Showing posts with label acrylic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acrylic. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Brian Lies Visits!
So last week, our Children's Book Illustration III class got quite a treat: a visit from Brian Lies! He is the author and illustrator of the NY Times' best selling books Bats at the Beach, and Bats at the Ballgame and my favorite, Bats at the Library! (To see more of his books, click here!)
Brain was kind enough to share with us his working process, including the corresponding original art, starting with his sketchbook, his mini dummies and book dummies, how he re-works his pieces, and all the way through the steps he takes in painting with acrylics. He shared with us the book dummy for his newest book, More to be available next year. He does his finished acrylics on heavy weight vellum paper, using teeny tiny brushes and ink for his foundation line work. And his finished pieces... Absolutely gorgeous!
Brian shared some useful tips, such as writing paint color recipes for future reference, and to be sure to really layer the darks because they brighten in the scanning process. He said some things that rang true in my own creative process. It was heartening to see that like I do, he also draws in blue pencil to break in a piece of fresh white paper "because it doesn't feel like permanent final art." And he hates to erase (just like I do), so naturally he ends up with piles of paper (like I do), though he actually has storage for his piles, unlike myself! He also shared that he prefers painting animals with smaller eyes to avoid the "mass market" look in his work.
I've been so inspired, I think I might try my hand at working on paper instead of canvas with my acrylics. Just to see what happens. :)
It was a spectacular visit! So much so that my friends have blogged about it too!
Cheryl Kirk Noll (She had a real camera and got nicer photos than my cell phone did!)
Marcela Staudenmaier
Here are some links to interviews with Brian Lies, as well as Bat Conservation:
http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings
http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/Brian-Lies
http://www.batcon.org/
Thank You, Brian, for visiting us! :D
And Thank You, Emilie Boon, for inviting him!
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| Brian Lies! And there's Dede to the left! :) |
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| Stunning work not put to justice by my dirty cell phone camera lens! |
Brain was kind enough to share with us his working process, including the corresponding original art, starting with his sketchbook, his mini dummies and book dummies, how he re-works his pieces, and all the way through the steps he takes in painting with acrylics. He shared with us the book dummy for his newest book, More to be available next year. He does his finished acrylics on heavy weight vellum paper, using teeny tiny brushes and ink for his foundation line work. And his finished pieces... Absolutely gorgeous!
Brian shared some useful tips, such as writing paint color recipes for future reference, and to be sure to really layer the darks because they brighten in the scanning process. He said some things that rang true in my own creative process. It was heartening to see that like I do, he also draws in blue pencil to break in a piece of fresh white paper "because it doesn't feel like permanent final art." And he hates to erase (just like I do), so naturally he ends up with piles of paper (like I do), though he actually has storage for his piles, unlike myself! He also shared that he prefers painting animals with smaller eyes to avoid the "mass market" look in his work.
I've been so inspired, I think I might try my hand at working on paper instead of canvas with my acrylics. Just to see what happens. :)
It was a spectacular visit! So much so that my friends have blogged about it too!
Cheryl Kirk Noll (She had a real camera and got nicer photos than my cell phone did!)
Marcela Staudenmaier
Here are some links to interviews with Brian Lies, as well as Bat Conservation:
http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings
http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/Brian-Lies
http://www.batcon.org/
Thank You, Brian, for visiting us! :D
And Thank You, Emilie Boon, for inviting him!
Friday, October 14, 2011
T-Rex Commission Finished!
Hullooo!
Today I finally completed the T-Rex painting I had been commissioned for by my aunt and uncle. They really liked my original T-Rex (found below) and hired me to paint one for a baby gift!
The baby's room is light blue, with red and orange accents, so I wanted this piece to have a lot of color and warmth. I chose to work with acrylic and caran d'ache crayons, however I struggled for a long time how to work out my lines in this style, so I had put the painting away for a bit while I thought about it.
