Zinaida Serebriakova MASTERSTUDY & Gunnerkrigg comic REVIEW

Zinaida Serebriakova self portrait.  Master-study by Mike Blake. 2012. Digital.

Yet another masterstudy from one of my all time favorite painters, Zinaida Serebriakova (wikipedia).  Partly what attracted me to this painting was the use of primary colors.  The whole painting rests, sits and  vibrates due to the vibrant colors speaking to each other, yet being subdued by the grayed colors. (I typically like Zinaida for her amazing painterly quality, and unique and attractive exageration/simplification of human form and reality.  An interesting fact I've noticed over the years of gathering a digital archive of her work is how much she loves the color BLUE.)

The painting is not meant to exactly copy Zinaida's painting...fyi.  Mostly just to test out an awesome painting with my Greyscale to COLOR method (as described in my previous posts.)  I am really getting the hang of it!

 If you look above, you will notice that I used two different images to base the painting off of.  Since I don't have the actual painting in front of me, I am stuck trying to find the best representation of what I assume the painting looks like and go with that.  One of these days I will fork out the $$$ and buy the artbooks off of ebay (all in Russian).



COMIC REVIEW:  

Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell

Online Comic: http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/index2.php

Yet another super inspiration has hit my life. (geez my last post had one too.)  Tom Siddell is a self-proclaimed comic artist from the UK that built his career up on the internet, while working a full time unrelated job.  Even though he has received large acclaim, several awards, and has his books on Amazon, he still leaves his comic online (a rarity I admire...in a money starving world).

I came across this comic a few years ago, and today I found it and fell in love again.  In fact I spent 6 hours reading from the beginning to what is current.  There is alot of reasons why I like this comic. Part of it is because it reminds me of the comics I used to write YEARS ago and part of it...well, I will tell you some of them:

What starts off as a seemingly simple whim (for the comic to exist) expands and explodes into an interwoven and complex plot.  Tom Siddell captured my attention with his art, and then my heart with the characters and stories.

Essentially his comic was a blend of EVERYTHING cool!  Robots, girls, exploring, ancient mysteries, amazing use of line and black, lots of intrigue, fun characters that have complex levels of personality, the list goes on and on.

I have to say that the story doesn't flow like a movie, it is more episodic based, like a TV series.  Sometimes you are given the context of the situation from beginning to end, sometimes you are dropped in the middle of a situation, making you wonder how the characters got themselves in that mess.  Meanwhile, the overall plot continues to get more and more intriguing, making you want to keep reading.

Overall Sleek, shiny, simple, yet complex, amazing, strange and enthralling.  Definitely ingenious and different than most comics.  I was equally surprised by the evolution of the character design, year to year, and EQUALLY surprised by the credible, or at least believable facts and research Tom Siddell did...yet he presents it in an interesting/simple/educational way.

Bottom line?  Go and read it.  Buy it. Support Tom Siddell!

Online Comic: http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/index2.php

Buy books on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Tom-Siddell/e/B0034Q3V76/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1336837998&sr=8-1

On a funny note Tom Siddell announced recently that he quit his full time job in order to persue Gunnerkrigg Court...just as I start a full time job taking  me away from art. Sigh...don't worry however, I have great, GREAT plans for the near future!  This comic may have awoken a sleeping giant inside of me, that has been dormant for years...don't be surprised if you start seeing more comics in the future (and not the one panel, or single page ones either.)

The Misadventures of CLINK! part 2 (and a masterstudy)

Opening of Clink part 2.

Ok loyal readers I have completed another part of "THE MISADVENTURES of CLINK" (my wife's birthday comic). So that I don't bog my blog down (oh that rhymed haha) I have made a separate appendage to my webpage (link only available below).

PLEASE GO HERE TO VIEW Clink PART 2:

http://www.jerbl.com/monisawa/clink-web/main-about.html

MASTERSTUDY::

I recently came across a new artist that intrigued me, Amedeo Modigliani. Born in the late 1800's he was one of many who paved the modern art movement. His work is mostly abstract and unfinished looking, but I really like his character designs, some of his paint application and how quickly he seemed to resolve a composition.

Since his work is generally very sketchy I took it upon myself to finalize one in a Paint-over/quasi-masterstudy utilizing what I knew and several other artists techniques. I ended up using a bit of Greg newbold, Jack Vettriano, and ALOT of Amedeo Modigliani.

My masterstudy/paint over of a Amedeo Modigliani painting.

