WIP... since all the cool kids do it :)

[river]

Well I decided to do a WIP. I've never done one before, so you guys'll have to bear with me (please!! :) ) This will be my first oil piece, so you guys out there that know lots about oils, please (please!) feel free to say anything that you think may help me out during this whole frightening and exciting ordeal.

So basically it all started about two weeks ago when I was sketching in my sketchbook... and I had this neat sort of idea to have an archer in a painting, so I started doodling some more, cancelled many previous ideas, and finally settled on the one you're about to see. Actually, its a slightly revised version of my plan. This happened b/c during the two week period, I began to get bored with my original concept, and so I changed it :evil: It used to be an angel, now its more of a demon woman. Shrug, I thought it was more interesting :) So then I did a photo shoot; here's a photo of the basic pose that I'll be using for the figure in this piece.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/02-Oct-2002/model.jpg

I recently bought a book of onion paper, which is basically a translucent sheet of paper, much like wax paper, that you can doodle on, then transfer to your board, so its nice and clean. I learned this the hard way after dirtying several canvases with graphite "ideas" then having to apply an ungodly amount of acrylic layers to cover it up. Basically what you do is you slowly build up your desired image using the onion paper placed over and over itself, so there is a gradual rendering of your imagined or observed subject. So, I took my photo, and roughly chiseled out the lines of her form. This is just a simple line drawing, no shading, no hatching, just lines. At this point it looks very comic-booky, but (oh god I hope) it should turn out okay in the end :) The hands are a bit skewed, but that will be fixed later. One more thing that should be noted is the readjusting of the arm... I thought it was more interesting this way, and the other way just didn't seem to go well with the composition I had planned.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/02-Oct-2002/onion.jpg

Wow... that looks horrible. I'm already having doubts about this. Throughout the course of this thread I'll likely go through an emotional break down at every stage lol... ack.

After I have my image on my onion paper I turn it over, and trace over the lines I had already made with just a mechanical pencil. Then I turn it back over again, and trace over it again! onto my board. This will transfer the graphite on the back perfectly onto the board (at least it should) and thus, keeping your board nice and tidy. I also used this method with the scenery in the background etc, but I didn't post these things b/c I didnt feel it was important enough yet :) Here is what it looks like transfered:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/03-Oct-2002/pencil.jpg

Looking a tad bit less horrible now! Although I'm still not very happy. I'm such a freak. Okay.

So I think that ends this first post... tomorrow I should put on a very watery underpainting for this thingy. Hope you guys enjoyed... or not :) :clap:

*Axl has just notified me about the left breast being on top of her arm, it was kinda weird, couldn't figure out what was wrong, thanks axl :) I fixed it though... hopefully.*

[maldrin]

i like it
i love her
i love the busted concrete rubble behind her (or whatever that is)
i love the bony demon wings
i love your style

(feel encouraged?) :)

[violet feme]

This is looking great so far! Love the boney wing things. :cool:

[TeAnne]

Lookin' good, keep it comin' WOW

[Cision]

Great stuff. I am enjoying your thread.

Cision

[DraigAthar]

VERY cool, can't wait to see it progress!

Amy

[dtaurins]

It's fascinating to follow your progress, because I've never done oils either. And I desperately want to. So I'm eager to learn along with you. Please share all the names of the products you use on the piece, and how you like them.

Thanks for doing this!

[Redsy333]

This is going to be great!! I love the WIP threads, feel like bustin out popcorn and watching the show:D Learn something with every post!!
MoreMoreMore....Please:D:D:D

[coolray]

River,

I love the start! If I may, just a few points.

In the reference photo I don't see any props to help the girl in her pose. It doesn't have to be a bow and arrow, but something similar would help. I try to do that in all my photo shoots, so that it looks more convincing. The reason I bring it up is because her hand holding the arrow in the drawing looks awkward. It may not be, but that's what I see.

I like the idea that she was looking away from the camera in the photo. That would probably transfer well into the painting.

Okay I said my thoughts. And these are just mine. They in no way reflect how you ultimately should do your painting. Just points to ponder.

Otherwise I like how this is going, and I can't wait to see the progress!

Terry

[Anthony Carter]

I love being able to watch a work in progress. Your talent really shines!

