Ok, I know I post about this class a lot on here but I felt it would be nice to give a run down of why I'm particularly fond of it and how it affects how I work.
Now, being an illustration major, the majority of my classes are, well, based in illustration. Which is fine but it gets to be particularly frustrating when you realize you're just as behind in composing original images as you are in painting the final product. Last year I took landscape painting not knowing what to expect. What I got out of it was an invaluable opportunity to play with paint. It wound up building not only my ability to compose competent environments, but also my style.
When you're put on location for (at most) 3 hours to create a painting that is compelling and could be considered finished...you're not quite sure where to begin. It only takes some practice to get in the swing of things and this painting class pushed my skills on my illustration projects so much farther than if I'd been left alone.
Needless to say I signed up again. When starting, I kept with my habits- earth tone palette and underpainting, "fuzzing" painted areas to draw the viewers attention to where I wanted, etc. Then something important happened (at least, I'm assuming it's important). I was told to (a)- not blur areas unless completely necessary, and even then reconsider. (b)- break my comfort zone with earth tones and play with color. I agreed, acknowledging my weak points and lo and behold, there was color.
Intimidation. Pure highlighter green and simple.
Ok, I've chosen my view, have my borders mapped off, some quick pencil work to indicate where things should be.
Quick underpainting consisting of cobalt blue/paynes grey.
Laying in colors. Ugly? Yes. Expected? Yes. Moving on.
And right around here that start-off color is throwing me. By being so bright, anything I put down appears in comparison to be nothing more than vaguely differentiated hues of mud. This is not good.
Still pushing forward you can tell how mad I'm getting at a painting by how much I've scratched guidelines into it with the opposite end of my brush. Questioning what made me think I could paint.
It's going downhill. Rage quit foreseeable future.
Colors and brushstrokes in general have been softened, adding a bit more warmth and consistency. (apologies about the difference in photo color- adjusted my lighting settings and forgot to change them back)
Looks like the nasty has come to an end, with some sky popping up and more work in the foreground.
And where she lies now. Still need to go back and fiddle with the sky (ran out of time in class).
In the end, I need to continue with this "color" thing. It's taking me to unexpected places and I'm curious to see how it pops into my illustrations this year.
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