Lock Down

Hello everyone

The last time I made a post was the 16th March 2020. A lot has happened since then, we currently undergoing and facing a unexpected pandemic and have been put down on a lock down for sometime now no way of knowing when it might be lifted. Anyway my hopes right now is to get back on the roller coaster and get back to documenting my art and my artistic development. I've been considering getting back to the basics and the fundamentals of colour and light through traditional painting.
Here is a image of that study with the use of a limited colour pallet. I've tried my best to capture the subtleties of the blue tints in the cast shadows and contrast with warm saturated light with a strong emphasis on the values to show clarity and that is appeasing to the viewers eye.
I tend to find Gouache a challenging medium to paint with but very enjoyable especially when using the alla prima techniques inspired by many of the master artists and Richard Schmit. Which reminds me i still have yet to read through. Another book that I want to read again would be Andrew Loomis Creative illustration and get to grips about the mindset of creating an illustration with a sufficient and yet creative process, being able to tackle new problems with the right mindset is something I've been striving to get better at recently and improve effectively.

Traditional painting is something I've been wanting to get back to doing again properly and now is a great opportunity to do so with the current ongoing situation. Learning again to paint with a physical brush with limited strokes has been a very useful learning experience and eye opening to me because of the restriction. I've realised to get most out of these studies I should set my self a goal of what I really want to achieve from them and really try to apply them to my personal work as much as possible. I noticed the main benefits of working with traditional media is the fact that I now often try to limit the number of layers I make down to at least 3-5 when working digitally and try to be more efficient with every decision I make. I have decided to implement this study as part of my uni work and too use the maximum amount of time more sensibly, and prioritise the work so its the thing i can get out the way so I can start learning new things that will help benefit me in the long run. 

Tonko House and observing realism

This week I have been trying to get back into observing the complexities of colour and light from life. The big challenge of painting objects in diffused light is being able to accurately separate each value structure with its own distinct local value. Limiting to roughly 3-5 values has been a thought process and way of thinking for many acclaimed illustrators and seasoned painters throughout history in order to achieve clarity and to communicate a message in their pieces.

Reflectivity and the start of studying Old Masters.

For this post I wanted to share my studies of leyendecker portraits and the challenge of rendering reflectivity of materials and objects. I feel i learned a lot doing both of these exercises and feel i'm making gradual progress. The next month i will be studying more environments from masters and compositions.

Working on those Edges and Values

The past two weeks I have been grinding through a few exercise mainly honing my understanding the fundamental of values and edges. A mixture of assignments from Schoolism and Ctrl+paint. I have definitely learnt a lot of things from these assignments not only did i find them challenging but has helped me to find ways of painting with a more efficient painting process and a better mindset.  

The discovery of the pen tool in the toolkit has changed the way i paint and has helped me greatly to form a variety of soft and hard edges within my work.  

Another area that i would definitely would like to put more attention to is the local colour and contrast of objects at different distances. I currently find distribution of details and textures quite a challenge to balance to a degree that i am satisfied with.

My goal for the upcoming weeks are to work on getting better at relighting scenes and studying different lighting scenarios and source.

Rendering Complex forms_KidsToyScooter

Hi everyone was unfortunately unable to post last weeks blog post but will update everything i have been working on the past 2 weeks. I have mainly been working on how to render basic and complex forms and material with little more confidence and with efficiency. I have learned that when it comes to rendering any subject patience is key and attention to edges are also key to describing the form as much as the internal contours of the subject and the definition of textures. It looks like based on the feedback i received based on my recent concept that i need to rework on my construction of basic forms in order for me to move on to more complex forms.

Therefore the key focus for next week would be to get better at value distribution of planes. Perhaps take a class from brainstorm and lighting with Sam Neilson. 

Crossbow and form rendering

The premise and focus of this week was to practice rendering and get my crossbow concept to a satisfactory finish. I struggled quite a bit with rendering material and its something im looking to practice for next week's challenge from the foundation patreon group and Sam Neilsons Classes.

The main thing i learnt this week about rendering is that it's best to have a clear idea of the material you are painting and reference of what you are trying to render and do prior 30-45 min warm up studies and break each part into segments before applying a soft ambient gradient to each plane and any details. Patience is key, the crucial part is also the underlying structure underneath its good to get a solid structure and try to work on getting a solid line design before tackling a materials and rendering it. I also had a go at using the pen tool with selections and try a more clean strategy to paint with the fewest paint strokes as possible, practicing how to implement the gradient tool in my work flow has been a major eye opener and help figure out strategies of working more efficient and smarter in general.

My Challenge next week is to learn to paint different materials in black and white and render then to the best of my ability.

Creating the Crossbow for a first person shooter was great fun. I found this assignment a great challenge and there are alot of areas for improvement in terms of functionality and practicality in design. Which made me realise i should have done a bit more research on which ill definitely remember for future assignments. Overall im satisfied with what i learnt about rendering from this piece, however bit displeased with the overall outcome of the design, the continuity and the process of creating from 2D to 3D and back to 2D disrupted a bit of the the flow of my original intent and lost some of the initial forms. Main studies these coming weeks will be to get better at identifying basic forms and rendering them and to paint with careful attention how the values are changing between transitions of forms

Form and Rendering (Crossbow)

My main focus for this week was to practice rendering geoforms and begin to learn how to plot and depict convincing shadows on matte surface planes. I managed to produce a rough block out for my crossbow but will need to work on next week implementing a 3D block out using possibly blender to draw over. Aside from that, this week was a fairly busy week went to a few guest speakers discussing the future of UK entertainment industry and its ties with the education. 

I feel i could have made more progress with my crossbow design and feel i should spend next week honing it into more of a portfolio piece. However so far I am satisfied what i managed to produce in a span of three hours rendering the piece and do my best to get as much done for the coming Sunday.

My focus next week will be on values and rendering more basic forms from foundation patreon course and Ctrl+paint.

These rendering exercises have been challenging but a great learning experience and has helped me realise the importance of the underlying structure of the drawing.