[river]

Thanks for the tips coolray :) Yea it is hard to put something in reference photos that wasnt really there - I'm still trying to get the angle of the bow just right, as well as the arrow and hand config. Ah the eyes... as of last night, I was thinking the eyes might have a better effect if they are dead on, because of the composition, but I'm still playing around with em, so thats a possibility :) Thanks coolray, any advice anybody has, I'll love you for it :angel:

[coolray]

Glad I could be of service to you River. I wish I had been exposed to this kind of critiquing when I first started out in art. I had to learn alot of things the hard way. You'll make it though.

Try another photo shoot with some fake props to see what it does for you.

Terry

[river]

argh, well Im going to have to type this thing again, I just erased it grr. Anyways, I know I told everyone yesterday that I was going to do an underpainting today, which I am, just not how I thought I would (make sense...? :) ) I suppose I should say that a predominant feature of this piece will be the color change throughout. Essentially its split into three color sectors, crimson, to brown, to green. So if you can imagine that gradient of color set in a horizontal way in your mind (whew), try to apply it here. I used cobalt blue acrylic paint for my underpainting, since I figured it would still show through enough to use to paint by. Basically I just set all my tones of the skin, and wow she really popped out. I really want to thank everyone that gave me advice (splish ;) ) on her form, it totally improved. :clap: Oh yea, her right arm. Its kind of off, the shadows that is, so I'm gonna need to study my own arm in the mirror w/ appropriate lights to get that sucker right. Okay, enough babbling, on with the show :) -
*edit* just noticed her right breast isnt rendered on the right-most side! oopsies :) I need to go change that.. *

[Leaflin]

I'm really enjoying this.
Thanks for the the updates!!!

[coolray]

River, you are on your way!

This is starting to take shape! I find you explination of the type underpainting you will be doing, very interesting! You should check out my WIP on the David and Goliath painting. It is a verdaccio underpainting. (in the oil painting forum)

I am watching ever so intently on this one!

Terry

[river]

ahh the weekend, hopefully if I'm not too busy I can get more things done.

coolray : I saw that painting in the oil forum some time ago, but I completely forgot about it till you mentioned it :) When are you going to pick that baby back up? i liked the way it was going. I don't know much about that style of underpainting - all I know is the little bits I glean from reading books. :rolleyes:

Thank you everybody for the kind words... ;)

[maldrin]

so, river, i've been hoping you're getting lots of work done on this this weekend, cuz i can't wait to see more.

just dropping a post to let you know i hope you're finding plenty of time and inspiration this weekend!

maldrin

[river]

Ahh sunday morning. I figured I'd post this before I got too far ahead, and while my paint was dry anyways. My progress so far isn't as much as I'd hoped for, but I'm learning that I can't work as fast as I usually do with acrylics. I really need to get multiple paintings going at once to economize my drying time. :) Yesterday and the day before consisted of putting in that green, brown, to red scheme I wrote previously about, that would present itself throughout the painting. The sky was planned to be green, and its in the very most background, so I'm going to render it to a relatively finished degree before I move on. This way, I won't get that "color by numbers" look, where paint is meeting edge to edge, and it is clearly visible to the critic. It looks much more natural-looking to paint different objects over eachother, rather than the paint mucking and building up next to eachother. So anywho, the plan thusfar is to finish the sky, then move to the busted concrete blocks, then to her body, then foreground. I'm sorry I haven't posted a preliminary sketch of what my idea was. Perhaps I should do that :cool: Well here is the sky so far:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/06-Oct-2002/green.jpg
Right after I finish this post, I'm going to go back into the sky and make everything much more smooth, using richer and thicker coats of paint, with little to no thinner. After that I'll be back and post a little drawing of what my idea is. I guess if you guys were wondering, I'm using winsor and newton artists oil paints, and since I've never used anything different, I can't really offer any criticism on it :) I have no complaints however. I'm not sure how much paint really matters, as long as you buy one of the big names. See ya next time :)

[river]

Here is the general idea of what the painting will resemble. The sky is olive-ish green, concrete slabs are greyish brown, and her drapery is deep crimson. The little "twigs" sticking from the busted rubble is re-bar (sp?). Hopefully you guys can kinda see where I'm going now :)

[maldrin]

it's looking great, and the sketch is really cool!

i'm so eager to see the next photos!

[coolray]

River,

I have been working on the David painting off and on for some time now. The progress pics are not enough difference to post, and it is now just tightening up the underpainting and letting it dry before the glazing process.

I like how your painting is coming along, you are going full blast on this! Keep up the good work and I will see about posting more pics of David.

