London, London (It's So City)

I finally knuckled down and finished my animation. Hope you enjoy it.

Real Painting

I hadn't picked up a brush to paint for about twenty years and during my recent break from work, decided it was time. The kids were now of an age where things would mostly stay where they were put.

I'd got a few canvases (20" x 15.5"), brushes and acrylic paint from the 99p shop and after setting up a still life, started. The paints were total rubbish, so I nipped out to WHSmith to spend a bit more. I used to paint in oils and haven't used acrylics for over thirty years. From what I remember of those days was that I didn't like them that much. Started with the hogs hair brushes, but soon found that the synthetic ones suited me better.

The light was partially sunlight from the left, an standard lamp on the right and the candle, which I did light all the way through - I went through four candles. The sunlight created the strong shadows, but was only around for a few hours each day and I restricted myself to those.

One thing I had the most problems with was the cast shadow that the mirror made on the wall. Even though I tried to keep the lighting the same, it would still fluctuate between very dark to almost nothing.

I also did some reading on acrylic techniques and hadn't realised that working light to dark was preferable. Also if I wanted to blend I should use some medium. I 'nipped' down to my 'local' art shop, which is an hour away, only to find that they didn't have any in stock. This meant I was restricted to just using water.

Getting food poisoning wasn't on my list of preferred illnesses and only left me yesterday to complete before the fruit was too far gone.

Overall, I'm relatively pleased with the outcome. The mirror horizontal could have been straighter and some of my ovals a bit better, but not to bad for my first attempt after so long.

Some more backgrounds. I'm trying to make them a more of a human size or my characters will only be seen in the distance, which is not what I want at all. All references are from Google street view as previously. It's amazing what you can see looking down the odd alley. They are also on difference layers so people can jump out if required. I might try to do a couple of whole streets, one upmarket and one down at heel.

Backgrounds

I've returned to drawing for my animation and here are a few of the backgrounds I've done recently. Again they're all drawn using vectors by Serif's DrawPlus X2. Using Google street view, these are from a place called Kidbrooke in Greenwich. Most of it is boarded up ready for demolition, but there are still people living here and there.

Time Lapse

Just thought I'd put in some time lapse videos to show how I work while you wait until I complete the next picture which is taking some time.

Pencil Portraits

I don't just work in digital, I've recently been sharpening my pencils as a way to get back into traditional work, which is where I want to be. A small house with messy kids doesn't help in my journey, but as they get older I find myself eyeing bedrooms as a possible studio to stick my easel (currently residing in the attic) up in.

These are drawn from colour photos from a thread at Concept Art where members post pictures of themselves for others to practice on. Each one took about six hours and over a period of a couple of weeks I like to think I improved.

The first one is Ilaekye and was interested in getting the beard right as I'd been having problems with them on other work. The picture was just an ordinary snapshot.




Next up was Stoph. Another beard, but it was from a very nice photo and I hope I did it justice.






















This TAS. He posted a huge selection of expressions for everyone. The photo was flooded with flash making it flat. I had tried a number of times over the last year to draw him in different medium, but this is the first time I think I actually caught 'him'. Or maybe I just got better.

Master Studies

I've been very naughty not updating here. I keep meaning to, but work, family life and actually doing any art sort of distracts me. Sadly my website is in the same position.

Recently, I've been doing some Master Studies to improve my digital painting technique, and I've come a long way from the previous post. I scribble a lot while painting, when everyone tells me to use broad strokes and then refine, well I sort of do in a way, but I like scribbling and I'm getting results from it and that's what counts.

This is the first one I did, the Laughing Cavalier by Hals. I painted it all on one layer to prove to myself that I could. Not so anal with the others.

I have painted this in oils, actually I painted two, for a amateur dramatic production. One had a hole cut in it so it would fit over the head of one of the cast. The other one might still be my attic and I'll try to fish it out one day.

Serif have asked to use it in their promotional material for the next upgrade. They've been good to me and I said, "Yes." They have agreed to credit me, and for a practice piece, I'm happy with that.

Next one was Sweert's Boy in a Turban holding a posy. Not quite so successful, which is a shame as I really like the painting a lot.

Done in two layers, still trying to keep it relatively simple.

Next was a Bouguereau picture of a Shepherdess. I actually enjoyed doing this one a lot. Three layers to start with but became two quite quickly.

Then came the Ingres. This picture was made in hell. I didn't get the expression right, the dress was done about five time before I was reasonably happy with it. He is so precise in his placement which doesn't go down well a scribbler like me.

A classical statue. I first tried to do this with DrawPlus and their nice brushes, but I kept crashing the program due to my rapid scribbling. I like to overlay colour on colour to build up depth.

Water Nymph by Perrault. Totally suited to my method of working. I did this one more to learn to paint flesh. I still have a lot to learn.

Just for fun I thought I'd do a Titian. Didn't finish it as I'd learnt what I wanted from it and parts of the picture are so dark it is difficult to discern what the original colour was.

And finally Godward, another precise painter, so I took liberties with the finish. I could have spent days working on it, but that is not the point of doing Master Studies. Learning what I needed for that look and finding out where it fitted best into my method of working was and still is a voyage of discovery.

I enjoyed painting most of these and will probably do some more in the future. I learnt tons and will continue to learn as that's the only way to go forward.