Colin's Daily Timed Thread 2011-2012

[p sage]

You controlled the values really nicely on this latest one, Colin.

[mrd33ds]

very beautiful work sir.

[Dark_Eyes]

prsnsweeney: Thanks! Appreciate the input!
Aryeh: Thanks! Lately I've been using a thick, cheap-o brand of square shaped compressed charcoal. I break one piece into a small and medium sized chunk for the smaller shapes, then I use another whole stick to start off the drawing with big broad shapes... fun technique!... and it tends to get results a bit faster
Velocity Kendall: Thanks man! Overly generous as usual! I need to hop over to your sketchbook and see what kind of awesomeness you've been up to!
psage: Thanks! I'm trying to be conscientious of that lately.. really squinting a lot and comparing values of the whole image, and the whole drawing together. Don't always succeed though
mrd33ds: Thanks man! I'm trying!

45 min (photo; compressed charcoal, charcoal pencil on newsprint)

[prsnsweeney]

compressed charcoal is looking sweet love the strokes

[Dark_Eyes]

1 hr (photo; compressed charcoal/charcoal pencil on canson sketchpad)

[Dark_Eyes]

*please forgive my crappy studies for a while as I figure out this medium.. anybody with any tips out there, I would love to hear them if you're experienced.. Gouache and watercolor is super new to me

4 hr (life; mech pencil/ watercolor and gouache on watercolor moleskine)

[ryan mcshane]

i can't say i have a tone of exp in the medium, but i'm pretty comfortable.
i don't start in mech pencil, maybe i'd start in watercolor pencil but not often
you seem to handle it pretty well, just maybe let the medium do what it wants and not try to force it too much, it's not pencil
what you done here is good man!
also, with high lights it pays off to leave them as the page underneath showing, it looks a lot more elegant
keep it up! love them charcoals

[Grzessnik]

Colin, I like it.
I like watercolor and i think it's great and difficult medium. I can't say i'm experienced it it but maybe you should try only watercolor at the moment. If something wrong happens you can use gouache. I agree with ryan, leave paper as higlights.
BTW great sketches with charcoal.

[p sage]

The colors seem a bit saturated (but you're reading a comment from a guy who is deathly afraid of using color)

Keep working on it, though... it looks like a helluva lot of fun

[Dark_Eyes]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll definitely keep them in mind!
-Did about 10 of these today, mostly poo, but I find that I learn a lot when I apply a new medium with imagination work... Can't wait to get in front of a live model with this stuff though

30 min (imagination/ Schmincke watercolor and Derwent watercolor pencil on watercolor moleskine)

[Dark_Eyes]

4 hrs (life; watercolor pencils/watercolor/gouache on watercolor moleskine)

[ryan mcshane]

thanks for inspiring!
motivating my day man
just curious, what kind of water color set are you using? like tubes of paint? or like one of those fold out tins with the little squares?
keep it up man

[p sage]

It's improving... totally dig it.

That's some blueberry wine? Looks good

[JakehC]

beautiful water-media studies

[Velocity Kendall]

overgenerous nothing. the chrome and glass caustics on this are yum. what is the silver thing in the bag?
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/att...1&d=1311931597
i love supertight studies like tehmehs, but theres a big place in the world for looser things. theyre the ultimate holiday snaps. like the watercolours they have on posh italian restaurant menus, i can stare at those for an annoyingly long time after everyones finished ordering.

[Dark_Eyes]

