back to school

acrylic

Back to school time.... tried out a technique my illustration instructor showed us last week. Started by blocking in a loose drawing of the subject. Working with transparent colors in acrylics (by adding water to your paint), you start by blocking in the shadows with your darkest tone (we were shown with burnt umber). Then you work in a mid-tone, and then finish with the lightest tone and highlights. You can also adjust warmth or coolness of your chosen colors with a red or a blue. I think I used raw sienna for the mid-tone and naples yellow for the lightest tone. I forgot to take process pics for this drawing, will try to remember next time. Very happy with how this painting turned out - I think I should paint more often. The reference for this sketch is a photo of Tommy Chong from a magazine cover. It doesn't really look like him tho, haha.



painting by Howard Pyle (1853-1911).

Illustration class looks like it will be fun, our first project is to do a portrait of a pirate. I have to do research on pirates? Twist my rubber arm.

We are also being introduced to historic illustrators, which I am finding interesting, as I haven't heard of most of them so far. The above illustration is called "Marooned" by Howard Pyle, a famous American illustrator.