Adventures In Art
People often feel like they are not Artists,
because if they pick up a pencil only chicken scratch will come out.
But that has nothing to do with being an artist,
that is about drawing concepts on paper.
The concept of a nose is the letter L,
we must not judge ourselves by the standards of photo-realism when all we know is how to draw like Picasso.
That letter L shaped nose is still very important,
a lot of modern business graphics expand on that, plus they heavy rely on very special color schemes.
There aren't too many of them,
but it takes very little to begin spotting the color trends.
In abstract art, it is not just the nose, an other shapes,
but also proportions, some for example like big bodies, small heads, others enlarge the heads, that nose will fit really well.
It is important to add color, gradients, of a particular color scheme to your L shaped nose,
and practice with a pencil first, fuzz around and dance with it, and try to find your abstract face in the lines that call to you.
It is not chicken scratch, it is missing color, gradients,
and above all a color palette and strategy for body proportions that you will never change, but always better.
A lot of people want to draw like portrait artists,
and that is very easy, you take a photo, and then use a projector to project it on paper, or use carbon copy paper.
But your photo has to be good,
it has to have the same lighting as Mona Lisa.
None of the shadows in all the famous portraits and paintings were put there by mistake,
those works exist, because an artist discovered the scene.
When someone wants a portrait an artist will place them in special light,
your photo needs bright highlights and dark shadows, otherwise you may need to bring the shadows from another photo.
And your photo has to capture the person as they are to you,
as you see them best, this will take a goddie long while to set up.
Once you have the photo,
prepare for 10 to 100 sketches, some in charcoal, some in pencil, some freehand as you study the eyes maybe.
Maybe keep it all in a large journal or notebook,
you may want to hand that in along with your artwork.
And you have to take videos or time laps photographs of your progress,
a video of a two hour session where you work on hair and shadows is just as priceless as your final work of art.
Once you start outlining where the shadows are with the help of your movie projector, or graphite paper,
you leave the world of L shaped noses, and notice, that photo-realism is so unique and precious, that going freehand is a bad idea.
Personally, I once felt it was disrespectful, to create a portrait without all the science in the world,
one of my clients requested a drawing of their dad when he was younger, I could not imagine creating something less than perfect.
The client wanted me to capture the youth of their father,
it is not good to do that free hand, it had to be perfect, out of respect.
Take your art on adventures, and take photos of things that capture your attention,
work on getting the proportions perfect at home by using a projector, and then return to the site to have that live image before you.
I was known as the Mona Lisa guy, because I liked repeating the same thing in different mediums,
and I was learning more and more with each new artwork.
Oil painting is also easy, but you need to sketch out the proper proportions first,
then you have to use white and gray to get the shadows perfect, so use a black and white photo for this part.
And then you gently add a transparent layer of color,
while it is a bit more complex you desaturate colors by mixing them with opposites on the color wheel.
Having a while and black under-painting really helps,
but it is the color mixing that oil paintings really benefits from.
The thing about oil paint is that it does not dry very quickly,
it gives you the ability to keep tweaking your painting.
Acrylics are another choice,
they don't mix anywhere as easy as oils, they just dry.
And watercolors, are wonderful, once you have a sketch,
you don't color by mixing a color up and then using that color directly on paper, but you color in layer on really think paper.
In that way Watercolors and Oils give you time to make adjustments and change things,
acrylics however, let you easily paint over something you didn't like, they are very opaque.
Always work on a series of portraits on a singe subject,
it can be people's portraits, it can be people's pets, or it can be vistas, or just Mona Lisas.
But in the beginning you always have to sketch out the subject with pencils first,
there are cheap pico projectors that can connect directly to the phone you snapped a photo with, so it can't be easier.
I have fond memories of drawing a series of Raccoon portraits in my post Mona Lisa phase,
I was just using photos from the internet, which is not perfect, because you don't feel connected to the kitty, you have to take your own pictures first.
One time in a coffeehouse, I was approached by a watercolor artist that described her artwork as whimsical,
I started talking about using office projectors, sometimes even connected to programs like GIMP where one can study photographs by reducing number of colors for example.
At first she didn't care to listen what I was saying, but then, all of a sudden, she got it, her eyes lit up in a way that spoke "I need a projector",
and then she flew out the door, never to return, ever again.
Another time, I remember stopping by Ann Arbor's Ambrosia to have a little relaxing drawing session,
and the subject of my internet raccoon drawings came up.
People gathered around and I proudly paraded my Trash Panda Kitties,
I was like "Oh, I just started on this one", "And did you see the one where I gave them monocles?" - that one is still my favorite, becoming an artist is really fun.
Adventures help us become artists because they give us the opportunity to take photos in just the perfect way,
then all you need to do is discover your favorite method of transferring the outline of your subject to canvas or on paper, and you are ready to go.