Thanks Guys! I really appreciate all the input! Below is a color chart of the current colors in my pallette. I'm playing around with different brands/colors based on some research around the net into other artist's pallettes. D.R= Daler Rowney; M.G.= M. Graham; I also have another 12 or so colors in Schmincke Horadam Gouache that I haven't charted yet, but for now I'm starting with these tube colors, mostly watercolor, to get things started. (W= Watercolor, G=Gouache) Also, I have a Schmincke set of 12 watercolor pans that I used for the ladies from two posts ago. (be careful of the Cadmium colors, they are poisonous in trace amounts but they don't warn you for some reason, lol. Cadmiums aren't poisonous if their title ends in hue, like Cadmium Red Hue, but mine are the real deal, so you shouldn't touch them with your hands or nibble on your brushes )
Color charts like this one are really useful, at least for me. The black sharpie line on the left tests each color for transparency. You can see the variation: Viridian, Quin Red, and Hansa Yellow are pretty transparent, whereas yellow ochre and anthraquinone blue have a much thicker consistency. This particular chart is mixing each 50%, but to be consistent, I should probably do a 75%-25% chart as well. Also, I will probably make a chart for heavily watered down mixtures and one that tests for colors on top of colors that have already dried. You can hold up these charts next to the subject you're painting, and get a quick idea for which color families are best suited for the piece. I'll let you guys know what I discover as I get more experience under my belt.
prsnsweeny: Thanks again!
Ryan Mchane: Thanks Ryan! I appreciate the tips, I'm ordering some masking fluid to experiment with that idea of leaving the white of the paper as your whitest white. Everything in the chart is from tubes. I have a traveling palette with 24 empty pans that I fill and arrange the way I want them. I also have the schmincke set with the pre-made pans.
Grzessnik: Thanks for the tips! I am experimenting with the watercolor primarily, with a bit of gouache here and there. I've seen some amazing stuff with pure watercolor, with pure gouache, and with a mix of the two. I agree it's good to get a handle on each one seperately...
psage: Thanks man, no it was a merlot I think, I don't drink much but it was lying around... blueberry wine does sound good though!
Aryeh: Thanks! It's a tough medium, but I love the challenge so far!
Velocity Kendall: Thanks man! The silver thing is an old fashion hand warmer.. you fill it with zippo fluid and light the wick for a few seconds and it stays warm for hours! I hope to use it for some cold weather plein air sessions! I know what you mean about looseness in art. To me, the most fascinating work holds a balance between the extremes of a representational/realist approach and an abstract/impressionistic approach. Sargent's work comes to mind. (Like it ALWAYS does with artists lol)

1.5 hrs (imagination; compressed charcoal on canson sketchpad)

[Dark_Eyes]

40 min (photo; compressed charcoal on canson sketchpad)

[Dark_Eyes]

10 min (life; charcoal pencil on newsprint)

[OakLeaf]

Awesome stuff.

[Dark_Eyes]

3.5 hrs (life; pencil/watercolor/gouache on moleskine)

[dusty imp]

Lovely portraits on the last page, liking those color studies as well.
The self-portrait (I presume) seems to have got a little muddy, more reds and oranges? At 3+ hours you might have overworked it. Not to lecture (I am hardly in a position to lecture anyone on artmaking, heh) but as an advice, try putting it together in 15 minutes without much though for detail and see what happens.

edit:
Here's my attempt at a repaint (digitally, of course) hope this makes it clearer than my written ramblings.

[Dark_Eyes]

2.5 hr (life; graphite pencil on canson sketchpad)

[Dark_Eyes]

1 hr (photo; watercolor on watercolor moleskine)

[walnut]

Nice aquarel!

[Dark_Eyes]

1.5 hrs (photo; watercolor/gouache on watercolor moleskine)

[p sage]

Nice value and color. It's coming together.

[Dark_Eyes]

Bunrt-Ice: Thanks!
dusty imp: Thanks for the crit and the paintover! I agree, I have been overworking a lot of pieces lately, especially in the water based medium.. It's really only my first few weeks messing with the stuff so I'm sure there will be a lot more head- banging involved. When reading your post, I thought of a new Maxim for creating art.. although I'm sure somebody thought of it before: Overworking is a Result of Under-thinking! Thanks!
Walnut:Thanks! So far, I've found that watercolor is similar to using a multiply layer in photoshop, so you have to think in terms of how to build up value/color in successive layers. It's a different way of conceptualizing the same old fundamentals. Process is every bit as important as content
p sage: Thanks m8, always appreciate the visits

25 min ( life; charcoal pencil on newsprint)

[tformsopti8]

I love your charcoal sketches they are a great contrast to your water colour paintings. The hues look really great
__________________
Sketches

The new Transformers 3 toys/ Transformers Dark Of The Moon toys look awesome. Right now I want to sketch ultimate optimus prime. His armor looks great.

[Dark_Eyes]

40 min (photo; compressed charcoal/charcoal pencil on canson sketchpad)

[JakehC]

i honestly visit your sketchbook every day before i go to bed. Yours and Robogabo's