get better! Mwahahaha!

some more guns WIP

pacing

Trying to do longer paintings (ones that take more time) from time to time. Ones that you def have to spend a lot of time researching, etc. I'm also really interested in conveying form and materials. I think that if an idea is great, but the form and the materials are not there (particularly for environment), then something just doesn't feel right. I get frustrated because sometimes I want to convey the essence and the way light kisses an object and makes skin just glow (particularly tungsten). Tungsten light just has a way of filling objects with this whole other thing...like the object transcends itself. Or sometimes you just want to find that right colour that makes an image sing. It makes you just want to pull your hair out, but I guess it's just experience.

I'm really intrigued that (James) Gurney's process is so concept-driven; he spends the majority of his time researching, making maquettes of his scene, observing and even doing the actions and playing dress up to get expressions and texture as close to reality as possible. Just awesome. And Gurney has so much work, it's inspiring. If it one thing I can definitely do (if it's a requirement) is just work my butt off!