This is the ACTUAL size of the image I did the

paint-over/masterstudy on. SUPER PIXELATED! haha

(btw I count the masterstudy as sketch 2 of 5 and Clink-part 2 as 3 of 5)

Arnold Friberg Tribute (1913-2010)

Arnold Friberg recently passed away. For years he has been an idol of mine, and I love looking at and studying his works.

To give a little background he is the Norman Rockwell of religion. His 15 paintings were chosen to depict Cecil B. Demille's legendary, "The Ten Commandments," he was commissioned to paint illustrations for the Book of Mormon, and he is most famous for doing a painting of George Washington praying at Valley Forge. Also among his accomplishments he did hundreds of paintings for the Canadian Mounties, was chosen to paint royalty, and the list goes on. The world has lost a great artist, and I am sad that he passed away. Thankfully his works will live on, and we can still experience them.

Regarding the picture, I focused on the Drama, and extremely BUFF guys that Friberg commonly depicted...even if they were 80 years old. haha!

I also consider this painting as my FINAL original piece for the Digital Illustration class I took earlier this summer. I emulated what I learned from Brandon Dorman's painting (see previous blog entries)

For more info on Arnold Friberg go to his website at : http://shopping.fribergfineart.com/ArtistBio.aspx

Digital Illustration Class- Artist copy #5 (final) Brandon Dorman

My version first, Brandon's second. (make sure to click on them, I left them intentionally high quality).



This being my last study for this class I decided to do something different, by just focusing on the study. I will say that I did at least 7 prep paintings before I got to this one. Some were of portions of the painting and others were me experimenting with the technique (I included one of my own at the bottom).

Artist: Brandon Dorman
Medium:Photoshop
Year: 20xx (not sure)
Source: http://www.brandondorman.com/ (although I got the actual high res pic from here.)
Title: Red Sparrow

1.Final sketch(step 1) 2.Shape flats(step 2) 3.Value (step 3)
4.Colors(step 5-8) 5.Final Sync (step 9).

Process:

1. Sketches. Utilizing the grid system built into Photoshop , I loosely mapped out the picture. Once I got the basics established I turned them off. I did 2-3 more sketches after that.
   
2. Shape Layers. Breaking the picture into layers (3 to be exact), I block in each main section(such as the boy, the background, and the fire/smoke). Turned the lines off, while utilizing the generic brush, and eraser (spacing turned on 1%) I reestablish the shapes looking specifically right now at the contours. I made sure to leave some space for painterly parts (such as the hair), although I did erase/cut-in more later. After that I break the shapes down even further utilizing greyscale colors, while keeping like colors together (such as the skin.) this makes it easy to magic wand select it later.
3. Value Layer. Next I selected all pixels on a given layer (such as the characters), make a new layer and begin to define value with the generic brush set on opacity pressure. Do this for each layer. I started zoomed out and general, then worked my way closer in until I eventually was at 100%/actual pixel size. (notice I did not do this for the bg...which I rather regretted later)
4. Reestablish shape layers. Copy merge the value and shape together, and paste as a new layer. Next select all the pixels in this new layer, make a new layer and reestablished my value flats (since in my value process I corrected some of my proportions/boundaries.) Did this for my fire/smoke layer and Character layer.)
5. Light Colors. Then I selected a color/section on one of the new value flat layers, went to the Hue/Saturation menu hit -c0lorize and adjusted this layer to the brightest bright of that color. Did that for all the colors on that layer, and the rest (including the Background).
6. Dark colors. As I was doing step 5 I would utilized the selected portions of the page to also Hue/saturation-colorize my copy merged value layer. I would adjust it to the darkest dark of it's specific color (making sure that the brightest part of it would not be brighter than the colors on bright color layer.) (I did several tests of the coloring process before I worked on this picture...and it helped on my own pictures to drag the light and dark layers out from each other to compare as I adjust the colors)
7. Mask Painting. Making sure the light color layer was above my colorized value/shape layer, I put a mask on it, filled the mask with pitch black, and then utilizing my brush (I call Llama. Discussed here.) I paint. I learned that instead of utilizing opacity options for this painting step, it was better to utilize different levels of greyscale. (this part was fun and 'nondestructive' as Mr. Babcock would call it.) I made sure to save pure white till the very end, or at least wisely use it.
8. Further colors. Next I select all pixels in either layer, make a new layer and utilizing a brush I call "Babcock (one of the ones he taught/made for us) I add all the extra colors...and fix any that need it. I even decided to make a separate layer set on multiply for different color/painting effects (at least for the BG).
9. Final Sync. Next I copy-merge and paste each group of layers individually (so they are still separate) and utilizing my Llama brush I tighten/sync everything together. In this step I also included the rogue brush strokes, and tiny unique colors. It is in this step that I also cut into the drawing with the eraser(if needed). After a bit of working on this step I decided to set my Llama brush on opacity pen pressure (in addition to the flow pen pressure) and got much better results..easy cover and color control. (as a side note I found myself constantly changing the brush size with the option button on my pen to create the painterly/diverse effect).
10. That's about it.