Terry

[river]

Thanks for following the thread so closely Maldrin :) Coolray, I definitely look forward to anything you can add to your David and Goliath piece :cool:

Now that my paint is dry, I figured I'd show the third layer of sky, there will be one more layer on top of this, to make whites whiter, and to just generally clean it all up. After I tweak the sky some, I'll go into the concrete blocks with (hopefully) lots of detail. While I was at school I designed their whole layout, ridges, stains, exposed parts, etc. I might have another update tomorrow with these things :) I should say I had a lot of fun doing the sky. Its basically Ivory Black, Titanium White, Terre Verte (green), and Cadmium yellow deep, with touches of Yellow Ochre in the bottom (I also used drying linseed oil very sparingly throughout). That really soft effect is done by putting the paint colors next to eachother, adding it where necessary, then taking a soft, dry, fan or flat brush to blend the two together. The entire sky was done this way. I like where its at so far, but I think it still needs some refining. Hopefully I'll have more for everybody tomorrow, and if anyone has any comments or questions please post them :)

This layer dried overnight:

[maldrin]

that's a really ominous looking sky there, river!

I'm loving how this is progressing.

[coolray]

River,

The sky is coming along nicely. The colors you chose gives the impression of a storm of intense magnitude is on the rise. It is done quite well for setting a mood. Can't wait to see how the rest of the painting plays with the sky. Skies can be a focal point in themselves, even if you have a focal point somewhere else in the painting. The crucial thing is not to let it override the main subject. Your sky seems to be right on the money! You are progressing very well.

Watching with much interest.

Terry

[river]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the comments :) I'm at school right now, so I don't have anything to post.. yet. I was just thinking its really ironic that you said the sky was ominous Maldrin... there is a huge storm going on here right now, and supposedly a tordado touched down near here. Woo, nothing like living in tornado alley, k I'm gonna go b/c the rain outside sounds scary, see ya

[river]

Well yesterday and the day before then I had a chance to begin some of the detail work. I still wasn't finished putting the base on the other slab, so I started with this one. The 'water' was also added in very quickly, allowed to dry slightly, then gone back into with a brush that I have, the bristles are cut to the nub and its more like a stick than anything :p I just used that to scratch through it to the underlying yellow ochre. I still have to add light glazes to give this slab more depth, but you get the gist:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/09-Oct-2002/main.jpg
and here's a closeup:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/09-Oct-2002/closeup.jpg
Today I hope to go into the other slab... although this makes me weary b/c I'm kind of going blind into this one :crying: Oh well we'll see how it goes :cat:

tootles, river

[coolray]

James,

This is good too! I love the eerie effect of the tree, and the colors. I like this. I ready for updates as you get them!
Keep up the good work!

Terry

[plumpfairy]

:o Fabulous! This is fun! Standing by for further input!
jana:D :clap: :clap: ;)

[river]

thanks plumpfairy :o

Last night I worked some more, but this time on the other slab. Today I should finish up the details of it, and then on Friday I should be able to get into the figure work. That should take me a while, but I hope to be able to post a finished figure by Saturday or Sunday... :rolleyes: Anywho, this shot right here is of the crack where you can see through to the sky, I liked the concept of having it partially covered... bars to this slab I detailed last night won't be added for a while though, since I need to finish what goes beneath them before I can add. Ah, well here's the pic:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/10-Oct-2002/paintingriver2.jpg
hopefully will have an update tomorrow :)

[coolray]

Egads! River I am sooooo sorry! I thought what I was looking at was a tree the other day. I see now that it's the edge of the slab!! (bowing down , in a groveling sorta way) PLEEESE forgive me!!

Now that I got that outta my system...... Nice slabs!

Terry

[river]

Its fine coolray ;) hehe, you're not the only one who thought that. After a while I was just thinking... well as long as they look 'eerie' it doesnt matter :p Thanks though lols :cool:

[DrLondon]

Love the broken slab. Looks great. I haven't tried to paint concrete yet.:eek:

I may try to work in some concrete on my next painting.

I'll tell you who does great concrete and that's Michael Whelan.

Yeah, I think I need to tackle concrete next.

Keep up the good work. Enjoying your thread!:)

[inkskin]

I am really enjoying watching this thread. I don't paint yet, so it is great to see this develop. I LOVE the colors so far.

