By Kevin
Filed in Uncategorized
Tagged with acrylic, airbrush, bride, demon, devil, Gia, gouache, masking, paint, work progress
August 30th, 2010 @ 10:12 pm
I started the day masking out the image, then airbrushing the background. I mixed a red-purple and covered the mid-section of the paper, then added some black to the mix and covered the lower section. Adding more black and a bit more red, I covered the remainder of the space, then with near-black I darkened areas until it was what I wanted. This paper seems quite absorbent, so the paint dries lighter and duller than expected. Still, I think it got dark enough (better to be a little lighter than darker, as there will be black areas in the foreground). Keeping the masking on still, I began painting the background elements, starting with a purple-gray for the floor’s pentagram. I also used a bit of the mix in beginning the skull, but found that the airbrushed paint mixed in enough to actually darken the areas that got wet (odd, considering how the paper seemed so absorbent – I would think the paint would hold better). I kept the skull and horns loose and subtle for the moment; I’ll work it more toward the end when I can see how it all fits together. Next, I painted the candles, starting with a dull gray-purple again, blending up through orange and into yellow. Up close, it seems quite bright, but is quickly dulled as I stand back, so I may have to add more paint later to bring them out. For the flames’ glow. I blended in a tan soft pastel. Before ending this half of the day, I wanted to complete all the airbrush work, so I moved the masking to expose the stockings and protect the background. I then covered the legs with a burnt sienna acrylic, followed by dark brown, and finally black, building up the shadows and forming the contours…
Later, I started the brush paintwork. I painted the face with gouache, then blocked in the hair with browns. I mixed a red acrylic paint to cover the dress’s train, and a brighter red for the rest of the red areas of the outfit. The acrylics will give me a good base to start from, allowing me to paint on top without worry of pulling up the red. Then, I painted the midriff and gloves with a mix of gray and burnt sienna gouache, in a wash. Once dry, I followed it up with black, washing it on over the brown, and more solid for the design and edges. There’s still more texturing on these areas to get them to feel like mesh/lace, but it’s a good base…
By Kevin
Filed in Uncategorized
Tagged with acrylic, airbrush, colored pencils, cowgirl, Kneely, lasso, masking, pinup, rope, work progress
August 18th, 2010 @ 9:02 pm
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…
I got to more than this today, but only took the one photo so far, so I’ll get describing the rest tomorrow.
Today, I masked out the image and airbrushed the background. I mixed grey, cerulean blue, and ultramarine blue with white acrylic, then covered the background loosely, leaving the edge of the paper nearly untouched. Once covered enough, I mixed black into the remainder of the blue color, thinned it out more, then created the shadow on the floor, as well as the edge of the wall, blending it lightly forward for a carpet look. Finally, I painted the frame of the diploma on the wall with brown gouache…
By Kevin
Filed in Uncategorized
Tagged with acrylic, airbrush, Amber, flesh, foliage, gouache, leaves, masking, paint, stockings, work progress
July 30th, 2010 @ 8:59 pm
Today I worked on the background, as well as the stockings. I started with masking out the whole image, then mixing a dark green acrylic and airbrushing the background. I mixed a bit more black and continued, putting more emphasis on the edges. I then used a light green acrylic and airbrushed mostly the center area of the background. Once dry, I used a dark green gouache to paint hints of leaves and foliage all over the background. I don’t want to call too much attention to it, so I keep it subtle, creating just a feeling of the plant life. With that done, I finished the background with another coat of the dark green acrylic, airbrushed loosely to created soft textures and hints of shadows.
I let that all completely dry before the next step, since I’ll be adding masking back over the background. I removed the masking on the stockings, and surrounded them with masking. Using a mix of brown and flesh gouache, I loosely painted the legs as if they had no stockings on them. This will hopefully give it a sense of sheer in the end. Next, I mixed a flesh acrylic and airbrushed the legs, followed by a medium light green. I darkened the green and began contouring the stockings, mixing darker shades as I moved into the shadows. Once that dried, I used the dark green gouache from before to paint in a vine design on the stockings. Then I airbrushed white highlights over the stockings to complete them…
I finalized the packing today, sealing up the box for shipment on Thursday. With that out of the way now, I expect to finish this piece by tomorrow. Today though, I worked on covering all the flesh with the colored pencils and oil pastels. Working with such large areas takes its toll, and I have a few blistered fingers to show for it, but it is covered now. Since the hair is so loose hanging on her left shoulder, I masked out a wide area to protect the paint. I’ll blend that together tomorrow…
By Kevin
Filed in Uncategorized
Tagged with colored pencils, flesh, gesso, gouache, ladybug, Mackenzie, masking, oil pastels, paint, pinup, skin, work progress
July 7th, 2010 @ 9:52 pm
I got a little too involved with the work today, so I missed taking a photo between the paint and skin work.
