Day 6: Final Day Of Oil Paint

Day 6: Today I finished up the nebula oil painting by adding the finishing touches to the piece. This included a final layer of light paint and the stars. For the stars I just dipped the back side of the paint brush into the paint and randomly applied dots wherever I found them necessary. sometimes I would also do light and dark red stars and some light blue ones as well so it wouldn't be boring and all white. I also added one defined star in the middle of the nebula. I did this by adding a larger dot and then dragging it out all four directions to give it a flare look. I also added a lot of small dots on the left side of the nebula to make it look like there is a hole through it and to show how endless space really is. I enjoyed playing around with this piece and I now enjoy more abstract art now, which is probably what my next piece is going to be. I didn't really like how the piece looked until I added the stars which shows that even the smallest addition can really change the whole piece.

Final Piece

Previous Day (Day 5)

Oil Painting Day 5

Day 5: On day five I continued to paint the lines I did on the right side of the nebula. I believe that this adds a range of depth to the piece and makes it look more creative. I used many different colors for the lines to make the color behind the lines more noticeable. After that, I waited for the paint to dry and added a thin cloudy layer of paint over the lines. I think that the piece is coming along well. The most important thing that Ive learned from using oil paint is to always have a rag on you. You first apply paint it is easily manipulated and if you don't like how something looks it makes it easy to change it up. Paint thinner is also very important. Oil paint is much thicker then acrylic paint so to get a thin cloudy paint you will need to use a decent amount of thinner.

Day 5

Previous Day (Day 4)

Oil Painting Day 4

Day 4: On day four I continued to layer colors on top of the nebula. It is much easier and more efficient if you make sure to pre mix all your colors that you will be using. On the right side of the nebula I started to draw some dark maroon lines that I think will look very interesting if I continue doing on the rest of the nebula. I found a nice blue and was able to mix it with different colors to get the royal blues and deep purples. I worked a lot with the purple and making that cloudy look by feathering the paint on lightly with the brush and then dabbing it with a rag. I feel like this painting is becoming more abstract and I cant wait till its finished and get to see how it comes out.

Day 4

Previous Day (day 3)

Oil Painting Day 3

Day 3: I didn't do too much today. I mostly just added another light purple layer to this piece in hopes to make the nebula look more cloudy. Im handling this whole piece in layers to add depth. It is taking awhile to do this though because oil, unlike acrylic paint, can take days to dry. To avoid smudging the paints together I have been adding paint to an area, letting that area dry, then for the rest of the day work on another area for the rest of the day. This is a very time consuming method but it is producing good results. Also, when I apply paint I usually use a rag to dab off some of the paint. This makes the cloud look more transparent and allows the layers underneath to be revealed.

Day 3

Day 2 (Previous Day)

Oil Painting Day 2

Day 2: Today I started the colors in the painting. I had to pre-mix my colors to get the tones right. I used the glaze to make the paint more cloud like. Im doing this because to make the cloud type look more realistic the clouds have to look more opaque. The glaze does that well because it makes the paint clearer but doesn't remove all the color. I have also down sized too a smaller horse hair brush too get in more detail.Im trying not to use too much white paint because I think that the light coming from the inside of the nebula will be better represented by the white of the canvas. I have also darkened the corners to start a base for the contrast of the bright nebula and dark outer space. Ive been having trouble getting the right color of blue for the bottom left corner of the nebula but I am going to keep working on it till it looks right. Im having a similar problem with the right side of the nebula. The color of purple that is in the photo is proving to be difficult to find but i'm continuing to look for it.

Day 2

Day 1

Oil Painting Day 1

Day 1: Today I started my new project which is an oil painting of a purple nebula. Oil paint is different then acrylic paint because oil paint is thicker and isn't as forgiving as acrylic paint. This means when you make a mistake with oil paint it is harder to fix. You also must apply paint thinner to this out oil paint because the oil will not mix with water. I am also using a solution which allows the paint to dry faster and makes the paint more opaque. Without this solution it could take the paint days to dry. This solution is also good for this painting because nebulas are more cloudy and the solution helps show that. The picture posted below is the background and I will slowly apply layers to it and work more towards the for ground.

