Sijun Forums :: View topic - Portrait From Below. Your impressions are gold to me :)

Capt. Fred · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 3:28 am

This one is an acrylic painting on normal A2 paper. It was for my art exam, I had 5 hours. I can't believe it took 5 hours. Had I planned ahead for it I might have liked to do it in oils, since with acrylics the paint dries so fast there's little colour mixing on the picture itself -- that took me by surprise somewhat. As it was, I arrived for the exam as it began and only really knew exactly what I was doing when I found myself doing it -- most people had their brushes poised and canvasses prepared, just waiting for the word "Go". I'll have to remember to think ahead next time. Oh well.

The topic title I chose for the exam was "seen from above and below", This is picture from above in a mirror to get a view of her head from below. The diagnals in the lower right corner come from the edge of the mirror, but I sorta abstracted them a bit becuase I didn't think I'd gain much from paiting the area so literally as I did the rest.

This picture is actually tampered with. I changed the corner to what I wish I had done for real. There were 10 minutes left of the exam so I rushed and it's not as good as it could have been. But the time constraints are part of the test, so I can't blame them. You can get to the original from my site.

So anyway, I'd love to hear what you think about it. Any kind of help would be great

see · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 4:10 am

I like it. Looks good. The only think i dislike is the right corner. Well i read what you thought when doing it but somehow it doesn't fit to the image. I did one acryl painting few months ago and well i disliked the property of acryl. i think oil works better for me.

I like the titel of your art, ...

Capt. Fred · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 4:20 am

yeah, you're right bout the corner.
In truth, the fact that I only had 10 minutes left when I realised the corner was blank polayed a large part in it being treated so differently.

Thanks for you comments Smile

Matthew · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 6:17 am

Hey Capt.Fred.

I think this one looks really good and the corner kind of makes the picture to look impossible perspective wise.
I like both acrylic and oil actually but oil takes forever to dry. One thing that is disturbing with Acrylic and that is that the colors seems to shift in the tonal values once it has dried for a couple of days, do you know if that can be avoided Capt.Fred?

Keep up the good work
Matthew

Tomasis · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 6:49 am

hey its good work.. dont know how to judge your work when it was painted in acrylic which I dont like much ..

as you said, it was not much color mix..

try oil painting and show what you can.. i think that it would be a lot easier and funnier to play with oil =)
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spline · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 6:56 am

Well there is one thing you can do to stop the acryl from drying to fast, you can get something called retarder, its a fluid that you can add to your paint. The more you add the slower it will dry. But don�t add more than 25%.

It can be hard to get because not many knows about this.

Novacaptain · Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 9:04 am

looks like a pretty tricky angle to work with. I always get so frustrated with real live paint it just won't stay in it's place. I think you might have some issues on the perspective on the nose. Have you tried a horizontal flip of this? You'll be surprised at the things it reveals at times.
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Capt. Fred · Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 11:33 am

Heh, thanks for your time novacaptian Smile

Yeah, I flipped it a couple times. I can't remember if this is the right way round to be honest but I'm pretty sure it is Razz

BUt alas it was a controlled piece so all the mistakes -- or as it might better be called 'the mistake' (ie the painting) -- are beyond correction as it has been handed in. Having said that, while I was working on it I checked it n a mirror a couple times, but I think it was one hesty brush stroke which ruined that nose I really believe. I thickened and changed an important and angle and so it's sorta tacky now. Live an learn.

I'm was most impressed at how my traditional paiting had improved so much from my digital paiting. I rarely paitn traditionally you see so i was sorta hoping that it'd be alright and As I say I'm pleasnatly surprised at how both mediums enfornace and benefit each other.

gotta go.

Novacaptain · Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 1:21 pm

I tried traditional painting for the first time after having played around with the digital paint for over a year. The skills you learn using the digital medium can be translated into traditional painting as if it were just another kind of interface and a peculiar "brush engine". I was surprised at being able to produce something at least moderately satisfying after a couple of tries. Of course, i'd much rather sit down for 40 minutes and make a 45 minute doodle than spending 1 hour to get the same effective time out of it. But it certaily has its benefits (like a unique physical artefact to hang on your wall or kick with your boot)
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