My Drawings and some Photo's.

I figured I'd share these with you guys. They're fairly old (around 08-09 range), but I guess I'll post them up anyway. These are all digital paintings, done with a wacom tablet, and a standard brush in photoshop. I'm working on a real oil painting now of a forest of aspens in autumn, but it's taking me forever. I guess I'll post that when it's done as well.

First up is Jack Sparrow



There's actually a two part speed painting vid that goes along with this, as with two other paintings I'll post.

Part 1



Part 2



Simon Pegg and Nick Frost



Jack Bauer



Brittany Daniel (This one isn't actually done, but I never got around to finishing it. Oh well.)



Brad Pitt



This also has a speed painting video:



Megan Fox



Also speed painting video:



Dana Scully. (Never did get around to painting Mulder. Damn.)



Kate Beckinsale (this one is also not finished)



Two video game related ones I did were Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell)



And the mask of Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid) from a promo ad for MGS4



The two pictures I'll post are both from the Grand Canyon, and both are panoramas.

First is a panorama and an HDR



Second is just a pano of a sunset



Here's my DeviantArt page if you would like to see more. Deviant Art

That's for checking them out.

a reply to: 7918465230

The Gillian Anderson image is brilliant.

Fine art with oil is a nightmare, so hard, you have my sympathies lol

thanks for sharing

p

a reply to: 7918465230

Well being a gamer the snake and Fisher ones are pretty rad. The scully one is awesome as well.

originally posted by: korkythecat
a reply to: 7918465230

The Gillian Anderson image is brilliant.

Fine art with oil is a nightmare, so hard, you have my sympathies lol

thanks for sharing

p

Yeah, and it's my first so I don't know the special techniques/tricks. Plus, whenever I do something like this, or a lot of the things I do, I feel it has to be PERFECT, and it can be exhausting at times. This is one of those times, lol.

I'm glad you like the Dana Scully one. What drew you (no pun intended, lol) to that one over the others? It was one of my first ones if I recall, and I think other than the Kate Beckinsale one, which isn't finished, I'd say it's one of my least favorite (even though I love the X-Files).

a reply to: 7918465230

You're pretty good at realism! I really enjoyed those speed-painting videos, too!

originally posted by: brazenalderpadrescorpio
a reply to: 7918465230

You're pretty good at realism! I really enjoyed those speed-painting videos, too!

Thanks. Glad you like them.

you clearly have skills at what you do. Im going to give you the best piece of advice you could ever get, STOP COPYING PHOTOGRAPHS and considering them to be original pieces of artwork. You will never be able to make it look better than the original photograph or artwork, it will always look like an imitation.

You can be inspired by something, but you have to change it significantly enough to where it doesnt look like a direct COPY. Copying is fine to get your skills where they need to be, but it looks like you are almost there.

As a professional artist I think you've got clear talent. What you need now is to trust in your own imaginative powers enough to give birth to your own images, wether inspired by another one or not, DONT continue to just be a mere copyist it would be a disservice to you.

originally posted by: immoralist
you clearly have skills at what you do. Im going to give you the best piece of advice you could ever get, STOP COPYING PHOTOGRAPHS and considering them to be original pieces of artwork. You will never be able to make it look better than the original photograph or artwork, it will always look like an imitation.

You can be inspired by something, but you have to change it significantly enough to where it doesnt look like a direct COPY. Copying is fine to get your skills where they need to be, but it looks like you are almost there.

As a professional artist I think you've got clear talent. What you need now is to trust in your own imaginative powers enough to give birth to your own images, wether inspired by another one or not, DONT continue to just be a mere copyist it would be a disservice to you.

The problem is, that not only do I have to regain whatever skills I once had (like I said these are from a few years ago, I was just bored so I posted them), but I could never seem to get that image in my head of what I was painting/drawing. It's like I don't know what goes where etc, and just can't seem to take that next level. I would need to take some sort of art class or training, and this was just more or less a hobby. Something to take up time, ya know? Hard to explain, but at least for the foreseeable future, I'll be needing a reference to draw from. Now, that's not to say that I might not be able to change said reference sometime down the line, but you also have to understand that I have like 10000 hobbies, (or at least had, I gave a lot of them up because it was just to exhausting, but I do plan to restart most of them) and, now with work, although trading stocks doesn't take up nearly the time a regular job would, it just makes it that much harder. Ya know?

I appreciate the advice though.

This is what happens when I don't use a reference, lol.

Most portrait artists use references and photos and copying celebrities or any picture you like, is the way to polish skills. Done throughout the ages, including remastering masterpieces.

Just keep your own photo references for original works. For course material, teaching, such as the videos, its fine.

Copying that is like art students doing the Mona Lisa, which some do.

And wonderful work by the way.

You are good at what you are doing. I bought a Wacom pad and experimented with it for a while, but eventually put it aside. It is conveniently clean to work with, but I prefer the sensual quality of working with a physical medium, oil paints in particular. I also find enjoyment in working with some pretty novel mixed media. I am currently working on a series that incorporates elements as odd as found dead animals, women's lingerie, and cheese. I'll go to Deviant and check out some of your work.

originally posted by: skunkape23
You are good at what you are doing. I bought a Wacom pad and experimented with it for a while, but eventually put it aside. It is conveniently clean to work with, but I prefer the sensual quality of working with a physical medium, oil paints in particular. I also find enjoyment in working with some pretty novel mixed media. I am currently working on a series that incorporates elements as odd as found dead animals, women's lingerie, and cheese. I'll go to Deviant and check out some of your work.

