Painting again!

I finally have started painting again! I haven't found (or more accurately: made) the time to do any serious oil painting since I finished classes this past Spring.  But then we had an all-day blizzard about a week and a half ago!  My work was cancelled and so I had an entire day stuck at home with nothing to do.  The conditions were perfect for finally motivating myself to break out the paints. It was a little hard starting up again after such a hiatus, but it was really enjoyable.  I decided to stick with what I'd last been practicing: portraits!  I even took some progress shots of the second, smaller portrait I did (a pseudo self-portrait) so you can see my process.  In addition to the paintings I also have done a few sketches and some more Sketchbook Pro digital coloring.  Enjoy!

There's nothing quite like painting while watching your favorite movie during a blizzard.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out (especially for my first one after so long)!

 Here are the progress photos showing my process for the second painting (the final picture is the finished product):

 Sketching on colored background

Laying in a flat skin tone, refining outlines, and starting to define general cool light/color shapes

Adding warm light/color to the other side of the face, starting to block in the big shadow shapes in the hair

Smoothing shapes in the face, painting in the hair and collar, refining detail in the eyes, and adding some background color

                                                     

Here are some recent drawings from my sketchbook!

A teen I saw while working at the library

A quick doodle of a woman I saw at the store where I work (there are definite benefits to working in places with a wide variety of customers/patrons)

A little idea sketch for a project I'm working on

This is the colored version of that Classical Indian/Ancient Egyptian dress I posted about last time.

New Website!

Once again I have neglected my art blog (and my drawing in general). It's an eternal struggle.  But I do have good news-- I was using a lot of the time when I wasn't drawing/posting art to create a website! Hooray!  It's such a nice feeling to have a professional-looking place to showcase my best pieces again.  Please check it out! 

natashamickelson.wordpress.com

One of the reasons I was anxious to get my website up and running is so that I have a place to put my figure drawings.  So as not so alienate any potential readership, I will no longer be uploading my nude figure drawings to this blog.  However, I will still continue to attend the weekly figure drawing sessions and do a lot of drawings through that, so keeping checking my website every so often to see which future pieces I feel most proud of!

And here are some sketches (sorry there aren't more), and one figure drawing (don't worry-- it doesn't show any sensibility-offenders). Enjoy!

There are so many awesome people to draw in the city!

This outfit is based on a dream I had that combined a Classical Indian dance costume with something ancient Egyptian.

I'm very proud of how this turned out. Yay light and shadow!

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!