Final Instruments-Pan and the Lost Boys

And here is the final result.  I'm pretty happy with it and the colors and everything, though I only worry that the type isn't readable.  I don't have that much experience with type though so although I searched I couldn't find anything else that had quite the look I wanted.  I also shortened some of the stories so I could make it bigger.

More Progress on the Instruments Project

Well, I haven't gotten all that much farther on the project, but then the backgrounds took quite a bit longer than planned because I started enjoying it.  I basically made them from different concrete textures layered on top and brushed over a whole bunch.  The painting on top on the instruments themselves I'm trying to make look like lightly colored field sketches, like the one with the spyglass.  I'm not sure if it looks good enough though... I'll probably make some changes later, and the type is still being decided on though I think the one on the spyglass is what I'll go with.

Gouache Research

I feel like gouache is one of the lesser known paints, perhaps because of the strange name, which comes from the Italian word “guazzo”, or “water paint”.  It was originally used long ago to illuminate manuscripts or sketch outdoor scenes.  In the golden age of illustration it was used in magazines.    From what I’ve experienced and read, gouache is a lot like watercolor in that it uses water as a solvent and goes on similarly, but it’s much thicker and less transparent.  It’s also unique (and sometimes more difficult in some ways) because it’s color changes when it dries.  The darker colors lighten generally and the lighter colors darken.  Because of this it’s usually best to get the whole painting done in ones session or remember what colors you used.  The advantages however are that it has a very quick drying time and can also be rewetted for changing if needed.  Because of this the painting is easy to alter and mix on the painting itself(even after days and months) and it’s possible to get some pretty smooth transitions if needed.  Like most other paints, gouache can be applied in many different brush stroke types, though impasto isn’t much of an option and it may crack if applied too thickly.  It’s a pretty smooth paint and good for backgrounds or underpainting.   The texture of the dried paint is a matte, suede –like finish.

The first artist I looked at was a modern user of gouache, Erik Tiemens.  For the most part he uses a mixture of media, combining gouache with watercolor and ink pens, but I think the effect he gets with it is amazing.  The colors he uses are vibrant and you can tell that the textures he uses varied, either getting a nice smooth wash or a definite brush stroke out of the gouache or watercolor.  For the most part he does landscapes and scenery.

Another current artist I found was Thomas Paquette, who also does a lot of scenery but paints in a very different style, though still beautiful.  For the most part he uses mid- to lighter-tone pastel-like colors in all.  The textures he uses are mostly  smooth—actually he does most of his strokes in smooth, thicker strokes and the edges in between seem very… melty?  You can tell he paints wet on a relatively smooth surface with definitive, roundish edges.  It’s a unique style, and I like it a lot.

The last artist I found was Racovskiy Nicolay.  He uses some more variety in subject, but many of the best ones were scenery again.  He paints in a very smooth way, especially in the sailing boat painting where he painted on a textured paper.  Gouache really can get a variety of textures and the lighting effects he uses with it are very nice.

Oil Lift Out Research

Oil liftout has been one of my favorite traditional techniques of all time.  The particular version of the technique I’m trying to mimic this assignment seems complicated but for some reason it makes things (especially tying all the colors together in the one painting) easier.  This technique, first involves a value drawing—pure value, no color, usually done in pencil (often brown prismacolor) and a flat guache color wash over each shape.  In other words, the colors itself have no value but the prismacolor beneath show through and provide the value.  Then a semi-transparent dark oil wash is overlaid to cover the entire painting in the darkest value that will be used.  The oil is then left to dry for a little while till it’s almost dry but not quite and the light values are taken out by an eraser to reveal the color of the guache beneath.   Colored pencil of whatever color and be used to fix or add to the drawing to make it clearer or add texture.  The brush strokes themselves vary depending on what brush is used to paint over the guache with the oil and what kind of eraser strokes the artist is using.  The paint is all slightly transparent so there is often that beautiful layered look, though the texture is almost spongy looking.  Also, the eraser can never take out all the oil so some of the oil color will remain mixed with the guache.  That’s why the colors are all tied together so well and also why the painting sometimes ends up a darker value.  You can also end up with some really great intense lighting effects though.

One of the artists I researched when looking for examples of the technique is named Robert Barrett.  One painting in particular I found very beautiful.  As does classic liftout, it was a deeply colored painting with many subtle layered values from the different oil colors he used to cover the guache.  The lights contrasted highly with the darks and the lines of color were very graceful. (This painting is the one with the ballerina putting on her shoes.)  The thing I love most about this artist is the color shifts he uses in the oil and the almost rainbow glass look gives.  Unfortunately, due to google search being stupid or maybe I somehow wrote his name down wrong, I can’t find any of his paintings again, even though at one time they were the first thing that came up on the oil liftout list.  All I’m finding are paintings of naked women or something and it’s annoying.  It was my favorite example too...