I started the paint work with black gouache on the wing spots, since they were faded from the copper coating yesterday. While I had the black out, I blocked in the bustier (back half), garters, stockings tops, and shoes. Next, I painted the facial features and blocked in the hair with various browns. Then I used a gray for the front of the bustier and added some details to the black areas. I followed that with red for the bustier cup and the panties. I considered bringing the red down into the legs and shoes, but decided to keep the bright colors around the torso and face. I added some details to the hair next, and then used white for highlighting the black areas. I completed the paint phase by coating the skin areas with the textured gesso.
Later, I started on the skin, using colored pencils and oil pastels to blend. With the painted areas masked off, it was fairly easy to cover all the areas…
Today started with masking out the entire image. Then I mixed a light blue acrylic and airbrushed the top third and bottom third of the board, fading into the center. Next, I mixed a soft green and filled in the center, blending outward. I used a diluted black for the shadow below the model, then covered the entire background with pearl and red ‘sparkles’.
Once dry, I rearranged the masking to expose only the wings and stockings. Although ladybug wings/shells are commonly shown as bright red, many of the photos I researched looked more copper. So, with that in mind, I mixed an orange/brown acrylic and airbrushed the wings as a base color. I also used this color as a start for the stockings, too. Then I mixed a bright red and covered them again, going light toward the highlight ends. Next, I mixed a light sienna and covered the stockings, suggesting the skin showing through. I continued with darker browns, creating the contours on both the wings and stockings until I got down to near black. Once dry, I brush painted black gouache on the wings’ spots. The final airbrushing was a copper ‘sparkle’ added to the wings. I was going to use the airbrush for the highlights, but I’ve had difficulty finding the right thickness for white to make it opaque, yet not clog the needle. Instead, I used oil pastels for the white highlights on the wings…
By Kevin
Filed in Uncategorized
Tagged with colored pencils, fantasy, Kneely, masking, Medusa, mythology, oil pastels, Perseus, skin, work progress
June 22nd, 2010 @ 9:13 pm
I was a bit surprised last night to see the masking hold smoothly to the rough paper. I could manage without masking, but it does make edges nicer, and allows me to rough in the oil pastels more quickly. So, today I was able to do just that, block in all the skin areas with colored pencils and oil pastels to blend. This paper may not have needed any textured gesso for the pastels to hold, but I didn’t want to chance it, plus I feel the gesso gives it an even base to work from. The pastels went on nicely, and I was able to cover everything by this evening. With the extra time, I began detailing, starting with her face, and got to a bit of her right hand as well. Her lips need a little repainting, but I think the oil pastel and colored pencils are complete. The rest of the skin should go quickly, then I can get back to the painted elements, most notably her snakes…
By Kevin
Filed in Uncategorized
Tagged with colored pencils, flesh, Gia, Io, Jupiter, masking, oil pastels, pinup, skin, space, work progress
June 18th, 2010 @ 11:13 am
I spent the evening yesterday working on a new concept design, so I didn’t get as far as I could’ve with this piece. I did manage to get all the skin blocked in and ready for final detailing. As is my usual, I used colored pencils and oil pastels to fill in each area of flesh after masking them out.
Now that I have everything colored in, I can see the overall tone of the piece, and I see the foreground landscape needs more detail and contrast. It’s difficult for me to envision how to create distance on a world that has little atmosphere (ie on Earth, distant landscapes get lighter and a bit blue). Looking at Moon photos, seems it’s all about detail, so that’s what I’ll try to do. I think the model has enough color to keep focus on her even if the ground has a good deal of detail…