You got any tips on painting with oils? I'm working on my first painting right now, and it's taking forever, mostly because I think I feel the need to paint every single leaf, lol. Plus, if you make a mistake, you have to wait like 2-3 day for it to dry and paint over, which magnifies the frustration. Cheers

Btw, I've had this wacom cintiq 24 hd touch for a year or two now. I bought it to try and rekindle my desire to draw, but it's frustrating learning all over again, and it's also different being able to draw right on the screen too. It takes some getting used to. I did a quick sketch a while back when I first got it, to try it out, and this is what I came up with. Don't be too harsh, lol, it was after not having drawn anything for like 3 years at least, and I had gotten a new version of photoshop and couldn't find my usual standard brush, so I used this really weird ob-longed brush, but oh well. It's out of proportion, but at least it's recognizable.

You have to guess who they are. Neither one of these were really ever finished, just quick sketches. Be gentle, lol.



Like I said, first time in a LONG time even thinking about drawing anything. But I think you can guess who it's supposed to be. I actually just took a screen cap out of Entrapment, and used that as a reference.

Here's one after that, which isn't complete, but I get bored very easily, so sometimes I set it aside and never get back to it. Again, you have to guess, but I LOVE this movie, and his character in it.



Those were also strange for me beings I usually don't sketch anything out before I paint, as you might have seen in the speed painting videos.

a reply to: 7918465230

To achieve photorealistic effects that you seem to be going for, I would recommend experimenting with the mische technique. It involves rendering with tempera into a wet oil surface, letting it dry, and then glazing with transparent oils. I mix a bit of fast drying urethane varnish with my oil medium. This allows me to work on my next layer in about 12 hours, plus adds gloss and improves adhesion.
Here's a link that gives a good summary of the technique.
www.brigidmarlin.com...

originally posted by: skunkape23
a reply to: 7918465230

To achieve photorealistic effects that you seem to be going for, I would recommend experimenting with the mische technique. It involves rendering with tempera into a wet oil surface, letting it dry, and then glazing with transparent oils. I mix a bit of fast drying urethane varnish with my oil medium. This allows me to work on my next layer in about 12 hours, plus adds gloss and improves adhesion.
Here's a link that gives a good summary of the technique.
www.brigidmarlin.com...

Cool, thanks. I'll give it a look-see. I did put some paint thinner in all of my paints (obviously you can't paint with what comes out of the tube), so it dries a little quicker. Probably a day or 2 and you're good to go. I think one of the most frustrating things are mixing the colors to try and get the exact color your looking for, and also, for me at least, (like I said, I get bored easy), is cleaning everything up. I might paint like a tiny part of the image, and it'll take me 4 hours, and then I'll have to clean up the huge mess, lol. That's something you obviously don't have to do in the digital format.

For what you are trying to do, I would ABSOLUTELY do Grissalle , It means painting an under painting in monochromatic tones (Maybe in Acrylic because it drys faster)

www.youtube.com...

ALWAYS work from Thin to Fat, Always start out with THINNED paint first, if you paint Thick non thinned paint first it will take AGES to dry, always work Thinned to non Thinned.

For realistic flesh tones I would recommend buying a portraiture skin tone pre mixed artists set. Much like this.

www.dickblick.com...

They are good, but you always want to alter the color of them before just smashing them down.


I think for you, the REAL Key to actually being able to paint or draw without references of with little reliance on them is actually doing LIFE DRAWING, drawing from living things, or still life. This is the only way to be able to consistently capture likeness' from real life or to make up a convincing face or figure from your memory.

Here is a gallery of some of my work, the first 3 or 4 pages are things made entirely up, just totally made up out of my head, and the only reason I was able to do so was because of years of life drawing experience.

holyhomework.deviantart.com...

Also, make sure that you are using a painting CLEAN painting knife to mix colors and not the brush, using a brush to mix colors hurts the brush and actually consistently muddies up your colors making them look dull. There are various Mediums you can use as well, my two favorites for realism are Galklyd, and Neo Megilp, Both from Gamblin. I was able to do paintings like these in oil using both of those.

Poor Mulder.

Great stuff there!

Also, another tip I learned the hard way...Isopropyl alcohol dissolves oil paint. I recently went to varnish a painting that has been dried for years. It had some dust and smoke soot on it. I wiped it with a rag soaked in alcohol to clean it and the paint smeared right off. Aaarrrrgghh! Now I have hours of repair work to do. I have a link to some of my stuff on this thread, if you care to check it out. Peace.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

originally posted by: skunkape23
..Isopropyl alcohol dissolves oil paint. I wiped it with a rag soaked in alcohol to clean it and the paint smeared right off. Aaarrrrgghh! Now I have hours of repair work to do.

Ooooh, that's gotta suck. I feel your pain. Can't hit the undo button in real life, lol.

Poor Mulder

Yeah, I know. I always planned on doing one of him and even one of the smoking man, but never got around to it. Now I want to do one of Olivia Dunham from Fringe. Just gotta get my motivation and skills back up to par.