Thursday 30 January 2014

Borderlands 2 started

Whoops, I thought I'd updated this - here's the next step in this painting, the head started.


I started with the overall colour of the head, trying to get the tones right, then continued down to the shoulders:





Next, I started pouncing the shade of colour on top, to achieve the speckled effect. This was fun - very de-stressing if you're feeling a bit tense, but definitely something to do with an old paint brush rather than a newer one. I used a slightly worn brush that I cut down a bit so it was more like a stencil brush, then loaded as little paint on as possible. I then pounced all over the painting:




I really enjoyed doing this one, and had to stop myself from continuing as I needed to make dinner!

Saturday 18 January 2014

Borderlands 2 pencil outline

My last post explained about the Secret Santa I'm in, and that I was painting an image from Borderlands 2. 

Here's the pencil outline:






If I could work out how to rotate the image, I would!

So far, it looks fairly straight forward - the key thing will be matching the pouncing on the head to the source image, as its quite detailed. I like detailed stuff though, sometimes I have to be careful I don't focus too much on the detail, as its tempting to keep on going!

Thursday 16 January 2014

Borderlands 2

This was for my Secret Santee - for the last 6 years I've taken part in an online Secret Santa, and have only once not received a gift from a Santa, and that year I was Easter Bunnied instead.

Each year I'm assigned a Santee and am given their IRL name as well as their forum name, their IRL address and their email.

I then spend a few weeks virtually stalking them, until I've worked out what painting they may like. One year I was particularly successful at stalking, found my Santee's sister and mum on FB, and messaged them about him. I found out all sorts of things - one, importantly that he was gluten free, so I made some gluten free biscuits for him.

I tend to send a load of English chocolate as well, as so far my Santee has always been from outside the UK, and let's be honest, we do make the best chocolate!

After a successful stalk, I was advised that he really likes Borderlands 2, so with some help, I narrowed the choice down to 3 images, then went with the one whose colours I liked the most:









The first image really interested me, the colours were lovely; the second filled me with dread because of all the straight lines, although I love the image; the character image bothered me, as I'd be removing the guns, which would change the images.

In the end, I decided to go with the first image, as the colours were just so lovely.

I'll update over the next few days.

Friday 10 January 2014

Samsara is finished!

At last, I've bought a new SD Card Reader, so I can upload the photos of the finished painting.

Here it is:

One day I'll be able to take straight photos that capture the whole canvas - clearly the day I took these wasn't that day!

Most of the painting:




Close up left - you will see I added decoration to the walls and around the window - the commissioner asked if I could. I'm so sorry these photos are crooked, I have others I took on my iPad, but they're not a true reflection of the colours I used, and are a bit blurry. I'll add them at the end so at least you can see the whole painting:





Close up right, showing a little more detailing on the archway and some lit candles that I was asked to include:






Here's the iPad photos, don't say I didn't warn you! The colours are really off, almost like I've used a yellow filter. The camera photos are accurate:











Next up will be a painting from Borderlands 2.

Monday 6 January 2014

Even more Samsara done

Once I started the figures, I had a discussion with the commissioner about how the sa-ilu (Dreamer) would look. I tried out a few different figures on paper, then cut them out and attached them to the canvas using my putty rubber. You may notice that I've painted over the background - where I'd originally placed the sa-ilu.



Version 1 - I found out that both men and women Sikhs wear turbans, and the sa-ilu (Dreamer) has not been identified as a man or woman, so I wanted to keep that detail difficult to determine.





Version 2 - In this one, I tried to hide the features with a veil, but didn't think it was as successful:








Version 3 - This one was a different character again, with a different type of veil - I was trying to achieve an effect that looked like tuille:








I had an interesting discussion with the commissioner, and we agreed on a composite character - he liked the second veil, but prefered the colours and stance of the first character. He also wanted the sa-ilu to have a more dominant role in the painting, so I suggested making that figure larger.


More in the next couple of days.

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Samsara figures started

Next up, I painted the Nawab and chai shop owner. I also added another layer of blue to the rug and then painted in the edges and fringe:


Close-up left



Close-up right:



Whole image:



Throughout the process I kept emailing my commissioner to make sure he was happy with the progress I was making, and if there was anything else I needed to think about/include in the painting.