The following images were drawn this morning. Reference used was photographs on RedditGetsdrawn. Minimal line, but enough to fill in the area. No tone was used. For tone HB pencil is easier to work with. Bonus Dzhokar portrait.
The following images were drawn recently in an a5 sketchbook. Paper quality is high. Slightly textured. Page is easily marked. 2H pencil was used. This is preferred over HB for line. HB handles shading well.
Reference is RedditGetsDrawn/listener magazine/ imagination.
Enjoy.
Oil paint hasn’t been used since 2011. Blank wooden boards were lying around the room. Not being used is a waste. The follow images were painted. Relaxing, and something different.
Some portrait painting during my time in Wainui. These were used as demos to show Michelle how I digitally painted.
Here we go:
Since I only have the laptop currently I used one monitor for this. The reference was placed on the left side and I worked in the line on the right.
Regina Spektor. 
I was explaining to Michele about how I don’t use the smudge tool. I decided to show her the tool and this is the result. We compared the smudged to the non-smudged. She liked the smudged version better. Personally I like the non smudge. Being about to see the brush strokes and use them as part of creating the form. 
Color. Showed how I use a limited amount of colors but a range of tones of each color. New color for the shirt.
Reference for this were photos on the shelf. I drew the characters, the frame around them, and the mantel piece they sit on. Turned it into a landscape work with the clouds in the back and scaling of the photos. 
Black and white. Focused very little but instead just gave the impression. In the background I defined the land. The characters are lighter than usual. Black frame septrates them from the landscape scene. On the left is square tiles. I like these for the ground. Above this a character is erupting from the land.
Color. I said in a recent post I wanted to use more browns in my work. Here I’ve done this with the land. Experimenting with the saturation levels of the brown – interesting grays appearing on the right hand center. For the water I used the green – exploring a range of brushes. I like the center area green – it has a flow to it that works. Building up those tones is helping.
That’s all for today.
Slow recently on the blogging. I’m not that motivated to upload my photographs to my photography blog here due to the slow connection and continued timeouts. I need to head to the library and see how the connection is there. When I was in PakiPaki I had a decent connection that allowed me to queue 5 or so photos without a timeout. In Wellington I uploaded 200 no problems. I really need a fast and reliable upload speed.
Anyway, I shouldn’t talk about uploading photography – let’s talk art. During my trip to Hawkes Bay I took my A5 landscape notebook, clutch pencil and Fallout 3 art book. Together these allowed me to work from reference anywhere. This is especially handy in the car where I don’t have my laptop for reference (no smartphone, but really should invest in one). I also used the clutch pencil and a5 pad to draw street scenes – Hastings and Napier CBD. Sadly I lost my clutch pencil on one of my final nights in Hastings. I’m off to Wellington tomorrow so will likely buy another from the French Art Shop (I tend to not draw if I don’t have one).
I often draw from photo reference thanks to Reddit and the subreddit RedditGetsDrawn. There is another similar related subreddit known as RedditGetsDrawnBadly . Here people can post photos and they will be drawn badly. Microsoft Paint is recommended. I decided to give it a shot and open Microsoft Paint and produce paintings with the similar technique as I do with digital paintings in GIMP.
What a great photo. It’s high res (this version is smaller than the full version) and contains the majority of the body. Love the contrast of red hair and green clothing. 
Natural Paint brush. Looking back at this now I will use the pencil tool for future works. It’s smaller, tighter and allows for more detail. This is super important as a majority of detail is lost with gray-scale color tone layers.
And grayscale tone added. I was surprised with how large the paint files were – 1200 by 900 pixels isn’t bad. It certainly allows me to do something with them in the future. 
And color added. Limited colors (four in total) but a range of tones in the color. The green for the clothing is new, everything else has been used in previous works. Working in a new program and doing something different allows me room to experiment somewhat, I feel I tend to get stuck into the same trends at times with GIMP.
Full body pose reference. I’ll never turn down the chance to draw a full body, even if the quality isn’t the best. This allowed me to practice legs. The majority of the the character paintings I do are portraits. I work with arms and legs, but often legs are left out. 
I’ve switched from the brush tool to the pencil tool. This feels like working on the line layer in GIMP. The only thing that’s missing – red. Less of a focus on the background (usually i create the hills in the distance/objects in foreground). For this I just created a basic scene using the reference in the photograph.
