Naked Art » holiday

New art this week – “A Special Present”

Kevin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:36:05 +0000

A Special Present

model – Amber J

Halloween art this week – “Alarmed!”

Kevin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:06:35 +0000

I did a little extra on this piece, embossing the actually paper so that the eye ‘globes’ actually pop out a bit. It’s a bit subtle, as I didn’t want to compromise the integrity of the paper or rip it, but it does add a bit more dimension to it, making it a bit surreal. The ghost also has a silver sheen airbrushed within it – it wasn’t until the end that I thought of using florescent paint for it, but that might have gotten too bright any way, so the silver is probably best.
Alarmed!.

Alarmed!

model – Kneely

new art – “Stocking Stuffer”

Kevin — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 04:41:25 +0000

It’s now up on the website here.

Stocking Stuffer

work progress – skin blocked in

Kevin — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 04:25:06 +0000

today I started on the skin, using colored pencils and oil pastels. Since the stocking takes up more than half the body, it was quick work to fill in the flesh…

I had enough time to work on the details this evening, finishing the piece. I used colored pencils for some the detail work, blending them in with my fingers, then used a brush dipped in turpenoid for finer control. To complete the piece, I used gray and white oil pastels for the hat fur, blending them with my fingers and a tortillion to spread it out in furry streaks. As a finishing touch, I used a white colored pencil to get the finer fur. I’ll post the final piece in the next post, once it has been scanned and uploaded.

new concept started today

Kevin — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 01:56:32 +0000

One of the sets I shot this weekend with model Kym was another holiday theme, so I figured it would be best to get to that right away. I picked out a photo that had the best elements in it, then began designing. She’s in a stocking, but for the shot, she held up a simple piece of cloth; so I had to look up a stocking idea I liked and create it in photoshop. I considered her hanging from a mantle, but it would require too much background space to get across, which would unbalance the focus, in my opinion. I kept her standing as she was in the shot. I played with some of the colors, then decided it was ready.
This morning I drew the design on rough watercolor paper…

model – Kymberly Jane

I then masked out the image, and airbrushed the background with two blue acrylics. The first was more cerulean and lighter, which covered nearly the entire piece. The second was more ultramarine, which was focused more on the center. I added black to the mix to airbrush the shadow, then finished the background with silver and pearl ‘sparkles’.
I usually insert a photo at this point, but I got wrapped up in the work so much I forgot to shoot. I re-masked the image to cover the background and expose the stocking, which I airbrushed with various reds, going from light and bright to dark shadow. Once dry, I removed the masking and used a white colored pencils for the stitching design in the stocking. I also used some red colored pencils for finer detail of the highlights and shadows of the stocking.
Next, I began painting. I washed the hat in green gouache, then built up darker greens to form its contours. The texture of the paper wasn’t working for me in this area too well, not with paint, so I switched to colored pencils to finish the hat. I then moved onto the face, using gouache paints, followed by the hair, building up wash layers of various browns. I used yellow ochre, brown, gray and yellow to build up the ornament hanging from her hat. Next, blocked in all the skin with a wash of flesh gouache, then ended the day with the textured gesso…

New art added today – “Tangled Up for the Holidays”

Kevin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 03:30:25 +0000

I started the day painting in the lights. I then went ahead and airbrushed the glow around them so I would have a better idea what I was dealing with for the skin. Once done, I saw how little exposed skin actually remained. Add to it the knowledge that the lights would affect the shadowing overall, I could see that using oil pastels was really not necessary. For the face though, I treated it as any other piece, so it did get blocked in with colored pencils and oil pastels. I thought the color might be noticeably different than the airbrushed body, but was pleased to see them blend together quite nicely. I finished the details in the face, then added a few washes of brown in a few areas of the skin to bring out the lights even more. I created shadows on the ground first with graphite pencil, then a light wash of gray gouache. Next, I added some highlights to the lights to pop them out, then finished the piece with a scruffing of green watercolor paint on the tree to give it just a bit of texture.
I let it sit for an hour or two, then took a fresh look at it and feel it is now complete. So, I’ve scanned it and it is now available here.

Tangled Up for the Holidays

new idea started this week

Kevin — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 04:44:06 +0000

I got out of the habit of blogging since the vacation, so I’m a few days behind. After completing the previous piece, I started going through photos for the recent shoots, and one stuck out not only for it’s inspiration, but it’s timing. It’s a holiday theme, so completing it soon would be best so people wanting prints can get them in time.
The design wasn’t too difficult, but the execution has me a bit puzzled. Not only will the skin areas be cut into small sections (which is a challenge at times using oil pastels), but I want to use the airbrush for glow effects at the end. Airbrushing acrylics on top of oil pastels rarely work out well (the paint never quite adheres), and I haven’t attempted mixing oil paint to the consistency needed for airbrushing. So, two options have come to mind so far- one, I don’t use oil pastels at all and just paint the whole thing; or two, I blend off the oil pastels around the glow areas so there’s minimal crossover. I’m not at that stage yet, so I still have options, so we’ll see.
Yesterday I got the design drawn on the board…

…model – Kneely

Before masking anything, I airbrushed the board with a light mix of brown acrylic. Once dry I masked off the image, then began painting. Green acrylic was used to cover the tree; I may add a bit of detail later, but for now it’s flat. I used dark brown for the trunk, and red for the base (all flat as well).
Next, I switched the masking, covering the background so I could airbrush the skin. I don’t usually use an airbrush for full contour detail, but thought I would try it out for this piece to avoid the troubles mentioned earlier. Before airbrushing, I washed some detail into the skin areas to help guide me as well as deepen the details. Then I mixed a light skin tone in acrylic, and airbrushed the entire body, followed by layers of darker skin tones to fill out the contours and shadows. I finished the airbrushing with a near-white skin tone for highlights.
I removed all the masking, then went back to painting. With red acrylic, I covered the hat and panties. I could’ve covered the shoes as well, but I prefer my other technique with gouache for them. That said, the reason I didn’t go with gouache for all the red areas is that I knew I would be applying white fur on the hat and panties. Since gouache blends so easily, that would’ve caused the white to turn pink, so I went with acrylic to keep them separate.
It’s weird for me to see the skin covered without the eyes and mouth, but hopefully it’ll turn out fine…

New art completed – Peppermint Sticks

Kevin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:38:59 +0000

Today I worked on all the details, mostly in the face and hands, using colored pencils and oil pastels.
I’m satisfied with it, so it’s available now in the store here.

New image designed and started

Kevin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:05:17 +0000

The shorter days of Winter really take their toll on my creativity. I sat staring at images for the past few days trying to find something to inspire my next piece, with little luck. Thankfully yesterday I remembered a concept I had thought about a year or two ago – using candy cane stripes on an outfit. With that in mind, I found a model and pose that I thought would be interesting, and started designing.
It was a little trick to get the stripes to wrap properly, but I think I got it now. I played around with what else to do with the piece and decided to keep it in a holiday theme, so she’ll be wearing tinsel garland on top (and possibly some holly leaves, but not certain on that yet).
I got it drawn on the board this morning…

model – Percolate

With that done, I masked out the image, then proceeded to airbrush the background with acrylics. I started with a light aqua color, focusing most of it in a circle just below center. Then I filled out the rest with a true blue, blending it toward the circle. I chose these as they’re ‘wintery’, and the deep, bright colors will be a nice contrast to the light stripes on her legs…