Still Life Painting of Toys

This was a student assignment of an acrylic painting of toys using only the primary colors of blue, yellow, and red. I completed this with acrylic paint, which was completed on canvas panel.

Here is the photo that I used as reference. I made sure that the lighting was on primarily one side and situated on the upper left when I took this photo. I used a navy blue sheet for the background wrapped around a cardboard box. The toys were then placed inside the cardboard box. By using a cardboard box with my setup I can get some really nice lighting as well as shadows.

  

Here is a quick study I did to play around with composition and colors. Usually these studies or exercises are only about 5 X 7 or 4 X 6 in size. There done rather quickly and should not take a lot of time to complete.

The study should not include a whole lot of detail either because all I am doing here is creating big shapes and forms. These are value and color studies in preparation for the larger painting.

You’ll want to keep this study next to you as you create your larger painting and use it for a reference. Trust me you’ll regret it if you don’t. Also, it’s really nice to do these kind of studies because it’s in preparation for the bigger painting and therefore, easier to do the larger painting because you have completed something similar in a smaller size.

Plus you can really push your values and colors with these studies and if something isn’t working you can correct it once you start on the larger painting.

For the next step I have started on my larger painting. Here I have drawn an outline of the still life in pencil and then painted over the outline so that I can get an idea of where my basic shapes and values are going to be prior to starting the painting. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of this step, but hopefully you can visualize an outline of the image above.

The next step below is a basic block-in with no highlights or shadows. All I am doing here is getting my basic shapes and forms in. Remember big shapes and forms and not a lot of detail at this point. Getting the correct colors down too is important at the basic block in stage.

The next stage is the final with the highlight and shadows added in with more detail. As part of the assignment instructions, the shadows were to be painted with an acrylic glazing medium and mixed with two colors: raw umber and ultramarine blue if I remember correctly.

When mixed correctly it has a dark brownish color. I have not tried this technique before and not sure if I ever will again, but I did like how the shadows turned out especially on the plane and the monkey. The glaze kind of gave the painting a glossy look.

With the last step I cropped the bottom in Photoshop because it was taking away from the painting and not really needed and then I just placed a border around the image to add a more professional look to it.

Thank you for reading my thoughts and the process of creating my acrylic painting still life of toys on canvas panel.

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Diana

Importance of having a Sketchbook

Having a sketchbook is an important thing to have in your arsenal because not only does it give you a great way to process your ideas, but it can also give you insight to which ideas that are not working as well.

If an idea isn’t working out for my current illustration I can always save that sketch for another illustration or story later.

Sketchbooks are great for storing and exploring all of your ideas as well as your process for coming up with new and cool ideas.

Even if it’s just writing an idea down you can always sketch it out later. If you do sketch them out they should only be rough drawings that take a few minutes to do. You’re not spending a lot of time on these sketches, and they shouldn’t be too detailed at this point either.

Your drawings can look as horrible as you want them to because a perfectly detailed drawing is not what is needed at this stage.

All that matters is that your idea is down on paper.

It’s the exploration of these ideas that takes precedence.

For example, sometimes when I am doing sketches or studies for my illustrations I have an idea in my mind with what I want the final image to look like. However, as I work through my studies and create my sketches I can see that sometimes it’s not going to work the way I imagined from my mind to paper. So there are several times where I have to change my ideas in mid stride, which is the beauty of having a sketchbook.

Sketches of leopard seal and moray eel head and body, wings, and legs and feet of a swan.

Here are a couple of sketches I did for an illustration. The brief was to take two different animals and create one monster utilizing different parts of each animal. At first I wanted to take a swan and merge it with a leopard seal.

It wasn’t working out or looking the way I wanted it to. So I changed the leopard seal to a moray eel, which as you can see looks much better.

Here are sketches of a swan and some eagle talons.

Here is a more finished sketch completed in Photoshop with the animals merged making a really cool monster! Someday I might add more of a background, but this is really just part of my sketchbook so not a big deal at this point.

 

Here is another example of sketches however, fortunately, these turned out exactly as I planned them to.

The idea was to create a Mech bug. So I sketched and did studies of diving beetles and underwater vehicles.

Here is a top and bottom view of the diving beetle.

Here are some sketches of underwater futuristic vehicles.

Now I have incorporated more detailed elements and started merging the diving beetle and underwater vehicle together in my sketches.

Here is a more finished rendering completed in Photoshop of my Mech diving beetle.

Thanks for reading everyone and I hope you enjoyed this post!

 

I do plan on uploading my sketchbook from this year forward so I can keep a record of my ideas. I have heard from some artists that they get hired solely based on their sketchbook alone.  So I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt.

