A new perspective

 

A scene of a town, inspired by a dream. This is from 2010.  This image has been a source of intrigue for me, however I could not ever figure out how to revisit it due to the janky perspective.

 Then it occurred to me.Something is wrong with this town. 

Red/Cyan color illusion

 

For the experiment I used a really old artwork of Emily and Herrington that I like. Emily is the one with red hair. 

There is NO red in this image. If you zoom in on Emily's hair you will find it's actually a blue-gray.

I quite like this color filter as well. The reds are very vibrant. Enhancing the red improves the color illusion, which you can see below.

 

Colorecipe. The cyan/red color illusion is achieved by a 50% opacity overlay. 

Oil paint color chart

As of November 1, 2023

Added five new colors: Ice Green, Leaf Green, Horizon Blue, Blue Violet, and Lilac. You can read more about them here.

Keep reading for previous updates

Digital lineart practice

Trying out some new techniques for drawing and linework in general. I'm going to color code each type of line, starting with the heaviest and most prominent, to the lightest and most delicate. This is an arbitrary taxonomy for now, but so far it's done me good.

Lineart practice featuring Ennis from Baccano. I love everything vintage, so I added my personal flair to her design to make her more period-appropriate while still honoring her canon design. Love her.

• Red lines (level 1) This is for the main silhouette. Thickest line weight, but more varying degrees of pen pressure. This is the "main character"
• Blue lines (level 2) Major shapes. They should be smaller silhouettes within the main shape. Imagine them as the supporting major characters.
• Green lines (level 3) Minor shapes. 
• Yellow lines (level 4) Minor details. Smallest brush size. Very little pen pressure for consistent lines.

I need to upload a picture with color-coded lines but I'll add that later. In the meantime you can just wonder what it might look like.

Pixel art eye

 Randomly felt like trying out pixel art. This isn't something I've tried in years. But I am enticed by the simplicity and precision of pixel art. The smaller you get, the more every pixel counts. Much of my art studying recently has focused on the fundamental elements. 

I started with a relatively large area to help me ease back into pixel art. I like the colors of the eye itself but don't ask me what's going on with their cheek.  

Second attempt with a smaller picture size. I wanted it to be more defined than the first attempt. The lines feel too heavy, though. It's not as delicate as I would have liked, but since I've rarely worked with pixel art, I'm not expecting 10/10 results right away. The journey towards perfection is more exciting than the destination itself.

If I were to do this a third time I would exaggerate the shapes and colors even more. There is an abstract element to this drawing that I would like to emphasize. 

Image is based off this gouache painting I did recently.

Cartoon eye #3

Painted her alla prima. The goal is to paint with completion in mind. But some things will need to be added later and the existing paint needs to be dry for that. And of course I need to add the jewels, but that's for another day!

Got a bunch of Princeton brushes discounted from Michaels which helps with better paint coverage. I used my beloved filbert brush to get soft, clean blending. Overall, other than some color mishaps, I'm quite pleased with this painting so far!

Skin

• Base color: Persian rose (Cobra)
• Shading: Permanent red-violet light (Cobra), cadmium yellow deep hue (W&N)

Got the skin tone almost to my liking, but the blush/shading is too intense. Need to aim for lower contrast next time. I will try a lighter mixing yellow.

Sclera

• Base color: Titanium buff (Cobra)
• Shading: phthalo green blue hue (W&N)

I intended for the sclera to be a light green but the colors got muddied from traces of alizarin crimson on the palette. Plus titanium buff is too yellow. Next time I'll stick with good old titanium white with the green. And no cross-contamination! 

Iris

• Cadmium yellow medium (W&N)
• Alizarin crimson (W&N)
• Phthalo green blue shade (W&N) 

Once this paint is dry, I plan on adding more definition to the eye. I want it to be dazzlingly jewel-like. My favorite part about coloring eyes is adding the rainbow light reflections. See the previous eye to see what I mean.

Cartoon eye practice - acrylic gouache on canvas

I have been starting a lot of eye paintings lately. It makes for great iterative practice. The first eye painting looks nice so far, but the colors are too plain for my liking. 

For this sketch I wanted to get a little more abstract. Make it more like a design than a practical eyeball.

Acrylic underpainting works wonders!

For this next painting I used Holbein acrylic gouache. Painting gouache on canvas was an unusual experience. I'm glad I tried this out, but I wouldn't do it again. The texture of the paint isn't well suited to canvas in my opinion. The paint feels very soft even after it's dried, as if the slightest accident could deface the artwork. 