Grayscale. Keeping this simple. Black for the hair/sweatshirt. Skin is light gray. Didn’t bother with tones in the skin. Light and mid gray for the walls/step. Lastly, black and mid gray for the floor. Everything works together fine.
Color. I went crazy with this is added new colors to everything. I kept with the colors I usually use (yellow for skin/red hair/blue background) but it’s not the same hex number. For the floor and steps I went with a purple. Like the last painting I used a range of tones in each color. This is noticeable in the blues and purples. 
I remember seeing this on RedditGetsDrawn. I didn’t draw it though. It’s too much of a closeup. I prefer medium or full view shots rather than extreme close up. I guess if the quality of the photograph was higher it would be alright. Damn this out of focus photography!
This was done before I switched to the pencil tool. The line on this is very basic, I add information into the painting during the grayscale tone stage (normally it’s the otherwas around!).
Went with the mountains in the distance and water coming forward to the foreground style. This is the basics for the majority of my RedditGetsDrawn character works.
Color tone. Switch around with the colors. Instad of using the blue for the sky I used it in the ground (usually I used a green for the ground). For the mountains and sky a brown was used. I think this works well for the mountains but I’d like to use a different color for the sky – could either be the blue or mix it up and use green.
Loved the mouth location on this. Had to draw it, too cute.
This was the first painting of this series in Microsoft paint. I was still getting use to it and saved over my line layer with the color, so only the one image. I didn’t paint a gray-scale tone layer either. The usual yellow for the skin, and red in the hair/lips. For the shirt I went with a new brown. Blue in the background, but it’s just used as a fill and gives no location to the character.
I think I’m going to have to explore brown.
It’s been a long time since I’ve uploaded pencil drawings. Everything has been digital. During my time in Wellington I got a new clutch pencil and did a bunch of pencil drawings. I’ve photographed the works and here they are. These ar drawings from photos on Reddit Gets Drawn.
Enjoy.
I got myself a new visual diary from Gordan Harris - A5 landscape style. I haven’t got a new journal since my birthday day, and I lost that during my time in Auckland.
Married couple. Classical pose. Multi figures are easier to draw than a single figure due to the ability of lining up points of interest. I like the flower in her hand. 
Viking child. Majority of these pencil works are of children. They are good subjects, and I don’t draw them enough. Slayer!
And the result. I’ve been treating my drawings similar to digital works – with building up the line first, then tone, then color. Since I have a new clutch pencil I plan on drawing more. Every night before I sleep there is no reason why I can’t get a character drawing done!
I had to draw this outfit. It’s amazing.
Sadly I haven’t got the line version of of this, which i was super happy with. But still, the tone version is alright. Nice to be able to draw the full body. I need to practice those legs/feet.
And color. I used my Derwent colored pencils that I’ve had forever. They rarely get used as I don’t like the lack of detail they give. 
These are some of my best photos of artwork I’ve done. Taking the photo in direct sunlight seems the best. I convert to black and white, and change the levels. I like how you can see the texture of the paper. I like how the girl is wearing an animal hat – similar to mine!
Another sword based reference. This time a teenager in his room weilding a sword. Full battle armor would be great – but the swords a fantastic accessory.
For the drawing I zoomed in and cut off the bottom of his legs. The drawing pad I’ve been working with is only a5 size (landscape stype) so it forces me to work smaller than usual. It’s important to work in a range of sizes – and I have been working the long landscape format for a long time so great to try something different.
Portrait in the mirror. Wedding practice time. I’m impressed by the hair style and makeup so had to draw it.
There was a request to remove the cellphone, so I did. This one is very simple, nothing happening in the background.
Another awesome hat related reference. The rain in the background also helps to make it an interesting photograph.
Problems with drawing her chest- – just couldn’t get it work. It really is a challenge without the nipple.Struggled with the arm as well — as you can see the line has been repeated several times.
I believe this person is Indian. He requested to get drawn with his son. Both look not very unhappy. Again sorry that I only have the color version of this work – I did have a line and grayscale tone version but sadly my SD card in my camera corrupted and I lost the works
Today has been a bad day. I have an awful headache and feeling sick. I’ve managed to half finish a painting (just have the color to do). I am broke if anyone would care to donate. Web-hosting renew is happening at the start of March so somewhat worried. The ads on the sites aren’t making me anything, sites barely get any traffic, but I stopped worrying about low traffic years ago, I make the site, art, and write for myself.
