Will be here through Sunday evening..
And now I'm itching to buy some sort of really easy tablet that I can paint on..
Friday, May 9, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Speed Painting #10
Ok.. reallllly tried to do this in 30 minutes.. definitely didn't happen. Ended up finishing in 40 mins. Slowly but surely I'll get there!
Hmmm.. I always see way more when I load these side by side here in the blog post. My color choices are obviously too bright.. I needed to paint this much more cool and gloomy. But on the sunlit rock area - needed to push the reds that much more.
Hmm.. I wonder if this has something to do with looking at the reference image on my other screen while painting on my Cintiq.. bringing the ref image onto my cintiq next to my speed painting makes it look like the colors changed a bit..... yikes, something to thing about. Maybe there's a way to keep my thumbnail in my workspace in Photoshop without having to toggle a thousand times. Thoughts??
Anyway.. here we are!
La Sirena Rojaaaaaaaaa
Hmmm.. I always see way more when I load these side by side here in the blog post. My color choices are obviously too bright.. I needed to paint this much more cool and gloomy. But on the sunlit rock area - needed to push the reds that much more.
Hmm.. I wonder if this has something to do with looking at the reference image on my other screen while painting on my Cintiq.. bringing the ref image onto my cintiq next to my speed painting makes it look like the colors changed a bit..... yikes, something to thing about. Maybe there's a way to keep my thumbnail in my workspace in Photoshop without having to toggle a thousand times. Thoughts??
Anyway.. here we are!
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| Reference |
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| Speed Painting 0010 |
La Sirena Rojaaaaaaaaa
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Day 8 (Speed Paintings #8 and.. a half?)
Alright.. tried doing 2 this evening.
#8:
Had major issues with flesh colors - hot sun flesh shadows = should be MUCH more red and deep than I took it. Ran out of time, I think I finally stopped at 33 minutes (technically 3 minutes over).
THEN - I tried to do a 2nd speed painting tonight..
and THIS HAPPENED.
EUGH. Thank you Photoshop.
I went for the color picker and these white windows happened instead. I had 5 minutes left. I had a lot left to do anyway.. again, time getting away from me. This is a really zoomed in view of the speed painting.
My process lately breaks down to:
- choose a medium value to fill the page
- do a quick sketch of the major elements
- start painting
We'll see how tomorrow goes :)
La Sirena Roja
#8:
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| Reference Image #8 |
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| Speed Painting 0008 |
THEN - I tried to do a 2nd speed painting tonight..
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| Reference Image #9 |
.JPG) |
| Speed Painting 0009 : INCOMPLETE - Photoshop Crash |
and THIS HAPPENED.
EUGH. Thank you Photoshop.
I went for the color picker and these white windows happened instead. I had 5 minutes left. I had a lot left to do anyway.. again, time getting away from me. This is a really zoomed in view of the speed painting.
My process lately breaks down to:
- choose a medium value to fill the page
- do a quick sketch of the major elements
- start painting
We'll see how tomorrow goes :)
La Sirena Roja
Monday, May 5, 2014
Day 7 [man that's depressing, I need to step my game up!]
Hey all,
Apologies for how long it's been.. I had eye surgery and unfortunately the recovery didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped.. because my prescription was SO high, the adjustment was pretty rough.. but the upside is that NOW I can SEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! :)
That being said, I have a TON of catching up and MAKING up to do! Today was my first hour back.. I had to take a quick 5 minute break because my eyes got really strained at one point but here I am. It's so hard not to get lost in the details..
To bring me back to the previous critique's questions - @Goro:
So in bright sunlight, local original color is what's there.. not a warmer, hotter version of that color? That says to me paint the original color in sunglight and be really strong with color choices for shadows to really tell the story of the sunlight and shading.. does that make sense?
Below was another attempt at painting light and shadow in a beach sun. This time I applied the above.. let me know how it went :)
On the positive side, due to giving critiques and working closely with many Creative Directors and Art Directors, I'm currently in training for Junior Art Director. Current plans are to continue to learn and train under my current Art Director and to work on my actual execution skills that match my ability to communicate feedback to get to a certain aesthetic. Basically, they recognize my eye and my ability to catch and approve work.. however I've communicated my actual execution and painting skills are nowhere near what I'm able to critique.. AKA - work on portfolio work. sooooo here we go! Either way, this is something I want to master and learn from the best [ahem, Goro ;)]
Here goes nothing :)
P.S. - what do you use to paint on when you're on the road or traveling somewhere over the weekend? I want to keep up painting and practice but i'm not always able to bring my cintiq and laptop. If I don't have an ipad.. what can I use? My iPhone? I have a previous version of Microsoft Surface Tablet??
Gnite world!