The learned technique:

• Whether intentional to the artist or not I have discovered a new method of painting. Utilizing masks and greyscale, I can easily establish form and a painterly style. having my Llama brush set on "airbrush" and constantly changing brush sizes also helps.
• Compositionally he fit ALOT in his painting. By studying this I better understand how to do that. (also notice that he did not use proper perspective...manipulated his own, but yet it still looks amazing.)

Further notes:

• Color-Comps: So there you have it. i think that this coloring method is very useful when creating pictures from ones imagination, or very little reference. Of course if I was doing an original I would also do color-comps before coloring(which are 3-5 color reference tests/explorations). As a usual disclaimer, I did not use the eye dropper on his painting at all...I utilized the color technique described above, and the basic RGB palette.
• Brandon's Process? I feel that this process is somewhat close to Brandon Dorman's. Based on his Blog he generally has 3 different stages :sketches, greyscale paintings, and color paintings. So I personally feel that he utilizes his greyscale paintings as a base for color and then paints (as described above). I did email him and requested a higher quality image (preferably the original .psd) but he replied and said he was too busy right now.
  
• Crammed Spaces: I really have no clue how he fits so much in a tiny space. I've noticed that good writers and artists have the ability to cut out all the useless crap and cram condensed ideas/concepts into one story/picture. This is something I am working on. (It can be frustrating trying to figure how close you want the character...and if it IS close, it cuts into the background, or even the possibility of adding any other characters...etc. Oh well, that will come with practice and time.)
• Layer tango: I have had a hard time separating my painting into layers. I often will paint on the ones I am not supposed to because my random impulses to work on a different section. Doing this master-study helped me to see how to better organize my layers.

This was one of the last test paintings I did before I actually began work on the final masterstudy. It didn't plan it this way, but my wife came in while I was working on it and pointed out, "oh you're painting yourself?" haha! I had no clue.

Digital Illustration Class- Artist copy #4-part 2

My version compared to the original:


Artist: Masamune Shirow
Year: 1988
Source: Appleseed Databook (or anywhere on the internet).
Day 2 process:

1. Well after completing the sketch and inking it (as described in my previous post) I prepare it for a typical watercolor-isk painting by taping it to a board. Pulling out my oil paints I begin from the back character and move forward. The effect I want from the oil paint is achieved by mixing the colors beforehand thickly, dab the paint-brush in and then with light tap it in the water, blast the paint down on the page. It also works to just put a thick dab of paint on the page and then dip the brush in water and go over it.
2. Well...my painting process didn't exactly work the way I wanted so I scanned it in after I got paint everywhere that needed (not caring so much about the colors at this point.) Thankfully I had also scanned my lines in yesterday at highquality so I put that in my same file, and line them up.
3. I duplicated the color painting, set it on desaturated.
4. make 2 new layers. One set on overlay (for the lighting parts) and the other set on Multiply (for the darkening.) Even with the blend settings on I was careful to apply the paint conservatively due to concerns of causing the painted texture to go away. I am just trying to get the value reestablished at this point.. Eventually I merge them with the desaturated layer, and cut out the background utilizing the wand and lasso (Note: I am not deleting the background, rather keeping it for later texture purposes)
5. Work on the background to establish the mood. Turn the texture background(I cut out earlier) on a blending mode which fits. I found that in order to stimulate a real looking airbrush, I turned off the size-pressure option and turned the opacity onto pressure, then I clicked on the noise option.
6. Next I made a new layer for my color flats. I basically block in large sections of color. Next I duplicated the desaturated layer, select one of the block of colorswith the wand, click on the desaturated layer, go to Hue/saturation menu, hit the colorize option and then adjust the color to where I need. Then after I got the general colors settled in I go over the top of them on new layers with the random colors, and also adjusting the existing colors more.
7. Made a new layer over the linework and colors, add the accent whites and other needed colors/effects.
8. Put a mask on the lines and deaden them ups a little to make them look as if they were painted.
   

