Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Week 3 - Emphasis on Detail

The focus of this week is pretty self explanatory. The Idea was to get a more finished look to my studies, and really get in there and get all the details.

Detail Studies
This last one was the two-hour detail study. I blocked out the color and form in the first hour. In the second hour, I went back over and added details and a smooth finish. I only got through the top half in the second hour. Maybe I will finish this sometime in my free time, but for now it shows my process.

Sustained Study - I practiced details further on this still life, While not completely ignoring other techniques I had learned. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to include the background, which is only the table the still life is resting on.This is the last schedule I will devote to this method of digital painting in photoshop, at least for a while. The purpose was to learn to effectively use color to realistically represent images, and to become proficient in digital painting. I feel like I have accomplished this. I enjoyed doing these studies. Photoshop is a very powerful tool for learning digital painting technique and color in general. The eyedropper tool allowed me to analyse the colors in the reference photo. Layers allowed me to use a seperate layer for initial sketches, and contour drawings, then put a layer for the final painting over it. The photoshop brush allows me to select a different size, hardness, and opacy of the paint I'm using instantly. Also the paint is permanently 'wet' and never changes color when it dries, which constantly confused and frustrated me with cheep acryllics.

Gesture - Some of my gesture drawings from the past couple weeks. I love Tex Avery cartoons.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Week 2 - More Complex Digital Painting

The focus of this weeks schedule was to expand on the digital painting techniques from last week, by choosing more complex subjects. I chose a more complex still life (too complex) and a self portrait.I struggled with this still life. I was unable to capture all the detail in the flowers. I think they would have looked better simplified anyway.

Gesture of Space -
In this exercise I walk around the city, attempting to capture whole street scenes in gesture. The object is not to represent them realistically, but to place all the elements in the right place in relation to each other. After wards, the drawing doesn't look like anything