Day 7: Final Day Of Sumi Ink

Day 7: Final Piece

Day 7: Today I finished up my Sumi Ink painting. I got some recommendations to darken the right side of the face to make the shadow pop more. I also Went to all the spots where no ink was applied to add value. I added some shadows to the pocket on the right breast. I added the shadows to background as well. It took awhile to get the transitions of the shadows on the wall and took a lot of wiping away ink with a sponge. I believe the shirt came out very well. The shadows in the fabric turned out better than I had expected. My next project will be an oil painting of a nebula. Once again I have never worked with this median, only acrylic paint, so it will be a new experience for me.

Original Picture

Previous Day (Day 6)

Day 6: Background

Day 6: Today I worked on the background and the shirt. The background is a transitioning shadow from dark on the left side to light in the middle then dark in the right corner by the shoulder. I also put more work into the pocket on the right breast. I also worked on the area around the pocket by adding small wrinkles and shadows. I also darkened the untouched areas of the shirt just to add some shade to it. I also worked on the knuckles. The hand has been one of the more difficult parts of this piece because there are lots of subtle shadows that are hard to express. For now I am just working on small details as this project comes to a close. There are no more big things to do in my opinion so the rest of this project will only be small changes and touch ups.

Day 6

Previous Day (Day 5)

Day 5: Finishing The Hair

Day 5: The first thing I worked on was finishing up the hair. I did this with a very small brush and a series of repeated brush strokes. I could not paint the whole head black thought because there are reflections in my hair from the light. I also darkened and added shadows to the shirt and hand. Im having trouble getting the hand right. I don't know what it is but something just seems off about it. I added more shadows to the shirt as well as well as the neck. I also added shadows to the nose and lips to bring more life to the painting. I also added a small handprint in the background by just applying dots in certain places because I thought it looked cool.

Day 5

Previous Day (Day 4)

Day 4: Manipulating Fabric Tones

Day 4: I did not get too much done today. I continued to do a little more work on the hair. I am using a very fine point brush and doing each hair as an individual line so it is taking awhile. I can not make the whole head completely black because there are some hairs that look lighter because of the reflection from the light. I mostly worked on the wrinkles on the top left shoulder. Making the shirt look realistic is all about how you manipulate the tones of the wrinkles. I am doing this by first putting down the darkest part of the wrinkle, letting the ink dry, and then working my way up from lightest to darkest to transition the rest of the shadow. This method is working well for me right now but it is a long process that I am finding quite soothing.

Previous Day (Day 3)

Day 4

Sumi Ink Day 3, Working On Shadows

Day 3: I started to go into more detail today. I continued to work focus on the darkest areas first and then work up in tone value from there. I also put a lot of time into the right side of the face to emphasize the shadow being casted. Just like my last charcoal drawing I am still trying to figure out how to get that cloth like feel on the shirt. It is hard because I am still used to making hard edges, especially in paintings, and I've realized that you need to have more of curving lines and free flowing lines instead. I am happy with the way the for arm came out but I am going to go back to that and add finer details and touch ups. I also learned that if you make a mistake you can use a wet sponge and a paper towel too add water and dry it to remove some ink. It doesn't remove the ink completely and can ruin the paper but works well for touchups.

Previous Day (Day 2)

Day 3

Sumi Ink Self Portrait Day 2

Day 2: I started using ink today on the painting. I am using a easel so sometimes the watery ink will start to run down the paper when I don't want it too. The good new is that the water color paper I am using is very high quality and very absorbent. I was encouraged to put the lightest tones on first and work my way up in darkness but I realized I prefer putting the dark tones on first. This is because I do not have to lighten the darkest tones at all with water which is difficult to predict how light it will be, This may not be the best way to approach it but I feel this way to be most comfortable for me. Ive realized I need to loosen up more with the brush. Im trying to make it as detailed as I can when at this point I should be trying to just get good brush strokes and tones in.