The perks of using gouache on canvas is the quick drying time. I was able to glue on the tear jewel right away. (I plan on doing this for all of the eye paintings.)

Definitely liking the colors more than in the previous painting, but still have a ways to go. Tried to keep the colors as pure as possible, with some mixing where needed. I want the colors to be more exaggerated and intense, this still feels in the realm of "normal".

Overall, I like how she came out. For my oil paintings, I plan on adding more detail once the first application of paint has dried. But with the acrylic gouache paint I can call it a day.

Road to Hana: Waterfall (WIP)

I haven't done much art in the past couple weeks due to moving and general stress, but the dust is starting to settle. New art, digital or traditional, is always a good sign! 

Yesterday I started coloring this sketchbook drawing of a waterfall in Maui. The goal is to approach this as if it were a physical painting. My program of choice is Paint Tool SAI version 2.

Some fun things I did to increase the painterly effect:

• Painting with a textured marker brush. I chose the marker brush because it maintains whatever opacity you set it to - it does not build up unless you start drawing on another layer. This allows the drawing and underpainting to remain visible.
• The grainy texture also helps the vibrant colors of the underpainting show through. 
• Added a subtle rock crystal texture to the entire layer. 
• Lastly, adding a subtle fringe layer effect gives it character. 

The goal is to paint everything on this one layer to give it a solid foundation. The intention of this layer is to establish color and important forms, but still look as finished as possible. This is my digital equivalent of painting alla prima. The marker brush blends heavily and picks up other colors. 

I am aiming for expressive colors and forms. I don't want a photorealistic picture of the waterfall. I want to show you what a photograph cannot. It is an exercise in design, creativity, and curation of elements. 

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Bee visiting a meteor shower

I know next to nothing about flower or plant identification. I could point out a pineapple maybe. Everything else I need to google. Apparently this flower is called verbena bonariensis, aka, Meteor Shower! Love it!!

Here is my first coloring attempt. I have not been doing much digital in general lately. Things are hectic and I'm not doing well mentally, but once the dust settles, I should have the proper energy and focus for digital art again. Right now, I feel antsy and listless with digital art, just because it's not tangible like my oil paintings. It just doesn't seem real, and right now I need something to ground me in reality.

So, here's a work-in-progress of version 2. I've learned a lot of lessons from painting in the past several months, and am applying them to my digital methodology. This includes being more deliberate and focusing on specific spots. Usually I will messily paint over the entire image and fine-tune later. But this new approach is more like painting in real life: in a physical setting, paint is limited, and there is more strategy involved. I want to bring that slow, deliberate consideration to my digital artworks. 

Maybe I am bored by digital lately because it feels too forgiving if you make mistakes. You can Ctrl+Z. You can experiment with different colors and effects, all just a click away. Meanwhile, I would liken traditional art to a brain teaser puzzle: you have to carefully consider every move you make, or else it's game over!

Eighty Squares Ground Zero

Starting a new experimental painting. This one will be similar to my very first paintings when I took an oil painting class for college credit. 

First, I had to cover the entire canvas in a solid color. I'm going with blue instead of my go-to earthy tones and neons.

After covering the canvas in blue, I drew in the square grid. Then, I covered half of the canvas in purple. 

Start with the simplest composition as possible. Establish balance.

Because of the nature of my approach, I can easily change direction if needed. Right now, I am only committing as much as I need to, and the left will be improvised along the way. What if I treated it like a game of Tetris?

The fun part about this painting is that I won't design the whole thing at once. I'm going square by square. That way, I have room to change directions if needed. 

The first batch of squares for now. This is the underpainting. The neon pink and oranges neutralize the blue.

Rules:

• Create smaller compositions that adhere to the overall setup (the alternating blue and purple squares underneath)
• Stick to one quadrant at a time (I already failed this... oops)

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Kamaole Beach Park I

I have started another Hawaii painting. It is the same size as the other picture. I chose the photo because of its composition. The arrangement of elements is simple but leaves room for interesting details and improvisation. 

I drew the picture first and toned the canvas after, since I used transparent paint. 

Applied gel gloss to the underpainting to add extra texture, but only to certain parts.

Just got a few tubes of paint from Blick. To my collection I have added Cobra water mixable paint colors, all of which were employed.

Yellowish green & Emerald green: Foliage

King's blue & Grayish blue: Sea and sky

Permanent red violet light: Tree

Random thoughts

The grayish blue is very, very oily in the tube. But I like it that way. I also recently learned that water-mixable paint just means you CLEAN it with water, but still use various painting mediums. I use linseed oil and painting medium, but for a long time I was thinning out my paints with plain old water. Now that I am learning more about how paint behaves, I can see why painting mediums are superior. Water is just for cleanup. 

