Aug 31, 2011

Speed Painting 22

29 MINUTES!

Because the school semester started, keeping my speed paintings to around a half hour. By the time summer rolls round, I'm gonna have such a breeze with hour-long paintings.

Darker values bottom mid-right. Burning branch angled incorrectly. Needs to be lit from below in a warmth. Darker trees in the back except for the lone one on the right which needs to be desaturated. Better contrast on the burning embers though overall that needs more work. Ground needs to be clearer and have more variations. Proud a bit because I got this much done this fast.



Aug 30, 2011

Ani12: Lecture

Ani 12 is awesome! John Clapp was awesome! I am sad I have to give it lower priority than my other classes. Silly TA 100W.

Notes I've written down:

John Clapp has a disorganization pet peeve.

Blind contour drawings have more importance that they are given. Perspective is often better in a blind contour drawing because when the brain attempts to remedy any supposed errors in a drawing to fit the perspective, the result is ruined instead.

Blind contour drawings irritate the left brain since it can't see the drawing to make the symbols. Making recognizable symbols is one of its main features. The left side believes it knows how to draw. After a while, it resigns and allows the right brain to take over. Until then, placate the voice and treat it like a crazy relative.


Drawing blind requires much more energy though because of the focus it requires. That's why infants require much rest since they have yet to develop the left side of their brain and all they do is take in visuals with their right brain.

You can tell a good artist when you see that their level of quality in a drawing hasn't dropped from their quality in an blind contour drawing.

Having or stroking an ego (left) will often hinder performance (right)

1p/2p/3p perspective does not refer to how many vanishing points there are because there can be a multitude of those. Rather the number refers to how many sides are receding of the x, y, z axis.
Four most common mistakes drawing the cube:
  1. There are no vanishing points. It is an isometric drawing.
  2. Vanishing points are too close. The cone of vision does not encompass the whole picture.
  3. There are multiple horizon lines.
  4. One side is too long.
__________
Presentation Notes:
Think in terms of the audience. Why do they care?
Address the audience. Lock eyes. This also prevents them from looking away.
If shy, imagine the presentation as a conversation with a best friend while looking at an imaginary person besides an audience member. They will simply think you're look at someone else.
With presentations, people are more interested with your opinion than facts.


With works of art, be sure to ask for a second opinion cause our work is easy to understand for us since we created it. The work has a creator-centric view.

Nervousness is good while drawing.

Go slow.
Try not to listen to music because it allows the left side of the brain something to focus on and keeps it active. At least no music till skills improve.

With semi/blind contours, instead of going around, go through (similar to a cross contour?) This will improve proportion as well as perspective.

For execution of straight lines, train your elbow with a familiar motion and simply adjust the paper to match the elbow. Also ghost your lines and don't watch the pen. Instead focus on the arrival point.

A perfect square depends on where the viewer is. One face already implies a vanishing point. As for judging the depth of the other face, make sure it's the least foreshortened one.

__________
John has hyphen eyebrows. He also hates lime green in zombie/high tech movies. He also dislikes the typical blue/orange movie poster. John believes Bunny to be an institutional navigator, and Courtney to be a cultural spotter which means he is up-to-date on new happenings.

If a stray line is made, draw over it. This trains the brain to not rush mistakes. Shapes are more accurate than lines. Photos have the assumption of reality. Drawings do not. The brain lengthens foreshortening. Draw through on cubes so distortion will be evident if it occurs on the hidden side of the cube.

Assurance and confidence can make up for sin (BS your way through things?) though you have to always meet deadlines. If you can't, make arrangements in advance. When you are in trouble, anything you say at that point is ridiculous. Only thing you can say is Sorry. I didn't get the work done."

Variables to consider during a project:
  • Time
  • Focus (Priority over other things?)/Attention (Aid?)
  • Money

You can never have all three usually. Either way, never sacrifice on quality.

Leadership is the ability to get people to do something difficult.

A good story is one in which the audience doesn't see what's coming next, one in which they want to and can relate to. Embarrassing stories are great to tell.

