More acrylic sketches

I realised that I haven't updated here for months! I've been busy with other stuff, but have still done a bit of art, so it's about time I got around to uploading it...

So here's a bit of stuff from my painting book. I'm pretty keen to try larger sized works, and on canvas more rather than paper, which I think makes a pretty significant difference.

Face paintings III

A few more paintings...

I had a few pages in my sketchbook with already-painted backgrounds (remnants of paint at the end of previous sessions) and it was interesting to work on these... seeing how the underlying color enhanced or contrasted the paint I was laying down. A nice change from starting with white.

I'm starting to get a few parts of my images that I like - an eye that has some depth to it, a nose that's nicely described using just a few efficient strokes, it's a good feeling to see some progress and things starting to come together.

Face paintings II

Been doing some more face painting practices in my sketchbook... gradually getting a better feel for the paint and learning heaps more about color, as usual. I think the next thing to concentrate on will be values again, because as always I don't push the darks dark enough. I think mixing paint and maintaining the correct colors is a pretty tricky skill, but i'll get it :)

I said in my last post that I might start focusing on structural/facial accuracy and depiction as well, but that didn't happen. I get bogged down in that a bit, so I feel alright leaving that aside for now.

Face paintings

As part of my acrylic painting forays, I've started painting a few faces to practice skin tones, paint handling and particularly getting used to the unique aspects of portraiture compared to other kinds of art. I don't worry too much about accuracy and realism apart from doing a quick pencil sketch to start, but I am thinking maybe I should incorporate it, cause I need to work on that as well.

They're quick studies, probably less than half an hour each, so I haven't developed any of them very far, but just try out new things. The plan, I guess, is to gradually start doing more 'serious' work as I improve - portraiture is something that appeals to me and I'd like to find a unique, interesting way to present them (rather than just a very realistic, documentary approach).

But for now, here's the first few...

Katie Melua

There's a video on YouTube of Katie Melua, a musician, playing in some hotel or something. I really like the look of it and the framing of her shifts throughout and makes some really great compositions. So I found a frame I liked and did a painting. I wanted to spend a bit more time on today's painting, and it did take a little longer, but not heaps... it came together pretty quickly which I was happy about. And I took some time to get the angles and construction better, which worked out too.

I think her face feels a bit flat, but i'm not sure why. And I'm still learning a lot about saturation and how to get a good balance with colors. Overall I'm happy though.

Value study

Today I did some reading about colors, skintones, color temperature and all that sort of stuff. A lot to think about, and I realised a few things I was doing wrong, which is good.

Didn't have time to play around with it but I did a quick values study, since getting the values right is just as important (or even more, I guess).

On the left is my attempt (in 5 tones), on the right is the reference image, and a posterised version of it in the corner. As you can see, I didn't do TOO badly, but I didn't use my highlight color enough, and the shadow-covered eye I kept too bright (which I knew I was doing but even after adjusting I guess I didn't do enough).

Painting

At the moment I'm pretty impressed by some painters who use color in really interesting ways - either unrealistically, or in a realistic palette but with dashes of contrast colors throughout. I wanted to give a shot at using a non-realistic palette and also thought i might try something from my head (no references) to see if my recent work has been paying off.

Overall I was pretty pleased - I felt like I had a better sense of the form and contours of the face, but there are still plenty of problem areas. But that's good to know, so I can work on it. And I also realised that even in some areas I knew how it should look but my rendering skills let me down, particularly around the mouth.

The color was fun to play around with, I think i will study some examples to get an understanding of how to use color effectively and creatively.

Debbie

Found a portrait on Flickr that I could reference for a painting (I'm trying to work on portraiture, I'd like to start doing it with actual friends/people). Then realised after a few minutes that I didn't feel like doing it. I kept going for a bit longer regardless, but the result is sloppy and very half-done. I find my paintings tend to look bad until the very end where they (hopefully!) come together... this definitely didn't get to that stage.

self portrait of sorts

I was reading last night before I went to bed, and as I got up I realised that my reflection was very visible in the window, which for some reason made me want to draw myself. I've done it once before and actually got a pretty good likeness, but i wasn't in that mood tonight, and the lighting was also not conducive to that... when i sat close enough to the window to see it well, i was almost directly under the light so lots of my face was in shadow.
Nevertheless, i grabbed a piece of cardboard I had looted (i like drawing on cardboard for some reason) and chose to work in black biro, and got to work.
Because of all the shadows, i didn't really know how to work but i jumped in and started plotting out some lines, and built up lots of form through directional lines and layering. In the end, I don't think it's very "me" (particularly if you ignore the hair which is a bit more of a giveaway) but it was fun and good practice I think, as i really imagined the forms of my face and where lines might go. I made a fair bit up, and didn't do the shadows quite consistently but it wasn't meant to be a 'study' as such.

Then i photographed it today and found a cool effect where the light was gleaming under my curtains, so i used that, heh.