Anyhow, successful or not, this is how I solved my problem:
I'm pretty pleased with the results, and it's one of those pictures that make me happy, so that's a plus! It's neat to see my style change, but it still looks like my own art. My only drawback is that I'm still undecided whether to include the "Rex + Tree" carving in the bark. I feel almost as if it's a tad too much, but I'll see what my artist friends think!
Thanks for reading! It's super rainy out today, and I have to go run errands in it! Yuck! :P
See you soon!
Today I finally completed the T-Rex painting I had been commissioned for by my aunt and uncle. They really liked my original T-Rex (found below) and hired me to paint one for a baby gift!
The baby's room is light blue, with red and orange accents, so I wanted this piece to have a lot of color and warmth. I chose to work with acrylic and caran d'ache crayons, however I struggled for a long time how to work out my lines in this style, so I had put the painting away for a bit while I thought about it.
Anyhow, successful or not, this is how I solved my problem:
I'm pretty pleased with the results, and it's one of those pictures that make me happy, so that's a plus! It's neat to see my style change, but it still looks like my own art. My only drawback is that I'm still undecided whether to include the "Rex + Tree" carving in the bark. I feel almost as if it's a tad too much, but I'll see what my artist friends think!
Thanks for reading! It's super rainy out today, and I have to go run errands in it! Yuck! :P
See you soon!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Children's Book Illustration 3: Project 1, Part 3
Well I finished the Final Piece tonight! *yayyy!*
But I haven't finished all my character art yet. *booo*
Oh well. Anyhow, here are my painting stages (all images are copyright Melanie Linden Chan):
But I haven't finished all my character art yet. *booo*
Oh well. Anyhow, here are my painting stages (all images are copyright Melanie Linden Chan):
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| My original line drawing... |
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| ...transferred to canvas paper and painted the values in... |
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| ...figuring out my colors... |
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| ...cooling down the snow... |
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| ...etc... |
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| ...checking my values... |
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| ...almoooostt.... |
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| "Snow Dog" by Melanie Linden Chan |
Monday, October 3, 2011
Children's Book Illustration 3: Project 1, Part 2
Greetings, Creative Peoples!
Here is the second installment on the process of our first project for Children's Book Illustration III. This week, we narrowed down our choices for the final spread and did value and color studies. And mixed colors! Woo! Our final goal for this project is to have the following:
1) Three double-page spread sketches from our storyboard.
2) A page of consistent character art, depicting three different action poses, and three different emotions. Color.
3) A finished portfolio-ready piece of art, single page OR double page spread.
4) Do it all in a style and/or medium that we are working to perfect.
I went back through my storyboard and picked some pages to draw a bit clearer and less sketchy:
And then I drew an angry little girl to fulfill the requirement for three emotions:
I've decided to work on a style I've be tweaking here and there, and I really love playing with the colors. It's done in acrylic paint, lots of glazed layers using matte medium, and also involves caran d'ache crayons. I was inspired by the following illustrator's styles:
Judy Schachner, for her use of texture
Mike Wohnoutka, for his cutesy style and use of color
Kelly Murphy, a mixture of textures and bold use of color
Mark Teague, for his clean but cute look
John Rocco, for his textures
Dan Santat, Dani Jones, Will Terry, Megumi Lemons....all very awesome illustrators
And here are some of the pieces I've done in the past as I whittle down on my process:
I was undecided whether I should use a warm or cool under painting, because I wanted the painting to feel wintry cold but also have a bit of electricity to it. So I stuck with the warm colors, because I used a warm brown for the lines. (Also, here's a little lesson on composition from Dan Santat: click here!)
Finally I figured it all out, did my color comps and value study, and found my color palette:
And here is my final piece in its work-in-progress state:
Here is the second installment on the process of our first project for Children's Book Illustration III. This week, we narrowed down our choices for the final spread and did value and color studies. And mixed colors! Woo! Our final goal for this project is to have the following:
1) Three double-page spread sketches from our storyboard.
2) A page of consistent character art, depicting three different action poses, and three different emotions. Color.