I'm sure that more occurred, but this is all I can remember right now. I am going to put this one on the server tonight, and anyone is welcome to look at it to see more of what I did (or didn't do...haha)

Problems:

• Like many Japanese artists I noticed that Masamune is very economical with his brush strokes...I am not that good, nor am I familiar with oil washes, so I did the painting did not turn out as I hoped. For my original illustration that I am doing I think I will do as Mr. Babcock suggested, and as I have done with my 100% digital paintings, namely do just a value study traditional, and then scan it in and color it on the computer.
  

What I wanted to learn:

• My problem is I want to learn as much as I can about all artists , and their methods I focus on. When I selected pictures for this class I focused on a broad range of styles, and my favorite pictures from them. So I wanted to learn the style first and foremost.
• I really like the way he uses his line-work. It is very controlled and amazing.
• I liked the rustic gristly painted look his illustrations have, especially the machinery.

What's strange (ive been noticing as I do mastercopies) is that you build a deeper appreciation and love for the artist and thier work...and the artwork just comes alive! Wow. One more to go...but until then on to my original illustration. 0_O

Digital Illustration Class- Artist copy #4-part 1

My version:

The Artist's original


Masamune Shirow Day 1:
My original intent was to just focus on the linework, but fueled with excitment upon getting an article of his translated by a great friend, I decided to do the whole thing (though I will not be doing the background since I do not have an airbrush). I am doing this 100% traditional as you will soon see....


Artist: Masamune Shirow
Year: 1988
Source: Anywhere and everywhere all over the internet (like alot of Masamune's work...though his work tends to be questionable in content.)



Process:

1. Prepare: As you can see above, even though I am copying a picture I created thumbnails. I did that and exploratory sketches to better understand the composition and what to expect or prepare for. I discovered what was best was to break the characters down into general shapes, and then to start adding more and more detail. Considering this picture has ALOT of intricate details, I had to be careful since I could easily get lost looking at a tree, and get frustrated as the rest of the forest might not fit in the picture.
2. The sketch: Next I start the sketch at the final size. TO save time I drew a light grid on my page and drew corresponding dots on the border of the printed master. From there I start general and light. As I increase in detail I also increase how hard I press the pencil against the paper. To start off i section the page off with angle-connecting lines, it was neat to see because some of them even connected at the several strategic points most likely set by the original artist. Eventually I try to get a few lines that are 95% absolutely correct so I can try to base other lines off of them and with that I start blocking the characters in utilizing general shapes. continue to sketch, sketch sketch.
   
3. The sketch part 2: My original plan was to do all the sketching on one piece of paper, but because there was so many details and my paper was already pretty saturated with color, I ran a quick outline of blue, then utilizing my light-table traced it onto a new piece of paper. After that I did the rest of my sketches on it. I outlined the colored pencil with a 4B pencil.
   
4. The inked lines: Next i take my completed sketch, tape it to the back side of a sheet of Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper, trace the lines on the watercolor paper with a 4H pencil utilizing the light from my light-table. Finally I go back to my desk and begin to ink utilizing a pen and nib. (I am at a disadvantage with nibs, since I have not used them much, but I supposed this is one of the things I wanted to learn from this artist.) Once done erase the lines.

Problems:

• Either Masamune used a higher weight of paper, or a different one alltogether, because the ink did not exactly flow onto the paper as it did in the picture. It turned out fine, but I think the paper he used was a bit more slick.
• When I was inking the lines I found myself stuttering the lines, and I discovered that this was due to me trying to be too careful by following his picture (which because almost every line is intragal I basically had to do it). So because I wasn't responding to the medium correctly the ink didn't get applied correctly. Once I got to the more broad sweeping lines on the girl in the front, it got easier to stroke it instinctively, not just reacting to his picture.

Tomorrow I am going to color it. i already did a color test run and thought he utilized acrylic washes, but it turned out too passive. Remembering something I read that he used to use oil as well as acrylic, I broke out my waterbased oils, did a test run with them and found instant satisfaction. Wish me luck. O_o

Digital Illustration Class- Artist copy #3

My version

Original done by GURIHIRU and the process:
1.sketch

2. The missing Link*
3.Alternate BG.

4. Final BG and added highlights.

*Ok, I know that this picture is not, and was never a part of this picture's process, but it was a rare picture I found on their blog which depicts what is probably done in order to go from 1- 3 .

