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straight lines
After I finished a portrait of a little girl with all the pink and creamy flesh colors, I choose a subject contrary in any aspect… Architecture/gloomy/November/cold/dark. One of the reasons I choose this is my problem with painting lines. My hands are shaky, so I decided to train freehand straight lines (I overdid it I admit ;-) ). The drawing is not freehand, I copied it … (you might all have your hair standing up in shock…)…
There is nothing painterly about my canvas but… my painterly period is for later…
I have a problem with color matching because I have to match all this tiny little spots and I am often wrong with my choice… any idea how one matches tiny spots? I had this problem with the girl’s portrait as well… thank you all for any ideas and comments!
There is nothing painterly about my canvas but… my painterly period is for later…
I have a problem with color matching because I have to match all this tiny little spots and I am often wrong with my choice… any idea how one matches tiny spots? I had this problem with the girl’s portrait as well… thank you all for any ideas and comments!
![[Deleted User]](https://w3.vanillicon.com/3f6c158e813f9c363a4a9816eab0b931_100.png)
![[Deleted User]](https://w6.vanillicon.com/6e4d1dcfdf5cb75c88896ceb3e407965_100.png)
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Comments
Splendid work. Little value errors matter little in a view like this. As long as the light direction if faithfully rendered, no one is going to compare it to the photo. The color checker is the best device for matching values until you get your eye in. The fact that you are recognising value errors means you will be applying mixing adjustments progressively. Remember Mark's advice ' the values will look all wrong until the painting is complete'.
Keep goin!
Denis
Unfortunately I have a problem laminating my pictures so I can not dab paint spots on the picture either... thanks anyway!
I love it!!!
@Mark_Carder ok thanks! values first is written on my forehead!
But now that I am doing windows as well, how did you paint these lines? They look perfect.
My (one year old) laminating problem: I tried (almost) everything. My wholesaler put a picture out of my beloved printer (epson 3880) in every laminating machine he had in his store and they came all out milky (mostly in the blacks), so I have my own private milky way if I put all of the pictures in a line. I changed the laminator (all GBC's) three times... there is only one that works but the price for that one is +/- 2000.00. They couldn't help me further. So honestly I wait for a miracle... it might be something in the black ink... that's my last hope...
- Using a straight edge to create the initial drawing.
- Using a very small but square ended brush. (Like the one I posting a picture of here)
- Using optical magnification of some sort while painting.
A nice "Tee Square" or even just a long ruler can be a great asset in your initial drawing stage. I find that trying to paint straight lines with a round ended brush is next to impossible as well as extremely frustrating. There are very inexpensive yet highly effective magnification glasses (loupes) available on eBay and elsewhere that can very much improve your ability to put the paint where you want it on the canvas. (I included a picture of what I mean.) I can't overstate the value of this magnification to my own painting enjoyment.Use a Rigger, liner or script liner brush with your little finger as a steadying support. Check out this video on YouTube:
Use a mahl stick as a ruler to guide a steady line.
Thinning the paint helps, as does a light coating of medium on a dry canvas.
Don't watch the brush tip as you paint, keep your eye on the destination.
Here is a better demonstration
Denis
opnwyder:
1. I thought using a straight edge is a big ‘no no’ … glad to learn that this is not true…
2. The first house on the left is done with a round brush… no further comment needed… I was going to give up this painting a hundred times… and I am not over the hill yet...
3. I will search for OMGlasses… I guess this will open a whole new world if I want to go more in detail (balcony’s etc.)…
Denis: This brush with the long bristles is magic! I even had it in my brush-collection… (without knowing what it might be for... :-( )...
I love the car-painting video with the cool sound… It is outstanding how he is painting these lines and if you look closer in the car window you see that he is even filming himself doing it… so I know what my goal is from now on... my car...
As for straight edges being a No-No, I don't pay any attention to anyone's opinion on such things. There are MANY who say using a photograph is a No-No. I just don't care. I'm the person painting this piece of art and I'll use whatever techniques I want and it's nobody's business.
