Monday 19 August 2013

Oil vs PS #2

Which one did you start off with today?
Kicked off with Photoshop.




PS paint:

How long did the painting take?
It took about an hour this time.

Did you find anything particularly interesting today?
I never liked drawing/ painting reflective objects, I constantly think how difficult it is to capture all that reflective information and neglecting the fact that, this is still a 3D object that has a shape, and shadow. So, throwing all complex details away, I started with the basic form, determining the object in greyscale first, applied the colors. Then on separate layers adding reflective details, and to top the shine, I added another layer that I apply only highlights. I found that with the information (dark shades, shadows, mid tone, light shade, and highlights) all in place with respect to it's relative shape, the object will come together as a whole similar to a recipe. But it does become boring to follow the same recipe over and over again :(. Hope to find more interesting things further down the road of this project.   

Did you learn anything new about yourself in this technique?
Became more confident in tackling reflective objects~

Is there something you wish you could do differently?
Have a better understanding with rendering shadows, felt my shadows were a bit difficult to come by. banana shades and colors were off.

How do you feel about this project right now?
Not too bad today, sat down and powered through the paintings under a stop watch.




Oil paint:

How long did the painting take?
it took over an hour and a half I think, lost track of time once I started the painting haha~

Did you find anything interesting today?
I purchased some new brushes, that were actually flexible and easy going on the canvas. Did feel a significant change in the way I organized my thought process of painting on canvas. I think kick starting with PS, help with my color decisions faster. Shape wise I feel I did a trial run on PS so it was easier the second round.

Did you learn anything new about yourself in this technique?

Finding the procedural process of painting in PS sort of useful when applied on canvas. The thought process of laying the base colors, then additional mid tones and followed by highlights works. What was nice in actual painting is the mixture of color and the spontaneous outcomes of a dab of this and that color.

Is there something you wish you could do differently?
Get a bigger dust bin, newspaper wipes are over flowing from the little bin :P

Additional comment:
So far am seeing some improvement in my confidence of color pairing. (That is for now, I might go into a color shock in the latter).

Saturday 17 August 2013

Oil paint VS Photoshop

Gonna try a new experiment:
Will be painting 16 different still lives with the traditional technique versus the digital technique.

What technique did you start with today?
Painted with oil first and moved over to PS 






Oil paint:

How long did the painting take?
It took me about an hour to whip this cup into shape.
The setup was tedious I guess~

Did you find anything interesting with this technique?
I love the way you can twist and turn your brushes freely without any limitations, you get more personal in relationship with your materials: The mediums, oils, brushes, palette knife, newspaper and the canvas.

Did you learn anything new about yourself in this technique?
It has been a while since I scraped and cleaned my palette board, sorting out the colors one by one from warm to cold. And smelling the linseed oil that sort of could suffocate you entirely in a closed environment :P. I did feel I have less fear and reduced the hesitation of finding the perfect color to start and finish this painting. What was nice, I timed myself for this project, so with this in mind I think it made me care less about thinking too hard on what colors I should use, instead to just pick the colors with my gut feelings.

Is there something you wish you could do differently?
 I wish there was a Ctrl + Alt+Z function in traditional technique :P, damn it all goes back to the scrape knife to get a clean slate for new and cleaner paint to be applied.

How do you feel about this project right now?
I feel good about it at this moment. I finally stepped in to start it (Since I started thinking about this three days ago).




PS paint:

How long did the painting take?
It took me about 30 min, I timed it 

Did you find anything interesting with this technique?
I find it more structured with the layers, I could plan the way the cup is painted in different layers (Shadow, dark shades, mid tone, highlights, and patterns) without destroying the other worked upon layers. And the eraser tool is really useful to get that nice crisp edges and finishes, or acts as a blending tool between light and dark. 

Did you learn anything new about yourself in this technique?
I do feel much more comfortable using PS now, as compared with my first encounter with PS back in the days, where it was so unfamiliar and ridiculously hard to navigate with the layers.
I do find it easier to pick my colors in advance and sort out a layer just for color palette. The brushes I have come to be accustomed to use with some tweaks of shape dynamics and other dynamics. I feel my speed painting will really improve after a few more try outs this week. 

Is there something you wish you could do differently?
I do wish I am able to rotate my brush shape with short keys, instead of constantly going over to the brush menus to rotate the brush. I guess this what i get with CS4.

How do you feel about this project right now?
Feeling great to know I can initiate a digital color painting, as I use to hate using colors because I fear them. I do not know why? But a Professor has embedded a rule that you should think about what you draw in shapes, color in shapes, shading in shapes. And I do like blocky shapes coming together to form the final render of an object.







Monday 5 August 2013

WWE LIVE with sis and dad :P

It was quite a funny imagery when my sister told me that she took my dad to a WWE showdown~ as she was describing the excitement of the show, in my mind I was imagining how in the world the two very people who I never had thought, liked wrestling. Actually went to a LIVE wrestling match?

I had to draw what I thought was a priceless image of dad and daughter out for a wrestling match hahaha.


Saturday 3 August 2013

Wedding!

Been asked recently to do wedding related designs and animation this year. Guess I ain't young no more : D. Helped this particular friend design some illustrations for a wedding invitation.
Took a while to establish the final outcome of this project.

I took the initiative to compile the process of creating the idea, and working towards what my friend finally decided on. (First roughs actually included crazy creatures, then it was of course too radical and asked to to be changed. Haha!)

Wedding no more up to this stage haha~