3) A finished portfolio-ready piece of art, single page OR double page spread.
4) Do it all in a style and/or medium that we are working to perfect.
I went back through my storyboard and picked some pages to draw a bit clearer and less sketchy:
And then I drew an angry little girl to fulfill the requirement for three emotions:
I've decided to work on a style I've be tweaking here and there, and I really love playing with the colors. It's done in acrylic paint, lots of glazed layers using matte medium, and also involves caran d'ache crayons. I was inspired by the following illustrator's styles:
Judy Schachner, for her use of texture
Mike Wohnoutka, for his cutesy style and use of color
Kelly Murphy, a mixture of textures and bold use of color
Mark Teague, for his clean but cute look
John Rocco, for his textures
Dan Santat, Dani Jones, Will Terry, Megumi Lemons....all very awesome illustrators
And here are some of the pieces I've done in the past as I whittle down on my process:
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| still have to figure out how to polish the line work on this one... |
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| I like how I handled the line here in this SECRET image from Project #2! |
I was undecided whether I should use a warm or cool under painting, because I wanted the painting to feel wintry cold but also have a bit of electricity to it. So I stuck with the warm colors, because I used a warm brown for the lines. (Also, here's a little lesson on composition from Dan Santat: click here!)
Finally I figured it all out, did my color comps and value study, and found my color palette:
And here is my final piece in its work-in-progress state:
Thanks for visiting! I'll post the rest of the process when I'm done! :)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Doodle Fun: Hello Kitty Art
This latest project is not entirely of my own creation, however my cousin who is getting married this June LOVES everything and anything Hello Kitty, (her wedding is HK themed!) and since this painting was for her I thought it would make her happy. She also recently got a new home and loves to bake.
I painted all three of these on canvas with acrylic paints and layered in caran d'ache scribbles with matte medium. The silver words in the background are Sharpie, covered in matte medium. It was a fun little project!
I think they're pretty nifty! They'll match the stainless steel in the kitchen, anyway. ;)
I painted all three of these on canvas with acrylic paints and layered in caran d'ache scribbles with matte medium. The silver words in the background are Sharpie, covered in matte medium. It was a fun little project!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Latest Technique Test
It will soon be time to decide which technique I will use for my Book Dummy, and I still haven't any clue. Some days I want my story to have the sketchy look, with lots of interesting lines and patterns, and an antiqued tone to the color scheme. Other days I want the more traditional watercolor look and brighter colors... and then there are days like today where I have no idea so I just play with my materials to see what I come up with.
I had a piece of Arches 140lb hot-pressed watercolor paper that had been coated in gesso and still taped to the board lying around my studio, so I decided to use that up. Though I don't always use it, I really enjoy looking at texture in an illustration, so this was my golden opportunity. The gesso'd paper showed lovely brush strokes and it made the paper more durable for scuffing and scrubbing.
I didn't have much of a plan, so I just sketched with my favorite blue drafting pencil, then a regular No. 2 pencil. And although I know fully well that gesso is an acrylic material, I went ahead and used a bit of brown ink wash to add some toning. It worked all right, so I thought I would test my luck and see what happened if I used watercolor.
To be honest, I was actually putting off using acrylic paints. They're messier than watercolors and harder to control (never thought I would say that!) because the paint can get rather blobby and it is hard to get in small details. And once they dry on the palette, there's no way of reusing the product, so it can also be wasteful. But at this point I had no choice, so I tried to pump myself up by putting on some Lady Gaga music on the Pandora channel. This helped.
I stuck with three colors: Cad Yellow Light, Cad Red Medium, and Cerulean; plus white and the inevitable black, but only because the sheep is a black sheep. I try not to use black in my art anymore, unless it is necessary.
And of course I forgot that I should have been using the Matte Medium all along, but I remembered in time before I called it quits! This stuff is relatively new to me, even though I had it with my paints for ages, I never really figured out how to use it until this year. I painted the darkest areas first, then worked my way up so I could do a bit of glazing with the lighter colors.
