Forces Unite!

My housemate and I have very magical powers. She can lite things on fire, I can smother them in water. These same powers apply to our art. Her powers is with the computer. Mine is with the brush. So When I was approached to design a logo for a mutual friend, I worked with the project as far as I could. However, my digital design skills were lacking. Thats when I asked my housemate to see what she could do to the file.

I think she rocked it!

*original sketch*

*logo version*

I see more great things happening, if the two of us can combine our powers. Perhaps a Chinese themed children book is in the works.

Pallet Making: Things I Have Learned

Ok, so this might surprise some of you, but I have not been formally trained, to paint with anything other than watercolors. Therefore its been an uphill battle learning how to paint with acrylics. And I wish that someone had told me some of the secrets that I know now, like using retarding medium. (hehe)

In this post, though word some, I'm going to do my best to walk you through my pallet making.

First rule: Choose your colors.

Now I love: Paynes Gray, Burt Sienna, Quinacridone Crimson, Hot Pink (aka Medium Magenta) and Electrick Blue (Brilliant Blue). The last two colors I find visually, to be the most obnoxious colors out there. So of course I love them the more.

Generally speaking, I will use at least one of the aforementioned colors as a starting point for my pallet. Then the other colors I use are usually related in saturation.

I break my colors into Warm tones and Cool (receding tones).

When I paint, I will use cool colors in the shadows and make all my highlites, warm. But often times I make my colors according to my emotional state at the time I start painting. Its something that I've learned from Kandinsky's book, Concerning the Spiritual In Art. I've noticed that I make pastel colors when I'm upset, b/c they look like dead peoples flesh. And I make vibrant red toned paintings when I'm excited.

For Purposes of this demo, I'm refreshing a pallet for a picture that I am already working on. (Self Portrait #5)

*These are the base colors*

I forgot to make note of the individual colors that went into each mixed color, however I do have the tube colors:

(Cool)

Phthalo Blue

Ultramarine blue

Cerulean Blue

Manganese Blue

Brilliant Blue

Emerald Green

Raw Umber

Prism Violet

Quinacridone Blue Violet

(Warm)

Cadmium Red Light

Quinacridone Crimson

Raw Sienna

Primary Yellow

When I make a pallet, I create a base color, or the "Father Tint", from which all other colors will be created. In this pallet the Father Tint is a combination of Quinacridone Crimson, Raw Umber and Phthalo Blue. The goal is a cool, rich, dark brown.

From this Father Tint, I take small amounts and add it to the subsequent colors. I do this to "dirty" up the colors and keep them from being so tacky and overly saturated. Though I paint with very saturated colors, if you were to compare my pallet version of an electric blue to what comes out of the tube, you will notice that my colors are purposefully "dirty".

Now I need to add an electric blue to match my current pallet colors.

*I do my best to work from the darkest color to the lighter, more brilliant tones last.*

Notice in the image that I mix all my colors on the same spot. I do this so that all the colors have a little bit of the previous color in them, there by visually relate. Thats why I call it the Father Tint, because from him the other colors are made

So now that I have Briliant Blue on spot where I mix the paint, I now mix in the other "Parent Tints", into the new color.

When the color is almost uniform I add my secret ingredients:

*Glazing Medium (gloss) and Retarder Medium*

Add enough retarder medium to keep the pallet wet for a few days (about 8 drops). I also use glazing medium instead of adding water. I like it when my paints are fluffy, like hair moose. I tend to paint with a lot of semi-transparent layers. I add just enough glazing medium so that the paint moves very smoothly but also translucent. By making the paint this way, I can build a very colorful range of tones on the canvas.

*the glazing medium looks like glue*

I mix with a narrow pallet knife. Also, make sure you clean your pallet knife when you move between colors. I may like dirty colors, but not mudd.

So you mix in the various mediums and colors until you have a consistent consistancy you like and a color thats uniform

*uniform*

Since this was the last color I need to make, I scrape the mixing spot clean for the next step.

*razor blades, an artist's best friend. Even when He's emo*

I scraped the mixing spot, because now I take the base colors and add white

* I add roughly the same amount of white as there is pigment to mix with*

As I am making the light version of the colors I find that somtimes I have to tweek the color slightly to get it to read stronger.

*I was fine with the base colors, but when I added white, the orange hue needed more yellow*

Eventually when all the base colors get their white counter part you should end up with a pallet that looks simliar to mine

*rule of thumb: you will always need more white than you think.*

Ta-Dah: Your pallet should be all done and ready to attack a canvas

Final note:

Even after you have mixed all your initial colors, there will usually be a shade of something you need though its not mixed. The way I make my pallet you should be able to get the in between colors and still have a cohesive mix.