I also plan to in the future upload videos of sketches and studies that I have done of my student, personal, and professional work.

So stay tuned for that!

My sketchbooks are done both traditionally and digitally. Although recently it has been more digital because I primarily use Sketchbook pro or sometimes Photoshop. I’m going to start using my Ipad more as my sketch book too that way I won’t get too detailed too early.

 

Here is another article that I really like written by Artist Nela Dunato discussing why it’s important to have a sketchbook.  Her process is primarily traditional with good old pencil and paper.

http://neladunato.com/blog/why-you-should-keep-a-sketchbook/

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Amazing cartoons created from inspirational quotes

I just found out about this artist and his website the other day, and really fell in love with the concept behind what and how this artist is taking his artwork to new levels of creativity.  Illustrating quotes is something you don’t normally see within an artwork. However, this has inspired me to think about how to do something like this for my illustrations.

The artist’s name is Gavin Aung Than and you can check out his website here at www.zenpencils.com.

Just like the artist I also left an unfulfilled dead end job to pursue my passion as well, and I don’t regret it one bit. In fact, I should have left earlier than I did to pursue my passion for creating art. That’s ok though I’m well on my way now, and have never been happier!

Above image created by Gavin Than.

 

For myself and my own artwork I would choose something more along the lines of a famous movie or T.V quote and create an illustration or comic around that concept. However, I must say inspirational quotes in general are also a great way to go. There are plenty of quotes that I look at a lot and become inspired by so why not create an illustration or comic around that concept I say?

This is a great idea that I think could really inspire other artists as well as everyone in society from all walks of life. I plan on doing a few personal pieces this year for my own portfolio outside of my school work so I think I might use this idea based off of some iconic movie or T.V moments and scenes throughout history.

Here is a link below of a comic that Than did of a poem written by Maya Angelou. The comic that Than created based on Angelou’s poem is so inspiring and beautiful. I think you will love it!

http://zenpencils.com/comic/153-maya-angelou-phenomenal-woman/

Above image created by Gavin Than.

Than also wrote a behind the scenes post about his process and the challenges he faced adapting the poem for his comic. Talk about awesome and inspirational. I love behind the scenes information and processes from artists! The link is below.

http://zenpencils.com/blog/cartooning/cartooning-process-maya-angelou-step-by-step/

Enjoy and have a fabulous day everyone!

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I have my new website up and running now on my own domain name. I posted here because I’m not sure if my followers are getting the new posts if you are getting a duplicate post than just ignore this post. Otherwise sign up at my dianawallaceart.com blog. Thanks so much! You all are awesome!

 

 

 

James Gurney: Inspirational Professional Artist and Author Blog

Looking for some inspiration for your art work or any creative endeavor for that matter?

Look no further than James Gurney’s blog! He is the artist and author of the popular Dinotopia series. This artist has a blog that discusses his art journey with clear and concise steps that walks you through his process of creating his illustrations.

I use this sight all of the time when I’m trying to figure out some tricky lighting or working on some new color schemes that I haven’t tried before within my illustrations.

Gurney’s blog can definitely get you motivated to learn more  about traditional techniques for drawing, painting, and sculpture. He paints primarily in oil and also creates his own reference images, which is very important for an artist to be able to do that. How he does this is by creating a maquette ( a small preliminary model) to use for his own reference image so that he can create accurate lighting for his illustrations.

It’s also a good idea to create a 3d model or sculpture so that you can move it around and look at it from different angles and be able to look at it from a different perspective. I always find that I can see more details and nuances with a 3d model than just with a 2d image.

I do the same thing for my illustrations, too, but instead I do it digitally. I am more of a 3d modeler. I use either 3ds Max or Google Sketchup instead of traditional sculpture like Gurney. However, he does inspire me to create more traditional sculptures to use for my reference.

Like Gurney when there is a pressing deadline sometimes I think I can do the illustration without a 3d model for reference. If I don’t though I always regret it. So I try to make myself at least create a rough geometric model in 3ds max or Sketchup. It really doesn’t take me that long to set up a basic scene, and then I just add the lighting in 3ds Max for realistic light and shadows.

If you don’t have accurate lighting to use as reference for your images than your illustration will look off. In other words it won’t look right and lighting is not easy to do by memory alone, it’s extremely difficult to do. That’s why it’s always better to have reference and being able to create your own is the best way to go. This way you can set up your reference exactly the way you want it.

Here is a link to Gurney’s  website: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/

Here are some images below that he has created for his popular Dinotopia series.

 

Gurney created a maquette to use as reference for the illustration above. Here is the link for his process of creating the model:: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/07/utopiales-poster-part-3-maquette.html

I really love Gurney’s use of light and color within these illustrations. I’m definitely motivated to create some master copies of his work to use as research for some of my own studies.