Then I topped it all off with Caran d'ache water soluble crayons, (I chose these because the colored pencils didn't want to work, and pastels wouldn't have either, and I don't have oil based crayons to use) and scrubbed and rubbed until it was nicely textured.
And then my least favorite characteristic of acrylics chose to show itself: lack of clean edges! I know, it's my own fault for working so messy, but I have seem to have lost some patience on that part. I cleaned them up a bit with a "shade of grey" brush-tipped pen, and I'm happy to say that it worked rather well.
Last but not least, I have a scanner comparison to share with you. The image above was scanned with a larger format scanner, the Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB 1200 Pro. The image below was scanned using an Epson V500. The Mustek is still new to me, and I am unfamiliar with the settings, but the Epson is an old friend. Because I know what settings to use, you can see more detail and texture in the Epson image. I will do more comparisons as I learn how to use the large format scanner better, so that I might be able to help someone make an educated decision when purchasing a scanner.
Thanks for reading! Have a nice week!
I had a piece of Arches 140lb hot-pressed watercolor paper that had been coated in gesso and still taped to the board lying around my studio, so I decided to use that up. Though I don't always use it, I really enjoy looking at texture in an illustration, so this was my golden opportunity. The gesso'd paper showed lovely brush strokes and it made the paper more durable for scuffing and scrubbing.
I didn't have much of a plan, so I just sketched with my favorite blue drafting pencil, then a regular No. 2 pencil. And although I know fully well that gesso is an acrylic material, I went ahead and used a bit of brown ink wash to add some toning. It worked all right, so I thought I would test my luck and see what happened if I used watercolor.
And as we all would have guessed, not a good idea. But hey, at least I know.
To be honest, I was actually putting off using acrylic paints. They're messier than watercolors and harder to control (never thought I would say that!) because the paint can get rather blobby and it is hard to get in small details. And once they dry on the palette, there's no way of reusing the product, so it can also be wasteful. But at this point I had no choice, so I tried to pump myself up by putting on some Lady Gaga music on the Pandora channel. This helped.
I stuck with three colors: Cad Yellow Light, Cad Red Medium, and Cerulean; plus white and the inevitable black, but only because the sheep is a black sheep. I try not to use black in my art anymore, unless it is necessary.
And of course I forgot that I should have been using the Matte Medium all along, but I remembered in time before I called it quits! This stuff is relatively new to me, even though I had it with my paints for ages, I never really figured out how to use it until this year. I painted the darkest areas first, then worked my way up so I could do a bit of glazing with the lighter colors.
Then I topped it all off with Caran d'ache water soluble crayons, (I chose these because the colored pencils didn't want to work, and pastels wouldn't have either, and I don't have oil based crayons to use) and scrubbed and rubbed until it was nicely textured.
And then my least favorite characteristic of acrylics chose to show itself: lack of clean edges! I know, it's my own fault for working so messy, but I have seem to have lost some patience on that part. I cleaned them up a bit with a "shade of grey" brush-tipped pen, and I'm happy to say that it worked rather well.
In fact, I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment of the day!
Last but not least, I have a scanner comparison to share with you. The image above was scanned with a larger format scanner, the Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB 1200 Pro. The image below was scanned using an Epson V500. The Mustek is still new to me, and I am unfamiliar with the settings, but the Epson is an old friend. Because I know what settings to use, you can see more detail and texture in the Epson image. I will do more comparisons as I learn how to use the large format scanner better, so that I might be able to help someone make an educated decision when purchasing a scanner.
Thanks for reading! Have a nice week!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Fun With Glazing
This little gal was painted in acrylic mixed with matte medium on watercolor paper, using the layered glazing method. I got carried away and outlined her in black ink, then regretted it instantly and ran to the sink to rinse her off.
It worked! (phew!)
It worked! (phew!)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
At Last...
...my studio is complete!
All it's missing now is that homey, lived-in look, (and a giant cork board on the wall) but I'm sure it will get there quite soon. I'm so fond of it, I took pictures! Let us gaze upon the loveliness...
While cleaning and collecting all of my art supplies that have been dispersed around the house over the past few years, I have learned a few things:
Since its completion, I have already spent a few creative hours in my new studio space. I'm trying out some new techniques to see what works best for me and my drawing style. Today I took page out of Judy Schachner's book and tooled around with the technique she uses to illustrate her Skippyjon Jones stories. I LOVE the textures she achieves using acrylics on watercolor paper, and the way she layers her vivid colors like so:
Spread from "Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones," by Judy Schachner
I figured it would save me some time to work with an image I already had lying around, so I tried out this new look on my little logo. I outlined with black Prismacolor pencil, and added a few touches with some Caran d'ache water soluble crayons. Not bad, but it seems to be missing something:
I'm also going to play around with this pelican that I drew a while back, and see how that goes. I outlined him in pen and ink, which I find to be very satisfying...much more so than a black pencil. I guess I'm not into colored pencils that much right now.
And, since I've achieved the goal of making my little creative space, it makes sense to attempt yet another goal:
Sounds like Awesome-ness to me!
told ya so...
All it's missing now is that homey, lived-in look, (and a giant cork board on the wall) but I'm sure it will get there quite soon. I'm so fond of it, I took pictures! Let us gaze upon the loveliness...
While cleaning and collecting all of my art supplies that have been dispersed around the house over the past few years, I have learned a few things:
1. I am the Queen of Post-Its. *see proof at the bottom of this post
2. I actually DO have enough rulers and straight edges. It always seems like I only have one, and I can never find it. Apparently these things like to hide in weird places.
3. Finally putting together my studio is the BEST thing I could have done for myself. Seriously, I love it.
Since its completion, I have already spent a few creative hours in my new studio space. I'm trying out some new techniques to see what works best for me and my drawing style. Today I took page out of Judy Schachner's book and tooled around with the technique she uses to illustrate her Skippyjon Jones stories. I LOVE the textures she achieves using acrylics on watercolor paper, and the way she layers her vivid colors like so:
Spread from "Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones," by Judy Schachner
I figured it would save me some time to work with an image I already had lying around, so I tried out this new look on my little logo. I outlined with black Prismacolor pencil, and added a few touches with some Caran d'ache water soluble crayons. Not bad, but it seems to be missing something:
I'm also going to play around with this pelican that I drew a while back, and see how that goes. I outlined him in pen and ink, which I find to be very satisfying...much more so than a black pencil. I guess I'm not into colored pencils that much right now.
And, since I've achieved the goal of making my little creative space, it makes sense to attempt yet another goal:
Get on a Schedule!I've got a log sheet on my door so I can write in the times I work, and I will also set aside working time from 10 am until 2 pm, four days a week. That's sixteen hours each week I will be devoting my time to illustrating.
Sounds like Awesome-ness to me!
told ya so...
Monday, May 24, 2010
Finally... all three projects from CBook2 are FINISHED!
I told you they would all be due today, didn't I?
Let's start with our folktale project, the story of Sigo the boy who lived with the bears...
Left side of the double-page spread...
Right side of the double-page spread!
Both pieces of art were wood-burned on (scrap) pine, scanned and then put into Photoshop to do the page layout. I tried to make the words look like they were "burned in" too!
Here are the final double-page spreads for Mother Nature. I've included the text, though it is copyrighted to the author, but this is for educational and learning purposes, and I hereby do not take any credit whatsoever for the text. I find it an important part of the process, because the assignment was to work around the original text layout, versus coming up with one like we did with Mooin. (Should anyone find this to be problematic, contact me and I will remedy it immediately.)
In case you forgot, these were done in ink and watercolor on pre-stretched Arches 140lb hot press paper.
As for our collage project, my "Song of Spring" poem has yet to be actually merged with the art in proper layout form. I still haven't had the time to re-learn how to do a text path. Yeah, I know it's one of those silly easy things, but hey I've been busy! Also, it needs to be re-scanned because I've got a seam in the middle, where the gutter usually is. Here it is anyhow, so we can see the whole body of work together in one blog post.
Once again, this was done by painting old Chinese and English newspapers with non-toxic acrylics, cut and pasted with Matte Medium, with a few finishing touches done in either acrylic or colored pencil. I almost feel like it needs some little blossoms in the tree... but I'm going to wait and see what it looks like with the words before I do anything else to it.
All in all, a very satisfying semester! Four finished double-page spreads, a finished picture book manuscript, and a cover letter. I don't think I could of asked for more, especially in a three month period!
Now... What's next???
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
From Start to Finish - Mooin, The Bear's Child, Part 3
(Note: I realized that I hadn't actually posted my last blog post when I created it, so it looks like I posted twice in a row...I swear I didn't mean to!)
Critiques are life savers. Yes, they're a royal pain in the patootie, and man can they draaaaaag! But without some of the crits of art-classes-past, and the one on Monday, many of my pieces would have turned out entirely differently.
For example, during the last crit, a very smart and insightful person brought up that most of my stuff is super colorful. Like straight-from-the-tube colorful. And I've been trying extremely hard to stay away from that, because I tend to yield better results when I do. My problem is that I wasn't brought up to use neutral colors, or rather, no one seemed to point out that I didn't mix my own colors. That explains why I have such a problem deciding which colors to use in my art, because I don't use a limited palette. If the whole wide world is available, why not just use them all?
So I am very thankful to my dear friend for bringing that point up, and reminding me that I'm an artist, and not a toddler with a 280-count box of Crayolas, (or whatever number they are up to now)! Those days were much simpler, though.
Well I'm done blathering about that. Here's what I've been up to in the past few days...
New composition and style to my design!
My wood-burning friend, the tool I'm using for my line work.
(I wear a mask and turn on the kitchen hood fan for proper ventilation when burning the wood.)
Left side of my double-page spread.
Right side of my double-page spread.
New & Improved! color palette, using 3 primary colors, white, and one brown.
Not done yet... but I'm liking the results! Thank goodness for the color changes!
This project, as well as "Mother Nature" and "Song of Spring," will be completely finished by Monday, and all three will be scanned and posted here on my blog most likely a day or two after that. I'm so glad to have some nicer pieces to put into my portfolio! Can't wait to have it all done!!
Critiques are life savers. Yes, they're a royal pain in the patootie, and man can they draaaaaag! But without some of the crits of art-classes-past, and the one on Monday, many of my pieces would have turned out entirely differently.
For example, during the last crit, a very smart and insightful person brought up that most of my stuff is super colorful. Like straight-from-the-tube colorful. And I've been trying extremely hard to stay away from that, because I tend to yield better results when I do. My problem is that I wasn't brought up to use neutral colors, or rather, no one seemed to point out that I didn't mix my own colors. That explains why I have such a problem deciding which colors to use in my art, because I don't use a limited palette. If the whole wide world is available, why not just use them all?
So I am very thankful to my dear friend for bringing that point up, and reminding me that I'm an artist, and not a toddler with a 280-count box of Crayolas, (or whatever number they are up to now)! Those days were much simpler, though.
Well I'm done blathering about that. Here's what I've been up to in the past few days...
New composition and style to my design!
My wood-burning friend, the tool I'm using for my line work.
(I wear a mask and turn on the kitchen hood fan for proper ventilation when burning the wood.)
Left side of my double-page spread.
Right side of my double-page spread.
New & Improved! color palette, using 3 primary colors, white, and one brown.
Not done yet... but I'm liking the results! Thank goodness for the color changes!
This project, as well as "Mother Nature" and "Song of Spring," will be completely finished by Monday, and all three will be scanned and posted here on my blog most likely a day or two after that. I'm so glad to have some nicer pieces to put into my portfolio! Can't wait to have it all done!!
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