An exercise in making a good story is to listen to your inner child. That inner self wants that last donut. (They have that basic desire in which everyone can relate to?) Adults moderate their emotional roller coaster, but a child doesn't.

Perspective:
  • If one VP moves in 0.5 inches, the other VP moves out 2. (0.25, 4)
  • To find the diagonal vanishing point, you shoot a line out from the right angle intersection made by the VPS that is 45 degrees.
  • Out of these four points (2 VP, 1 SP, 1 Center of vision), you can only pick 3, the last one is fixed.
  • VPs are right angles to the SP.
__________
John thinks Cameron is serious business.

To correctly draw in a shape, you scribble in the shape rather than doing the outline first and filling that in. If you do the outline first, you are judging the shape but the curve and not the shape itself.

Negative shape is the introduction into drawing, and painting.

An expert will look at things differently from a novice. Learn to observe, have a good work ethic, tire yourself out the right way, and have the same form as when you've stared.

Try to draw the same way through a drawing. Some artist will do figures nicely, but when it comes to heads/hands, they will do it differently.

The way you feel about your work now is the way you feel about it for the rest of your life except fewer people will be able to tell.

Perspective is based on two rules:
  • Scale changes with distance.
  • Parallel lines converge on a point.
  • Contrast
  • Simplify
  • Negative Shapes
  • Squint
  • Shadow Shape
Cast Shadow - Hard
Form Shadow - Soft

Aug 29, 2011

Preserving Underpainting

Sean Boyles, man in charge at the Arsenal taught us a way to preserve our sketch/underpainting.

When we finish with our drawing, I believe we apply a layer of crystal clear, then a layer of matte medium. After that we can start painting. If we don't like it, we use fixative on top and it should eat away at the paint. Afterward reapply the crystal and matte.

Speed Painting 21

57m

Ground isn't green enough. Yellow and red could be more vibrant. Shapes could be more like trees.



Aug 28, 2011

Speed Painting 20

58m

Always need more contrast, especially in the rock formation. Water to be lighter and vegetation on shore to be darker. Forgot clouds. Kinda obsessed over the rock formation.



Aug 26, 2011

Speed Painting 19

1 hr.

Grass is so the wrong color. Also water. Everything. I blame it on Robin Hood and thai hunger.



Aug 24, 2011

Speed Painting 18

56m

Some shadows are too dark. Snow needs to be brighter and warmer. Sky needs some purple and less cloud. Vegetation too dark. Things aren't in their places.



Aug 23, 2011

Speed Painting 17

59 min.

Leaves need to be more saturated. Ground needs more yellow. Areas of darkness needs to be expanded on and needs more contrast.



Aug 20, 2011

Speed Painting 16

1 hour

=( Water and trees need to be darker. Right hand mountain isn't the correct size or place. Forest isn't tall enough. Overall sloppy work...


Aug 19, 2011

Speed Painting 15

59 min.

Mountain need more contrast and blue hue. Bottom portion needs to be warmer. Sky behind the mountain need to be lighter. Mountain shadow edge is incorrect.


Aug 14, 2011

Speed Painting 14

47 min.

I may be close plateau-ing (I know, lame at this level), but I like how this came out! Ripples texture needs to be conveyed better. Mountain needs to be less saturated. Windows too high. Curves and angles are off. So is proportions and placement. Though those are always problems. Bigger, brighter, dome. More contrast between dark and lights. nvm. I hate this.



Aug 13, 2011

Speed Painting 13

42 min.

Overall the picture needs to be more yellow.



Speed Painting 12

47 min.

Stole from Jon. XP Upper portion not desaturated enough. Tower is tilted and too bright on the white. The light isn't saturated enough though. The path is in the wrong place and so is the statue. Generally the lower portions aren't in the right place.


Aug 12, 2011

Speed Painting 11

1 hour exact.

Right side need more darker contrast. Stone wall needs contrast overall. Window frame needs to be more saturated. Pose is weird. Inside the booth requires more work. Also the bottom of the booth. Spent too much time on the window. Another photo form the Otto trip.


