Acrylic - Girl on the Beach

Medium: Acrylic
Paper: Stretched Canvas
Size: 27.5 × 39.5 inches (700 mm x 1000 mm)
Duration: 10 − 12 hrs over three days

The reference I used for this painting comes from a fellow RB member Ademac and his photo of a model Halo (Thank you kindly Ademac for giving me permission to use your photo)

I had, in my studio, one fairly large canvas, and it was always in my mind to attempt this particular painting on a larger scale (on this canvas) funny how you seem to know how one particular canvas is far suited to a certain painting than another. I was fortunate enough to find a few days together to attempt it. I spent about 10-12 hours over three days and am quite happy with the result, which I feel is a fairly accurate interpretation of the photo.

Self Portrait - Finished!

Medium: Acrylic
Paper: Stretched Canvas
Size: 20"x 16
Duration 10-12 hours over three days

This is my own personal Dorian Grey which I recently completed for a monthly challenge at my local art group in Killingworth, to do a self portrait. Out of about 18 entries in the challenge, I came joint second (not too bad, if I say so myself LOL) I really enjoyed painting this, my second attempt at my self portrait, it seemed to flow easier onto the canvas than my first attempt (which to be honest, was when I began my painting journey over twelve months ago. My latest self portrait attempt, seems (in my opinion) to be a vast improvement on this first one, not only in accuracy but in technique.

WATCH THE STEP BY STEP YOUTUBE VIDEO

Close ups

WIP My Self Portrait

Well, as I have a bit of free time between commissions, I have decided to have another attempt at painting one of the ugliest creatures ever to roam the mainland, me! So far, I've spent about three hours painting, I'm taking photos of each step, and will probably write a tutorial of my efforts. Please warn any children before looking!


So far, I've spent about 3-4 hours getting to this stage, as the light has started to go, I'll revisit it tomorrow. I want to try and get it finished before Friday, when I attend my local art club in Killingworth and can enter it in the monthly challenge, to paint your self portrait, so I'm kind of painting real fast! Here is it is before I put in his evil eyes LOL.

Commission - Sketching Bruce

This is a recent commission I have undertaken in pencil. The portrait is of an old friend and fellow ex policeman, Bruce Coltman. He asked me to sketch him holding a silver cup with a crest. Here is the Reference Photo:

Here is Bruce in deep thought admiring? his cup (wish he had worn a plain shirt, but if you know anything at all about me, I sketch what I see (checked shirt an all!)

Medium: Pencils (2B and 4H)
Paper: Goldline Bristol Board 220gsm
Size: A2 23.4 × 16.5 inches (594 mm x 420 mm)
Duration: 3-4 hours (so far)

STEP 01

Here I’ve started on the head, working from the ear in view. I had previously sketched out the outline using my Slip and Slide Method So I’m really just texturing the skin on his face, this time instead of cross hatching, I thought that a squiggly hatch stroke gives me a better skin texture on his face, takes a bit longer but the effects are looking OK. You may notice that I’ve also started using my embossing tools to create this fine white hairs on true brows and a few spots here and there.

STEP 02

I’ve got my skin tones of his face just about there now, I can (and will) go a plane darker on the hatching where it is required. I’ll sketch the full pose of him holding his cup, but I still like to print off a couple of extra printouts which I cut up and use for reference. This stage I cut out a close crop of his face, asa I’m working on his face at the moment it’s invaluable to have the reference right next to where I’m sketching. This closeness, I find really helps me achieve the likeness I’m striving for. I used a couple of my embossing tools to emboss the highlights of his hair, then go over lightly with a hard pencil (4H) I’m only using two leads on this portrait, a 2B and a 4H, this is enough for the moment.

STEP 03

Now I’m really starting to get into this shirt he’s wearing (Tip to self: ask the client what they will be wearing on the day of the Reference shoot! – avoid checked shirts!). Although I’m moaning about this shirt, it is fairly easy to sketch it onto the paper, I just have to make sure that I follow the pattern like for like, I’m actually helped by the fact that there are heavier stripes in the pattern with a couple of double track lines in-between each. The elbow, is more fun to do, I lay a circular squiggly texture hatch with my 4H to begin and go over with my 2B to pick out details in the skin, especially those feint creases going diagonally (those lines really are fine, but patience and a steady hand prevail). Well this is enough for today. You can come back to read how I’m progressing, I’ll be posting my progress over the next few days.