Another artist that made it big as an illustrator because of this technique is Mark English.  He also had a style that involved a lot of beautifully subtle color shifts.  He used a very wide range of subjects and styles, but it’s easy to pick out the ones he used this technique for.  There is one painting advertisement of Mark Twain that I thought was especially amazing.  The only reason it’s not here is because I can’t find the thing again.  The face of Mark Twain is done almost entirely in the colored pencil over the oil paint.  Others he’s done are of the typical dark chroma and have more of a somber, smoky look.

The last artist I looked at was Todd Kenton Yoder.  He also paints a variety of subjects, but most of his are nostalgic looking paintings of people or families or bands playing musical instruments.  Much like the previous artists, he uses different colors of oil over the guache to create variety and subtle beauty.  I think one of the things I’ll liking most about how this technique looks is the fact that most of the shadows will be the same duller color while the contrasting light colors will be varies and beautiful.  They also have a soft, worn quality to them I really like.  It suits paintings of scenes from the old days.

Instruments--Progress

For this final project I'm doing in my digital illustration class, the idea is to create a series of four scientific looking illustrations of four different instruments that could have been discovered at any kind of dig.  Because I'm a die-hard Peter Pan fan I decided to make my instruments from things Pan and the Lost Boys stole off of the pirates and made into musical instruments.  This is what I have so far, and all I have to do now is tighten the detail on these things and paint them, probably in a sort of oil lift out technique probably.

Guache Imitation- Princess Poise

Impasto Research

Impasto is a technique commonly used in fine art where the artist puts the paint so thickly onto the canvas it becomes three-dimensional.  They’ll use a brush or a palette knife to put it on and sometimes mix the paint right on the canvas.  The effect is that the thick brush and knife strokes affect the way the light plays on the canvas and the texture is much more dramatic or expressive.  It’s best painted with oils because of their thickness and long drying time, but acrylics can also be used.  It doesn’t quite work with the thinner paints like watercolor though.  The brush strokes can vary according to how broad or skinny the brush is but the most common way to paint impasto is using very impressionistic, broad strokes and leaving much of the detail to chance and imagination.

One artist I admire is Arnold Chao, a modern artist from San Francisco.  I like the individually unique technique he uses.  The brush strokes in his abstract or landscape paintings are often very thin and swirled. He turn the brush around in curves to create even more of an interesting texture with the thick paint.  Also, much of his work is loose and slightly vague, as if the viewer is seeing the scene through a heavily textured glass.  I like the sunset especially.

Another artist I found is named Maryanne Jacobsen.  Her subjects are primarily landscapes and still lives when it comes to impasto and I’ve found those make the best impasto paintings because not a lot of small smooth detail is needed.

And the last artist I researched was Marcus Krackowizer another modern contemporary impressionistic artist.  I especially love his artwork because the impasto paint he uses for his work is always full of many different colors and up close the paintings will look like abstract works of art made up of gobs of brushed paint but they become something beautiful from farther away.    He does a lot of landscape or city scenes in thick oil, though most of his nonrepresentational art is in thickly applied and almost tie-dyed looking acrylic.   It’s amazing what marks these artists can make on the canvas.

Oil Liftout--Let it Rain

Hmm... I'm happy with the piece and I think it did turn out a whole lot like the oil liftout traditional projects I've done (though it's kind of dark), but the meaning of the painting turned out to be a little more clouded (haha, get it?) than intended.  Basically, it was supposed to be a little more positive than it looks, with people being upset about the rain in the background while the foreground man roughs it out dripping with a smile.  You can be positive in any situation, no matter who you are--something like that.  I was kind of going for irony, because it's the rich looking people who look unhappy and the ruffian who's fine with it.

Splash-Lithography

I might change the color of the water.