Heather

[river]

Thank you Dr London, I appreciate the kind words :) The concrete is hard to paint... seems like I'm not putting enough umph into it though, maybe I'll figure it out later. :rolleyes:

Inkskin... for some odd reason... before I start a painting, I plan to have many more colors... but I always end up with these tonal pieces, hehe oh well. It might just be the way I work or something. :o

Last night I refined some of the slab on the left, but I feel it wasn't enough to post. Today I can start working on the figure... and I'm very excited :) I wish I could work all night... but alas, I have SAT's tomorrow :crying: Earlier I was freaking out over a glossy part on my piece due to some retouch varnish I had used... but Iconoclast has just informed me that this will be okay in the end, when the final varnish is applied :) Thank you so much Icon :clap: So tomorrow I may have something of substance to post, instead of this jibber jabber...
tootles,
river

[river]

Sorry for the lack of updates all :( Apparently skin tones in oils is an entirely different ball game than it was in acrylics. I've been pulling my hair out trying to get it, till I finally got fed up and stripped off the paint of the model with a turped rag. So now I'm going off on stray pieces of paper, writing down mixtures for the skin tones. However... one thing I did notice was that for this piece, normal skin tones would not be constistent with the colors that aleady are on the board, so I must adjust them to fit. There won't be updates for a few days, while I practice this... :rolleyes: Oh well, thats all part of the learning process I guess... see you guys in a week or somethin :p

[Wes Hyde]

It's looking great, Riv. Please post the finished painting in Oils so I don't miss it.

Wes

[river]

Thanks wes :eek:

Well I'm back... I've done the beginnings of skin, some minor corrections to make such as shadows on the (her) left side of the stomach and her left breast needs some adjustment near the top of it there. Basically I found that by putting the colors you want for the skin next to eachother, then blending with a soft fan brush, will give you that smooth effect. Its really weird using this tech, especially coming from acrylics, but I feel that after a few more oil paintings I'll start to get the hang of it. The beginnings of the bow are also sort of visible there, as well as just the dark tones of the hair, I should be adding highlights to the hair today. :rolleyes: *should*... anyways, here's the pic:

*edit* oh yea :) the metal armor-bra thing isnt added yet, so that explains the blank spots on the breasts ;)

[plumpfairy]

:D :clap: :clap: :clap: :D
Aloha River!
This is hummin' along fabulously! Such talent! I like how the skin tone harmonizes with the overall greenish color in bkgrnd.
jana:D ;)

[crazy_cat]

This is coming along great! The detail is fab and the blending of the colors are perfect! :clap: :cat:

[animal]

River, I can`t believe I haven`t commented on this. This is BRILLIANT! I think you`re doing a great job on the girl and the background looks great. Keep Going :clap: :clap:

[coolray]

River,

You are doing well here! I like the look. I think your transition into oils is coming along nicely! Keep it up!

Terry

[river]

Thank you for the comments everyone :)

Today all I have is just a tweak to the update up above this one. Some skin abnormalities have been changed, highlights have been added, shadows, as well as the very basics of the metal-bra 'thing.' (I'll tighten it up today) Enjoy - oh, and any comments about inconsistencies of anatomy would be greatly appreciated :) :music:

[animal]

Originally posted by river
Thank you for the comments everyone :)

Today all I have is just a tweak to the update up above this one. Some skin abnormalities have been changed, highlights have been added, shadows, as well as the very basics of the metal-bra 'thing.' (I'll tighten it up today) Enjoy - oh, and any comments about inconsistencies of anatomy would be greatly appreciated :) :music:

Looking GOOD! :clap: :clap: :clap:

[plumpfairy]

:D Beautiful tweaking! River!
The armor-bra looks kool...like dragon scales:p I really like the boney-wings behind her. (are they wings?).
jana:D :clap: ;)

[river]

Thanks animal and fairy :) Yea - they're wings :P I think you can tell that they are a part of her easier now with this next update. Just some more tweaking. I'll be going to National Portfolio Days (college art thing), so I won't be able to update tomorrow, maybe Monday though. Hopefully this will be the last update for the figure, unless I, or one of you guys ;) , spots something else. Here she is:

[plumpfairy]

:D :clap: :clap: :clap: :D
Just FABULOUS! River!
jana:D :clap: ;)

[inkskin]

This is really coming together great,river:D

[Graleth]

Hi River and the gang,
This is my first post to the fantasy section, I was looking for sf stuff but spotted your post and got drawn into it. I was wondering, how big is the canvas you are working on ? I like the work so far, but was wondering if you have planned what her shadow on the concrete block would be, or if it would make contact at all. It is hard to tell with the angle of the blocks.

Keep on adding goodies,

Ivor