Aries wip

[Gina]

Posting for comments, critiques.

Drawing is 14x17. Canvas for the painting is 18x24 so I have a bit more space to work with. Used ref photo I took of a friend of mine.

The drawing (mildly cropped):

http://www.ginawhittam.com/images/aries.jpg

The start of the painting (very! cropped):
http://www.ginawhittam.com/eatpoo/ariessewn1.jpg

(I didn't increase the size of the drawing, only the size of the canvas - different % resizing in Photoshop)

I'm too lazy to scan this bastard in 4-6 sections to get the whole thing, so I just scanned the top two center sections of the canvas to make this harshly cropped scan. There's not much happening with his arm atm, so I figured it could be cropped out and save scanning.

At this stage, I'm just getting the basic values and shadings in. Color will be next.

[Jason Manley]

my only suggestions at this point r.....


keep working on defining a light source and light pattern...have light sides and shadow sides...planes of the head facing your hypothetical light source can be lighter...planes facing away from the lightsource can be middle to darker...the planes where the forms turn completely out of the light can be the darkest part of your shadows as a general theory to use.

shoot reference if you have to...but setup a good lighting situation with lamps or whatever...track lights...good light reference is key until you have a completely firm understanding of how light can work.


dont be afraid to work on his expression and adjust the drawing as you work...look at him like you would a person/creature...look at him like you are going to engage him with words or actions or vice versa....when you look at him like that does he have the right expression? Does he look back at you? Does he engage you? Do you want him to look back at you or down and away? slight adjustments can be made to increase the intensity of his expression in any given direction...look at him...look at him and feel his expression...read it....if it reads and feels like you want then you are closer to being done...if you look at him and he is looking like he is making an angry face rather than really being angry etc...then maybe jump in and adjust some more.

try to feel his expression inside you as well as see it on him...tis a hard thing to do but its part of the secret to art.

keep it up

j

[Gina]

Thanks for your reply.

I agree, the lighting needs more development. The light source isn't clear enough in the drawing, or in the painting (yet!) something I hope to remedy. The reference pic (http://www.ginawhittam.com/eatpoo/patrickref.jpg) that I'm working with has standard frontal camera flash lighting, so I'm working with the light source at the front. I plan to use a curved portion of a dull and slightly rusting spanish helmet to use as ref for the shoulder armor. Once I make more progress on establishment of the lighting, I'll post another pic.

The background (both idea and execution) is very much still under development. I'm trying to finalize my decisions on it, and the basic values of it before working on adding color. I have him in the situation of just having bashed his way through a heavy wooden door set into a stone wall. (cannot be seen in this cropped version, maybe I'll take a digi pic to show the full painting)
The questions I'm working to find answers to are: where is he coming from? a large hall or a small room? what type of space is it? How can I create a feeling of depth in the space behind him? etc. I need to work through these before I can move forward.
When I did the initial drawing, I really didn't have any sort of background or setting in mind. The picture I had of my friend was an interesting one, and I needed to work more with male faces and forms (I do mostly women) so I decided on creating a fantasy pic of him. I also thought that he would enjoy the pic, and some elements were influenced by my thoughts on how he may envision himself in a fantasy setting. I liked what I ahd done with it, so I decided to do a painting. Deciding on a background/setting afterward is a challenge. =/

The reference pic (http://www.ginawhittam.com/eatpoo/patrickref.jpg) that I'm working with is not ideal. It's small and has bad lighting to boot. Most of my trouble has indeed been trying to capture the anger. In the ref pic, he's really just making an angry face, but in the painting, I'm going for more of a feeling of actual anger/rage. Some of the anger/rage will be intensified through the color and finishing details, but I'd like to get that feel as much as possible as a basis to build on in the beginning (this stage). I've made some progress on the "anger/rage" from the initial drawing to the preliminary painting, but I feel it needs more work in this painting stage.

I'll keep your suggestions and comments in mind as I move forward with this.

Thanks!

[Jason Manley]

yer welcome...

i figured it was a flash photo...not a great way to take ref pics but sometimes ya gotta do what you gotta do....a solution would be to set someone up under a decent light situation..a friend..even you...and make a similar face...that way you can see how the light works if you need to...just change the lighting on the final painting based on the way it works in the new reference...tis just a solution...Im sure there are many.

as far as the background...yeah working on an image before you know what it is going to be makes filling in the unknowns very challenging. If you post the entire painting...i can perhaps post a suggestion for the background in terms of creating space using theory...

for now...look at the works of gustave dore ...he was a great composer of space using lighting and values...rembrandt as well...look at their spaces...maybe using similar devices as their own you will find the right solution.

thumbnails thumbnails thumbnails...they will keep you from getting frusterated...work out the problems very small...crank thru a bunch of them and dont use one unless you are satisfied with it...thats what i would do if i was stuck..you simply have to work through it...find similar images/paintings/reference/lighting examples/walls etc...that will help too.

Id definitely like to see you work through this problem...you will be a stronger artist if you do...


j