- La Sirena Roja
Apologies for how long it's been.. I had eye surgery and unfortunately the recovery didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped.. because my prescription was SO high, the adjustment was pretty rough.. but the upside is that NOW I can SEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! :)
That being said, I have a TON of catching up and MAKING up to do! Today was my first hour back.. I had to take a quick 5 minute break because my eyes got really strained at one point but here I am. It's so hard not to get lost in the details..
To bring me back to the previous critique's questions - @Goro:
So in bright sunlight, local original color is what's there.. not a warmer, hotter version of that color? That says to me paint the original color in sunglight and be really strong with color choices for shadows to really tell the story of the sunlight and shading.. does that make sense?
Below was another attempt at painting light and shadow in a beach sun. This time I applied the above.. let me know how it went :)
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| REF IMAGE |
 | |||||||
| SPEED PAINTING #7 - 1 hour |
On the positive side, due to giving critiques and working closely with many Creative Directors and Art Directors, I'm currently in training for Junior Art Director. Current plans are to continue to learn and train under my current Art Director and to work on my actual execution skills that match my ability to communicate feedback to get to a certain aesthetic. Basically, they recognize my eye and my ability to catch and approve work.. however I've communicated my actual execution and painting skills are nowhere near what I'm able to critique.. AKA - work on portfolio work. sooooo here we go! Either way, this is something I want to master and learn from the best [ahem, Goro ;)]
Here goes nothing :)
P.S. - what do you use to paint on when you're on the road or traveling somewhere over the weekend? I want to keep up painting and practice but i'm not always able to bring my cintiq and laptop. If I don't have an ipad.. what can I use? My iPhone? I have a previous version of Microsoft Surface Tablet??
Gnite world!
- La Sirena Roja
Thursday, April 24, 2014
No time to paint.. Apologies!
Had a lot of pre operation stuff to do after work and I can't paint at work...
@Goro - thank you for the feedback! I have some questions so that I can understand the feedback better. I'll list my questions later this week once my eyes are recovered. And thank youuuu for the extra ref images!!!
Thanks all,
Sirena Roja
Monday, April 21, 2014
Day 6
I think I'm finding that I like painting characters.. I started noticing that with the penguin draft as well.
Anyway, Day 6! here's the chicken! :)
Now that I look at it here, the chicken I painted is a bit too cool.. and a bit plump. The anatomy is sort of off. That's something for me to work on.
By the way! I'm getting LASIK eye surgery on Thursday.. so I'll be recovering Thursday and Friday, but I think my eyes MIGHT be fine enough to paint at some point on Friday.. we'll see :)
Night!
La Sirena Roja
Anyway, Day 6! here's the chicken! :)
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| Ref |
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| Speed Painting |
By the way! I'm getting LASIK eye surgery on Thursday.. so I'll be recovering Thursday and Friday, but I think my eyes MIGHT be fine enough to paint at some point on Friday.. we'll see :)
Night!
La Sirena Roja
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Day 5
Alright.. Spent an hour on the below painting, was hoping to do 2 but after how this one turned out, I was honestly too discouraged to try a second one.
I'm having a lot of trouble with my color picking for shadows. I'm noticing this very quickly. I'm spending a lot of time studying the image, seeing why and how the color choices are happening.. as I try to mimic what's happening on the image it just turns into mush. The shading under the straw umbrella as well as the shadow on the sand of the umbrella itself - I think I spent 30 minutes on just redoing those 2 things over and over again.
How do you get a cool and warm shadow at once? The shadow of the umbrella on the sand is both cool with the warmth of the sand.. I'm squinting a lot, minimizing my image a lot to see it more clearly. Still stuck. I didn't even have enough time to do the Palm tree shadow on the left. boooooo.
Here's where I left with it:
I'm having a lot of trouble with my color picking for shadows. I'm noticing this very quickly. I'm spending a lot of time studying the image, seeing why and how the color choices are happening.. as I try to mimic what's happening on the image it just turns into mush. The shading under the straw umbrella as well as the shadow on the sand of the umbrella itself - I think I spent 30 minutes on just redoing those 2 things over and over again.
How do you get a cool and warm shadow at once? The shadow of the umbrella on the sand is both cool with the warmth of the sand.. I'm squinting a lot, minimizing my image a lot to see it more clearly. Still stuck. I didn't even have enough time to do the Palm tree shadow on the left. boooooo.
Here's where I left with it:
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| Ref Image |
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| Speed Painting 0005 |
Friday, April 18, 2014
Skip day - 2 for tomorrow!
Heya!
Working late tonight, didn't have a chance to sit and paint.. And I'm sad because I'm starting to really look forward to that hour of painting :)
Tomorrow I'll be doing 2 to make up for today's miss..
Night!
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Day 4
Only had time for a 30 minute speed painting today.. yowza.