STEP 04

Continuing on from the previous steps, I’m now concentrating on the arm of Bruce, which I began in STEP 03. I’m still using only two pencils leads, a 4H and a 2B, these I’m finding are more than enough to carry on with the tones I need on this portrait, the 4H allows me to ghost hatch the tones I want, I then go over with the 2B and lock them in with an additional hatch of 4H. I kind of sketch layers on each other, the 2B glides beautifully across the 4H, and allows me to go as dark as I require with the minimal of pressure.

STEP 05

Carrying on I begin work on the hand and fingers, to achieve that old experience weathered hands look Bruce ha, I really have to task the 4H with swirls, squiggles and hatching strokes, these are more subtle on the hands, especially around the knuckles and the fingers themselves, I have to pay particular attention to the skin hi-lights on the fingers, almost imperceptible, but nether less there, I use the finest 2B I possess (3mm Pentel P203 Series pencil) to give me those subtle wrinkles on the back of the wrists as well as those darker freckles/spots he has on his hands. I’m really enjoying working on his arm, trying to maintain an even consistent skin tone at the same time, trying to show the underlaying shapes of muscles in the arm and wrist.

STEP 06

Standing back I and taking a moment to view my progress, I see that I am on the halfway mark on this sketch. The work on the arm and wrist gives me a much need break from the details on the shirt, even though I still manage to sketch in at least one half of it.

STEP 07

Now I’m concentrating on the check pattern detail of the shirt under his arm, by adding thin horizontal and vertical lines between the darker main stripes, emphasising the contour of his belly. As I work up towards the fingers I cannot resist to begin sketching in the tankard’s shiny handle, I love sketch shine on metal, it really adds that something special to a plain sketch, hopefully here, it will be a focal point after the face, which hopefully draws the observer from the subject’s face looking at his cup. Working on the handle, also means I have to start working on the fingers holding the cup and each of their relevant reflections in the metal on the side of the cup, I have to make sure these reflections are slightly darker and the area outside each is a tone darker for this reflection to stand out inside the cup.

STEP 08

I continue shading in the reflections on the cup, having to use the 2B to get the darkness around the reflected fingertips, the darker I go, the more they stand out and look as if they are on the surface of the cup. The fingers and especially the nails are taking the slightest tones, these I achieve with a 7H, it’s a never ending balance between the lightness of the fingers holding the cup and the darkness of the reflections in the cup. There really is no fast way to achieve this effect, other than with pure bloody patience and concentrating with a focus I’m used to doing. My dear friend and companion of this sketch, patience, does finally pay off (as I know it always will) and the effects are starting to look AOK in my book.

STEP 09

I now being the lonely process of returning to this near impossible shirt! (if truth be told, I love it really) and using the 7H I begin sketching in the feint horizontal and vertical lines travelling to the right, these lines are generally lighter, the direction the sunlight is hitting Bruce;s shoulder, so again, a very light touch is required, no more than a feather brushing a dusty glass picture frame.

STEP 10

Concentrating on the on the shirt, and the light direction, I work around the other collar and on my way down the shirt towards his pocket. This check pattern is nearly complete, as I can now begin looking at the shirt as a whole, I darker it here and there and using a kneadable eraser, give it some hi-lights especially on folds where it is require. Just one more thing left to do, than it is finished, my trademark signature, in pencil, using the thinnest (3mm 2B) lead I own. Now it is finished!

Here is the finished portrait in it’s entirety,

Thank you for your patience and thanks for taking the time to read my tutorial on the steps it has taken me to complete this portrait.

Happy sketching.

Jan

Dublin 2012 and the Irish Times

Well I returned to Dublin this Saturday and to my continuing sessions as a weekend sketch artist at the IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art).

Gone was the Hurley burly that was Christmas, the Ryanair plane was like an abandoned cathedral, I suppose all the Christmas shopping trips and family reunions were now over, time for folks to back to their daily grind.

During my last excursion to the IMMA, I had the pleasure of interviewing a Roisin Ingles, a reporter for the Irish Times (like the English Times but without the doom and gloom) describing her first love. On my arrival to Dublin airport on Saturday, I picked up a copy of the aforementioned newspaper and decided to read it on the bus journey from the airport to Heuston Station. The double decker bus is aptly numbered 747! The journey takes about 50 minutes, long enough for me to get intellectually keyed up into the heart of Irish life. I thought it best to go upstairs and sit at the front, behind the large panoramic top windows, which gives you a grand old view of the grand old city of Dublin, plus there is bags of rooms for my long wrinkly old long elephant legs (it’s the little things in life that really make a difference, isn’t it?).

As the bus/coach modified 747 left Dublin airport towards Heuston Station, I unfurled the main mizzen sail that was the Irish Times Newspaper and began to read through it (it is really nice to pick up a paper in another country and be able to read it effortlessly! – see it’s all about the small things again, isn’t it!).