My version: (sketch based off original illustration)

Original illustration:

This particular masterstudy is not my typical...I started off doing one illustration (as I have in the past) but found myself realizing it wasn't what I wanted to learn, so I broadened my sights with the same artist! In order to fully understand (or at least as much as I could) I spent alot of time reseraching the style/process, and then began to make theories how it was accomplished digitally. What you see here in this entry is only the result of what I learned (so it is only 1/3 to 1/2 of what I actually did. haha)

My version (I based my sketch on the final drawing)

Original art by Gurihiru:

Artist: Gurihiru. (a pair of Japanese artists who work together under the same alias as comic artists, character designers, and illustrators. One does the layout,penciling, while the other does the coloring.)
Year: 2009-2010
Source: I found the images used spread over their English and Japanese blog:
http://gurihiru21.blog11.fc2.com/
http://gurihiru.blogspot.com/

The desired Technique: Understand how they do their quick paintings/studies. I've seen alot of artist depict character and personality in drawings, but Gurihiru does an incredible job at it. Just browse through their blogs and see what I mean!

Regardless i've been told that I need to simply some elements of my art...and I feel that what I learned will help alot.


My process (for all):

1. Sketch: Do a sketch based on their final drawings. I did my sketches in 3 stages; sketch with red, then sketch with blue, and finally do a sketch with graphite. Note: I have noticed that some comic artists use blue and/or red pencils for preliminary drawings, where afterward use ink or pencil as the final step. (most use Prismacolor ColErase). Gurihiru also uses a mechanical pencil which uses 2mm lead. For the final pencil drawing I used 4B weight.
2. Scan and clean sketch: Scan sketches in. Clean up by utilizing the Hue/Saturation feature and knock out the reds and blues (do this by putting saturation at -100 and brightness at 0.) Adjust levels to get rid of apper and 1/2 the noise.
   
3. Add Background: make a bg layer that is just white.
4. Color Lines: Select wand (with contiguous unchecked) all the white (try to leave as much grey and black linework as possible), invert the selection and turn the line layer opacity down. Make a new layer above and color the lines in. (this is especially helpful in getting the linework seperated from its white background.)
5. Base Colors: Create a new layer and begin to slap colors down. Once get basic color down(jus the base colors) use magic wand and select each color, while utilizing the hue/saturation option. Click on the Colorize option and adjust each color individually.
6. Shading: Make a new layer. Set the blend mode onto multiply. Then add shading wisely.
7. Paint the shapes: Start a new layer and start painting. Basically we are trying to establish the actual shapes and get rid of the linework. Eventually turn off the linework.
8. Paint-soften transitions: make a new layer and utilizing the eyedrop like before I use my painterly brush on 'Wet edges' option' to soften up some of the transitions.
   
9. Erase/cut into shapes: Copy merge all the layers (except the lines) and past above everything. Go with the eraser (set on the same brush settings used in 7) and cut into the shapes. (make sure to turn off viewing all the other layers, but the one you are now working on...and the white bg.
10. Paint-final linework: Make a new layer, move the line layer above it, turn the lineart opacity down (it's basically so you can add all the fine detail linework that we erased earlier) and begin doing the final linework.
11. Finalize background: Add background elements. done

WHEW! how come pictures that look so simple tend to be more complicated? haha




As a final bonus I am going to add the illustration that I ended up NOT doing and one of the things I focused on:

Visual pathways:
(before I changed my mind on what I was going to do for this masterstudy I spent alot of time breaking this picture apart...perspective, balance...etc. This was one of the elements I reaped from it.)

The first picture is the unhindered original..the bottom one
is how I depicted what I thought the visual pathway
through the picture might be. It is interesting to see and
to my surprise is very complex, and visually compelling.

This is probably what happens to us in about 1-3 seconds:
1)start, 2)get stopped by Bannister, 3)reflect back onto tiger backside and travel down tail, 4)head down the stairs and get reflected by picture border and plant, 5)head towards next largest object, which is the cabinet, 6)travel up, but get caught by window light, 7)get thrown inbetween plant and fishbowl right at the cat's face, 8) get distracted by the next biggest object (the door), then go to the 2nd cat's face, 9) get led outside, 10) the white leads eye back into the picture, 11)FINALLY stop at the tiger and understand the whole picture.

Geez, now onto the next part...my original illustration...sigh. ^_^

Digital Illustration Class- Artist copy #2-part 2.

My final version:

The original

Process Animation:
(1.sketch, 2. value study, 3.Trace outlines, 4.Color Flats, 5 Color balance, 6.Color correction, 7.Paint!)

Well this is part 2 of my Master-study. I split it up since it was so complicated...plus it gave me opportunity for feedback.

