Going in a different direction

Watercolor portraits are getting a little old and they take sometimes up to an hour, which isn't going to work when I get busier. Watercolor remains to be one of my favorite coloring mediums, though. How many different angles of my face can I paint in the same lighting from my window?

Where to go next?

I want to draw different styles, different situations, clothes, periods, anything. I don't even know what kind of cartoon eyes I prefer to draw. So, I'll experiment and see what keeps showing up, and maybe that'll give me some kind of an indication of style.

And I want to color these digitally, because I haven't done that before, and I really need to. Hopefully, I'll keep a before color and after color.

SO, I'm looking at- facial expression, pose, silhouette, and then I'm looking at different coloring techniques (which I really should research before I make them up).

PLUS I have a lot to catch up on. So bear with me, and I'll see about photoshop tutorials. A new tag is invented: photoshop.

393

Painted on a train, from a photo, taken by me, while on the train. I got to go on 3 different subway lines, metro north, and conneticut east in one day!

The window framed the painting pretty well, and overall, it is a simple one.

392

I love it even if it's off a little. This is the perfection of the colored wash- which took a lot of practice in the samples.
I really really really like the red of the hair on the right. I really like the eyes. The sharp edge of the nose is especially what I went for.

The middle gray blotch was a wonderful mistake. I have no idea what's going on with the size of the forehead.

This is the extent of what the camera took, but that's about it. I really love the washes at the bottom.

389, 390, 391

I really love the way brushing my teeth looks.... I really should do more of a series with these, I'm sure I've explored it before, but these were simple exercises. The first two are from the same picture. The color sample/texture sample is from #389. Only the second has a structure. I'm really glad with the nose on the last. Actually, the watercolor handling in #391 is pretty good, besides the forehead.

387 and 388

 The first is a horribly rendered yawn- I tried to paint it while mentally mirroring the image. I still haven't learned true value differences- the shadows are the correct color, but don't have the depth I'm looking for.
The second is an angry face with an odd nose, but I like the coloring, and, for once, the highlights are right where I planned them to be! And the colors are bright. I promise that the photo this is from is less emotional.

384, 385, 386

I painted some nice portraits.
First, for #384, I went with all black and white until the very end of painting, when I added just a little color. I had a headache that day. I'm still trying to figure out what, exactly, I did right with the lips, because they look very three dimensional to me.

#385 and #386 are from the same picture. The first has a red-pencil back drawing, the second does not. I also tried to have more dynamic colors in the second, but I'm not sure what happened with that. Eyes, and their layering, are still confusing to me. Also, my hair isn't really green, but I like the way that looks. Out of both of them, #386 looks the least 3D. I just don't really know what I'm doing. I'm not sure if making my paintings look like sculpture is the correct approach at this point.

381, 382, 383

Each Portrait, with color tests on the side. My hair has gotten very, very long, and I'm able to find the exact color of faded pink that my hair is. Face-tones are still difficult, and I'm sorting out hair texture, but it looks just okay, for now. I approached the last one with blue/green shadows and angular/simplified hair, to try to get the colors down a bit better (for the lighting).

And also, silly faces at the camera. All are from a photo. The second and third have a pencil under-layer to help with facial structure.

Something I'd like to call a Hiatus

May quickly turned into finals, and doing a self-portrait every day, in watercolor, didn't work out. Then I was somewhat burnt out and overwhelmed with the prospect of making up 10 portraits. 10 grew to 20, then I gave up and just decided to continue in June.

So, that's 0 for May 2012. Hopefully I'll have better luck next year around this time.

379 and 380

There's something about non-naturalistic skin coloring that I really like. Also, there's something about the #379's forehead ochre that is very correct for me. That's just a very correct color. The second one isn't from a photo.

377 and 378

I much prefer 378. I wasn't able to keep up with these during finals, so 377 is the last one I was able to do before the work load got intense. After that, I'll do my best to catch up.
For both pics, I heightened the contrast (digitally) a little. Also, I don't have an explanation for green skin (378), it just sort of "is", though I wish the pinks could be expressed more vibrantly and lightly, and the face is gorgeous (but for that, I believe I gave up some sense of realism).

375 and 376

It's finals time, and I'm awake a lot. A LOT. And my portraits are just a weeeeee bit horrifying. But, here they are. I like the top one, #375, better. It's awesome.

373, 374

Both are decently nice paintings. It's finals season. So, yucky greens and the bright red/orange of anxiety.
#373 is a nice, sad, weird. But, more than the green hair and line work, the soft washes of the almost-shaded edges. The one edge, the line created by the wash on the right side of the nose, is just the best thing in the world right now.
#374 has the blue strokes in the hair. I'm still figuring how to get the paint to be darkest and boldest. Watercolor takes some getting used to.
At least, it's very obvious that this is my style. I'm trying to be Schiele, but I'm coming through.
Also, I really wish I'd chosen better paper. Each of these takes up a full page of Sketch paper, 60lbs, but textured. Otherwise, it crumples up. Not crumble. That's about cake.

370, 371, 372

#370 - from photo, I used a white crayon to try to enforce highlights. Not particularly successful.

#371 - from photo, a nice photo, but I'm unable to get the width of the nose correct. Attempted realistic color and skin tones, but the contrast of the shadows is confusing to me.

*doesn't look anything like me.

*Sun. April 22 

#372 - Success! From the same photo as 371, I drew outlines of color blocks in pen and filled in the colors with emphasis on warm and cool. I ran out of water (the watercolor set has a brush that holds water in it, making everything immensely portable) by the end of it, so the strokes start to get scratchy and the colors become very bold by the bottom of the hair, especially on the left. I tried to shy away from black.

367, 368, 369

Three-in-one post, which I should really do from now on.

#367 cartoony
#368 high contrast attempt, used too much black. from photo.
#369 not really from a photo, warm colors. watercolor rejects highlights that aren't planned

366

New blogger format. Surprise!
The first of the paintings.

Cartoony style + color!

One Year

I've finished one year. And how is it?


Well, my self-image has gotten more positive. I feel that I am a confident, beautiful woman, in my second year of college, with a wonderfully supportive family and boyfriend. I'm not sure if this is a result of the self-portraits, but they definitely were part of the transformation.

I'm not any more self-aware- I still trip over anything and everything. Artistically? I don't know if I've progressed so much. I've found a sort of style I like, which is the bottom half of #365. It reminds me of the old 1950s cartoons. It was good to experiment in styles- I've done that with me short exercise animations, too.

Next year I'll try to work with more realism, which will help my cartoons and get me out of the cartoon rut my self-portraits look like they're stuck in. Also, I found a mini watercolor set in my room, so I'll use that for as long as I can. I miss painting.

I wish I hadn't decided to start my 365 during finals, but I did, and now I'm doing watercolor self-portraits during finals. At least summer is looking up.

Another Year! Here's the first batch.

365

There it is, #365, in pencil, without a reference image. So, what will I do tomorrow? I'll draw another self-portrait.

364

I was really hoping that this one would look like the last two.

363

Based on that one line between shadow and light

362

Surprisingly realistic.