I finished up all the details today. I used a mix between colored pencils, brushed oil pastels using turpenoid, and blending with my finger and tortillions. I added a bit of an outline to the skin and gloves to complete the ‘classic pin-up’ style, then refined the hair with gouache paint.
Nothing more I can see to do, so it’s scanned and available now right here.
Yeehaw!
Today I spent time covering all the skin areas. I re-applied the masking around the areas, then section by section I would use colored pencils to for the base colors and contours, followed by oil pastels to blend. Most of the areas don’t have too much fine detail, so I took time to get the contours down to nearly the final look.
With the time I had left tonight, I started detailing the face and torso using colored pencils. It should be no problem finishing this tomorrow…
I started the day mixing black acrylic with a bit of white to give it an ‘off-black’ shade. I used this to block in the hat and boots. This form of acrylic paint works a little like gouache in that it can be re-wet and worked with for a short time before becoming permanent. I added some white acrylic to my brush and blended it into the black for toning and highlights.
While I waited for that to fully dry, I used black gouache in a wash on the skirt, building up layers to darken and contour it. I painted a blue-gray gouache on the back half of the belt, then blended black into it. I stippled the black into the front of the belt, creating its texture. Then I painted the fringe with gray gouache, adding little lines of black for shadows.
Back to the boots and hat, I re-wet the pink I used for the vest yesterday and painted the stitched design on them. I didn’t like the way the board’s texture was showing through in the painted gloves, so I mixed a dull tan acrylic and painted them again, this time solid. I then added some white to the highlights and brown to the shadows, blending them in before the acrylic could set fully. Next, I painted highlights on all the painted areas with white gouache.
To complete the painting portion of this piece, I covered all the skin areas with textured gesso so they’ll be ready for oil pastels tomorrow.
I ended the day using colored pencils to finish the rope. It ended up being a mix of ochre, gray, and dull yellow, with a little bit of dark brown for the darker shadowed areas (by the hands)…
I started today painting the fence in the background using white acrylic. I wanted the fence to be forward of the colored background without pulling much attention. The camera’s flash enhanced the white to much brighter than it really looks (as will be seen in the final scan).
Next, I began work on the face, using gouache paint (except the tongue – I have a nice dull pink watercolor paint that suits that perfectly). Then I built up the hair with layers of browns and black. It still needs details, but it gets the idea across for now. After that I began painting the vest. The outer side (barely seen) I painted with a purplish gray gouache. The interior side I mixed a subdued pink (the pink I use, ‘opera’, is nearly florescent bright) gouache and covered it with a solid coat. I then used an old gouache technique I used to use, loading the brush with a color and mixing/blending it directly on the surface. For this area, I loaded black on the brush and started on the edge against the body, then blended it outward. I did the same with white, starting at the brightest highlight area and blending out. Both sides of the vest still need some white highlights, but that should be it for them.
Before ending my day, I blocked in the gloves with a dull ochre brown, and then added flesh gouache at all the edges where the skin will touch painted areas (and blocking in small areas, like her forearm, thigh and face, even though they’ll likely be covered later with the oil pastels)…
A bit of a setback having the website hacked a few days ago, but everything should be about normal again now (and safer).
I had a request for another cowgirl piece, so I went through the photo set I took of Kneely a few months ago and found something that might be fun. I worked on the outfit and lasso to complete the design, then drew it on illustration board…
- model Kneely
Next, I masked out the image, then mixed a light sky blue acrylic. I airbrushed it loosely around the top half of the board. I followed that up with a light tan acrylic, airbrushing the same way around the lower half. I used an ochre colored pencil to rough in the lasso rope…
Today I worked on all the details. I started with colored pencils, adding eyebrows back in, eyeliner as well as a bit of the upper lid crease, and the nostril. I used oil pastels to enhance the color in her cheek and along the jawbone, and then added some white oil pastel to the nose. Next was the hands, again with pencils at first, followed by oil pastels to blend and soften. A little shading to the legs finished this segment of the day. I had to wait for the oil pastels to firm up again before going back to those areas (mostly the hands). While I waited, I went back to the hair and painted in all its details with browns and black gouache. While painting, I enhanced the edging of the back wall with burnt umber gouache. I still want it to be very much a background item, but didn’t want the main outline to be as soft as the plank lines.
To finish the piece, I added gray oil pastels for the foam bubble bath. To help give it character, I dabbed some light blue and pink lightly in a random order around the foam. Then I used white to brighten it up.
It’s now completed and available here now.
Whoa Nellie!
I spent the day filling in all the skin areas. I used colored pencils for color and rough contouring, then oil pastels to blend in. To help keep edges clean and crisp, I reused some of the masking from time to time. I had little time tonight to begin detailing, but didn’t get to take a photo yet. Tomorrow it might get finished…
Today I worked on completing the painted areas. I started with the tub/bucket, washing grays into the darker areas. Then, I scumbled a variety of colors in a near-random fashion. The warmer tones (mostly browns) were more to the left, blues to the right, and green toward the bottom, although they all intermixed here and there. To finish it, I added white gouache for the highlights. I also threw in some green grass blades around the ground, concentrating more around the base of the tub and the pump.
Next were the boots. I washed more browns over them, then used colored pencils for some of the details. Next, I went back to paint, scumbling browns for texture, and painting dark browns for the creases. The highlights were mostly light gray pencils, but I hit some of the brighter spots with white gouache.
To end the day, I covered the skin areas with the textured gesso, giving it plenty of time tonight to dry so that I can start coloring the skin tomorrow…
I spent the day working on blocking in areas and adding some details. First, I used flat black gouache to cover the pump and her hat. While it dried, I painted her eyes and mouth with both gouache and watercolors (depending on the color). I loosely filled the hair with brown and black, adding wisps and strands on the outer edge and by the face, but not creating any detail within the main shape. Next, I blocked in the cement base of the pump with gray gouache, and a blue-gray wash for the tub. I used a burnt sienna wash for the boots, also just blocking them in. With the same paint I outlined the skin areas.
With the black paint dry, I used warm gray colored pencils to form the contours of the pump and hat. I rubbed in the pencils on the pump to blend and give it a slight sheen with my fingers. I used a blue-gray pencil on the top of the hat for a different tone.
To finish the day, I began texturing the cement and galvanized tub using various grays and browns, sometimes dry brushed, sometimes a wash. I gave the cement a milky wash of cream watercolor, which probably completes it. The tub will get more layers of texture tomorrow…
I’ve had this concept/design in the works since I did the latest shoot with model Kneely. I wasn’t certain about the background, and I had to build some of the props, so I couldn’t get to it until now. I tried taking photos in a different location, and didn’t think about the glass reflection on the wall to the right, so the flash bounced off it and the image now has an angled line going through it. Oh well, it’s just the drawing here…
model – Kneely
That was yesterday, and today I’ve been working on the background. First, I used a raw umber colored pencils and detailed the wooden wall and fence. Then, without masking, I airbrushed a light coat of burnt umber and burnt sienna around the whole piece, giving it a slight sepia tone to it. I want to go ‘old school’ with this background, so it’ll stay mostly outlines, leaving the color and detail for the foreground only. With that dry, I masked out the bucket and model, then airbrushed burnt umber under the bucket to look like wet ground beneath it. I finished the airbrushing with a bit of black right along the bottom edge for the bucket and the cement base of the water pump to give them a shadow…
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Naked Art
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Work progress of artist Kevin Clark
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