I added a last few touches to the face today, but doing any more would be a mistake, so I’ll call it done. I’m not perfectly happy with it (maybe some day I’ll return and do it again), but I think it works. It has a slight rough texture to it (in appearance, not actual touch) that’s a bit more painterly than I normally do, but some may appreciate that more.
It is now available here.
Tag nurse
“Snack Break”
work progress – still struggling
Okay, the face is getting better, but it’s been so over-worked that it may never be all that it could be. That said, I may have managed to get somewhere near what I originally intended. We’ll see.
For now, here’s the face from this morning, after I blocked in the oil pastels with the improved eyes and mouth…
Meanwhile, to take my mind off the frustration and also give me a fresh perspective, I’ve found a new image to paint next. The pose interested me, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted from it. I played around with different hair styles, colors, and crops, but her hair and color always won out. It was a full body shot at first, but cropping it to the hips felt better (the legs, although nice, didn’t do anything for the pose nor the design). The bra has a leopard print on it, and I’ve changed it to an aqua-green color (from the original tan-orange), but I didn’t bother drawing the spots yet, as I may still change it to some other pattern (maybe)…
model – Gia
I was able to mask out the image and airbrush the background tonight, but didn’t get a photo of it yet. I’ll give the details for that tomorrow.
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 – paint work done
Last night I painted the I.V. bag and stand, using gouache and watercolors. For ease of accessibility, I had the board upside down. Not only is it easier to get to then, but it changes my perception of what I’m painting, freeing me to get the details without interpretation. The stand is simple, so there’s not a lot to misinterpret, but still, it’s nice every once in a while. I also had time to paint the path lines on the floor, using gouache.
Today, I’m having some service work done to the house, so I was up early. I managed to complete the remainder of the paint work already, including the textured gesso for the skin, and the day’s only half over. I thought the pinstripes of the nurse outfit would be a long chore, but it went rather smoothly. It still needs some little touches of highlights and shadows to complete it, but the worst is over. The hair was fairly normal/typical, with no troubles along the way. The eyes and mouth may need further work, depending how they look against the finished skin. I once again edged all the painted areas with skin tone to ease the blending later, but not knowing exactly what the skin tone will end up being this time, it may not be of much help…
Since I have to wait for the gesso to thoroughly dry before starting the skin, I will work on t-shirt designs the rest of the day.
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…
new concept designed and ready
It’s been nearly a month now since I first drew it, so I think it’s time to begin that vampire design I mentioned back then. Looking over the design I built using both photoshop and Hash’s Animation:Master (highly recommended for the home animator!), the background is going to require quite a bit of masking levels and airbrush color passes. Hopefully I can get through it without damaging anything along the way (like pulling up paint with the masking)…
model -Kneely
