Thursday, May 14, 2009

Dragon and Dog WIP




From the video I added a light green wash. Then I put a red wash over the dragon and a brown wash over the dog. I then took a bit of brown mixed with blue and reinforced some shadows here and there. Also added yellow in a couple places like the dragon's eyes.

See how the blue and yellow from earlier are adding lots of color variety, especially in the red of the dragon? It makes the image much more interesting than if it was just solid blocks of red paint. I'd be fighting to put that color back in later and wondering why things don't have any depth. This is why things I have tried to paint in the past looked awful. I'm focusing on value first, then color variation, then the actual color of objects. If I get better I won't have to use this process I think, but, I don't really think like a painter at all. Painters practically sculpt with color. I'm not in that mindset yet. I just draw because I don't know any better.

1 comment:

SCIBOTIC said...

I'm more use to working opaquely myself but only because I had trouble with grisaille until recently, your posts helped me figure out where I was screwing it up.

Once you define a palette it is easy to start cutting into planes and pushing around the form, mixing new colours as you need them. That's all it really is, is taking your washes and mixing their influence on the colors on the palette instead on putting it directly on the canvas.

If you're struggling you just need to simplify the value range until you can handle it. I find a few major values to be great way to start.

When doing that traditionally, don't be shy with the amount of paint you take out of the tube, with the amount of mixing you end up doing you need plenty of it.

Also with acrylics you'll need a spray bottle to constantly wet everything, you can't mix paint if it's dry.

At it's best it really does feel like sculpting and I'd highly recommend playing with it. If you're looking for an ass kicking there's also straight up alla prima.

Your blog is currently my favourite and I really look forward to seeing what you like and what you're doing.

Still working my way through those damn animations you listed. :|