Hollow Painting Progress
Added 2018-04-05 10:06:11 +0000 UTC
Hi all,
A little update to show you how my Hollow (not it's final title I don't think) painting is progressing!
I'll be very honest, I am struggling like crazy on this one. I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to make it look good, but also to finish it before Saturday, as I'm going abroad on Monday and won't be able to take it with me if I haven't completed it, and I want to be able to get that process PDF done.
The beginnings of it were very stressful, as are the first few brushstrokes always, and I got to that point where I felt absolutely skill-less and useless and couldn't see myself making anything good out of it and was convinced I had ruined it forever, hahaha. Classic.
But then I kept going, using a butt-load of reference and chamomile tea, and I am getting to a stage where I am a lot happier. Or at least I can see that if I keep going I'll be able to make something out of it that I will be somewhat happy with.
So far, I am working on what could be labelled the "underpainting", even though this is gouache and not oil, and that an underpainting is a lot more difficult to achieve with gouache. I am actually using a lot of Acrylic Matte Medium from Liquitex to seal my underlayers so that I can paint on them without re-activating them. There will be more details about the exact way I'm using it in the PDF. :)
This is still very rough, but I am gradually becoming happier with my values and undertones, and will be focusing on brightening up some areas, adding some more colour, and detailing today!
Wish me luck! :)
Comments
Haha, I know exactly what you mean! I think most artists struggle with similar doubts and obstacles, but social media puts a gloss over everything. I definitely DEFINITELY go through A LOT of self-doubt. Big pieces are very painful for me. But it's a good kind of pain. I didn't end up with something I really liked in the end, but I feel like I'm slowly fine-tuning my artistic development, and it's interesting.
2018-04-09 19:30:22 +0000 UTCThank you Christina, that means a lot! I would never rush a painting just to get in finished, so if I hadn't managed to get this done in time, I would've had to ask you guys' forgiveness and finished it once I got back. Luckily, I did get to a point where I felt it was finished before I had to leave, even though I am not actually satisfied with the result, but less on a technical stand point, and more on a personal style perspective. The final look isn't what I was actually hoping for in my style development, but it's a very interesting learning curve, and maybe you might be interested in seeing my next iterations of this concept in the near future, where I look into some different styles of rendering?
2018-04-09 19:22:22 +0000 UTCI.need.this.pdf! So exciting! I totally know that feeling (especially with gouache), when everything looks off and you think that you will never make it look good - it's good to know that even artists like you struggle with the same things (even though this sounds very selfish). But it's even more rewarding when you push through and actually end up with something that you really like :)
2018-04-09 16:27:27 +0000 UTCwow! love the steps and no way you could be skill-less. That painting looks great so far! And I'm really curious about the progress pdf. But please dont stress yourself! Art needs time (sometimes) and know I can only speak for myself, but I would be sad if your rush this painting because you think you have to finish it fast because of the pdf for us patreons and then you aren't happy with the result. I would prefer a happy artist over a fast finished pdf :D
Christina Wenzel
2018-04-05 14:28:01 +0000 UTC