If anyone wants art let me know, I’ll do it for cheap. I like working from photographs.
Another color painting from Tuesday. This one was for RedditGetsDrawn:
Lovely photo, clear, and crisp. I would of preferred a full figure (don’t get to practice legs often). At least I get the waist and part of the arms. I took notice of the flower painting in the background. Bookshelf was ignored. 
Line. I developed the flower painting multiply times and spread it around the work – in the background I also made the usual spiky pillars of land. For the figure I worked off the reference mostly but had to make up the elbow, It took several lines to make it right. 
Tone. For her dress I used a dot effect for the white highlights.Painting the figure is alright, but the area I enjoyed the most is the environment. It’s all imagination I really should be using reference photos for it. I used a reference photo for another work I did yesterday – a cityscape. I’ll upload this work later.
Alright, onto the color layer now -
Color. I used a new red for her dress and the land in the paintings on the wall. It is similar to the red in the reference photo dress. For the sky and water (in the painting on the wall) I used the blue I often use. The floor has a new blue - turquoise even. Something different to work with. Often when I start using new colors they develop into my other paintings. I need more color though, and to not fear introducing new ones into the paintings. I’ve done it here though! New color! For the land in the distance I used the usual green that I use in the paintings – this is usually used for the floor – I use it to create a water.
Mix of the tone and color layer. As I said in the previous post – It feels finished.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. I aim to keep bringing you regular artwork.
Currently taking a break from the painting and watching a few videos on youtube. Attempting to write this blog post as well, though it’s slow and I’m not that motivated for it. Talking about my frustrations about writing it may help me write it. Currently I’m watching:
Spent the day yesterday on RedditGetsDrawn drawing as many photos. I aimed for twenty, but fell short. I’ve also watched a bunch of
Here are the works:
I choose to draw this as the photo was clear, there is an interesting background. The navy outfit cat tattoo were also bonuses.
Line. The two figures in the center of the page. I’ve generally kept the same angle on all of these RedditGetsDrawn works. For the background I’ve kept it general the same with the trees being more spiky than the reference photo, I like these quick graffiti type movements. On the girls I made sure to include the cat tattoo. Mum should get a tattoo of her Black Cat.
Tone. Looking at this now I realized that I’ve left out the boats – I’ve included boat in other works and they are quick to create – just a dark horozontil flick. I made a clear contrast between the figures.
Woman on a baloney
Why did I choose to paint this? Well for a start it’s a full figure, the photo is not blurry. It could do with stronger tones, but at least it’s not washed out. The balcony in the background gives me a base to work from.
Woman on a baloney. I took some design liberty with this
Tone added. I love the background I created in this. I haven’t worked with tiled floors before, it’s a cool effect. Certainly extended the scene from what was happening in the reference photo.
This couple just got married and are out on a boat. This is the line 
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More redditgetsdrawn works. This time I’ll talk about the works more because that last post I did with them was just lazy. 
Not fulll body here, but from the chest upwards. Hats are always a fun extra, bit like glasses. Just gives me something more to work with – and makes it different from the rest. 
Office buildings stack in the background. Black creeps build their way around the building. The girl smiles at the camera. Not knowing the changes in the back.
During my time in Auckland I met Erik, he’s a independent game developer based in Auckland. Go check his website out. I notice it’s his birthday today so made this painting for him, similar to what I use to do with my Facebook friends before deleting Facebook earlier last year.
Anyway, I’ll format this post like any other – first up line: 
For the reference I used Eriks twitter picture. I had a quick look around his site for any higher res images I could use but no such luck. It doesn’t matter though – still looks like him! Around the portrait I included balloons and cake plus the type: Happy Birthday Erik. Of course this was hand rendered.
Tone added. I choose to cover his skin first with black before later bringing lights over it. I’ve been thinking lately about working from a darker background rather than white. I’ve done this in the past and been happy with the result – it makes it feel less scary than a blank white canvas. 
And finally color. I kept with just three color – yellow for skin, red for objects and blue for the background. I decided not to color the hat because I think black hats are rather rand.
Happy Birthday Erik – Hope you have a great day!
