Oil pastel on Canvas

A 4x4 oil pastel painting of the sun over water. 

First Abstract Piece

I recently made my first abstract piece with acrylics on canvas. It didn't turn out perfect, but I'm happy for the experience nonetheless. I learned a lot from making this piece. A few of these tidbits I'll share below, all of which I will likely disprove as my understanding of abstract art increases. Basically, I've discovered the following from making this painting (link to image):

*Abstract art requires lots of forethought and planning. Generally more than the 5 minutes I gave it.
*Vary not just stroke length and brush used; change your hand position, flip the canvas upside-down, add a pattern to the surface...this makes the painting more interesting and potentially makes it more cohesive.
*mix colors across the color wheel. If you're painting with red, shade it with blue. If you're painting with purple, shade it with yellow.
*Have a general theme, message, subject, or thought in mind before you paint or start planning your painting.

First Two Acrylic Paintings

I've only just begun using acrylic paints. I purchased four canvases, two of which I used acrylics on. The third I painted with my set of oil pastels. I'm still planning what I should paint on the fourth. I'm thinking a still-life of a broken down shack in a wheat field. Haven't been able to find a good reference photo yet, but I may use the shack at the end of portal 2 as one. The paintings are below. They aren't much to look at, seeing as they are my first attempts. This post will hopefully be followed by much better work in the future.

Acrylic on canvas #1
Ocean hitting the rocks

Acrylic on canvas #2

Leaf in a puddle

Home Project

I've come up with a new project for myself. In my house, the stairwell is open, so it faces the family room. My mother's been thinking it is rather blank, so she wanted to buy a bunch of stuff to cover it up and make it pretty. AS it turns out, our dishwasher broke and we had to get a new one, so the stairwell beautification kind of took a backseat. Lucky for her, I can paint! :D (kind of...). So she's given me the go-ahead to make a painting series and hang them up on the wall. Half of them will be framed pictures, and half will be canvases. I'm thinking landscapes, because I'm painting with oil pastels. I'm not too good with doing detailed art with those, so it's basically a given that I won't do anything more detailed than a tree or flower. I may do a couple still-life's of objects around the house or paint some patterns. The first one I made in the series is a painting of a seashore at midday. Originally, I was thinking of doing it at nighttime, or sunset, but I ended up not doing it. The painting turned out alright though. I did it on a little 4x4 canvas, with my first ever set of pastels. (What an amateur -_- ) My skills are definitely not far enough yet to paint an ocean sunset. I've actually never used pastels, so it was kind of cool to test out the new medium. Especially since it's so different than what I've used before. Like pencils, or watercolors. I may buy a water soluble set to make watercolor-ish paints with, as I've heard the oil pastel with water can get a pretty neat effect if done the right way. Below I've written out everything useful I learned about oil pastels.

-Blending works best for me with a finger

-I can also blend with q-tips, for a "worn out" effect. 

-Pastels can be layered light over dark (yay!! :D)

-Shadows still follow the color-theory patterns (expected, but uncertain)

-Colors look best when they stay in their respective groups. 

(Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, black & white)

-There is little to trick the eye into seeing. Drawing subjects as-is is the best approach for me.

Skeletal Anatomy #1

Studying the general workings of an artistic subject is important for any artist. By knowing what your subject is, what it looks like, and how it works, one can gain a much better understanding of the drawing principles of that item. For example, in order to draw a vase well, one must know first of all what a vase looks like in real life, and furthermore understand how to depict it as a three dimensional shape with curved and rounded areas. The drawing of animals also uses this basic idea of knowing your subject matter. To draw any living thing well, one must understand how that being functions. How does it stand? How does it move about? How is its weight distributed while in action? All of the answers to questions such as these should be known prior to picking up a pencil. By doing the proper research beforehand, your artwork will turn out far more detailed, accurate, and appealing to the eye. 

In this section, you will learn about the anatomy of a skeleton. You will begin to understand how some animals’ skeletons function and why this is so. In addition, you will learn what to look for on a skeleton when choosing an animal of your own to draw. This section will also explain exactly how knowing your animals inner workings will improve your art and please both you and your audience. You will be provided with examples throughout the book to help illustrate these principles. Use them as a guide and reference for your own work. Any reference images you may choose can be substituted for the ones provided here so that you may apply them to your own art. We will begin with the very basics: how a skeleton works. 

Skeletons are, for the vast majority of more complex beings, the framework for their bodies. They give shape to the body by supporting muscles and tendons, and protect the internal organs. The skeleton in art serves much the same purposes. It gives a framework for the body by mapping out the shapes with which the body will be formed. Not to mention that it gives an accurate layout for all other pieces of the anatomical puzzle. When drawing creatures, you should know what the skeleton looks like. Where the bones are positioned in relation to one another, what their range of motion is, and the relative shape of the bones is good to know and study. The distance from shoulder to hip bone, for example, helps to determine how long the spine should be between the two. In addition, knowing how the bones attach to one another and how they move in tandem is key. 

While much of the skeletal system can be guessed, another large portion can come as a surprise. For this example, we will be observing a cat skeleton. Of course, it has a skull and spine and pelvis. Such bones exist in many creatures and thus are easy to identify. Chances are you would not need to see a skeleton in order to know that these bones exist. It isn’t, however, the bones themselves that must be learned. Rather, it is the variation of bones between species that must be learned. After all, knowing what a human pelvis looks like will not teach you about a cat’s pelvis. Nor will it teach you about any creature’s that you choose to study, save for the human itself.   *

Let’s look at the shoulder bones. Specifically, we will be examining the scapulae and humerus’ of both the human and the cat. In a human, the scapula would lie flat against the ribs, extending about a third of the way down the back. Further upwards, they would attach to the humerus and clavicle to form the top of the shoulder. In a cat, the scapulae are positioned much more to the sides of the cat, nearly parallel to each other, versus being mirrored as with humans. They still form a joint with the clavicle and humerus, though this joint is closer to the throat. These differences are key in deciding how your subject will look in all positions and actions. Following these guidelines will allow your art to look far more appealing to your audience. Even in “cartoony” or “semi-realistic” styles, anatomy serves as a strong reference point from which an understanding of the art itself can be drawn. 

When drawing an animal, it is important to know what to look for in the anatomical structure. You should pay attention to all details that may differ from what you are familiar with. If you normally draw dogs,  and are now moving on to horses, focus on the skeletal differences. What differences are there in the structure of the muzzle? The teeth and tail-bones? The legs and paws? Seek out the obvious visual differences, such as paws versus hooves and study how the feet of both animals differ in structure and function. When you move on to sketching a skeleton for practice, try your best to match your reference exactly. Every little dip and spike in the skeleton serves a purpose and supports some part of the body. They cannot be omitted or changed, else your art when it is finished will look awkward and be inaccurate. Even an inexperienced eye will know when something is anatomically incorrect. The art will certainly look “off” to the eyes of an audience.  

Tribal Arts

From top left to bottom right:

My OC Sœlmüs.
A cat sitting down
Random eye design
A pichu

Wolf
Horse

Empoleon Drawing

A drawing of an Empoleon I did earlier this year. I'll be doing more pokemon drawings later on for certain.

Cat Skeleton

This is a recent sketch I did of a cat skeleton. I've discovered that I can draw skeletons quite accurately with proper notes and reference.