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!

Illustration 3: Final

"It's so subLIME!"  My husband was helping inspire me while I worked on my final painting by coming up with lots of lime-related puns.  This painting was an editorial illustration of an article about the lime shortage.  Apparently lime prices have skyrocketed as Mexican tree disease, drug cartels, and bad weather have caused a shortage. (you learn something new every day!)  As Andy said "these sorts of articles are really putting Mexico in the LIMElight, aren't they?" :)  Anyway, this was my idea of how to convey the main points of that article in an illustration!

Illustration 3: In-class work

Hello!  Here are some of the in-class and other assignments that we have done in my acrylic painting class.  We had a lot of fun trying new things in class and keeping ourselves creative.

This assignment involved using visual metaphors.  I was working on using light washes to give it a dusty look.

I tried something new and used gold foil to emphasize the "halo" aspect of the lasso!

This was our very first assignment in this class-- I was just trying to get the hand of acrylics.  I realized during this piece that I needed to buy some much smaller brushes (those paper lines are thin!).

This was an in-class project.  We were working off very old photographs and using layers of washes.

We experimented with collage in class too!  It was fun creating different patterns and colors and putting them all together.

We used fashion photos and film stills to create color palettes and composition studies.

I forgot my palette the day we did the color studies so I used a piece of watercolor paper.  It ended up looking like art itself!

Illustration 3: The Tailor

Another assignment we have had in my Illustration 3 class is to do an illustration of either a tinker, a tailor, a soldier, or a spy in a precarious situation.  I chose a tailor.  Most of the people in my class who chose a tailor seemed to create slightly comical images of them all tangled up in their thread or something.  I decided to illustrate a Jewish tailor in WWII era Germany being forced with his fellow Jews out of their homes.  It was a little darker than the other themes.  But I still wanted it to be a more innocent-looking illustration-- such as one that could be found in a children's book.  It was also supposed to have an analogous color scheme.

I did my line drawing with pen, scanned it, and printed it out on Arches cold-press paper.  I then painted the whole thing in acrylics, scanned it into photoshop where I added some patterns and touched up some areas.

Illustration 3: Star Wars

I am taking the Illustration 3 class right now.  It is an acrylic-based course.  Acrylics have been a bit of a struggle, but I feel much more confident using them now than I did at the beginning of the semester.

One of our assignments was to illustrate a vehicle used in another time or place.  Obviously the vehicle I decided to paint was an X-wing fighter.  I completely dedicate this piece to my mother for instilling in me a life-long love of all things Star Wars.  

Part of the assignment was to incorporate texture.  I used acrylic matte medium on the x-wing and death star areas and created texture by dabbing the wet medium with a paper towel and scraping it with the end of my paintbrush.  It created a cool effect!  I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Annual Student Figure Drawing Show

Hello everyone!  I promise that I'm still doing art, I just haven't gotten my class projects back yet.  But when I do get them back they will definitely be posted on here!

In the meantime, I wanted to do a quick post about the Annual Student Figure Drawing Show.  I had two pieces selected to be in the show!  I was very honored-- especially since my work was up next to such wonderful art done by my peers.  One of my pieces (the ballerina girl) won third place in the show as well!  I thought I would post them here for those of you who would like to see them.  (If you have been following my blog for a while you may recognize them as I have posted them before)

And thank you to everyone who came by the show to see my art-- I really appreciate it! :)