Aug 9, 2011

Character Design 2

Kyndal Lethia Summers, a forced illusionist who wishes to be a summoner. For a comic that my friends and I are doing based on a medieval world. My designs need more work. Again simple for drawing over and over.


Character Design

Matea Ethan Hal, An assassin character for a comic that my friends and I are planning on doing based on a medieval world. I really need to work on design since I'm going into vis dev. That or story. Trying to keep him simple so I don't stress over drawing him over and over.


Speed Painting 10

44 min.

Humans need more work. Photo by Jock Sturges. SKIN, Y U SO HARD? I could get it if I had more time.

Aug 8, 2011

Speed Painting 9

26m

Grass isn't the right color. The groves of trees aren't the correct shape. Neither is the path. So many things wrong. Can I blame it on the green problem?


Speed Painting 8

43 min.

That wall is angled incorrectly and is the wrong color/shade. Stone floor isn't dark enough. Right side is overall too bright. Sky isn't as warm. Shadow of house isn't as dark. Lighting on house isn't as bright. Guess doing two speed paintings in a day to catch up doesn't help you improve.

Apr 13th. 53 min. Oh good. I was worried I didn't improve anywhere.

Speed Painting 7

1:01

So difficult, but Jess and Holly were doing it so I thought I shouldn't avoid it. Still not as bright or saturated as the original even though I did up it a notch. The angles, width, and height are off though I kept on thinking that things were centered and straight. Blargh. Should've worked more on that door since it's a good focal point.



Aug 5, 2011

Speed Painting 6

45 min

More color in the background. Shadow shapes of the bush needs to be more defined and correct. Tree needs to be more correct in shapes as well. Tree is flat.

Speed Painting 5

52 min.

I know I said I'd do an imaginary one, but I attempted and I believe I need a bit more practice. Plus I should save all imaginary one for when I feeling creative.

Now there's too much contrast in the clouds. The tree is not bent correctly. The leaves need a bit more yellow to them. The shape of the beach isn't correct or as saturated.

April 10th. 38 min. The leaves and sky are dull. Too bright in the clouds. I was in a phase in which I preferred the airbrush.

Aug 3, 2011

Speed Painting 4

50 min.

I like Jonathan Apilado's idea of painting imaginary scenes so for every four images I attempt to replicate, the fifth shall be an imaginary one which means that's next for tomorrow. That's fortunate since I have backgrounds to do tomorrow for kickass and I'll likely be drained.

For today, edges need to be more clear cut. Tower is short and stout, and the grass is still desaturated. There are also little errors here and there but those are the major ones. Again, motivated by Jess and Jon.



And as a bonus, I went looking for my old speed painting of this piece. This is from April 11th and it took me 52 minutes. I'd like to say that I improved JUST a smidgen. The color here is more saturated though but it's way shorter. Sigh, it was only yesterday that little Tommy Tower was just thi~s tall.


Speed Painting 3

1 hour.

 Oh gosh, that arch is frickin' deformed. You can also see that the color of the wall escapes me past the very last moment. I need contrast to be drilled into my head. It's a WEE bit better from my previous, I think. Need lighting lighter and wall darker. If you wanna see a good version, check out Jessica Tong's. She so good. Imma in a secret competition with her. Shh.

Aug 1, 2011

Speed Painting 2

58 minutes. Again a photo from the Otto's trip. I need more contrasts between the lights and dark. Not saying my color choices are spot on though but color is a secondary matter.

Speed Painting 1

An actual painting in which the time limit was a stressed factor. 29 minutes. Yes, I will not round up for that minute sympathy gained from seeing what little time I had. XD Church was waiting for me. Anyways, I know it could be better but hopefully it inspires others to at least keep at their own speed paintings. Photo courtesy of the Otto family.

Greenery value is off. Placement of statues is off, and everything could be improved on with the stone stand. Did not get to play with non-local color. I still like it though cause it could be worse for getting back into speed painting.