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The SLC 5-Day Study Challenge: Day 1

What inspires as well as motivates me to study are a few things:

Watching the making of’s within a performance production whether its’ for theatre, movies, or television. I love listening to how a designer, director, or actor created and developed their vision within a production. By watching behind the scenes of a production this provides an alternative aspect for me on how to approach new ideas as well as designing my own original characters and environments.

Music also inspires me whether it’s through musical theatre or even Disney music I always find this uplifting and constantly listen to this while I am drawing, painting, or writing, and yes sometimes I sing and dance, too. Italian music also plays a big part with inspiring me because listening to the Italian language for some reason speaks to my soul.

And last and most important what inspires me are all of my tutors at the SLC, and most of my teachers. I have really connected with my tutors and a couple of my teachers and because of this it helps me feel motivated and inspired while also blessed at the same time. They have been so supportive in my studies and assignments that it has continually inspired me to go above and beyond with my work. Through their guidance they have all provided a giving environment that has continually empowered me to express and grow my voice with my art and writing. This is imperative for an artist to be able to have a safe environment to excel in and my tutors and teachers have amazingly provided this for me. I’ve never experienced anything like this prior to my studies at RMCAD. Therefore, not only has this been an inspiring time for me, but a life changing one as well. Hopefully, one day soon I can give back and pay it forward and inspire others to pursue their dreams in a safe and nurturing environment, too.

 

The Making of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd was a really great movie to watch and I enjoyed it immensely. However, I really am partial to watching the making of portions of these movies after I watch the full movie because I really enjoy discovering what goes on behind the scenes. Understanding what is involved within the story being depicted as well as the set and costume design can give me a lot of ideas for inspiration and creating new characters and environments. It’s also always neat to watch the actors discuss their characters and how they approached their character roles.

Sweeney Todd is a Victorian horror story about revenge and redemption and is set in 1850 London.

A bit on costume design; while your watching the first part notice how Sacha Baron Coen’s character is the only one wearing bright blue colors like a peacock. All the other characters clothing are muted colors. This is fitting to Coen’s clown-like character’s personality. The costume makes him stand out from the other characters. This was intentional and is something important to think about when designing original costumes and clothes for your characters.

Colleen Atwood is the costume designer for the movie and I’ve posted a couple of her sketches below.

Check out the making of below.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPjmzOmItNs

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHeaPFfouM0

Thumbnail sketches for Avatar the Last Airbender show

My next assignment in my Mastering the Pencil class was to draw two characters one primarily in light and the other primarily in shadow. I wanted to draw Prince Zuko and Uncle. The reason I chose these two characters was because the way that both of these characters are being portrayed in the series.  One is primarily dark while the other is primarily light. So I wanted to create this same interplay between both of the characters being that one is primarily in shadow and the other is primarily in light. Here are my thumbnails that I created prior to the final drawing.

A note on the reason for thumbnails:

Keep in mind thumbnails are important to get the gestures of the characters down as well as the possible environments that you might want to portray them in. This is the time for ideas and composition primarily. Thumbnails are not highly detailed and are normally only about the size of 2 X 3 or 4 X 6. It’s a good idea to do at least twelve thumbnails with multiple positions and viewpoints of your character(s) and or with multiple environment(s), too.  I watched a lot of different Avatar episodes to find the right pose and environment that worked for me. So be prepared to spend some time researching your ideas and compositions.

 

Color Theory: Using black effectively in your paintings

Having a hard time understanding how to use black effectively in your artwork? Artist Greg Manchess’ article discusses how to tackle this and even embrace using black within your paintings.

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2014/03/10-thingsusing-black.html

Monochromatic Still Life Painting in Acrylic

For this assignment we were to paint geometric shapes with a monochromatic color scheme, which is using only one color or hue with tints, tones, and shades to add value and form to the objects. I chose the color green because these were the only geometric objects that I could find with the same color scheme.

This turned out pretty good, but I had a hard time with the football it still looks a little flat. I need to add a little more form to the football. I also need to push my values more in the rectangular object, too.

 

 

 

Still Life Painting grayscale only

Here is my first assignment for my still life painting class. It’s a grey scale only so that I can get the five values that indicate the form of an object before applying any color. A lot of artists throughout history have started with this method known as a grisaille technique (grey tone underpainting). This way the form of the object is developed before color is applied because if you start color without getting your values down correctly then the painting will fail.

As you can see I have the basic form of the object down pretty good and one can clearly see five values. My light and medium values look good, but I think that I can push my dark values even more in a couple of areas. This was painted using acrylic with black ivory and titanium white.