Then the onward board intercom and TV screen came to life, advertising all that is good and must be seen visited during your stay in Dublin, this looked really impressive, OK, there were no stewardesses standing ten foot apart down the centre aisle showing me where the emergency exit were, but still, it was impressive, until that is until the audio commentary in each of buses speakers kicked in, was that Gaelic I was hearing, Ireland has two languages everywhere, Gaelic and English, even the road signs and street names have both versions shown. No, this definitely wasn’t Gaelic, a few seconds for my jet lagged synapses to kick, I realised what I was listening to, it wasn’t Irelands beautiful and native dialect, it was infact English, but was out of sync with the speakers of the TV so it was two or three echos of every spoken word, a few milliseconds behind the first! Most of the passengers on board giggled amongst themselves, you could tell the frequent flyers and regulars, they didn’t bat an eyelid. The funny novelty of it soon wore off and soon became irritating.

To try and take my mind of this infernal chatter, I continued reading the newspaper I purchased. Quickly skipping through the pages (looking at all the pictures really) I soon finished the large format wallpaper roll size of Ireland’s finest periodical and decided to look look at he pictures in the The Irish Times Magazine and upon opening up the first page, I was pleasently surprised (well more gob smacked, truth be told), the first story in the supplement magazine was written by no other than that same reporter I had interviewed on my last tour of Dublin, Roisin Ingle! And it was all bout her first love and our interview together, wicked! (I was famous again in Dublin!) and to top it off she gave a link to my book Pencil and Paint Oh, yes 2012 is looking to be sooo much better than the anis horriblis of 2011.

Lucy Remastered

Medium: Acrylic
Paper: Art Gallery Stretched Canvas
Size: 15.7 x 19.6 inch (40 cm x 50 cm)
Duration: 8 hours 

This is my second attempt at Lucy in acrylics, as my first attempt was rejected by the client. They felt that the background I painted distracted from the the main subject, and they now wanted a head pose, but on a black background. 

Hopefully this one meets all the requirement criteria that the client wants. I started this on the last day of 2011 and finished it off on the first day of 2012(does this mean it has taken my two years to paint it LOL).

I've also been taking photos of my progress, so there will be yet another tutorial of sorts in the new year (just really for those interested in reading the about how I create my animal paintings).

Commission - Lucy

Medium: Acrylic
Paper: Arista Stretched canvas
Size: 24″ × 18"
Duration: Approximately 10-12 hours over two days.

This is probably the last commission I have had to complete before the year ends, I started it yesterday morning and finished it this afternoon. I’m really quite happy with the finished piece, the dog, was being mainly white and creamy and I ended up playing with really subtle creams, blues and greys to even begin to show the white curly fur.

The background also kept busy for a while, but thank heavens for masking tape! Once I masked out portions of the seat sides, it was really fairly easy to fill in the block strips where they were needed.

Commission - Rebecca and the Boys

Medium: Pencil
Paper: Goldline Bristol Board 220gsm
Size: A3 16.5 × 11.7 inches (420 mm x 297 mm)
Duration: 15 hours (over four days)

This is a commissions I’ve recently completed. It was of four children in pencil. This has taken me the better part of four days, but the end result was worth the slow journey. The thing I enjoyed most was the fact that in this single piece of pencil work, there were so many different texture in the composition from the outset, which included their faces, the different styles and tones of their hair styles, their slightly different skin tones and not to mention the subtle tones and texture of all of their clothing. It’s so good to get back into pencil again.

Teasel the Beardie

Medium: Graphite pencil, leads, 2B, 7H, 6H, 5H and 2H

Paper: Goldline Bristol Board 220 gsm 

Size: A2 (23.4″ × 16.5″ – 594 x 420mm) 

Duration: 10 − 12 hours

This is a commission graphite sketch I've just completed (in time for someones Birthday in December 2011), of Teasel a beautiful and very energetic Beardie. The whole process has taken me between 10 − 12 hours or thereabouts over a few days. Completing this sketch was a real challenge and I think I was pushing the envelope out a bit, as there was a lot of white and grey fur in this dog, so I ended up using a lot of the higher hard pencils H4, H6 and H7 as well as the usual softer 2B. 

I also used quite a load of embossing with the embossing tools I have and even found them useful for some tufts of hair in the dogs coat (especially on the thigh and chest areas). For the subtle grass background, I again used the embossing tools and filled in the spaces delicately with a 3mm 2B lead, that required the unadulterated use of lots of patience and and then even some patience! But I'm happy with the finished effect it gives the subject.