A session in landscape.

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.

2012 thus far.

Alright, just going to post a medley of stuff that I've been working on so far.  Will do a more in depth post on a single something or other this weekend!

One Last Time

Tomorrow is the first day of school.  It's my senior year and it's more than fair to say I've learned a lot in the few years I've resided in Columbus.  Am I excited?  For some reason not really.  Intimidated?  Nope.  The school year is here and I'm just patiently waiting for it to just happen.  I'm not sure what kind of projects will unfold or new personal paths I'll find myself experimenting with but I'll be sure to keep this site updated.
Summer was productive and it was polished off the other day with some random sketches.

But beyond the art there was a lot of emotions that were unwound, repaired, and wired back together again which is something I'm looking forward to shoving into my art.  Did a bit of a write-up over on tumblr in response to a question I'd received and it's still something I'm thinking about.  Finally getting emotionally flared up in terms of my art is something that's needed to happen for a few years now.  New things coming soon!

CCAD Spring Art Sale

This past Saturday if you were in Columbus hopefully you stopped by the CCAD Art Sale- a culmination of cool arts and crafts created by CCAD students, alumni, and faculty. This was the first time my roommates and I partook and it was a pretty interesting experience. We all got a lot of different feedback from visitors and artists alike and we all sold pieces as well!
I'm (for the most part) making this blog post to say hello to any new visitors coming this way that picked up one of my business cards! So, first of all-
Welcome to my blog! Hopefully you like what you see, and I try to update here as frequently as possible, mainly showcasing my more finished works and my process as well.
Second, if you bought a piece from me at the sale- thank you! I hope you will enjoy it for years to come! If you didn't buy a piece but were interested, send an email my way. (klangford.1 (at) go.ccad.edu).
I hope that everyone who attended had a great time (certainly seemed to be a fun viable option compared to the not-so-great weather outside!) and hope to see you again at the winter art sale in a few months.

Wow.

It's the last week of school. And all my finals were due last week. Ok CCAD, whatever.....But I love winding down to this point and looking back at the start.


hrmmm.....and for comparison a 'sketchbook' piece that was due today for the same class (Illustration Methods)

Note I said sketchbook piece. That first beginning of the year bit of weirdness was a full fledged project that we spent a solid 3-4 weeks on. I like progress.

So what have I learned this year?

*Priorities- should always try and get all of my work accomplished but if a particular class/assignment could push my portfolio further- focus on that.

*Strengths- Play 'em up! Shaping (I've discovered this year) is something I'm good at and enjoy playing with. If you have a strength use it to support your work.

*Materials- Screw you acrylics. We used to be best friends but now you're just mean. Oils are my best buds and ink is pretty radical too.

*Audience- Hello anyone reading this post! The internet is a ridiculously powerful tool to get your name out there. This blog's been a huge stepping stone for my artwork and it's interesting how you can use other sites to get people to look at what you want (tumblr and deviantart come to mind). I've only recently begun using the two mentioned sites and hopefully can use them even more in the future to get some interest.

I think I'll wind down now and continue packing things to go home for the summer....

end of line.