Day 2: Adding Ink

Day 1: Previous Day

Sumi Ink Self Portrait Day 1

Day 1: I am starting a Sumi Ink self portrait. I have never worked with Sumi Ink or even painted in ink so this will be a new experience for me and will be interesting. I have started the the same way I start my oil paintings which is by lightly sketching the picture onto the water color paper. It makes it a lot easier to divide the paper into quadrants. I split it up into eight sections and I did the same on the photo. This makes it easier to scale the photo onto the paper. I then used the quadrants to sketch the photo as eight separate pieces instead of one big one. Next time I will start using ink to start finding the right tones.

Rough Sketch of Photo

Photo I Will Be Painting

Day 4: Final Day

Day 4: I think that I am going to call this the completion of this piece. I continued to lighten some areas in the background and worked on the inner shadows of the round pillar cap. I used compressed charcoal and a lot of pressure to get a very dark black tone and then a subtle lighter tone at the bottom. I worked on the paper drapery as well. I tried to transition the tones of darks and lights smoothly and I found that the best way to get that realistic paper look. I also realized finding shadows in something is a lot easier if you try to see it all as shapes. If you are able to see the shapes of the shadows instead of just seeing them as shadows it becomes a lot easier to illustrate them on to the paper. Like I said I am now done with this piece but if you comment any things I could fix I will most likely go back and make edits. My next piece I am working on is a ink self portrait. I have never worked with ink so it will be a new experience for me. Feel free to comment any tips.

Day 4 Progress/ Final Piece

Previous Day (Day 3)

Day 3: Emphasizing Mid Tones

Day 3: I continued to work on the shadows casted in the background. I tried to capture the curves and different tones in the draping paper with a kneaded eraser and a tissue but its difficult to get the right transition of darks and lights to get that realistic paper look. I also continued to lighten areas and in the brightest parts of the still life I used a white charcoal pencil to emphasize the highlights. Next time Im planning on spending most of my time working on the draping paper and making it look right. Ive learned that taking a picture on your phone and going into edit you can switch the image into black and white. This helps to show the different tones and I have found it quite helpful.

Example of Black And White Photo of the Still Life

Third Day Progress

Previous Day (Day 2)

Day 2: Finding Shadows and Outlining

Day 2: I started enhancing the darks and light tones of the bust. I added more details to the dress by adding a layer of charcoal and then using a kneaded eraser to remove the layer of charcoal in the lighter areas and leaving the dark shadows. I also left the neck bones dark to highlight the bones. I lightened the areas above the breasts to emphasize the curvature and the reflecting light. I also started to remove charcoal with a pink rubber eraser to start the outline of the draping paper above the bust. Ive always found it difficult to show the shadows and curves of paper and cloth so if anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment.

Previous Day (Day 1)

Day 2 Progress

Day 1: Getting Started

Day 1: My first piece will be a reductive charcoal drawing of this still life set up. Charcoal has never been my favorite form of drawing because of how easily it smudges and how messy it can get. On the other hand reductive charcoal is nice because it is easy to fix a mistakes you make. Charcoal also works well when your image has many shadows because you can go from very dark darks to vibrant whites and the contrast can end up being beautiful. Feel free to comment anything I should change/ fix in the piece.

Start of Process

Still Life Set Up (Charcoal)

Overview:

On this blog, I will be posting pictures of my art that I am working on each time I work on it. I will then be talking about problems I am facing during the creation of this piece and how I have overcame them. I would also like this to be a place that artists can come and make suggestions to fix and better the pieces, help problem solve and give constructive criticism. The purpose of this blog is not to talk about art but is to help people solve problems they face in art. I hope this helps other young artists and answers some of the questions they may have to make amazing works of art. I will be dabbling in many types of art including charcoal, pen, and pencil drawing along with painting as well. I hope this blog helps you.