Work in progress

Work in progress. Trying to establish the basic approach and the overall posture and lighting. Still a long way to go I guess.

Quick Sketch

A quick story sketch. Just messing around with the color scheme.

Merry Christmas 2007

A little better lighting...

Well, the famous weed lady have not shown up in the workshop for 3 weeks in a row now. So, I don't have to worry about someone moving the whole model stand half way into the painting.(She had to do some thing to justify her job I guess.) Still have the challenge of painting under 20+ lights under an hour, but at least it is consistent.

What? why am I updating blog 5am in the morning? It is just common sense.

This is some mix media stuff I have been playing with lately. Doesn't really improve the quality, just made the process faster. Took about half of the time, and doubles my usual working size.

Same mix media stuff with a different brush.

This one took the same amount of time as well. No mix media, just limited palette.

Cheap fillers

What the heck, I will just post something to fill the empty space...

Got to get with the program. Basic "Academy syle" sketches.

Just some dudes on the train.

A hot shot abstract expressionist expressing his big ideas to some young girls with low cut dress. He talked long enough for me to finish the sketch.

Just another brush and ink practice. Need to use up my old ink some how.

Color test

Just a quick color test to decide on the palette.

Loose watercolor

Just happened to notice my watercolor seems looser than I remembered. A quick sketch today on the side of the river before dark.

Going mad

If I am going mad, might as well go all the way. Found some crazy set of paper with ugly colors, along with the usual 20+ light setting and cheap watercolor and chalk. Keep rubbing the chalk while the dude next to me splashed red acrylic on my paper. Man... I am really going mad...

Not so Feng

Not so Feng attempt at Feng style. Still got a few mechanical issues to work out. Back to drawing my circles and lines...

Pencil test

Just a sketch to try out the look of the main character's face and the visual qualities of the approach.

Fall

It was just too pretty not to paint it.

Rejected designs

Finally, one of the concepts has gone far enough for me to start working on presentation pieces. Still a lot more to go but finally getting close. To start off, here are some of the rejected sketches.(The one I haven't burned anyway. *smile*)

Recent studies...

No sure what the hell I am painting these days . I am slowly convincing some of the seniors to read the Craig Nelson painting book while finding techniques to deal with the 20 light situation. To my amazement, there is no copy of Craig's book in town at the moment.(with the library on strike) Hopefully I will convince enough people to do something about the lighting before I ran out of interest in this challenge.

The model was a good looking muscular young guy. While the old ladies were busy getting high, I decided to give him some leather armor. No sure why I am attracted to the cheap watercolor. Guess that's the bi-product of hanging around Mr. Sanchez.

An attempt on painting a white women with plenty of hair.

With the high price of paper due to the strong Canadian dollar, I end up using the brown crappy paper from Office Depot. Amazingly, the price only break even with the Sketch paper from Utrecht, considering paper were made in Canada. Anyway, the big down side is the paper does not take dry mediums well. Time to bring out the brush and ink.

Quick horse study

A racer riding his horse... not sure where they are going to. Hopefully some place where they can draw all day. *smile*

Another quick study

Another quick study of a bird from photo. Not something I got to do a whole lot, since they usually have their wings tucked in when I visit the zoo. Still can't quite get it right though. Took a little longer since I haven't got much practice with it. 30~40 minutes with cheap black paint on cool grey cardboard.(I think it was a box for cotton balls or something like that.)

Quick studies

Still not sure what to do with my colors. Thought I might as well ignore it just to see what happens. Did these two studies while listening to Ray Charles perform on an old interview. Part of the purpose is to see how I can reduce the cost of practice due to the high cost of art supplies locally. Done using some old cardboard box from Costco and my trusty paint from ToyRus, about 15~20 minutes each.

Torso study...

Not sure what happened to the pure Cad and Manganese I used to use. I still use them, but... Hum... Maybe they faded away. *smile*

Yes, the concept stuff is coming... once I am free up a bit to finish the design.

Another afternoon at the workshop

Been busy lately, but that's no excuse for not posting. Anyway, here is from this weeks painting workshop. Kind of lost with my approach for paintings at the moment.

Neighborhood

Been out sketching the neighborhood after dinner lately. Mostly focusing on getting the essentials before the light is gone. It is not hard to see the family resemblance in the approach.

Doodles this week

Did this sketch while waiting for my long lost father in front of the art museum. 30 minutes before the time to meet up, a familiar nasal voice with strong New York accent came from my left. As some of you may already guessed, I saw a short man with white mustache walking towards me. My highlight of the week.

With the overly relaxed workshop, we only get about 1~1.5 hours worth of actual painting time. Although I usually get most of the major element blocked out in the first 20 minutes, having to effectively show form, effect of lighting, while having random ambient light is a real challenge. Kind of force me to re-think my strategy and approach differently.

Granville Island

Been out painting near the river. Although it was a place with high tourist traffic, they were nice enough to spare me from conversations about their artistic relatives. Tons of nice boats around. Even some that were lifted up from the water for repair.

Another study under 20 lights...

Yeah, another one under the famous lighting condition. The workshop started off with the light not even on the model. Luckly, some of the other people also feel the need to have the spot light actually shining "on" the model. Wow... what a great discovery.

Local workshop

Been attending the local workshop for three weeks now. The lighting situation is pretty chaotic but better than nothing. I am sure there is no need of more than 3 light on one model, let alone 20. Anyway, I some how manage to survive.

Day at Library

Found some book by Pyle today. Nice to have access to books with pretty pictures. End up sketching this red thing... whatever the hell it is. I think it is supposed to be some sort of fire alarm.

Relocation...

Pretty emotional time for me. Have been staying in SF for so long, it is hard to move when one has so many friends.

Did this sketch while waiting for my plane at San Francisco Airport.

Sidetracked...

What started as an article about a phtographer, soon became an excecise in special effects. Fire, spark, smoke and splashing water...

Big guy

Big guy. Almost felt he needed a cigar.

Random doodles

Just doodels of some stuff on my desk. Not sure why, but the more I practice the less I am concerned about my materials. Always thought it would be the opposite.

Recent work

Just finished this today. Been working much digital stuff lately.

Finished from color comp

Good to have my good old tablet again. Some stuffs are just easier to do with it.

Here is the finished version of the color comp from earlier.

New studies

Got a new bottle of white gouache. Just playing aorund with it.
Practicing different female types. Something I need to work on...