Still not getting the lighting and shadows right.. especially on the house.. How do I capture the sky's blue fill light (cool) in the shadows when it's a warm sunny day? (warm key light)? It conflicts me in my color choices for the lit and shadowed areas. Obviously a cool shadow with a warm lit area isn't working, now that I step back, I see that the ref image has the shadow warmer (now that I zoom out more).. maybe i'll zoom out more to see the images better.
Till tomorrow.
La Sirena Roja
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| Reference Image - Beach Hut |
 | ||||
| Speed Painting. |
Still not getting the lighting and shadows right.. especially on the house.. How do I capture the sky's blue fill light (cool) in the shadows when it's a warm sunny day? (warm key light)? It conflicts me in my color choices for the lit and shadowed areas. Obviously a cool shadow with a warm lit area isn't working, now that I step back, I see that the ref image has the shadow warmer (now that I zoom out more).. maybe i'll zoom out more to see the images better.
Till tomorrow.
La Sirena Roja
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Day 3
Still struggling with color choices. Spent more time studying the image and trying to understand how the lighting and the character are interacting. I didn't seem to capture how hot and bright it was outside.. here goes Day 3.
I think I really like character painting :)
Until tomorrow!
- Sirena Roja
I think I really like character painting :)
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| Reference Image |
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| Speed Painting attempt - my water work is in serious need of help |
Until tomorrow!
- Sirena Roja
Monday, April 14, 2014
Day 2
Ugh.
This is one of those moments where I swear I thought I was a better painter than this. But recent efforts really make me second guess. I've noticed I'm decently strong at observational sketching, but creating out of my own mind is WEAK on my part. I thought that observational sketching would translate over to painting, but I was wrong.
Still trying to figure out brushes.. also still trying to establish a workflow. In my previous life I used to sketch every little thing out first and then paint. With speed painting and watching the pros (that's you Goro), and even watching the strongest of my own artists at work.. I've noticed they tend to just do a lot of color blocking and then further rendering and refinements in the shadows and highlights. This is what I've been doing lately and it's soooo different than pencil sketching and then painting.
Anyway.. here goes Day 2. And I'm disappointed.. hopefully this daily speed painting thing will show some positive growth in the coming months...
Until tomorrow! Obviously a lot of my color choices need work..
- La Sirena Roja
This is one of those moments where I swear I thought I was a better painter than this. But recent efforts really make me second guess. I've noticed I'm decently strong at observational sketching, but creating out of my own mind is WEAK on my part. I thought that observational sketching would translate over to painting, but I was wrong.
Still trying to figure out brushes.. also still trying to establish a workflow. In my previous life I used to sketch every little thing out first and then paint. With speed painting and watching the pros (that's you Goro), and even watching the strongest of my own artists at work.. I've noticed they tend to just do a lot of color blocking and then further rendering and refinements in the shadows and highlights. This is what I've been doing lately and it's soooo different than pencil sketching and then painting.
Anyway.. here goes Day 2. And I'm disappointed.. hopefully this daily speed painting thing will show some positive growth in the coming months...
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| REF IMAGE (Thank you Goro) |
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| Attempt at painting |
Until tomorrow! Obviously a lot of my color choices need work..
- La Sirena Roja
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Day 1
Hey all!
As I mentioned in the description, this is a separate blog simply dedicated to working on my illustration and visual development skills. I'm lucky enough to be mentored by the INCREDIBLY talented Goro Fujita on this journey. I'll be posting reference images for daily speed paintings and Goro will capture his feedback here.
Today I found myself spending more time than I think I should be on:
1) Finding a ref image to do
2) Figuring out brushes and what they'll do
I grew up sketching and painting in traditional medium, so I'm finding my way through photoshop painting. Plus, I'm incredibly rusty so I'll be going back to basics and relearning everything.
Below is Day 1!
The first image is the REFERENCE image I used.
The below was my speed painting effort of the above image:
There we have it!
Tomorrow I'll be heading out of town for the weekend but I'll see if I can at least sneak in a 30 minute speed painting of some sort :)
- La Sirena Roja
As I mentioned in the description, this is a separate blog simply dedicated to working on my illustration and visual development skills. I'm lucky enough to be mentored by the INCREDIBLY talented Goro Fujita on this journey. I'll be posting reference images for daily speed paintings and Goro will capture his feedback here.
Today I found myself spending more time than I think I should be on:
1) Finding a ref image to do
2) Figuring out brushes and what they'll do
I grew up sketching and painting in traditional medium, so I'm finding my way through photoshop painting. Plus, I'm incredibly rusty so I'll be going back to basics and relearning everything.
Below is Day 1!
The first image is the REFERENCE image I used.
The below was my speed painting effort of the above image:
There we have it!
Tomorrow I'll be heading out of town for the weekend but I'll see if I can at least sneak in a 30 minute speed painting of some sort :)
- La Sirena Roja
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