• Artist: Zinaida Serebriakova (Russian painter)
• Year: 1930
• Source: I actually found it on a Russian site, but it has since dropped the pictures. I have posted my personal collection on my brother's online image repository here: http://www.jerbl.com/images/post/list/SEREBRIAKOVA_zinaida/1
• Overall Process:

1. Detail sketch. (described yesterday)
   
2. Value study (described yesterday)
   
3. Select head, re-size it to correct proportions. Clean up and tighten the rest of the value drawing. Finalize by squinting at actual painting and seeing which parts stick out, or should be pushed back (overall balance.)
4. On a new layer trace the outlines of all the general colors.
5. Make a new layer, which will be called "COLOR FLATS" Fill it with your base colors.(step 5-6 was something I recently learned from Omar Dogan's Tutorial-Found HERE-)
   
6. Select a color with magic wand on the color flat layer, then switch to the Value study layer and adjust Color Balance for each and every color. (Generally have Blue/purples in the shadows and yellow/oranges in the highlights.)
7. Make a new layer and with the paintbrush make adjustments to color, and also add all the random ones.
8. Make a final layer above them all and utilizing the brush, I made following Megan's Tutorial (thanks Megan), and the eyedropper, I pick out colors and paint, paint, paint! At first I started to use my brush under the size-pressure-function, but soon discovered that I can make a better/natural look if I left it regular and just adjusted the size of the brush utilizing the '[' and ']' shortcut, and occasionally adjusting the opacity utilizing the numbers 1 through 0.

NOTE: Since I am trying to understand the whole painting process in Photoshop, I only used the Eyedropper once on the original artist painting (as far as I can remember). All my colors were created through the processes above.

• Problems encountered:
  

1. I tried adding a texture..canvas, noise, etc...in fact several of them, but felt unsatisfied in the end. They usually ended up darkening my colors, or messing up the magic of the picture...any suggestions?
2. I made the brush, and it showed up in my brush box, but after I quit Photoshop and came back it was gone... :( What happened?

• The desired technique: As I mentioned yesterday, I love Zinaida's work for several reasons. One is the somewhat rough bold strokes, which are exact and volume defining. The other is the vibrant lively colors. I feel that this picture best portrays it in comparison to all her other works.
  

• What I learned:
  

1. After completing this study, I feel that I learned exactly what I wanted to accomplish...if not alot more. Her works are very rough in places, and yet smooth and well articulated in others, which leaves alot of discovery in her process...and gave me good opportunity to see how she used colors and brush strokes.
   
2. Her constant use of Simultaneous contrast suprised me. (explained yesterday)
   
3. I learned that she used a palette knife for the window frame and outside wall. (Thanks to Megan for pointing that out.)
4. I knew that good paintings use alot of colors even though from a distance they look quite uniform, but i was incredibly surprised at how many this painting had. It was very inspiring to see all the colors involved, and their interactions.
   
5. If I were going to pursue this painting further, I would probably build more custom brushes, such as a palette knife, brushes with only 2 or 3 hairs, and brushes which would fade after a certain distance of being used...etc.
   

Wow, I feel very proud about this particular study. I have admired Zinaida's woks for years, and I feel this a great honor to finally do something about it. On a side note, I hope that my original illustration will make it a fraction of the amazing-ness of this one. haha!

NOTE: I will post my .psd tonight on the server. Anyone is welcome to dig through it. (i even cleaned it up and named everything so it is easy to understand.)

Digital Illustration Class- Artist copy #2-part 1.

Master-study #2 part 1.


Since several individuals are posting half-finished pieces, and this particular master copy is much more complicated then my last one, I will split it into two parts. Part 1 will be today, part 2 tomorrow.

• Artist: Zinaida Serebriakova (Russian painter)
• Year: 1930
• Source: I actually found it on a Russian site, but it has since dropped the pictures. I have posted my personal collection on my brother's online image repository here: http://www.jerbl.com/images/post/list/SEREBRIAKOVA_zinaida/1
• Process done so far:

1. Detailed sketch of basic layout/construction. Utilized a new technique where I start the pic out at like 33%, work general, make a new layer, turn the opacity of the first layer down, make brush smaller, zoom in at 50% and work a bit more specific. The next step would be the same except turn the first sketch off. I utilized many other techniques, but essentially ended up with 9 separate sketch layers. I also tried to treat the painting as I would a figure drawing.
2. New layer, do a value study utilizing the paintbrush set on the opacity feature. Eventually turn off the final sketch I did in step 1.

• Process plan to do tomorrow:

1. I basically plan to utilize the concepts for color application I utilized here: http://monisawa.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-technique-explorations.html Except where I stopped for that picture, will be where I continue into the PAINT, PAINT, PAINT step for this one.

• The desired technique: I love Zinaida's work for several reasons. One is the somewhat rouph bold strokes, which are exact and volume defining. The other is the vibrant lively colors. I feel that this picture best portrays that from all her works.
  
