Motorcycle WIP

Oil on primed A4 illustration board.

Digital painting WIP (updated 2)

 

Edit 2: The stage after rendering, detailing and fine tuning. I used a reference to achieve fluorescent light feel. There's also a slight desaturation filter. The shiny bag is still pretty sketchy,  and the face could be less stiff, I tried to avoid making it over worked, not too much air brush. I may add some skin pores and cloth texture for credibility to see if that helps.

I was sketching while returning from work via commuter train. I painted a preparatory value study of the sketch with Art Rage 2. Finished with Painter 11.

Practicing

I once sculpted a clay study based on a figure. The statue is rather clumsy but still useful for observing light and shadow. I decided to practice my anatomy knowledge combined with the clay statue for value study and then color study with blue-gray guache ébauche and pastel on top.

 

Cat anatomy studies. One has to know what's inside to avoid making shallow drawings.

Field sketching

 

Kids at local mall. At Pekka Halonen academy we were encouraged to go to sketch at malls and other public places every now and then as drawing moving people enhances the ability to draw from both observation and memory.

Landscape paintings may not be interesting as works of art, but the process of trying to capture the colors to scientific accuracy is what makes it challenging and compelling. It helps to understand how light and color function in nature.

Aerial vehicle

Aerial vehicle design, oil on A4 illustration board.

Midsummer glimpses

While on a trip to summer cottage during Midsummer, I painted some quick impressions of the landscapes that went by. Watercolor on sketchbook.

Rubens study

An acrylic study of Peter Paul Rubens' selfportrait with his wife Isabella, detail, rearrangement focused on faces. I read that Rubens usually had a silver gray underpainting on which he drew the outlines with burnt sienna. The rest is typical Flemish layer painting technique. I wanted to understand his trademark use of lush, vibrant colors which he is famous for.

I also now understand better why the masters seldom showed unfinished pieces to anyone except for other artists because until the final detailing stage the painting usually looks pretty dreadful, and people may not understand the process. And because the faces are center of focus they need  lots of work hours to paint until they look correct which is crucial for the painting's success.

Painting studies

 

Rembrandt selfportrait study, detail, acrylics on a5 sketchbook.

 

Arnold Böcklin selfportrait study, detail, acrylics on a5 sketchbook. 

Trying to figure out how the masters painted, to raise the skill level.

Pastel drawing

Sanguine pastel and  white chalk on tinted paper. Augustine's jewel of wisdom, depicting his sharp-witted thinking. No reference used, just imagination. I'm striving to master imaginative realism. The academicians of 1900s, after their intense practice of life studies, plein air paintings, master copies and color theory, could illuminate classic literature and historical events with just value drawings like this in hand.

Excavator

Watercolor sketch, plein air.

Sitting figure

Sitting figure with a cow skull. Oil and acrylic on board 29x 41 cm. 3 days. This is based on a similar life study drawing with sanguine pastel. I wanted to see if I could now render a more realistic result without copying from photograph. I did a preparatory color study prior starting. At first stages the figure was very dark in color so I wanted to test Delacroix's famous quote "Give me a piece of mud and I'll paint a light skin with it, just let me decide the surroundings." Well what do you know, darkening the background later with a mix of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue did make the skin look white.

Daily study

 

L. Ball photo study.

Plein air sketches

 

 Some plein air studies on watercolor sketchbook. Jean Leon Gérôme said to his students that one must paint observational studies every day to learn to mix colors as accurately as possible.

  

Doodles

 

oil pastel sketches

Rodent

Selected sketches

 

Bouguereau  study

 

Géromê study

 

Géromê study 

 

Géromê study 

 

Géromê study (left one only)

 

random doodle

 

leg study

 

Rafaello study

 

Rafaello study

 

Character design

 

Character design

"I don't know what to draw" is no excuse. One can always draw his or her arms, self-portraits, anatomy, and study old masters of different eras, as professional artists have to constantly improve and keep up the skills.