I think the house on the left is awesome, I LOVE the snow and the overhang edge and the shadow underneath. I'm in awe of your patience with this painting.
Good luck, don't give up!
-Scot
Walmart sells a box of laminate sheets. I use them all the time now.
Beautiful work. Very accomplished and professional piece of work.
Denis
However, since you asked - There is a tiny issue with the architectural perspective, specifically the right tower. It appears to lean to the right. As anyone whose been to Pisa knows, towers, especially old ones, can lean over time
The viewer (maybe you) took this photo from street level. The right tower should either be straight like it's partner or actually appear to lean a hair to the left which would follow the natural perspective from this point of view.
As we sometimes do here, I took the liberty of dropping some lines over your painting to illustrate.
The red lines are straight vertical, the green lines indicate how far the tower leans. It's a tiny thing as I said, but because your painting is largely about the architecture and the towers are your focus, I thought i'd mention it as it caught my eye from the get-go.
I've also included an architectral rendering that shows the 3 vanishing points being utilized, just 'cause.
@jcdr You are perfectly right! I took this picture from a bridge. So I should have checked for the lens distortion which I completely forgot. But I think beside the distortion it was also me who added some more 'perspective' while painting... This is the original picture to compare.
Thank you very much for this helpful hint.
If you photograph buildings from ground level, the only way the vertical lines of the building will appear (mostly) as straight lines perpendicular to the ground is if you hold the camera level. Of course, if you do this, you're only going to see the base of the building unless you're so far away from the building that the entire building fits within your viewfinder. That is an option, but if you stand really really far away from the building and zoom in on it, the rest of the scene will appear flattened and compressed, like this:
Our eyes get perspective distortion the same way lenses do. It's intrinsic to how we sense 3D space. But with your eye, whatever you're looking at, it's in your center of vision. In a photo, you can compare how different lines relate to each other on a 2D plane, but in real life, all the "distortion" is peripheral to the central focus. It's like the way we don't see color in our peripheral vision, but you never notice because you can't turn your eyes to look at it. Also, we can't "zoom in" with our eyes, so if you stand far away from a subject to eliminate distortion, you won't be able to see it very well!
Anyway… @EstherH, when you were standing on the bridge taking this photo, I don't think there is anything you could have done with the equipment you have (someone correct me if I'm wrong). I don't have any experience "correcting" the perspective to be more pleasing as a 2D image, but I think people do it, and maybe someone here has done it in Photoshop.
There is, however, something called a "perspective control lens", which allows you to "correct" this issue when you take the photograph. Here is a photo of Hong Kong taken with a perspective control lens in order to keep the building lines perpendicular to the ground:
Real life is reality, but photographs, paintings, video, etc are representations of reality. They don't need to sync up, and sometimes "fixing" reality somehow represents the subject better than merely documenting it strictly.
Does anyone here have any experience with perspective control lenses?
I sometimes paint what is hardest to me last. I tend to find my flow a little later in the painting and not at the beginning. Many times, the easiest is the background which works for me. Other times, I paint what I dread first. That is not the same as what I think is hardest. Even though you kept the water for last, it's my favorite part.
@David_Quinn_Carder That is a precise explanation David, as always very helpful. Appreciate it... next time on the bridge I will go higher up in another building if possible... the picture of Hongkong is beautiful.
@Kingston Thank you for your comments. I will consider these points of view before I start the next painting! I don't know what is meant by 'exaggerated perspective'. But sounds interesting.
@MeganS Thank you Megan. I will add the signature when it is dry. This is a good thought about the 'flow of a painting' and therefore not paint the hardest first...
or you could learn the good old tried and true method of perspective drawing with this $40-How to Draw book
P.S. Love the painting, the palette, the sunless sky . . . . . . . I want to jump in that water!
And the book looks especially interesting because it says 'sketching ... from imagination'. To me this would be the hardest thing to try... sketching from imagination? wow... but then I haven't tried... maybe I have to? Tempting... thank you.
Pls don't jump in that water or I will have to repaint all the reflections :-D
Really great, cant wait to see more!
Sean