You Can't Wait for Inspiration

Resources

I almost forgot to post the list of resources I used during the course of this project! I didn’t really mention them in my reflections because most don’t relate to a specific series or painting, so I figured I would simply compile a list here.  (For the artists, I linked to a specific work of art that inspired me, but if you have the time I would strongly suggest you explore the rest of their art.  It’s all amazing.)

1. BMF Art: Impressionist painting tutorial.

2. Anndr on Deviantart: Digital artist; inspiration for the colour theory portion of the project.

3. Fictionist on Deviantart: Colour scheme and subject inspiration for ‘Little Red’ series.

4. Leonid Afrimov on Deviantart: Modern impressionist painter.

5. Andreas Rocha on Deviantart: Digital modern impressionist painter.

6. Van Gogh Gallery: Online galler of the works of Vincent van Gogh.

7. Rob McKay Photography: Images of birds; ‘Paradise in Flight’ references.

8. Nlmda on Tumblr: Modern digital impressionist painter (painting process).

9. iBiblio.org: History and definition of the impressionist style.

10. eHow.com: Impressionist painting techniques.

It seems a little strange to me that there are exactly ten of them, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

Now THAT is the end.

Project Summary

March 31, 2012

I chose this project, starting in January, because I was uncomfortable with my abilities in the realm of painting.  In high school, the only thing we really learned was colour mixing - we were given photographs and told to paint them.  I was good at that, at copying down what I saw - but I wanted to be able to do my own work, my own projects, my own images.  This project was meant to teach me a specific painting style and help me get comfortable with colours without looking at photographs, and I feel that I have achieved that objective.

During the course of this project, I spent over fifty hours just painting, with an additional hour or so per mini-series for sketching out ideas and another hour and a half or so for the final series’ concept sketches.  I’ve come away from this with a few important lessons.

1. Base coats make everything better.  They help you get a basic idea of what you want your painting to look like without making you worry about details.
2. Mixing paint on the canvas is not as hard as it looks, once you get used to it, and it helps the painting come together and not look so flat.
3. Shades of grey and brown are the most expressive colours in your palette.  They can be any colour and any shade without being too garish, and they always blend together really well.
4. PLAN EVERYTHING.  Plan out composition, colour schemes, and details, and everything will flow when you get down to actually painting, at least when you’re first learning how to do something.  Until you’re an expert at something and it comes naturally, you should always know exactly what you want before you start.
5. Clean lines and shapes are not the end-all be-all of art.  (For someone who usually works primarily with pencil sketches, this was a huge thing to come to terms with.)

Sometimes during this project I just hated it - I felt like painting was consuming my life.  But overall I really enjoyed what I came up with.  Mostly I just prefer to have painted than to paint, and I don’t think that’s too uncommon.  My abilities in this medium and style have improved a great deal, and I’m happy about that.  Colour is no longer a mystery or an enemy, and I feel that I have  a comfortable grasp on impressionism (although obviously it will take more than a few months to really master the style).

All in all, my target has been reached, and I’m pleased with the results.  In the space of a few months I went from this

to this

and I couldnt be more pleased with that if I tried.

And that’s the end.

“Spring” Reflections

March 28, 2012

“Out of Reach” Part Four

For “Spring,” I spent two and a half hours on Sunday putting down a second base coat, and then another hour and a half today doing touch-ups.  I’m much more pleased with it than I expected to be, once I figured out a colour scheme I liked.  In this one, at least, I’m quite happy with Summer’s tree.  The colours are kind of bleak, which is usually what early spring is like, so I think it captures the mood/atmosphere I was going for.

That’s about all I have to say about the painting…I’m happy with the entire series, at this point, so that’s all I’m going to say about that.

“Autumn” Reflections

March 24, 2012

“Out of Reach” Part Three

I worked on “Autumn” today.  This one is turning out to be more trouble than I had hoped.  The perspective on it is different, so there isn’t any sky actually visible, but I wanted to make it clear where the focus was, so I sort of have yellow…air, or something, in that space.  It looks strange, though, so I’m thinking I’ll go in and add some tans and whites…

I spent four hours on this layer, but I’ll have to do another one.  Hopefully it won’t take as long.  Mostly it’s the fault of Summer’s tree - I tried to use defined brushstrokes on it, but with the perspective that took an absurd amount of time (an hour? hour and a half?) and it still looks strange.  I think in the third layer I’ll go with less defined brushwork, like with “Summer.”

———-

March 25, 2012

I spent another hour and a quarter on “Autumn,” and I’m more pleased with the tans than I was with the yellow air.  I’m still not sure how I feel about Summer’s tree, but it’s reached a place where I can let it be seen without embarrassment, so I’ll accept that for now.  I may touch it up later on.

(Autumn’s total: seven and a quarter hours.)

“Summer” Reflections

March 23, 2012

“Out of Reach” Part Two

I finished “Summer on Wednesday.  It really only required a couple quick layers because I was pretty well satisfied with the base coat, and I ended up being finished in four and a half hours.  That adds up to a total of six and a half hours for the whole thing - which I’m really insanely pleased with.  That’s about how much time I spent on my baseline painting, which was about a quarter the size of this one.  I’d call that alone a vast improvement, besides which I actually really love “Summer.”  I think it has a sense of depth and atmosphere that the baseline painting didn’t, and I’m really pleased with that.

I’ll try to finish the other two this weekend, and then I can have this week to put everything together to hand in…

I’m not looking forward to fixing Spring.  The original base colours I chose are pale blue and pale orange, and it…it looks like Easter eggs.  Bleah.

That is all.