Speedpainting: Landscape

I love the great treatment of the trees and the light filtering through them in the back.  The white tree is a little jarring in contrast, I would definitely use a light grey tone instead of the sharp white.   This is an interesting painting actually.  All the tones are really cool.  Although it's subtle, the warmest tone is the light coming thru the trees.  It draws the eye all the way through to the back, you hardly even notice there are characters here.

Original

By Danielle Hodgson

Speedpainting: Pretty Lady

Rita did not choose an easy photo to start with, but I think she had lots of success.  She did a great job on the skin.  Skin tones can be very tricky, especially when working from a photograph.  Photos tend to make the skin look smooth and often does not provide much in the way of contrast.  Check out those bright yellow highlights for the blonde.  So awesome.

Original

By Rita Luopa

30min Speedpaint: Northern Landscape

I love the creamy whites in this picture and how they softly contrast against the dark and light teals.

By Morgan Kagesheongai

30 MIN Speedpaint Club!

Like I was discussing in class last week.  I propose we start a side project.  This is just a little something to get your painting skill flowing.  I am totally inspired by the blog, http://30minspeedpaint.blogspot.com/ Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?  Find your favourite artists, photos, movie stills and go to town, for 30 mins.

Original Artwork found here

This one might have been done under 30 mins.  I spent about a period of hockey on Saturday night with a glass of wine playing around on the ipad.  Because it was such a close shot it was certainly faster and less time consuming as a background or a full figure.   Looking at photos there wasn't much as far as lighting and warmth in the skin tones, which is why I opted for a painted portrait to study from.  I really don't mind the blocky colours although I'd really prefer if there was a sensitivity setting on the ipad stylus.

More on Glen Keane

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Lately when I think of life drawing for animation, I keep coming back to Glen Keane.  He really epitomizes what I mean to life draw like an animator.  I love his passion for the art.  I love in this podcast Glen speaks about hitting a wall in his animation:

"when you run up against a problem, you always think it's because, 'Oh I'm not good enough'.  It's not that.  You've hit the limit to your knowledge, and you've gotta go out and observe and get something more.  Those are the best times, when you're... in a rut, and the world is open and you're ready to learn something new.  You've gotta go, you've gotta take advantage of that." -Glen Keane

PODCAST interview with Glen Keane:
PART ONE
PART TWO

LIFE DRAWING by Glen Keane

Simplifying for the Bone Test

Understanding the bones to memory can be difficult and intimidating.  The point isn't to copy the skeleton, but to understand the form, the plane breaks and the relationship between the bones (joints). Here are some more great examples that I found of the bones and how to draw them simply and with accuracy.  Check out the original blog to see what the author has to say about this exercise!  Another cool link the author mentions is here.  This is a link to a website that you can play with the layers of the human anatomy from 360 degrees around the body.  Kinda neat, keep in mind for second year studies as well.  It may come in handy for the muscle test!

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Pelvis Nightmares.

It feels like it was just yesterday, when I was in college studying for my bone test.  The dreaded bone test was something I miraculously aced.  Notice I am completely cocky about this fact.  It is not an easy test.  I studied my ass off for this test.  I drew for weeks prior to the test.  I drew the joints;  the knees, the collar, the shoulders, the elbows.  Over and over and over again, I would draw and dissect the pelvis.  If I remember correctly, the night before the bone test I had the most vivid and horrifying dream about being attacked by pelvises.  Imagine Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.  Only in my dream, the birds where flying bat-like pelvises.  It was obvious that I was stressed, but I think in some sick way, my brain was helping me out.   While I was sleeping, I was still envisioning pelvises rotating from every angle, coming towards me.  I'm sure the adrenaline had lots to do with the retention.  I rarely remember where my car keys are on a daily basis.  But, that morning, I stormed the bone test and got myself a glorious A.  

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