Saturday, August 16, 2014

New Techniques New Problems


Just recently I took a two-day illustration workshop at Hussian School of Art in Philadelphia. Our teacher, Scott Kirschner, was kind enough to teach me to stretch Bristol paper. Now I don’t have to store canvas anymore! This way of working has allowed me to paint with acrylics on paper!  Scott also showed us how to plan out an illustration in a better manner than what I was doing. He also taught us how to apply research to help aid in believable details to make a picture more authentic to your objective. After purchasing all that I needed and sending Scott pictures to make sure I was doing it right, I began to work. A big thanks to Scott for all his help and support in this endeavor! Where would we be without people like him that take the time to make sure we understand?

The first step was soaking both sides of the Bristol paper in the tub. Then, the corners were stapled to the board, then the middles, and finally all around. After that, the paper was wavy and need to dry flat overnight. I thought I had done the process wrong until the next morning, when it dried tight as a drum!

 

After two coats of medium gray, the first problem arose. I quickly realized that the brush had left textures in the gesso. With that it was more difficult to lay all the needed pencil work accurately. With the help of my projector, I laid in all the pencil lines where they should be. Still, they were rough.

 

I have been studying Drew Struzan’s process of painting. I hoped to become a bit more detailed in my way of working. With an understanding of his process, I applied black paint to whatever areas needed it.

Then, I airbrushed transparent coats of paint on all the other areas. Another problem. I really have no idea what I am doing. Fearlessly and messily, I pushed forward. This experiment is halfway finished. Come back and see how it finished out in later entries!
 

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