Cupid's Aim

As I catch up on some illustration ideas I've had brewing, as well as working on a new project, I thought I'd post this small sketch in the spirit of Valentine's Day. I must have done this about three years ago. I stopped because I couldn't find the right model to pose for Cupid. (My daughter was only one and my son wouldn't be caught dead in a diaper). Anyway, I put it off to the side (like many sketches) to approach again at a later date. Perhaps my son would reconsider wearing a diaper...

To Date or Not to Date

I'm not sure how many artists find value in dating their artwork. As for me, I haven't given it much thought in the last 10 or so years. I just sign my initials and that's it. But last night, I was going through some old portfolios, and I found a multitude of paintings I did with my watercolor instructor as a kid. Hardly any of them were dated except for one in 1981. I guessed that that put the rest of them at around the same time period. But then I started turning them over. And I found more work I did, but I knew I was older. The subject matter was more personal and the drawing skill was different. I could only guess that I did those in junior high or high school. But I will never know for sure! Now the OCD in me wants to rifle through all of my artwork and date the ones I can remember. But then the artist in me doesn't really care – it was done by me, it doesn't matter when. Oh well. Perhaps I should look at it this way: it's important to me right now because I'm just curious as to when in my life I created a particular piece of art. More than likely, it's not important to anyone else. In the meantime, here is one of those mystery pieces. I don't remember painting half the stuff I found, but I really don't remember EVER drawing anything from "E.T." but here's an "E.T." watercolor I did. That's the other thing that troubles me - why don't I remember doing this? Anyway, since most of the work I found was probably done around '81-'82, I would guess this one was done later. "E.T." came out in '82, so I would venture to guess this was done in that year or '83. But since there were other pieces in the portfolio that looked like they were from my early teens, it's a possibility that I did this in junior high or high school. I'll leave that up to you.

My First Season of "Lost"

This sketch really wasn't done because I was excited about the new season of "Lost". I was actually wanting to practice drawing more entertainment based artwork again. And when I used to do that, it was very "Star Wars" heavy. (Speaking of which, I will have some new Star Wars stuff coming also!) But I had watched this show and never thought to draw any of that characters. Funny enough, this was originally supposed to be some random character sketch strewn about the page. Then I finished it as a single composition. We'll see if it ends up as a painting...

My Process: Part Eight

To finish the painting, I added a dark mix of Winsor blue and Burnt Sienna to render Jacob's hair. The t-shirt is where I was getting a little anxious. It takes up a good amount of space and I wanted it to be plain enough not to be distracting but not so plain that it was uninteresting. I laid in a wash of French Ultramarine to start. It has a nice "grainy" look to it after it dries. Then I put down another wet-in-wet wash of that same color to deepen the values – at the same time, I mingle in a few areas of Alizarin Crimson. Then I deepen the darks more by adding some Burnt Sienna to the French Ultramarine. Now, I failed to mention that at multiple interval during the process, I step back from the painting. One thing that I learned in art school, working in graphic design and even in personal life, you should always take a step back from your work to assess, reflect and even to just forget about it for awhile. Otherwise, at least for me, insanity awaits. So I take a final step back to look over the painting. For the finishing touches, I go back to do some lifting. Lifting is where I take a wet stiff bristled brush, and lightly scrub in some light areas by lifting the pigment off the paper. And voila – my finished piece. I titled it "Pride and Joy."

My Process: Part Seven

I further add value to Molly's hair - keeping in mind the curls and undulations. I deepen the hair color by adding a little more Winsor blue at a time. When I had it all laid in, I looked at the hair and thought that a unifying wash would help decrease the contrast and pull the look of her hair together more. Because at that point, it was very high contrast and her hair looked "piecy." When I put the final wash down, I was also able to soften the blends between the values, which helped quite a bit. I then repeated the steps I used on Molly's face when I painted Jacob's. His was much easier since his face is much smaller in the composition. Before I called it a night, I put a Burnt Sienna wash as a highlight color for Jacob's hair. Funny enough, he and my wife thought it strange for him to be a redhead. We're in the home stretch!

My Process: Part Six

At this stage, I have added more detail to the mouth. What I find tricky about mouths, even to this day, is that teeth are rarely pure white. (Same with the whites of the eyes). So I had the carefully use light, cool washes to build up the values between the teeth, and the give them some tint. Then, using the same mix I used to do the initial wash for the mouth, I built up the values there – adding Winsor blue to deepen the color. I then moved on to the hair. One of the biggest lessons I learned in art school, was that you should always treat hair as a single form – not to consider it strand by strand. I laid in a light wet-in-wet wash of Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre to establish the highlight color. Then I made a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Blue to start building the values – I laid in an initial wet-to-dry application to establish highlights in the hair. Molly's hair is so curly, so there were a lot of undulations. Next time: Her hair should be done and on to Jacob!

My Process: Part Five

I have begun to work on the details on Molly's face. With some more glazes, I deepen the darks and shadows and start to define the eyes and nose. I try to cool the colors around the eyes by adding a little more Windsor blue to the skin mix. For the eyes, I eye some cool color to the "whites" to define them. Then I work on the irises. I still need to work on this part, as I think eyes are the most important aspect of a portrait. I've established a basic look – leaving the edges dark and lightening as the color goes to the center. Before I called it quits for the night, I laid in some Alizarin Crimson and Burnt Sienna in the mouth area. This will be my base/underpainting for the mouth. Until next time...