Damn - yes, i love that hobby too much and just can't stay away from my brush. I find my soul in this dance with the brush and just can't calm down even when i try take a weekend off. Somehow i do take the weekend off as i am getting away from the everyday internet madness of facebook and emails and forums and ... all that stuff that makes your brain dance in circles sometimes. Don't you worry i soon will be able to write emails again but not this weekend. Ok damn, there was something i wanted to tell you - my lady went out tonight with Raffa's lady as he is already safe in Italy and will hopefully have a great time there at tomorrows Games Day ... mkay, ladies away, me sitting here with Peter and painting again on that ugly Nurgle Generals ...
As we do some photos during the process i've decided to do a little sketch in Photoshop on Peter's Miniature. We also chat and talk about both of our models and somehow i felt Peter tried to tell me something what he wanted to change. He somehow wasn't able to focus his thought or really find words for it. I felt his thought (wouhou!!) - somehow i sometimes feel colour (wtf?) - and i knew that he was talking the right thing. He just lacked at the ability to see the way he wants to go at the moment while painting this model, so this photoshop sketch was a good way to demonstrate and make him see the way he can go. Sounds pretty strange but it was fun for both of us learning together that way - in the end our résumé of this case is: a light won't work without shadow ...
Both at the moment ...
Photoshop sketch on the right, i've marked it with a sketched dear head
I just did that little test on the skin as you can see. I was thinking to do the armour parts too but in the end i wanted back to my brush again :D
What I did:
Looking at light and shadow at Peter's General i saw a good shadow/light contrast. Somehow it felt that his midtones between the darkest shadow and the final light were not there or missed at importent places. Going for these midtones with some powerful* colourful glazes and the whole miniature gets warmer, deeper and stronger ...
*powerful: Not a colour that has much grey in the mix. With much grey it won't make BAM! in your midtones it just makes it powerless - but maybe more realistic in the end. Whatever, the trick of a strong light/shadow play lays within the midtones and the bravery to go a straight path in the maximum light hue of the colour tone ...
(uha)
Happy Painting!
Best Wishes
Roman
PS: Oh dear yes, this goes back to a naturally flow, straight from the table - let me know what you think about such quick drop ins - do they help when they appear? Can you see what is tried to be explained? Ai this is dangerous i guess - you might completly take me for a freak or get what i try to explain ... Damn! :D
No freakin' - its just going with the flow. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's so easy as one realizes form and emptiness are one. There is nothing without the other.
I think you should use this dropins more often ;) because there is not much explanation you give the people something to think about and to look, if there is (for example) a right shadow-light constellation on their miniatures... every time they read these dropins they will think about painting ;) and I think it´s a really good idea to go to bed :P Thank you for an amazing painting-evening!
ReplyDeleteJust had a good conversation with someone on this exact subject at the MMSI show yesterday. It was related to doing flats, but the idea of the shadow core, or shadow line, was the same. It's nice to have a resource like those grey haired veterans for us "young ones" in our thirties and forties.
ReplyDeleteWhat he'd suggested was undercoating the model in grey, and then putting in the core of the shadow in dark grey (black is too much) and areas where light will land in light grey to white. The area where the transition from light to shadow happens is the darkest. He does it this way because doing all the relationships of shadow and light at the same time as color is too difficult. Then he can use glazes of color once he's gotten the light and shadows right.
Of course I'm totally blanking on his name, but I got to see Shep Paine and a bunch of other luminaries in person, and that was pretty cool.
Link to MMSI: http://www.mmsichicago.com/
Shadow Article: http://www.artinstructionblog.com/drawing-lesson-a-theory-of-light-and-shade
Thanks for your feedback guys!! @Glen Murie: Strange topic somehow to talk about, everyone knows what is behind but it is hard to find words for it - thanks for your many words - thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDelete