Week 31 - So What Happens Now?

So that's it. The end of an era. My first year is done and time does fly by. So the big question in my head is what now?  I guess it is time to graft and push the area I am most passionate about in this course, which are my visual design skills.

So inspired by artist Foervraengd I'm going to start producing "Pro tip" posts over the rest of the term. A lot of these tips will be sourced from Foervraengd because well she has a lot more experience than me plus her tips are really useful, memorable and entertaining. These Pro Tip posts are mainly for me to collect important resources that I can understand to aid my learning and secondary to anyone else who is interested.

First of Painting Dark skin. This has always been something I personally have felt that there aren't as many credible if not any good resources which are widely accessible. From doing some research here are some of the best links I found

Painting Dark skin

Dark skin have “stronger” highlights, but they’re at the same time not “larger”.

Cooler hues like blue and low-saturated purple works well as a base color and for shadows.

Don’t be afraid to add some red tones on cheeks and lips etc, just don’t use light pink for that.

Gurney's colour zone theory

.From doing some research into colour theory, I may have made a discovery. I'm not too sure yet but I believe you can use colour palletes such as analogous, Monochromatic, tertiary and so on to aid rendering and create a transition of light to shadow well. Not too sure yet but I will experiment in the coming days. Also I believe that blended transitions from highlight to terminator suggest direction where light is hitting. If this is the case, this should also aid my rendering

Source Foervraengd

Holding a Pencil

Source Foervraengd

Something silly :/

How to smell your own breath

Step 1: lick the back of your hand ( use the whole tongue)

Step 2: Wait about ten seconds.

Step 3: smell the hand. If the smell is bad it means you have a bad breath and should brush your teeth, a tongue scraper is also helpful!


Source Foervraengd - Honestly will be useful when presenting and pitching ideas or even doing group work. I mean who is going to take you seriously with bad breathe !?!?



Source Foervraengd (again yes this pro-tip post is basically a Foervaraengd fan post... I'm sorry)

btw a little quick tip before I go to bed:

do not underestimate dull, low-saturated colors for your painting.

They can give harmony in your piece and make stronger parts like highlights pop out much more.

Many artists tell you to “start with the big parts and save the small details for last”.

Try to do that with your coloring as well; start with less saturation and save the stronger colors for the finishing touches.

By now you know who this belongs to

Finally I managed to find Foervraengd's exercise list for pushing 2D skills. Over the next few weeks I propose attempting this list especially the anatomy and important basics category.

Important Basics:

Value study, work with grayscale/combine with composition
Color theory studies. Use still life and photographic references
Perspective and composition
Different surface/texture (metallic objects, drapery study etc)
Still life study on static objects/photographs


Anatomy:

Gesture drawing
Muscle/skeleton study
Faces and facial diversity (ethnics, age etc)
Female/Male differences
Bodyshapes/age

Environments/backgrounds:

Nature - forests, mountains, deserts etc
Plants, trees and geology
Urban - architecture buldings, monuments etc
Speedpaintings/thumbnail exercises (10-30 minutes long)

Advanced/in-depth:

Technical:

Vehicles; boats, cars, airplanes etc
Weapons; guns, swords, bows etc
Modern vehicles/weapons
Historical vehicles/weapons
Machines, engines, robots etc

Animals:

Herbivore mammals (horse, cows, deers etc)
Carnivore mammals (lions, wolfs, bears etc)
Rodents (mice, squirrels, rabbits etc)
Birds
Reptiles and Amphibians (lizards, snakes, frogs etc)
Aquatic animals (fish, sharks, whales etc)
Insects, spiders and other invertebrates
DINOSAURS!!!!1 (+ other prehistoric animals)
Mythological animals (don’t stick to “modern” illustrations, go for the very very old designs!!)

Design/culture:

Modern/historical fashion (shoes, dresses, suits etc)
Armor and defense (for both humans and animals)
Furniture and interior design (modern/historical)
Gadgets, jewelry and other decorations
Small items like glasses, plates, spoons etc