Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Digital Painting Exercise: The Figure

Try recreating the two example figures below. Follow the steps as described, using the advantages of working in layers in Corel Painter. To begin you may download the image and use the partial tracing technique from last week's exercise OR redraw the image from observation.

Post screen shots of each step (three steps for each, as shown) on your blog. Describe what you did and make sure to show the Corel Painter desktop so I can see how your palettes, layers and tools are set up.

InkwashExercise01

InkwashExercise02

This week's 'digital sketchbook' exercise: use one or the other techniques described above on a figure of your own choice. Post the Photo you used as a starting point even if you choose to do a fantasy character. The photo will provide your reference for lighting and pose.


Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Digital Painting Exercise: Self Portrait

Start by opening Photobooth on your MacBook and taking a photo of yourself. Try for a strong single light source that lights up half your face and produces a large mass of shadow on the other side. Also, try not to look straight into the camera. Tilt your head up or down a little and turn your head a bit to one side so we can see a bit of the profile of your nose.

Step01


Open the file in Photoshop, convert to grey scale and save as a jpeg. Open Painter and create a new file, then open the jpeg of your photo and drag it into the new Painter file. Size it up to fit nicely in the available space, change the photo layer's mode to "Multiply" and reduce the photo layer's opacity a little so it appears somewhat faded. Now using a "pencil" brush start working on a construction drawing of the head as we learned in Lessons 6 & 7. You can work either on the background (below your photo layer) or on a new layer above your photo.

Step02


Once you've completed the construction drawing using basic shapes and applying the rules of proper proportion to establish the location of the facial features and the planes of the face and head, reduce the opacity of that layer - and further reduce the opacity of your photo layer - and begin a clean line drawing on a new layer. Use both the construction drawing and the photo to help you draw this clean line artwork. DO NOT simply trace the photo!

Step03


Continue refining your line drawing...

Step04


When you're satisfied that you've completed enough of the line drawing to give you an accurate linear version of your head, turn off the construction drawing layer and the photo layer. Make sure you've set up the layers so you have a clean white background under the line art layer.

Now take a look at this 4 - step lesson by Jon Whitcomb on painting the head in grey tone. Study each step carefully. What Whitcomb did in ink wash on illustration board back in the 1950s, we will attempt to do with 'digital paint' in Painter.

Step05


Notice that I use just two grey tones (a fairly light one and a fairly dark one) to very roughly establish the two large tonal masses on the face (and even some painterly shapes in the background). I'm not at all concerned with "staying in the lines" at this stage.

Step06

Again, don't worry about being very accurate at this first stage of painting. Don't concern yourself with trying to indicate small pools of light or shadow. Just look at your photo for the large masses of light and shadow and approximate them on your painting layer.

Once you've quickly laid in these large, flat, solid tones, its time to switch to the brush you'll be painting with. You can "paint" with whatever tool/brush/medium you prefer. I generally like to paint with an Oil Pastel brush.

Using only the two tones you've already established in your piece, use this new painting brush to soften and refine the edges between the two values, as shown below. Just keep flipping the two tones around in your Foreground and Background palettes in the Toolbox menu and paint the two tones back and forth as you begin to establish some of the secondary pools of light and shade. Notice that if you don't press too hard that the strokes fade and blend together in a nice way.

Step09

Continue to blend, to define areas of light and shade, and remember to work all the areas of your painting at once. Don't get too focused on one area of detail and forget the rest of the painting!

Step10


As you begin defining more of the planes of the face with painted light and shade, try subtly erasing some of your line art (save a copy of the line art on a duplicate layer that you've turned off).

As you erase the line art, look critically at that area and decide if the tone is holding the form or if you need to paint a lighter or darker value into that spot to make it 'pop'.

Step11


The jump between the last step and the final stage may seem quite dramatic, but at this stage there's not much to say except that you need to continue painting in light and dark values using good observation and critical, artistic judgement about how you're defining the different planes of the face. Remember to work all around the composition, and to keep the large masses of light and shade intact! Don't break those areas up by overworking the details. As mentioned above, keep erasing line artwork and deciding if the area still holds up without line - then adjusting the values as you go along.

Step12

Post the four stages on your blog arranged as in the example below.

LeifPeng.TonalPortrait

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Semester 4: Getting Started

This semester you're going to do a lot of conceptualization, experiment with different media and techniques and then blog the results of your efforts!

Begin by signing up for a tumblr account. For now, just choose a template that appeals to you. Over the course of the semester, take some time to begin customizing the look of your blog. Design a custom header and install it in place of the one provided in the template.

Visit the Illustration Friday website every week and find the word of the week. Start thinking about how you plan to interpret that word in your design concepts for the following class.

Click through your classmates' blogs (in the sidebar at right) to see how others are interpreting each week's word.

Check our eLearn course homepage a couple of days before class. There may be important new instructions about what materials to bring in the News section on the course homepage.



Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Portrait Painting Steps






Another good step-by-step demo by artist Aaron Coberly is at this link

You may want to try doing a painting in just greyscale (or choose a single colour and paint a monochromatic painting) as shown below.




Thursday, November 7, 2013

2014 International Women's Day Poster Subjects

Once again this year we will focus on women who are making their mark in three areas that are not considered typical or traditional female professional areas: Science, Technology and Skilled Trades.

Here's a list of who has who:

Alex Emery: Jackie Trudel "... a second year millwright apprentice with Hamilton Local 1916 Millwright Union."

Alisha Corner: Corinne Ethier, "Chair, Computer Science Department Mohawk College, Hamilton"

Angel Bond: Jennifer Ainscow, "Welder at Alumabrite Anodizing Ltd. in Hamilton"

Anthony Rubignoni: Kathleen E. Conlan, "Research Scientist in marine biology in the antarctic and arctic. Nominated for the Women of Distinction Awards, Technology Category.

Ashley Groote: Diana Merino, "... is a Genetics and Genome Biology Trainee at the Hospital for Sick Children."

Bethany Heaton: Janet Ferguson, "Architectural Technologist & Carpenter"

Carlin Taylor:

Derek Robinson: Marilyn Lomax, "... Shift Chemical Maintainer in the Chemistry department and covers all areas of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station pertaining to chemistry."

Jessica Ciccarelli: Lindsaye Akhurst, "Animal Health Technologist with Marine Rescue in Vancouver, BC."

Jessica Hodson: Roberta Tremain, "... was the first woman to graduate from the Hamilton Institute of Technology (HIT) in 1961. HIT was the predecessor to Mohawk College."

Katleen Moniz: Winnie Tsang, "Software Development Engineer at Microsoft"

Karen Evans: Cheryl Jensen, "Cheryl Jensen is Mohawk’s Vice President, Academic. Cheryl was instrumental in the development and launch of Canada’s first Bachelor of Technology collaborative degree program with McMaster University and the award-winning Hydro One – College Consortium. Cheryl also led the $27 million transformation of the Mohawk STARRT Institute for Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Research, Resources and Training."

Karzan Kadir: Sonya Pump, "Senior Metallurgical Specialist at ArcelorMittal Dofasco"

Laurissa Mallen:

Megan Waldick: Kim Bevington, "Acting Captain of the Burlington Fire Department and co-ordinator of Burlington Female Firefighter in Training (B-FFIT) program, a high school program for girls to see what being a firefighter is like."

Michael Hollohan: Jessica Bobiak, "... currently attending Mohawk for Building Renovations and has been a Realtor for 8 years."

Michael Schnittker:

Nicolas Miranda: Denise Serafin, "CADD Specialist, Region of Halton/Mohawk College/Oakville/Hamilton"

Nichole Parks: Christine Mann, "Waterloo sound and lighting technician, organizes concerts and conventions setting up lights, wiring, cameras and stages."

Rebecca Cranston: Jamie McMillan, "an ironworker from Hamilton, Ontario, decided she wanted to help other women in the trades through support and mentorship. Journeyman was born and is now an initiative of Canada’s Building Trades Unions."

Rielle Samonte: Corina Chang, "Mechanical Engineer"

Reynold Viquiera:

Robbie Daigneault: Dr. Samantha Nutt, "... is a physician with more than sixteen years of experience working in war zones. She is founder and Executive Director of War Child Canada."

Russell Mccalman: Jad Popovic, "Recently retired, Jad was previously with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd at Sheridan Park for 33 years. During her time there, she was involved with Control Engineering and training of the technical staff."

Sarah Johnson: Julie Payette, "... is a Canadian engineer and astronaut. Payette has completed two spaceflights, STS-96 and STS-127, logging more than 25 days in space. She served as Chief Astronaut for the CSA, and has served in other roles for both NASA and CSA, such as CAPCOM."

Shanna O'Shea: Dr. Mary Wells, "... is a Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering professor at Waterloo University. She is also chair of the Waterloo Engineering Women in Engineering (WiE) committee where she helps to encourage women to consider the engineering profession."

Sidney Riley: Heidi Tillmanns-Vola, "Environmental Graphic Designer"

Sura Wissam:

Thi Thanh Truc Ngo: Tracy MacPherson, "Technology Resource Development Specialist, Dofasco Arcellormittal"

Victoria Hozjan:

Wesley Philpott: Meg Smith, "Web / Graphic Designer at FACTOR[e], an innovative design company working in the fields of web, print, branding and interactive media."