Today was very productive. With a simple background and no wardrobe to paint, this step of the process was quick and easy.
I started the morning masking the image, then airbrushing the background with a very, very light gray-lavender acrylic. In designing this image in photoshop, this background helped bring out the highlights in the model, as well as giving the overall image a nice tone.
Next, I freehand airbrushed five colors for the rainbow – light red, yellow, light aqua, light blue, and light violet. To finish the background, I airbrushed a mix of green and purple iridescent acrylics overall…
The remainder of the day was spent painting. I started with the face, painting the eyes and mouth (I once again added skin tone around the areas to help blending later, but I found myself coloring in the entire face to help see the tones better). Next, the hair, building up layers of watery gouache browns from ochre-red down to dark brown and black. I then painted the waist chain and charms with gray gouache, adding bits of black for shading, and white for highlights. While the black was out, I also painted the shoes. Then I used green watercolor for the rabbit’s foot, accents on the shoes, and the emerald in the clover charm. Again, I painted some skin tone around all these areas for later blending (including almost all of the foot areas, as they’re fairly small and I might not get much oil pastels in there).
With time remaining tonight, I was able to get to the textured gesso for the skin…
Tag masking
work progress – paint and gesso completed
work progress – skin blocked in
It took some time to get all those large areas covered, especially with my finger tips getting sore, so I didn’t get it all done yesterday. Today I finished it off, covering the abdomen with the colored pencils and oil pastels. The skin is now covered, so next step is detailing, which I should get started still today. It should be finished some time tomorrow…
work progress – painting it up
Last night and today I spent working on all the paint areas. I started with the face, painting the eyes and lips with mostly gouache (and some watercolor on the lips). Next, I painted the hair, working layer after layer to build up the depth, darkness, and apparent detail (I don’t attempt to capture every hair, but rather try to give it a natural texture).
I then painted the black leather of the bra with watery layers of black and gray gouache. The highlights are mostly the paper showing through, so it’ll have a slightly different color tone than the skirt. The skirt was next, but once again I had trouble facing a large area with water. I just can’t get a smooth coat of color across without either the water evaporating, or the brush leaving streaks. Before getting overly frustrated, I masked it off and reverted to airbrush. Starting with black acrylic, I coated the area lightly, then built it up until the shadow areas were near solid. I then mixed some gray and turquoise in and hit the mid-toned areas. On the next pass, I kept adding more and more white to the mix, working up the highlights softly. I then decided to go for the ’sparkle’ finish, so I mixed steel and aqua iridescent acrylics and sprayed over the whole skirt, hitting the highlighted areas more than the shadows.
Once all that was dry, I used some acrylic black with a brush to define the creases in the material more. While I had it out, I mixed the black with a lot of water and washed the leopard spots on the bra (I played around with a few other patterns, but this still worked the best for me). Next, I mixed a turquoise-green gouache and washed it over the bra. I dry-brushed a bit on top of this with the same color to give it a hint of fur texture. I may use some colored pencils later to enhance that further. I finished out the leopard print with a wash of green within the spots.
The final bit I did today was adding white highlights to the skirt. If I have time still tonight, I hope to get the textured gesso down on the skin areas so I can begin blocking that in tomorrow…
work progress – new image begins
I had designed and drawn this new piece the other day (see yesterday’s blog). I masked and airbrushed the background yesterday, starting with a magenta mix (lightened and dulled using white and gray) for the middle of the piece. Then I filled out from there using a purple mix (with a touch of gray to dull, and ultramarine to deepen). I considered adding sparkles as I often do, but the color was so brilliant and fun, I didn’t think it needed anything more. The leather skirt has a sparkly sheen to it in the original photo, so maybe I’ll give it a touch of sparkles, we’ll see…
work progress – skin blocked in
I re-applied the masking around all the skin areas to start my day, then began roughing in each section using colored pencils and oil pastels. To give it a bit of a dead look, instead of the usual warm peaches and ochres I use for skin, I worked with a gray beige mostly, adding a touch of light peach or dark ochre here and there. The oil pastel I use over most skin areas is rather dull on its own, so that works in my favor this time. I then add a bit of brown and sepia oil pastels for some of the dark shadows, and some gray-purple for contour shading (I have to be careful using this, as its base is translucent, and seems to make everything it mixes with translucent).
Next step, detailing…
work progress – lots of airbrushing
I started today by masking out almost the entire board. Section by section, I removed a bit of the background and airbrushed the area using various mixes of gray-aqua acrylics. It was slow going, since I had to replace masking over areas I just painted, so there was a lot a waiting for everything to dry. For the section on the right side of the image, instead of using masking to block out the areas, I held cardboard against the surface. Hopefully this creates a softer edge, suggesting out-of-focus. Also, while painting those sections, I used the same color in the foreground floor for the wall’s reflection. I didn’t have the stand masked at the time, so you’ll see the bottom is somewhat covered. It’ll be dark gray, so I’m not concerned about that. I then used some gray colored pencils for the floor to give it a bit of texture.
A few more details remain, but then the background will be completed…
work progress – skin blocked in
Today I worked on the flesh. I re-applied the masking around the skin areas, then moved from section to section, coloring with pencils then coating and blending with oil pastels. The way the outfit is in this piece, the sections are well-defined and numerous. This makes it easy to take breaks, but I still need to be sure I match the colors right in adjoining sections so it appears continuous.
I got everything covered, and have started the details with colored pencils. The body doesn’t need much, so it’s mostly the face and neck. A few more hours and it should be complete…
work progress – background airbrushed
This afternoon I masked out the image and airbrushed the background. I started with a mix of gray and turquoise acrylics, covering most of the board, with emphasis on the center horizon. Next, I sprayed just gray over the center and up to the top. I followed that with blue, most heavily just above the center. Next, indigo at the top only (and the shadow toward the bottom). After that, I mixed the turquoise and gray again, this time darker, and created some angled lines to add interest and design. Finally, I airbrushed the entire board with a mix of pearl and green ’sparkles’. Overall, the color is more mute than originally intended, but I think it’ll just make the character stand out all the better…
work progress – skin areas blocked in
Yesterday and today I worked on the skin areas, applying the color with colored pencils and oil pastels, then blending and contouring with my fingers. I found this skin tone to be a refreshing change, as I was able to use an entirely different set of pencils. It’s amazing to me how many different colors can be found in the skin. When I work, I try not to think of what the item is I’m coloring, but rather the colors I see in that section. There are some who will take this even further by turning the piece upside down, but I rarely go that far (only if it’s needed to get to an area for some reason). Sometimes this can backfire, as I’ll get too involved on a small section, and fail to see how it impacts its surrounding areas. Now, I try to step back from time to time in hopes of avoiding this (or at least catching it before it gets irreparable).
With the skin covered, next I can get to work on the details, and finish this piece up…
work progress – airbrushing the background
For this piece, I will keep the background simple, even though it is a room. I masked out everything except the chalkboard, then airbrushed it with a gray-green acrylic paint. Once dry, I removed some of the masking and added some details to the desk with pencils. I started with graphite for the shadows, rubbing them with my fingers to blend. Then I used a variety of ochre and brown colored pencils for the wood grain. Next, I masked around the desk, and airbrushed a light ochre acrylic over all of it.
With that dry, I removed all the masking, then drew the lettering on the board with a pink chalk pastel…