*Hey, if the colors look good on the pallet, chances are that they will look beautiful on the canvas. Even if you suck at painting (which I still do) at least the colors will be noteworthy*

Woot! Fridays

Wait, where did friday go? Ok so I guess its Saturday. Well in any case here is this week t-shirt entry. The theme was "Faster, Higher, Stronger". I totally ripped off Warhol's soup can and embellished it with Popeye the Sailor Man motifs. Its tricky to explain images that are not allowed to have text.

Narcissistic Tendencies: progress

Moving along with the painting. I still think that the colors are way jacked. But thats why Buddha invented the glazing technique

 

Blast from the Past

I was going through my hardrive today trying to find some obscure Photoshop template. I ran across this project that I made for my Electronic Illustration II class. Not too shabby. Considering I hate Photoshop and this is digitally painted. If anything, I can appreciate the color play. And that she pooped on the constitution.

Narcissistic Tendencies

This week, I'm laying down the previous painting of the two gentle men after being really too creeped out by the old dude's stare.

So this week, I'm working on Self Portrait #5. Its a composition using the mirrors that surround my room, the horrible wooden paneling in the house and the Polaroids that I have a new obsession with.

Next step: transferring the drawing. Hey, be glad I kept my pants on.

Progress . . .

My old man keeps looking sloshed and more like Sean Connery the Lech.

Edit:

Poor old Dude, No matter what I did I could not make him right. So I cut him out.

He will be remembered for his brush strokes. Now what do I do with the canvas?

Gov. Testing Sketch

In order to work for the census, I had to take a test to see if I was qualified for the job. Its a 30 minute simple exam testing your reading and math skills. But because people are retarded, it took 3hrs to hand ot the exam. I'm glad I grabbed a crayon from the children's play area on my way in to take the exam.

On the plus side they were only looking at candidates that got 10 or more questions correct. I got 21/28. I lost points because of my cut-throat supervisory style.

2 Handed Mockery of Passion

Eric Fischl (http://www.ericfischl.com/index.htm) is my new icon. Him and John Singer Sargent Sargent painted "Madame X". Both painting gurus in their own right.

Right now I'm moistening over Eric Fischl, because of his bedroom series. Albeit an old series; It inspires me to work on more of the art I love: taboo genera. Once Fischl painted a boy masturbating in a kiddie pool ("Sleepwalker"). I know that had some people very upset. Oh to be a fly on that gallery wall.

So this season's picture, in the genera of "Looking at this makes me uncomfortable", features an older gentleman sitting ever so intimately next to a significantly younger gentleman on a bed.

I removed almost all furniture or anything that could establish that they are in a certain bedroom. Well rather, I was establishing the utter vagueness of this piece.

Are the lines prison bars? Are they blinds? Why is that old man leaning in all creepy like? Has the younger gentleman solicited services to the older gentleman? Is it even a bed that they are sitting on? These are questions I wanted to raise, well that and an eyebrow.

Mostly this post is for me to have a reference for the steps I need to paint. Since the Polaroid, painting turned out swell I thought that I'd try to follow the same steps again and see how well the image turned out. The Key, is a good drawing, and a superb transfer. Neither of which happened this time, but there is always canvas and even more paint.

Glow In The Dark, Munny

So I only wanted to slit my wrists a few times during the extent of this project.

Basically I took a DIY Munny from Kidrobot.com and it just so happened to be glow-in -the-dark. Then I took spray paint and covered up all the glowing attributes till it was as dark as sin. Which isnt that dark. Then little by little I carved out all the negative space until I achieved something that wasn't quite what I started out towards.

Originally he was supposed to me Masai Munny, the African Hunting Demon. However in all the pattern carving, he ended up looking more like a Japanese woodblock print, so I just ran with it and used NOH-masks as references for the face, and then the flower motifs fell into place. Ta-dah!

Sammur-munny, Glowing Warlord of DOOm!

If you like him so much why don't you buy him?

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40391165

Chinese Zodiac

This weeks Woot! theme was the "Chinese Zodiac".

Originally I was going to do a See N' Say of zodiac animals, but after seeing 5 other versions of the same idea, in the first 24hrs, I went with a drastically different plan--brush painting. One thing that surprised me was how difficult it was to capture an animals essence in only a few strokes. The Pig, Rat, Monkey and Tiger were by far the hardest subject I've ever had to paint thus far.

There's tuna in your coffee!

UPDATE:

Woohoo! I got 37th place (out of 122). It seems that my more simpler style change was appreciated more than my overly complicated morose illustrations. The biggest complaint was that I made the tiger too much the focus of the shirt. Little do they know its the year of the tiger and I was born under the tiger sign. Sooo scoff on them! Personally I think that the design needs some tweaking on a few animals. I really wanted to do a huge streak of color across the design, I just did't seem to pull it off though.

New Stationary!!!

I have sort of this side hobby for hand-carved stamps. Finally I have enough to use on my stationary. The paper is the recycled brown color, which works great with the look of the stamps.

Now to find people to mail cards to. . .