I'm Back!

Hello, my friends!  Long time no see, right?!  Sorry about the multi-month hiatus-- this summer has been pretty crazy.  We moved out of our apartment and into my in-laws house, we went on a trip to Arizona, we went with my family to EUROPE for a month (so much beautiful art I couldn't handle it), my sister got married, we moved across the country, I got two new jobs, and Andy started a grad school. PHEW!!!

I realize of course that there is still no excuse for not doing art that whole time.  I'm still working on getting back into the habit of doing art on my own regularly instead of just for class (this is a serious goal of mine).  I've been doing better the past couple of weeks though, and I wanted to share some of the things I've done recently. :)

Drawings of people I've seen recently

                            

                                                  I decided to try coloring one of the sketches with Sketchbook Pro (I'm still trying to figure out this program)

Playing with markers!

Drawing hands from paintings in the Yale Art Museum

I drew the main characters in a novel I just read: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  It's a fabulous book and I highly recommend it.  I tried out a slightly different style for these drawings and I'm very happy with how they turned out.  Hooray for fanart! :)

Werner Pfennig

Marie-Laure LeBlanc

Also I've finally found an open Figure Drawing group! Huzzah!!! Going to the first one and starting to draw seriously felt like a breath of fresh air-- I hadn't even realized just how much I missed it until I started again.  Unfortunately it's on the same night that I close at the candy store where I work, so I only get to go for the last 30-45 minutes and most of those are short-ish poses.  But it's so worth it.  I've felt a little rusty, but it's coming back. :)

I only got the last 5 minutes of this pose, so here's a peek at how I start drawings sometimes

Head Painting: Final Out-of-class Paintings

We had to do a couple paintings out of class for our final.  One of them had to be a self-portrait, but the other could be whatever we chose.  I think they both turned out pretty well (especially since I struggle with warm lighting some times), but I'm particularly proud of the self-portrait.  Painting/drawing yourself can be really hard!  Somehow it all came together though, and I am very happy with it! :)

This has been such a great class.  I've learned so much and feel a lot better about my abilities as an artist.  I hope I can continue to develop these skills and get better and better forever!  I LOVE ART!!!

PS: Since I won't have any more art classes... ever... (aahh!) I'm going to make sure I am diligent about doing art on my own for fun and posting it to this blog.  So keep checking back! And thanks for your support!

Head Painting: Week 14

I can't believe this was my last ever class at BYU!  I'm freaking out about it, but I'm glad I was at least able to end on a good note. :)  I think this final painting turned out pretty well!  The colors were a lot of fun to play around with and it ended up really looking like the model too.  I'd say it's a pretty good summary of everything I've learned in this class this semester.

Head Painting: Week 13

The semester is almost over! Aahh! I'm pretty sad because I've really loved this class and feel like I've learned so much.  I've just got to make sure I keep doing this sort of thing on my own even if it's not assigned homework!

I kept playing a little with brighter, bolder colors in this first painting.  It was interesting having the fabric there to play around with (since we've never really done any drapery stuff in this class).  I also did a lot of the fabric with a palette knife at the end to add texture.  I also took some progress pictures so you can kinda see my process! :)

Background color, "sketch", and starting to lay flat color shapes in the face

Adding dimension to the face with shadows, highlights, and color variation

Adding color to the scarf and the yellow rim lighting on the face

Refined details in the face (such as the eyes) and added more textured color in the scarf and background with a palette knife

This second painting was weird.  There was this super unnatural green light on one side and a bright red light on the other.  It was a struggle to paint the model without her looking like a) Christmas or b) an alien/zombie.  The fact that she kept her eyes closed a lot of the time also led to a slightly creepy feel for this painting.  Oh well!

Head Painting: Week 12

We had some more men to paint this week!  We kept working on things we've done before (like colored lighting, double light sources, etc.).  I felt like the first painting this week turned out really nicely and is a good representation of what I think my general "style" tends to be.  The second painting, however, is totally different! I decided to go out on a limb and be much more bold and experimental with my colors.  It was fun!  :)  Also, hats are weird.

I love the purple on the cool-light side of his neck in contrast to the hot yellow and orange!

Head Painting: Week 11

This week I tried to merge my usual style/method with the thicker painting stuff I'd been doing the week before.  I agree with my teacher that the paintings just look a little nicer and more professional when they have more paint on them.  I really enjoy this method, and I'm going to keep working on completely getting the hang of it.

I tried to stay a little more loose with this first one, and then I tightened it up on the second one. We've also still been playing around with the double, contrasting-temperature light sources.

I only had just over 2 hours for this one instead of the normal 3-- there's more I would have liked to do with it but I ran out of time!

Head Painting: Week 10

This week I decided to force myself out of my comfort zone and TRY SOMETHING NEW! My teacher's biggest recurring suggestion for me is to "put more paint on the canvas".  My paintings tend to be pretty thin and flat (which is more comfortable for me).  Also-- oil paint is expensive! But Brother Barrett says to "paint like a rich person"-- don't skimp on the amount of paint you use.  I finally decided to throw hesitation to the wind and pile the paint on (well... it seemed like a lot of paint to me).  I was actually rather pleased with how it turned out too!

I also decided to try direct painting for the first time.  Instead of doing a whole drawing underneath and then painting it in, direct painting means just building everything up as you go.  It was scary not having a drawing to reference, but it turned out alright. :)

Look at that thick paint!

