So I've jumped in. 2 cavases toned and subjects drawn in
( maybe a little too much- old habits die hard)
question is, which one first? Portrait of my youngest daughter or Whitetail yearling.
Hmmmmm. The suspense is palpable.
Anyway, I enjoy seeing WIP from others so I'll post a few stages of this as I progress.
(Probably gonna be the portrait -'no blending' won't be as much of a challenge on a furred critter,....although.... I deerly love painting aminals. LOL
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Seriously jcdr... I am already drawn into watching both of these come to fruition... you have a great touch with your drawings... well done!!
See if this old dog can learn a new trick or two.
The picture of your daughter is 1 to 1 ratio in size, that's a big plus. There is no need to make mental size conversions when you paint from a 1/1 ratio. But there are two things about the picture that worry me as well. The highlights in her hair on her right side (on the left in the photo) are badly overexposed, including even the ribon. When highlights are blown out like that, it can be hard to represent it in the painting without it looking "weird" because it already looks a little weird in the photo if you look closely at it. Secondly, it's a portrait. Doing a portrait as your first DMP painting is ambitious. I did a portrait as my first one and looking back, I think it was a bit discouraging for me.
The only issue I see with the deer photo is it's size. Using a small photo for color checking is pretty tricky. When you dab the paint on the photo, it covers too much area on the photo to allow for good color discrimination. It sort of robs you of the ability to have really in depth color matching "detail".
I'm pretty sure (considering your drawing skills....shew, nice drawings) that you could pull off either of these, but honestly, my best advice would be to take the deer photo and have it enlarged so that color checking will be easier on it and then do that painting first.
-Scot White
As for the Whitetail, My bad again. I have a 1-1 close up of the deer's head printed out but only showed the wide to indicate the entire scene. I will continue to output & laminate areas of the image as needed for color checking.
Once again, my apologies. It wasn't my intention to mislead you. I'll try and be more succinct in future.
Thank you for taking the time to offer such detailed insights. I truly appreciate any and all input. You may yet be proven right re. the highlights:-)
@gus. Thanks Donna. Slow & steady...
@opnwyder I'm taking some liberties with the values in the hair, but I think it's gonna work out.
I've always 'checked' colors by eye, never by laying them onto a laminated photo,
and the stepped palette really makes the mixing a breeze.
So simple yet so very brilliant. What a difference.
^:)^
Looking good.
Denis
<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/5020129/uploads/FileUpload/be/968c8abc12d1aeee578db303f728de.jpg"
Day 2 - I worked on the BG foliage. Trying to capture the soft focus with as little blending as possible. Day 3 - Painting the water is crazy. I'm trying to stay very accurate so the water surface doesn't appear to undulate. Crawling along like a snail on fire.
Scot, Yes i'm uncharacteristically pleased with the progress ( albeit slow) I'm just getting to the point where you can see rocks through the water. Going a little cross-eyed. Mix, check, dab, mix, check, dab... time for a Crown Royal & ginger. Maybe a double.
John
James
@Mark_Carder - any idea when the 10 day oils are coming out? Soon I hope :-) I haven't had the opportunity to make up your Slo dry medium so I guess adding a drop or two of clove oil to my walnut oil will extend my drying time.
@ebs - yep, currently I use M Graham & Co walnut based oils so using walnut oil as a medium is a natural. My first pass on her face had little to no oil added, pretty much straight out of the tube. I almost never put my brushes in turps except for cleaning (when I remember- hate cleaning brushes) - then I condition them with oil again before I paint.
I also got a start on the deer- The light changes enough at night that I can't work on Bella's painting, so I made up another palette and the whitetail is my evening job.