• Noticed as worked:

1. I noticed that she uses black quite curiously, she tends to lay it down in sections, and even use it as tool to sketch her painting on, then at times she will paint over those line switch color. I also noticed how often she uses simultaneous contrast. Where there is a dark dark, she often put a contrasting light (even if it shouldn't naturally be there...the pot's handle for example.) She also utilizes her black outlines to further the simultaneous contrast.
2. I don't know about other people, but painting on the computer is different for me than painting in real life. On the computer my method is to get basically everything defined (overall construction, value, and the colors at least 90% as you want) then on a new layer tighten everything up utilizing the eye dropper and paintbrush to push and pull the colors in a painterly fashion. To paint in real life, (especially in acrylic) once a color is applied, that is that. Obviously one could paint over it, but the computer tends to add a bit more liberties.
   

That is all for now....

More technique explorations...

If you couldn't tell this is NOT part of my project for my Digital illustration class. In fact it was only supposed to be a warm-up exercies, so to speak, for my ACTUAL illustration, but i got sidetracked, and thought this might be helpful after-all.

For the whole piece I utilized 3 basic techniques:

1. For developing an idea and strengthening it... I utilized a technique from a professional artist named, Yoshitoshi Abe. He is a favorite Japanese artist of mine (Creator of "Serial Experiments Lain", and "Nie_7"). I first saw the technique I want to focus on utilized here by him: http://drawr.net/show.php?id=702962 The basic technique is to make an initial sketch, then overlay and fade the lines with a solid color wash. After the lines are faded let the imagination take hold, and break away from the drawn lines, by sketching over them. Repeat washes and sketches until satisfied.
2. To further develop lines/shapes...I utilized a technique that I have been developing, and that is to do 3 complete sketches over the top of the each other. Essentially I utilize layers to trace over my old sketches, and as I do I make corrections. (if I don't get what I want after three tries, I do it more.)
3. Finally for the coloring, I utilized another favorite artist of mine, Omar Dogan. For the technique I referred to http://omar-dogan.deviantart.com/art/Colouring-Tutorial-72826280 for most of my process. The basic idea was to start working on the background, mostly finish it, and once the overall mood was established, mask the character off, add black shading, add flat colors for each and every color, then play with Color Balance on the shading layer until viola..it is done. I've tried this before, but I've come along ways since then. Suddenly I've discovered a use for COLOR BALANCE!
   

If this was a real project, what you see in the picture would only be the beginning...basically a base layer for my actual painting. Utilizing the eyedropper, and paintbrush, I would push and pull the colors back and forth until everything looked painterly, and unified. Truth be told, I hate the 'photoshop processed' look often created by the multiply or burn feature. I also would probably lose the lines...I'm still trying to fit them with my painterly look...

So now that I just spent 4 1/2 hours being sidetracked...now on to my REAL project... :P (geez i love summer.)

Digital Illustration Class- Artist copy #1.

Original

My version

• Artist: Maud & Miska Petersham
• Year: 1929
• Source: "The Magic Doll of Roumania." Go look at the other inspiring illustrations form the book at: http://www.tkinter.smig.net/ChildrenBookIllusrations/MagicDoll/index.htm
• Process (all done in photoshop):
  

1. Create Layer 1. Fill with black
2. Create Layer 2. Put at 15% opacity. Sketch basic shapes with white.
3. Create Layer 3. Begin to carve away with white. Go back and forth with eraser and white.
4. Create Layer 4. Reestablish lines and correct proportions.
5. Finish Layer 3.
6. Create Layber 6. Put it under multiply. Sloop colors in utilizing the HSB slider (not the color picker) make sure to constantly compare and change as needed.
   
7. Tighten up colors on Layer 5. Fit them in their boundary lines.
8. Add layer 6, put it on Multiply. Add a cheap paper texture*
9. Done.

*http://www.flickr.com/photos/schmod/419640051/sizes/l/

• My Thoughts/intents: Obviously the original picture was made using BlockPrint methods, but I decided to achieve the basic result in photoshop. I was not trying to attempt a perfect replication, I was focusing on the overall aesthetics of the picture (how it pulls itself together) and how the artist used black.
• The technique: Initially the simple, vibrant colored shapes caught my eyes, but in the end it was the incredible/dynamic use of black which caused me to focus on this picture. What I wished to understand was how the artists utilized the carved away technique, leaving some lines intentionally as noise, others as solid shapes, others as value, and others as line.

I will be posting my Illustration based on this master-study later this week.