I kept doing the same sort of thing for the second painting for the week, but it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted. But overall this week was a really good learning experience!

Head Painting: Week 9 (plus some figure drawing)

We kept going this week with the contrast of two, conflicting-temperature light sources.  This time it was a bright red light instead of yellow.  It was tricky and my paintings didn't turn out quite the way I wanted.  Oh well! You win some, you lose some. :)

The light from both sides was pretty dim and I struggled with keeping the painting low-key and not having a distinct light/dark side.

The lighting was a little more straightforward with this one (brighter light on one side) and I think I did a little better with it

I also did some more figure drawing in Springville!  I LOVE FIGURE DRAWING.  That is all.  :)

Head Painting: Week 8

Last week we started some paintings with colored light and multiple light sources.  It got complicated really quickly.  Our model was lit from one side with soft, cool, natural light, and then lit from the other side with a hot, yellow-colored bulb.  Even though it was a bit mind-boggling I feel like I was able to figure it out pretty well and was happy with how it turned out! :)

Head Painting: Week 7 (aka Out-of-class Assignments)

Two weeks ago we had some guest artists come and lecture or do demos during class, so we didn't get any painting done ourselves.  But the artists were great!

Instead, I worked on the the three out-of-class paintings we had to do for our midterm.  We were supposed to use three specific palettes/techniques with each one.

The first one was done with only white, burnt sienna, and ultramarine blue.  I had a tricky time re-figuring out how to make this limited palette work.

The second painting was done with the "Zorn" palette (white, black, cad red, and yellow ochre).  After using this palette several times in class I feel like I was a little more comfortable with it.

The requirement for the third one was that we were supposed to paint it in black and white first, and then glaze the color over the top of it.  I've never attempted glazing before and had to youtube some demos to see what the heck I was supposed to do!  It was rough, but now I have a little experience so my next attempt should be better!

Figure Drawing!

I mentioned in the last post that I had a piece accepted to the annual BYU Figure Drawing show.  Here is the drawing that was in the show (the buff guy) as well as a gesture and a nude drawing that I've done recently.

This drawing was done when I went to an open figure drawing session in Springville

Head Painting: Week 6

This week we started branching out to a fuller pallete.  The first painting was with black, white, cad red, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, and cad yellow.  The second painting was with those same colors but also with some phthalo green and ultramarine blue.

We also finally did some paintings with COOL LIGHT!  I mean, I like warm light as much as the next guy, but for some reason cool light makes more instinctive sense to me-- it's easier.  And, consequently, these two paintings turned out be be my favorites!

Head Painting: Week 5

Recent news:  I had a piece accepted to BYU's Annual Figure Drawing Show! :)  I'm super excited about it because it's my last one before I graduate, and this makes three years in a row.  There are a TON of awesome pieces in the show so I highly recommend that you check it out.  It will be on the 4th floor of the HFAC from now through February 27 (I think).

Anyway, here is another painting!  I need to start getting to class earlier before the room fills up so I don't get stuck doing profiles every week.  But I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out.  Once again we were using the Zorn palette (black, white, cad red, and yellow ochre).  Also this model had some fun hair. :)

Head Painting: Week 4

This week we started using the "Zorn" palette which is: white, black, a warm red, and yellow ochre.  Thankfully it wasn't as tricky as I thought it would be to get the shadows to look cool with such a warm palette.

The first painting I did this week did NOT turn out.  As Brother Barrett said-- all the problems originated from not getting my drawing (the proportions and features of the face) right before I kept going.  Oh well! That's called learning I guess.  And thankfully the next painting (the one below) was much better in my opinion.

Pretty cool to think that his "blue" shirt is actually just black and white mixed together!  Good ol' relativity. :)

Head Painting: Week 3

This week in painting we actually had some male models! That's always a fun change of pace.  I did them in pretty different styles-- I'm still trying to figure out what I like and what works best for me.

For this one I tried to keep the shadow side really simple and do all the modeling in the light.  Basically I was trying to turn my painting into a figure drawing as much as possible. :)

The Prodigal Blogger Returns! (aka: Head Painting Weeks 1 and 2)

Hello interwebs!  Long time no see, eh?  Well I'm actually taking an art class again (the last coupld semesters I was focusing on finishing my minors and didn't take any art classes). So I am actually going to start posting art again! :)

This semester I am taking my VERY LAST art class at BYU.  Once I finish this class I am officially done with my Illustration major.  I'm glad that I'm ending with this class (although, as you can guess, I would have loved a figure drawing class too), because I wanted to get more solid at painting before I left school.  The class is called "Painting the Human Head" which sounds kind of funny.  But portrait painting is something I've always wanted to learn and be good at-- so it's great!  I am taking it from Bob Barrett (have I ever taken a class from anyone else?) and so far I like it a lot.


These images are from the first two weeks of class.  The first one (yikes) was basically all about trying to remember how the heck oil painting works at all.  It was a little rough, but since it's been over a year since my last time doing oils I didn't feel too bad.

In the next one I focused on increasing contrast in the lights and darks (since I felt like this was a weakness with the first painting).

The third painting is where I decided to try playing with color more (and I reigned in my shadows to a more realistic level).  I had slightly less time on this one, so the shapes aren't as smooth.  But I seem to be improving with each painting-- so hopefully this trend continues!