A Brave New World - Part 3 - The Unexpected Journey

As I mentioned in my posts last Wednesday and Friday, I have been working on my first traditional painting. Today, I bring you the conclusion of my first attempt. Since I was focusing on the figure to get my feet under me and to get accustom to handling the paint I concentrated on the figure and had left the background untouched. In my last day of painting I remedied this situation. I have for you again a progression of my work in more or less hourly increments showing the painting as a whole, medium shot and close up...

Full image painting progression. I was happy and a little surprised with how quickly and easily the background laid in to the piece. I of course had to make some modifications to the figure to better tie the two together and make sure that the light was consistent. One thing that the background was... it was really FUN to paint!

Medium shot painting progression.

Close up painting progression.

I have a couple more tasks ahead of me before I call this first painting done and begin working on a second... I need to find a good way to make a digital backup, I need to sign it, and I need to varnish it. I have taken some photos of it, but they are not doing a good job of capturing it well and the colors are all off a bit. I will be scanning it hopefully later today since it is only 11 x 14 and I am hoping for some better results (this is now done, see below!). I also need to make a decision on varnish and move forward with that. I know I have a lot to learn with working traditionally, but this first painting does give me a sense of hope that I am not crazy for attempting it. I look forward to making more work traditionally... but my clients should fear naught! I am not moving to traditional media for my hired work. This is something I am currently only doing for myself.

*UPDATE* I have now scanned the painting and leave you with a much better reproduction of the painting which shows the detail and color much better and is MUCH closer to the original then the other photos I have been posting...

Myopic Thrasher
© 2011 Christopher Burdett

So concludes the happenings of 2011, I will have for you on Wednesday (hopefully) a look back at 2011 and a look ahead at 2012! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

A Brave New World - Part 2 - I can has paint?

On Wednesday I shared with you the results of my first day of painting with actual real paint. I had time in my schedule to paint again yesterday and I spent most of the day doing so. This second definitely felt a whole lot more natural. Handling the paint and getting it to do what I wanted it to do came a little easier. I know I have a lot to learn and this after all is my first traditional painting, but it makes me feel like I have not somehow been cheating myself by working digitally. Maybe I actually know something about painting finally! I tried to take photos every hour showing my progress but as the night wore on I may have missed one or two, but I think you will get the idea. I took a full image, medium image and a close up each time and I have arranged them accordingly...

Full image painting progression. One of the first things I did was address some of the anatomy issues with the let side of the next that were in the drawing. Next, I tried to get paint blocked in on the rest of the figure. I was a little concerned having concentrated so much on the top half of the figure to get my feet under me that I would have a lot of difficulty matching colors the second day.

Medium shot painting progression.

Close up painting progression.

As is stands at the end of day two. Really happy with where this has ended up! I still need to get a background in there, which I am sure will have some ramifications for the figure. I know I should have worked on the background first, but I will learn more faster by just jumping into the figure. I think I have at least another day to go on it and hopefully I will have that time before Monday so I can share it with you then!

That's all for the last post of 2011! See you back here on Monday for the first post 0f 2012! I getting my year in review post together and will have that to you really soon as well! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

A Brave New World - Part 1 - Not Freaking Out

I hinted on Monday's post that I am up to something wacky. Over on Facebook I posted a teaser image of some globes of color on a plastic surface. Today I have for you some of what has been going on... in pictures, mostly . I think it started this year at the Illustration Master Class, was egged on at Gen Con and finally made a certainty at Illuxcon, that I needed to try my hand at traditional painting. This was all moved along with a (un)healthy amount of freaking out on my part as I tried to get my head around something I really have never done. I asked a lot of questions, looked at a lot of the real stuff and finally having the time in my schedule I jumped in. This is what has happen so far...

Hard board, acrylic media and a print of an older drawing with a digital under painting are about to have a party.

Party complete, I have my drawing with digital under painting firmly attached to the hard board... it is like magic!

READY TO PAINT! Okay, I learned many things about myself and painting in the next few moments. (1) I do not like working on an easel, I MUCH more prefer working flat on a surface like drawing. (2) I sometimes work to wet to work on an easel and will quickly create a mess, time to ditch the easel. (3) I do not need the under painting, the drawing will be enough for me, I was treating it like my digital work so for this it was too dark and too over powering. I am confident that a line drawing will be fine and that I will do all the under painting with the actual paint. (4) I prefer a smooth surface to paint on. Somehow I printed my image on the rough side of the paper and didn't notice until I started painting. I am fighting the grain a bit, I have a spare bit of paper I am testing colors on and I am using the smooth side and it is just what I want to work on.

Now I know! And knowing is half the battle!

After worrying about color choices, the great and powerful Jeremy McHugh was nice enough to give me some advice and told me two yellows, two reds and two blues to start with, I went ahead and grabbed a white, a black (which I have not touched yet) and some of my favorite earth tones and I was good to go.

Paint going on... it should be noted that this was the point at which I FREAKED OUT. Having not done this I have a lot to learn. This thing was out of control and charging in an unknown direction. Needless to say I felt a wee bit out of my element. ...where is my computer???

After some panic I calmed down and got to work using what I know from all this time working on the computer and from my time painting makeups in LA. Slowly I think I am taking control of this thing and getting my head around it. STILL LOTS TO LEARN... but I think I see some potential to this whole working traditionally thing! :P

This is where the painting stands after the first evening of painting. I will be working on it again later today. I hope it continues to go well... or as well as it can being my first traditional painting.

This is the fun part! I really like mixing the colors to make new colors, it all makes sense in it's strange way. Like science and magic all in one.

See you back here on Friday with hopefully more progress images! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

A Brave New World...

Just a quick post with a single image and I will leave you to think about what I am up to this week... succeed or fail, here we go...

Taking my first step into a larger world... maybe...

See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com