P.S. Thanks Mr. Babcock for telling about the “Tip Feel” “FIRM” option for the wacom. Geez, I've been giving myself hand-cramps and headaches trying to force those 'blobby' lines to behave.

Ponyo, Kazuo Oga, and POSTER paint...

7/4/2014 UPDATE:   MAKE SURE TO READ MY NEW BLOG POSTS ON POSTER PAINT: 

ShinHan Poster Paint - Part 1 (of 3) "The Journey."

ShinHan Poster Paint - Part 2 (of 3) "My Review of the Paint."

ShinHan Poster Paint - Part 3 (of 3) "Using the Paint"

Blog Post from 4/1/10:

Yesterday, "The Art of Ponyo," arrived. I read it cover to cover. As with most Ghibli movies, I was fascinated with the detailed backgrounds and especially the vibrant child-like colors in Ponyo. After finishing the book, I was immediately surprised to find out that Ghibli hadn't used watercolors after all (like the rumors I had heard). Nor had they used Gouache or acrylic paint. They had used poster paint for Ponyo. Not only that, but as I researched further I found out poster paint had been used for EVERY GHIBLI MOVIE BACKGROUND EVER MADE!!!

GAH! POSTER PAINT? For at least a year I have been attempting to understand how Kazuo Oga works (Oga is a background artist for Ghibli, well known for My Neighbor Totoro) .

Kazuo Oga is a master of depicting lifelike vibrant nature scenes, which bring Hayao Miyazaki's movies to life.


Based upon my limited knowledge and what I could gather from the pictures, I originally assumed Oga used acrylic paint. Investing in an expensive brand of paints, they proved to be vibrant enouph, but the paint dried so fast I couldn't get any of the effects I desired. This congested mess resulted:

I virtually gave up on acrylics for awhile, assuming I would have to be a master like Oga. Moving on I tried opaque watercolor and assumed satisfaction would be found...

The result was closer, but as time passed I ruled it out. At this point, I have tried virtually every kind of traditional paint only to find out that he uses... poster PAINT!? (and most Japanese animation companies as well.) Sigh.... After more research I learned that America uses mostly Gouache for their backgrounds, and some older animation actually used watercolor (Lilo and Stich brought this back in the present). Gouache is ok, but can be frustrating, and watercolor would be near impossible to achieve Ghibli backgrounds.

After digging, I found that Ghibli uses "Nicker Poster Colour", a poster paint that is higher grade than what is available in the U.S.. The company who produces it originates in Korea. Nicker Poster Colour is available on Amazon Japan to buy, but will not ship to the states.

According to the good folks at Conceptart.org this is what Oga had to say regarding his artwork:

"Basically, I use poster- color. Because as we have to paint much, we can't use expensive paint. Poster colors can show brightness or depth of color and, above all, it is easy-to-use. Talking about brushes, I use only two kinds of brushes, hira-fude (flat brush) and sakuyo-fude (pointed brush). For example, a sky or feathering clouds, misty distant mountains, rocks, plants… everything rough is done only by this large hira-fude. Old TV series anime used to be done in this way only. The last finish is done by sakuyo-fude carefully. I paint leaves roughly with hira-fude and add a few detailed leaves on it. Which is enough because the backgrounds of anime are shown only 3 or 4 seconds."


And according to a person who visited a Japanese studio, as recorded at Huitula.com, all Japanese utilize similar processes for background animation:


"Usually the works are being painted on just barely bigger paper than standard A4-paper, Nicker Poster Colour used with about 30 different colors in bottles. On a wet paper first the basic color surfaces and tones are being painted with a bigger brush, after which you move on to smaller details little by little. Also the straight lines are being painted with a brush, taking support from a ruler and a stick gliding on its groove. A paintbrush is used only very seldom to achieve some certain effects, still most of the painting is done with a traditional brush. Hair-dryers are also being used for drying the painting when needed."

Actually for Ponyo it utilized a combination of Poster paint and colored Pencil. Here is excerpts from the artbook:

Noboru yoshida, Art Director for Ponyo stated,"Usually I use poster paint to create the backgrounds; then I color the base in a pale color, adding subtle hues and shading on top of it. This time, with Ponyo, I added things like tints or detailed expressions with colored pencil on top of what I drew with poster paint..." He goes on to explain much more detail on pg 88 (other useful information about their unique process) but I will leave it out so you will go buy the book. ^_^

Okay, so now that I am done ranting, here is a SUPER amazing video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw6htaSNaJc
(video of Oga painting...with POSTER PAINTS.)

[Edit: 7 November 2011 Cleaned up text and clarified some points]