Very cool. I like how you keep those clean color transitions! How long was this pose?
One thing I would maybe keep in mind is a focal point. My eye doesn't really know where to look first because you have so many light values and even edges throughout the picture?
Definitely making progress though, keep' em coming!
Oh, this isn't near done yet! Definitely will be edge variation etc as I develop it, I just kind of have everything blocked in right now.
But since you bring it up, maybe you can help me out here! Compositionally I had one of those spiral thingys in mind:
The red arrows show areas where I'm pretty comfortable; there's a lot of info to select from in those areas where I can make a gesture for the eye. Those question marks are where I'm concerned- jumping over the head is tricky. There's some drapery in the back and a subtle pattern on the couch I can work with, but I'm worried it won't be enough. And I want the spiral to work because otherwise if you just swoop left to right up her body, having the flowers in the corner is pretty distracting and pointless.
Any thoughts?
Oh, this isn't near done yet! Definitely will be edge variation etc as I develop it, I just kind of have everything blocked in right now.
But since you bring it up, maybe you can help me out here! Compositionally I had one of those spiral thingys in mind:
Oh okay in that case disregard what I said! I'm looking forward to the end result. I wish I would have something constructive to say about your composition, but that's my weak spot. I feel like introducing another element would overcrowd your piece. Try guiding the eyes with value instead of an extra object?
Thanks, Gibs! Both the lizard and the bird are about 4.5 inches wide. Something funny, the specimen I was looking at for the bird drawing was a teeny tiny little guy, probably about 1/4 the size of my drawing! But he was the perfect choice so I made do.
I actually Really like your birds and animals for how confident and refined they feel. The drawings feel more alive than your figures, and Im guessing thats because you are doing them a little faster than your previous studies.
Thanks for the input! Hopefully I can get my figure paintings to look more lively going forward, since that's a pretty important factor!
You're right that the animals are waaaay faster. The ballpoint pages are like 30 min, toned drawings 1-2 hrs and pastels 2-3 hours. Whereas the figures from school are more like a couple dozen hours :P
The paintings from school though are very extended learning exercises, pushing my knowledge and technique and learning a million things for each one. The things I learn there form the habits I have when I sit down to draw for an hour or two. Ideally, in the future I'd like to do paintings of people in a couple of hours also, it's kind of a matter of model access and needing more practice with paint.
Kind of ironic too, isn't it? Because the figure paintings are from live people, and the animal drawings are from dead animals that I'm trying to make look alive, haha.
So here's my most-likely-finished figure painting:
closer
The model was finished last week, so that part is definitely done. Tomorrow we clear everything off the stage to start a new pose, so the background reference will be gone too. That's why today I spent all day at the studio to do what I could with the background. I'd like to mess with the couch upholstery and the prop shelf a little more, but I just got too sleepy by the end tonight to really make any more progress. Over all though I'm really happy with what I was able to get done today, and if I'm unable to work on it any more then I'm cool with that.
Here's to figure painting in actual color, woo!
Man, that really came together. Its pretty lovely, and its hard to argue with the dedication that you'be been putting into those studies. I get bored with a painting after like 20 minutes half the time.
Posts
Here's a block in drawing I'm working on for the long pose:
We have a sweet couch in the studio now!
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facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
And started painting the figure:
I hope it's not just me but color is really really hard
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the ink ones are just straight up ballpoint because I'm trying to get good or something
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Bird skulls for Halloween
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I've been having this really frustrating migraine problem and when it makes me miss model time I get so mad
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One thing I would maybe keep in mind is a focal point. My eye doesn't really know where to look first because you have so many light values and even edges throughout the picture?
Definitely making progress though, keep' em coming!
Oh, this isn't near done yet! Definitely will be edge variation etc as I develop it, I just kind of have everything blocked in right now.
But since you bring it up, maybe you can help me out here! Compositionally I had one of those spiral thingys in mind:
The red arrows show areas where I'm pretty comfortable; there's a lot of info to select from in those areas where I can make a gesture for the eye. Those question marks are where I'm concerned- jumping over the head is tricky. There's some drapery in the back and a subtle pattern on the couch I can work with, but I'm worried it won't be enough. And I want the spiral to work because otherwise if you just swoop left to right up her body, having the flowers in the corner is pretty distracting and pointless.
Any thoughts?
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More seriously, I am in awe of your traditional stuff, really great work. Minor point, but you know the spiral line is teal/green not blue right?
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Oh okay in that case disregard what I said! I'm looking forward to the end result. I wish I would have something constructive to say about your composition, but that's my weak spot. I feel like introducing another element would overcrowd your piece. Try guiding the eyes with value instead of an extra object?
Also more animals
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
ultr blue, aliz crimson, cad yellow, white
Does anybody have any advice for this? It went better than I thought it would but I had some issues.
Oh, also I finally have a block in for this crazy thing:
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Collared lizard, guess where
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facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
birds, dude
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facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
You're right that the animals are waaaay faster. The ballpoint pages are like 30 min, toned drawings 1-2 hrs and pastels 2-3 hours. Whereas the figures from school are more like a couple dozen hours :P
The paintings from school though are very extended learning exercises, pushing my knowledge and technique and learning a million things for each one. The things I learn there form the habits I have when I sit down to draw for an hour or two. Ideally, in the future I'd like to do paintings of people in a couple of hours also, it's kind of a matter of model access and needing more practice with paint.
Kind of ironic too, isn't it? Because the figure paintings are from live people, and the animal drawings are from dead animals that I'm trying to make look alive, haha.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
closer
The model was finished last week, so that part is definitely done. Tomorrow we clear everything off the stage to start a new pose, so the background reference will be gone too. That's why today I spent all day at the studio to do what I could with the background. I'd like to mess with the couch upholstery and the prop shelf a little more, but I just got too sleepy by the end tonight to really make any more progress. Over all though I'm really happy with what I was able to get done today, and if I'm unable to work on it any more then I'm cool with that.
Here's to figure painting in actual color, woo!
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
I'm really excited about the new pose, my last pose with my instructor! In the meantime, here's some animals.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
my ballpoint game has been so iffy lately
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Looove this model.
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facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Also, I found some toned paper animal drawings I had done about 5 years ago, and the comparison was fun to see:
I'll have to make sure to do some more 5 years from now
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More work on this beast:
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facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt