Sunday, November 16, 2014

Famous Writers -- Neil Gaiman

3:12 AM art , chunky paints 0 Comments
Famous Writers: Neil Gaiman


Title: Famous Writers: Neil Gaiman
Date: November 16, 2014
Medium: Photoshop CS6
Scale: Original is 2560px x 2560px

Notes: Just taking a break from homework. 
I decided it would be fun to paint a famous writer. In this case, Mr. Gaiman.
A while back I was drawing them, so now it's time to try painting them.
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Friday, November 14, 2014

Fan Art Friday -- Sons of Anarchy

8:35 PM art , ashley webb 0 Comments
Fan Art Friday: Sons of Anarchy


Title: Fan Art Friday: Sons of Anarchy
Date: November 14, 2014
Medium: Photoshop CS6
Scale: Original is 3840px x 1716px

Notes: While thinking about painting, somehow this tradition was born. Ashley was just talking about a bunch of different things, and she was like... you know what would be awesome? Fan. Art. Friday. I was like... THAT'S GREAT! And thus, a thing was born. Now I just need to keep it up.
I thought it would be fun to put an impressionist spin on a digital painting.
So I present to you, the first in a long string of paintings: Sons of Anarchy.
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Basking in the Glow

10:59 PM art , chunky paints 0 Comments
Basking in the Glow



Title: Basking in the Glow
Date: November 12, 2014
Medium: Photoshop CS6
Scale: Original is 6376px x 4500px

Notes: I was just working on other projects and I suddenly got bored with them for just a moment. You know how you have that moment every once in awhile where inspiration just hits you, like a hammer? Well this happened to be one of those moments. I was just sitting there, listening to Ashley read her story and I was like... I FEEL LIKE PAINTING A STILL LIFE! I lit a candle, set up a toy skull and off I went. I felt strange, like this painting was just fluid. There wasn't many hiccups in the process. I just powered through it without much of a hitch.
There was just something about listening to Gone Girl and painting death that just works perfectly.
It was really fun! Like... surprisingly so. Maybe it was just refreshing to just paint something for me for a quick change of pace.
On that note though... I need to go work on more project stuff, but I just thought I'd share.


By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Illustration 5 -- Absolved Character Archetype #5 - Masques

7:24 AM absolved , art 0 Comments
Illustration 5: Absolved Character Archetype #5 - Masques

 

 

 


Title: Illustration 5: Absolved Character Archetype #5 - Masques
Date: October 20 - November 4, 2014
Medium: Photoshop CS6
Scale: Sketches vary, Final is 11" x 17"

Notes: I think that during this piece, I went through so many variations of the same thing... That damn hand holding the knife has been redrawn like thirty times. I tried good reference, I tried just winging it, I tried copying directly... I think that ultimately, I just, as always, need to draw more hands.
Regardless, this was still an incredibly fun and challenging piece. I tried to make her a bit sexy, but still have that badassery attached to her. I can honestly say that with each piece that I do, I'm trying to tackle something major so that I can learn from them and make sure not to make the same mistakes again. It's fun, but incredibly frustrating at the same time.
Anyway, more to come!
And also... a little bonus walk-through below:


By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Monday, November 3, 2014

A Mish / Mash

10:48 AM ashley webb , creatures 0 Comments
InkTober: In Memorial

 



 


Title: InkTober: In Memorial
Date: October 2014
Medium: Ink
Scale: Varies.

Notes: Every InkTober thus far, I have been very productive. Somehow this one got away from me. It's okay though, this semester has been one of extreme growth and I can't complain. I still had lots of fun sketching really fast for this InkTober and I hope to jump in next year.
Babies


Title: Babies
Medium: Gouache on Canvas
Scale: Each 'piece' is 3" x 3"

Notes: At the upcoming Holiday Bazaar at MCA, I will be selling these with their Illustration Club. Just a quick, fun experiment with some gouache.

The Offering


Title: The Offering
Medium: Gouache on Illustration Board
Scale: Original is approx. 3.5" x 14"

Notes: Ashley has a huge fascination with all things water-borne, so I thought it would be awesome to paint a piece specifically for her. The photo didn't turn out the greatest so it looks better in person, but it was a ton of fun to just stop questioning and just paint.

And More Zoodles

 

Title: And More Zoodles
Medium: Ink, Graphite, Charcoal
Scale: Each 'page' is approx. 2.5" x 4"

Notes: Zoodles is probably one of the best things to do during a lunch break. I would suggest anyone to go and just draw up all the animals and people at the local zoo. They are sooo much fun! More to come on these...
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Digital Painting -- Teaching?!

2:56 AM chunky paints , digital painting 0 Comments
Digital Painting: Demo for Class

 

Title: Digital Painting: Demo for Class
Date: October 24 & 29, 2014
Medium: Photoshop CS6
Scale: Each of the Originals are 2200px x 2200px

Notes: Alright, so perhaps this one needs a tad bit of explaining...

So, once upon a time, I thought it would be very beneficial to learn digital painting. I thought I would never catch up to my peers as there are soooo many people that are really, really badass at digital painting. I was literally struggling to even learn the basics of digital painting. I had my little bamboo and I would just sit and try to paint something... anything.

For quite a while it was something that I went out of my way to avoid. I felt somehow that the tablet would be something that could be learned later, or somehow I would magically just "get it" one day. I would try all sorts of different things. Scanning a drawing and then painting over that - didn't seem to work. Painting with big strokes - that didn't seem to get me where I wanted. Scribbling to get an image to magically appear out thin air - that definitely didn't work.

I would just give up time and time again to just draw again. With a good 'ole pencil. The crazy thing is that you can track my progress on this blog.

Anyway, point being that through perseverance you can really get there. I am finally feeling like I'm getting somewhere. I know that with all creative endeavors, it's a fleeting thing, but this should at least stand as a testament that I'm getting somewhere.

So all this is to say that, somehow I got to a point where I could teach people a little something!
I got asked by my teacher at the beginning of the semester if I would like to guest teach the entire class. Boy was it intimidating, but ultimately, I know that teaching can not only make a person better, but I was willing to - nay needed to - share the knowledge that was passed down to me.

Somehow, the entire class - everyone! - seemed to have made improvements in the small time that I taught. It was invigorating. So I thought that I would follow suit with everyone and join in on the portrait study that I had them work on. I love answering questions and I'm constantly joking that if I don't know it, I'll find someone who does. 

Tenacity is an insane thing. And I hope to keep continuing on this crazy tradition. Not only has my fiancee really pushed me constantly to get to a better level, but I've surrounded myself with all manner of creativity. The space that we occupy is littered on almost every surface with art of some sort. She is my catalyst. Couple that with the fact that since the beginning, when I first asked Grace Liu some time back what it means to really work in the art industry, I've been constantly inspired to keep pushing forward.

All I can say is that no matter what, just keep pushing - it might take time, but you can get where you need to in time. Just keep at it!

Also... I've done both of these studies before, and I thought it would be interesting again to show the progress.

July 20, 2014 & January 14, 2014, respectively.

 
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Digital Painting -- Master Studies

3:56 AM art , chunky paints 0 Comments
Dean Cornwell Master Study


Side-by-Side comparison.
Dean Cornwell on left, Mine on right.

Title: Dean Cornwell Master Study
Date: October 9 - 16, 2014
Medium: Photoshop CS6
Scale: Original is 6134px x 7400px

Notes: My color master study. It's kind of awesome and odd to look back at this one from awhile ago... You can see the first time I attempted this study in 2013, below.
I still think that one isn't too bad of an attempt, but it was supremely grayed out... I think my color vision has increased ten-fold from then, and I also think that my accuracy is quite a bit better. But all-in-all, wasn't too bad of an attempt, even then...

Check this out: July 16, 2013 (see below)


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sargent Master Study


Side-by-Side comparison.
Sargent top. Mine bottom.

Title: Sargent Master Study
Date: October 9 - 16, 2014
Medium: Photoshop CS6
Scale: Original is 3750px x 3096px

Notes: Gray scale master study. This one is a drastic improvement. Granted the study below isn't finished, but even from the get-go this one is completely superior in every aspect.
Sargent is amazing! 
Improvement is awesome to see and I can't wait to check back next year!

Check this out: December 31, 2013 (see below)

By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Follow Mat @artofmatk

@artofmatk

Follow Ash @ashley.storyteller

@ashley.storyteller