Outline Time!: Week Five

This week I decided to focus on the outline of my final painting. I did not spend my whole week doing that only a part. The other part of the week I began painting it but I want to just focus on the outline in this post.

 Before I could start drawing, I divided my canvas and a printed copy of the original American Gothic, into fourths. I only drew lines to divide them, I did not cut the actual canvas into pieces. I did this because I noticed in my original sketch that the different things in the picture were not proportional, and I did not want my final piece to be the same way.

I was able to sketch out everything but I saved the faces for last. I have never been that great at drawing faces because I can never get the mouths right. I decided to do some research and see if I could find any helpful resources on the internet. After only a few minutes of searching I was able to find two great sources! The first website I found is called The Proportions of the Head. This website taught me how the different features of the face line up inside a grid which allows artists to make faces proportional.

The second source that I found is called Learn How to Draw a Face with Confidence. This website used a similar technique as the first site, but instead of using a grid and drawing the outline of the face you start out with a circle and use dashed lines to line up the features of the face. I like this source more because when I have tried to draw faces before I have used something like this method and it was successful with figuring out where the features were and the shape of the face.

I used techniques from both sources to draw the faces on the canvas. They may not look recognizable yet, but that is because there is no detail like shading. I found both websites very helpful and they both furthered my progress in drawing faces and the project.

Vlog!!

Genius Project Vlog! from Donna Intintolo on Vimeo.

Practice, Practice, Practice, #2: Week Four

I was able to get an easel this week! It is much nicer than the first one I got, the only problem is that I keep tripping over it... I decided to take Annie's suggestion and practice my new techniques by painting another piece. First I used a monochromatic background like my first piece. This acted as my background. There are some white spaces, but that is because the surface was not primed before I began painting. I am going to use gusso, which primes canvas, on my final product because I have learned that will remove the white spaces.

The darker part of the background is a wall, and the lighter part is the surface that the focus of the painting will be sitting on. Next I added a plate with apples on top. This is known as a still life, which many artists use as subjects for their paintings. In the book that I bought, Acrylic 1 by Ken Goldman, Goldman suggests that using a still life as a focus is a good way to practice the different techniques because of the light reflections and shadows that must be present. 

To make the plate I started out with a white base, and then added yellow and black to the white to make the shadows. For the apples, I started out with four red blobs, as the base for the apples. Then I added a little black to make the shaded spots on the apples. For the lighter spots I only used white. Since the apples were both red and yellow in the photograph I used, I used a basic yellow for the yellow parts of the apples. 

One of the problems that I faced was the amount of spaces on my palette. I had to mix a lot of colors, and use different colors so at one point all of the spaces on my palette were filled, which meant I couldn't use anymore colors or else the colors might mix. I also could not wash the palette since there were colors that I still had to use, and I did not want to waste the paint. I learned from a website suggested by O'Neill, 10 Acrylic Painting Tips for Beginners, that I should only use a little bit of paint at a time so I do not waste any. I tend to use a lot because I think that I am going to use it all and most of the time I don't. I also learned that when I blend paint I need to work with it fast because of how fast acrylic paint dries. 

I have started to draw my final piece! It looks good so far but I have not gotten to the faces yet. I am nervous about starting those because I am not the best at drawing faces. Does anyone know any good sources to learn how to draw different facial features? Have a happy Monday and check back soon for a vlog and a look at the final outline of my final painting!

Boddy-Evans, Marion. "10 Acrylic Painting Tips For Beginners." About.com Painting. N.p.,  n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://painting.about.com/od/acrylicpainting/a/10tips_acrylics.htm>.

Goldman, Ken, and Ken Goldman. Acrylic/1: Learn the Basics of Acrylic Painting. Laguna Hills, CA: Walter Foster Pub., 2003. Print.

Practice, Practice, Practice: Week Three

First I just want to say that I returned the easel! I just need to go out and buy a new one. Second, you should never practice painting on top of the dining room table... unless you have newspapers, cardboard, or something that paint will have a hard time going through. Your parents will not be happy if you get paint on their good furniture! Luckily I was using a canvas so it was raised and I wasn't painting directly on the table. 

Through out the week I have been reading about different painting techniques and I have found that with different sized and shaped brushes, different textures and patterns can be achieved. I have also learned about how to start a painting. Sometimes artists choose to sketch out what their final piece is going to look like on their canvas, and other times they just wing-it and "draw" with their paintbrush making strokes as their lines and not caring about staying in the lines. 

One piece of information that has stood out to me the most is that it is good to start with a one color background but making the color dark or light in some areas to show the contrast between the different parts of your painting. This is known as monochromatic. Once this is done, you can start adding more details. This is one method that painters use instead of drawing their outline for their painting. I thought that I would give it a try and I enjoyed it. One thing that helps when doing something like that is a art palette. I find it better than a paper plate because on most palettes there are small round areas to put your paint. This separates the colors from each other and allows you to mix colors that you want to rather than accidentally mixing colors. With a paper plate, it is easy to mix colors. A palette also restricts how much paint you put in the round areas so you do not waste any paint. I got my palette from ACMOORE for $1. 

When I first started my practice piece decided to use a still life, but then I thought that I would find a photograph of nature, and try to paint it how I see it. I've always loved seeing reflections of trees and the sky in water so I picked a photograph that showed that. My first step was making the monochromatic background, and since the sky and water are both blue, I chose that as my color. In the picture below it looks like there is both blue and black, but the darkest shade is in fact blue. To get a darker shade of a color black is mixed with the color, and to get a lighter shade what is added. 

This became the base of my painting. As you can see there are different shades of blue from the center up that get darker, and the center down that get darker. After finishing this I added details like a moon and a small sunset. 

This is the finished piece! I am happy with this piece because I was able to use different techniques and textures to make it look like the sky was getting darker, the sun set was fading, and the moon was reflected in the water. I am going to start sketching out what my final product of my American Gothic piece will look like on a canvas through the following week and then begin painting. I can't wait to see how that turns out!

Check Out These Blogs!

Annie's Blog!
Ally's Blog!
Abby's Blog!
Alyssa's Blog!
Noah's Blog!
Eric's Blog!