Lithography

Lithography is another method of printing that usually involves a smooth surface like limestone and a wax or oily crayon drawing used to transfer ink onto a page or another surface, a weak acid, gum Arabic and water.  It’s different from intaglio or etching or other printing processes because no engraving of any kind is required.  Instead, it’s more of a chemical process where the image is simply drawn on the stone with the crayon (the litho crayon can be colored or non colored, it matters not) and then the weak nitric acid is applied over the stone.  The acid reacts with the places where there is no wax crayon drawing and creates a thin hydrophilic film of calcium nitrate salt and gum Arabic that will accept the water instead of the ink (on account of the ink being greasy).  When the drawing is put into a specific ink and water mixture the ink is attracted to and sticks to the greasy litho crayon drawing and the water is attracted to the negative spaces between.  The wet stone then gets run through a press where the image is transferred (backwards) onto the paper.  That is the traditional way of doing it, of course.  There are more modern ways of lithography, some of which involve offsetting and is used commonly now for posters, books, maps, newspapers, etc.  The process uses mylar, photosensitivity and ultraviolet light to get the image, but that’s another story.

The limestone used for lithography has a unique porous  but smooth surface and the texture often feels more natural than metal or plastic plates.  With stone, it’s easier to create a more versatile range of tones and textures.  One can even scratch or dig into the surface of the stone to give the plate itself the added texture and feel.  The main problem with using limestone though, would probably be the price, great weight, and tendency to crack.  Metal plates can occasionally be used for the process, but it’s not really the same. 

The mark a lithograph makes on a page is unique, as would be expected.  Because the image was drawn on with the litho crayon, the drawing tends to look like something drawn by a crayon or pencil, and as with a pencil or crayon different effects can happen depending on how you drag it across the stone.  They can look a lot like original drawings.  A good range of detail can be accomplished, and although monotone is the usual, color can also be achieved.  

One artist, Janet Wissmann, is a modern stone lithographer I admire.  She seems to specialize in monochromatic but highly detailed pictures of animals like birds and bears.  She uses the straightforward process, but also uses other media to add texture—like in the puffin picture she uses spatterings of liquid mask to keep some areas completely white and scratched or scraped the stone with a razor blade for other textures.  

Honore Daumier is another lithographer in the modern age but he uses a bit of a different technique with a couple of his prints.  Instead of leaving the drawing monotone, he goes over it with contemporary hand coloring and heightens it with gum Arabic.  The drawing itself though is typically lithograph quality—and looks much like a drawing.

The last artist I found was Thomas Hart Benton.  I really like his style, because although it is monochromatic, the values achieved by the grease crayon are very varied and smooth textured transitions.  His drawings look very classical and detailed, while maintaining a wonderful balance and contrast of dark and light.  He appears to use a nice style of crosshatching to create that unique texture of value.

Will

Well, it looked better when I was half asleep...

You Can Run...

I don't really like this one...

Scumbling and Drybrush

Dry brush and Scumble techniques seem pretty straight-forward to me.  Basically Dry brushing is using a very small amount of paint (usually acrylic) to brush lightly over a textured surface, allowing only the peaks of the texture to be covered in paint and letting the texture valleys to show through.  It’s a popular way to blend color or add softening effects with acrylics because acrylics dry so quickly and the technique can be layered one coat over another dry one to create some interesting and beautiful effects. It can also be used in some subtle lighting effects. Scumbling is similar in a way, but kind of the opposite.  Instead of lightly brushing over the surface, the brush (preferably one that is not too expensive or new)is scrubbed into the textured surface so that the valleys get paint in them as well and those parts of the texture turn out darker than the surface texture because it has more paint.   There are many artists that employ this technique, one way or another, and it’s not only acrylic that is used—for example, the technique can be used on indoor house walls for some fun texture effects.

One artist known for his scumbling techniques is Rembrandt, who everyone should know.  He was a master artist—one of the greatest in Dutch history and still one of the most well known of the European painters.  He did many portraits and Bible scenes, and one of the techniques he employed to create the amazing affects he did was scumbling, particularly in some of his self portraits and in this painting of a man regarding a bust.  Instead of acrylic he used oil, but the effect was similar in some ways.

Another more modern artist I found that uses the technique of scumbling is Tom Hughs, a portrait, landscape and figure painter.  He uses scumbling often in his paintings, giving them a very loose, nicely textured feel.  It seems dry brushing and scumbling are nicely suited to landscapes as it lends the painting a way to feel dimension and distance.  Adding a scumbling change of value to distant objects makes it easier for the viewer to see atmospheric perspective.  Using it with figures makes the painting seem somehow homely or nostalgic. 

The last artist I researched that uses scumbling was Tim Bowers, from Granville, Ohio.  He is another modern artist who regularly employs dry brushing in his work, thus giving his illustrations a lot of charming texture and character.  He uses a thicker gesso to create the initial texture and then adds many layers after that that over the top, as well as washes, with acrylic paints.  Each layer allows the previous ones to show through a little.