http://howipaint.com/ art technique by Kathryn Beals en-us Nucleus CMS v3.23 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://howipaint.com//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://howipaint.com/ http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=248 Mocha Bear (Mokie) and Monte from Dogster. You can see the original photos and sketch here.



Their mom suggested a field of dandelions as a background for them, and I think it set the perfect mood for the painting. I painted the dandelions in greater detail in the foreground, and approximated the further away dandelions with little dots of paint to show perspective.

Here are some detail shots:

Mokie



Monte

]]> Dogs http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=248 Thu, 8 May 2008 13:14:45 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=247


Black smooth haired dogs can be difficult to paint because of the low contrast of the fur. Jesse has a nice shiny coat so I was able to see his features well.

The steps of the portrait are after the jump.


I started with a purple underpainting to map out Jesse's features, and added the green tennis ball. For the tennis ball, I mixed yellow, blue and white.



I used Carbon Black to begin painting in his coat. I painted quickly to keep the paint wet, and mixed Titanium white highlights into the black as I went.



I sharpened up the white highlights after they dried with the more transparent Zinc white. I used a dry brush to capture a bit of fur texture without making his fur look too long. I used a bit of Payne's Grey in the darkest areas of his coat.



The green background sets of his coat and tennis ball nicely. I used the same colors from the tennis ball mixture, shaded from dark to light.

]]> Dogs http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=247 Wed, 7 May 2008 15:18:35 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=246
Here's my most recent progress on Mocha so far.


You can see the steps leading up to this point after the jump. Mocha's fur has a lot of different colors in it. Instead of my usual underpainting, I started with a transparent mix of browns, oranges and purples. I added gel medium to slow the drying time. I used a fairly dry brush to create the puffy fur texture.



I marked in the areas of highest contrast first, to make sure my sketch was right, then started on the detail. You can see her photo taped to the canvas on the right. I'll be adjusting the pose a little bit, since she'll be sitting down in the painting, next to Monte, who I painted eariler.



Next, I painted in her eyes, and added more layers to her fur. I added a tiny bit of transparent Zinc White over her eyes to give them more of a sheen. At the centers of her pupils, I put in dots of the blue-black Payne's Grey to give the black depth.

Here's a closeup of her face so far:



I'll add the background next. Mocha and Monte will be sitting in a field of dandelions. ]]> Dogs http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=246 Sat, 3 May 2008 15:42:46 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=245


You can see the steps leading up to this point after the jump. I started with a light purple underpainting to define the features of Star's face. I mixed in some gel medium with retarder to slow the drying time of the paint.



Before the underpainting was completely dry, I made a mix of Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber and Titan Buff and blended it into the pale purple.



I painted in her eyes and nose and started on the detail of her face and ears.



I reshaped the edge of her jaw a bit from my original sketch to make the painting more accurate. Next, I'll get to work on the finer details of her eyes, mouth and fur. ]]> Dogs http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=245 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:46:26 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=244 Monte, the rescued St. Bernard from Dogster.

Here's a detail shot of his portrait so far:


The progress up to this point is after the jump.I started with a thin underpainting of purple to map out the markings on his face and define the features. You can see Monte's original photo taped to my canvas at the bottom right.


Next, I used black to paint in the areas of high contrast like his eyes, nose and the edges of his ears.


While the purple underpainting was still wet, I began to blend in color. I used a mixture of Red Iron Oxide, Burnt Umber Light, Yellow Ochre and Titan Buff for Monte's fur.


I added the light patches with the opaque Titanium White, blending them into the underlying layers.


As I added more detail, I switched from my angle shader brush to a smaller round brush to paint in the wisps of fur. I then brought in the rake brush for the smallest hair detail, especially around his mouth and eyes.


The last step: Monte's whiskers. I used the tiniest round brush I could find, and made several practice strokes on a piece of paper.

]]> Dogs http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=244 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:21:51 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=243


Here's her sketch:



I'm going to paint a head shot portrait of Star but I haven't chosen the background yet. ]]> Dogs http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=243 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:34:11 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=242 Chilli, a beautiful Labrador Boxer.

Here she is:



I made some subtle adjustments from the original photo to make her look calm and relaxed. I gave her a sky background since she loves to play outdoors.
]]> Dogs http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=242 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:26:49 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=241 Mocha Bear (Mokie) and Monte from Dogster:





I'm going to combine their two photos to make a portrait of them sitting in a field of dandelions. Here's the sketch:



I really like the happy, casual poses in both photos. They both have such great smiles. ]]> Dogs http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=241 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:14:26 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=240 new human portrait from yesterday's post.




I used a lot of layering to create the rosy glow in her face. For most of these steps, I thinned out my paint with retarder medium to keep it from drying too fast, giving me time to blend.









For most of the detail in her face, I painted it in darker than it should be, then later toned it down with transparent layers of Zinc White. I also used Zinc White to make the shine on her hair.



I did the previous seven steps in one night, and finally decided to go to bed and sleep on it because I couldn't figure out what was off with the likeness. In the morning, I stepped back and looked at it for a while, then made a few final touches and it all came together.




]]> People http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=240 Sun, 6 Apr 2008 11:05:09 -0700 http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=239


I used this original photo, and added the family dog using supplementary photos:



I chose to simplify the colors in the background and change the color of the boy's shirt to add more emphasis on the three faces.
I really enjoy the challenge of painting people and I hope to paint more this year. Next post, I'll show a step by step progression of the girl's face.

]]> People http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=239 Sat, 5 Apr 2008 13:19:27 -0700