A closeup of the waves and land. The textures make me so happy and I am so in love with these paint colors. The goal is to make a fantastic painting alla prima. But once this is dried, I will add a few smaller details to really bring her to life.

Self portrait update

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I am not feeling happy with the self portrait. Painting fine details at this scale is very challenging. Even the smallest decision has consequences, and it ended up getting overworked. The details of the face and hair were lost and it does not much resemble the sketch underneath, much less my own likeness!

The gel gloss is cool, but it is making things complicated in this situation. I do like being able to wipe away anything I painted on - I undid most of the backdrop. 

It was a lot of struggle and reworking. While this picture dries, I have time to decide if I want to keep pursuing this or start over from scratch.

The tortoise looks okay, but I am still frustrated at myself for not following the value map more closely, so the color placement seems random. I plan on adding another layer of paint once this has dried. It could use some more work, but overall I am fairly happy with it. 

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Self portrait

October 2017

One of my college painting assignments was a self portrait on a HUGE canvas. While I was leaving the art supply store with my new blank canvas, I overheard one of the jabronis at the neighboring cigar outlet comment that "she seems like a bitch." Ok, Ken.

I absolutely hated everything about this project assignment. I was uncomfortable because I hated school, I hated the class, and I hated myself. Having to stare at a giant, poorly drawn picture of my own face was nauseating. But, there was no way to weasel out of this assignment, so I just had to do it. I still have the canvas and hope to repurpose it someday. 

Lately, I have been thinking more about how people see me, and how I would like to be remembered. What will they write in my obituary? What will they say about me at my funeral? What will remain of me, 100 years from now?

It has been a long journey, but I am learning to love and accept myself. I am not very comfortable with pictures or recordings of myself, so pursuing this idea is going outside my comfort zone. The painting of me and Nikki counts as a self portrait, but I would like a portrait that represents this current moment in my life.

Started off with some scribbles. The main difference between this and the original self portrait is the scale. The size of your picture is a statement in itself:

• Big: Look! At! ME!
• Medium: Like looking in the mirror.
• Small: You need to see me up close to truly appreciate me.

The last of which, is the message I want to focus on. It is easier than ever to gloss over other people without ever giving them a chance. But, I love myself and I know I have a lot to offer. You just need to take the time to know me. And isn't that true of everyone? 

Acrylic paper

I Like Turtles

After toning it with transparent colors, I applied a generous layer of gel gloss. I absolutely love the depth it brings to the image. Which reminds me: I would like to try out matte gel for a more frosty translucent surface that slightly blurs the picture below. 

Took this picture while the gel gloss was still drying. I imagine the matte gel would look something like this.

 

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Orange lilies

Sometimes I like to sketch before bed. Lately I have taken up sketching photos from our recent summer vacation. It looks quite nice, so why not color it?

The fun thing about switching between traditional and digital art is how skills transfer - and transform. I approached this as if it were a traditional painting. I toned the background and placed values before the actual coloring. 

But here's where things get different: I added various textures to the colors. I'm not going for a realistic depiction of the scene. The main focus is the feeling and colors of the scene. I like this approach because it reminds me of pietra dura.

I have made more progress since this update, but I am almost done, so why spoil the surprise? I will leave you with this, though: I'm loving it!!

Me and Nikki update

I ended up coloring this all in one go, so now I can wait for it to dry. I had a lot of fun working on this one, and the subject matter is very dear to me too. It looks so much better than the original painting, and I am also glad I fixed Nikki's face. I'm finally getting comfortable with how I draw cats.

Main colors used:

• Titanium buff (Cobra) - general white
• Persian Rose (Cobra) - shirt and shorts
• Naples yellow light (Cobra) - Nikki
• Naples yellow (W&N) - skin (lighter tone)
• Naples yellow red (Cobra) skin (darker tone)
• Yellow ochre (W&N) hair
• Cadmium red hue (W&N) 
• Burnt sienna (W&N)
• Phthalo blue (W&N) shorts

Even though the painting is incomplete, I still think it looks quite nice as it is. The blue shorts are very loud, but once I add in the other details it won't feel like the main focus. There are a lot of things I would still like to do to this painting.

• Add red stripes to shirt
• Emphasize Nikki's orange-ness
• Add hints of blue or green to the staircase
• Fine-tune details and outlines
• Small color corrections
• Shading on face
• Make foot smaller
• Fix Nikki's front paws

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Dante progress update

This time, I added a layer of phthalo blue, which is a very strong staining pigment. I tried glazing magenta over his fur which wasn't a very good idea - yes, the pigment is transparent but still looks better over certain colors than others. It's fine though, I can easily cover this up with another layer.  His whiskers are coming along nicely!

Once this dries I want to add some finer details, especially on Dante. Make his facial features a little more defined. Thinking about what else I could dad to this painting to make him look nicer.

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Winter painting progress update

I made a lot of progress on Winter over the weekend, and she is starting to come together. 

Last time on Dragon Ball Z: we were off to a shaky start and I was feeling uncertain. But things are starting to turn around.

Here is a list of the main paint colors I used.

Cobra

• Titanium Buff
• Persian Rose

Winsor & Newton

• Ivory black
• Payne's gray
• Magenta
• Ultramarine
• Phthalo Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Naples yellow

Overall, I am very excited with how she is coming along. The black takes a very long time to dry, despite its matte-like surface suggesting otherwise. I am planning to glaze it to bring out the depth of her black fur. I would also like to make her eyes more soft.

I am satisfied with my decision to include a wintry backdrop. A lot of the detail is still rough around the edges, but once the paint has dried, I plan on adding a little more color and definition.

Oh, that hand! I regret picking naples yellow for the skin tone. I should have mixed it with something darker. The mismatch in values makes it stand out too much. It especially distracts from Winter’s yellow eyes. Hopefully glazing over the hand with a darker color will help. Because that yellow is LOUD! 

Other than the color of the hand, I am mostly happy with the direction this painting has taken. I think the risk has already paid off - the risk of painting over an existing picture to create a better version. This is still a work in progress, but there is still so much potential and I look forward to really making her stand out.

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Mini painting practice update

My mini practice paintings are finally dry, which means I can add a new layer of paint! It was mostly color glazing, but I added some full body paint in other areas. This extra layer of color really helped bring the pictures to life. I could do more, but because of the small scale, it's better to leave them alone.

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Experimenting with gel gloss

Here are three small practice pieces: two are on acrylic paper, the other is on some sort of cardboard stock. I added texture using the gel gloss which is white but dries clear. 

Trust me: It dries clear!

The square paintings were done in oil, limited to three colors each. My idea was that I would lay down the colors in a limited palette and then glaze it with additional colors once the paintings have dried. 

W+N Zinc white, W+N cerulean blue hue, Cobra naples yellow light

I am hoping that adding a yellow glaze will make the picture pop. Reflecting on my progress so far, I wish I had added more paint coverage, especially for the water. But it is what it is - adding more paint will just slow me down. I learned my lesson. There's always next time!

Cobra titanium buff, Cobra persian rose, W+N viridian 

The paint coverage is not great - I will be adding a brighter layer on top. The source photo was taken mid-day but the colors I picked out gave me a different result. Happy mistakes!

This last one was a hot mess. I figured I would paint in base colors only and leave the shading for the glazing stage. So I tried painting with acrylic on top of the gel and ... yeah. But not all hope is lost! I was very curious to see how glazing on top would bring back the shapes that got lost underneath.

It looks cool, but there is a lot going on, especially for such a small surface area. I am hoping to further define the scene once this layer has dried. I don't think I would consider taking this approach again unless it seemed appropriate. I do love the jewel-like depth offered by the gel gloss. There is an overwhelming amount of different acrylic mediums to try out and I'm trying to stay calm before I end up with 20 different gels and pastes.

General reflections

I am relying on the glazing stage way too much. I couldn’t help but get excited about the possibilities! But now I realize this should be saved for final touches on the topmost layers. If you only rely on glazing, the subjects don’t look as solid. When laying down colors they should be as close to the final color as possible. Glazing is for sfumato and other subtle shading techniques.

Another lesson: carve textures into the gel gloss, sparingly. It was a fun experiment. It works in certain contexts, like rough tree bark. I would save the toothpick for the painting stage. I liked carving out lines on the ruins painting. I like seeing the layer underneath. With the gel gloss it adds extra depth.

On to the next layer of glaze

The saga continues! For my next layer I added a glaze of ultramarine blue. I'm also working on slowly rainbowing up those whiskers. 

Added some yellow glaze to these. Not sure I'm liking how the ruins are coming out, but I can always counter the green with a layer of brown or red to balance it out. But after that I will leave it alone. It's just practice and doesn't have to be perfect.

For the eye, adding the yellow gives it an aged look, but I think it's cool. It almost reminds me of the yellowish greens you see in medieval art. I plan on making a few more touches to this eye before I'll call it finished. Now to wait for it to dry.

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