Here's the photo and a preliminary study, and what it looks like now. I have more to say, but I am putting it into a comment so as not to take up too much space.
What interested me in the photo were the dark shapes whether they were the eyes, the inside of the mouth, stripes. or shadows, treated all alike, like a linocut or a tattoo. Some of them make sense visually, like here is a mouth, an eye, a nose, but some of them seemed pretty arbitrary, but together I thought they made a harmonious whole.
Putting them down I mostly just did the grid. This dark shape crosses that horizontal line here, and that vertical here, and the line is a convex curve, but curvier at the bottom and straighter at the top, with a little bump two thirds of the way up. I drew them in with a burnt sienna watercolor pencil and then filled them in with indigo paint.
While I was doing that I was just following the lines like route 45 going from Chicago down to Champaign, and it wasn't until I was done that I leaned back and took it all in as a whole, and I'll be damned, there was a Goddamn tiger. I felt like the boy who pulled out the plum.
Often it seems like it's better when a painting starts out not so well. Right away then there are all these things that could fix it and there are so many things you can do.
I think this one started out really well, and now I suffer the bane of artists, not wanting to ruin something that is going well. As opposed to the not-so-good start where you can travel almost willy nilly down the road because what do you have to lose, in this case I feel like there is only one true path forward and I have to find that exact path. I am just going to pick a small area, in this case above the left eye and just put down paint and see where that will take me.
Some of the images seem to have disappeared so I think he's redoing it. I see some other images coming up missing too. I'm not sure what's happening, but I am sure it is Blogger and not us, since it's happening to more than one of us.
This is very cool. Love the eye and the snout or nose. I like it as just as it is, almost like a lithograph or print. The great thing about having the sketch is that you can do as many paintings as you want. So if you’re af4aid you might ruin this one, draw another one and paint that. And then another. And another. You learn something new each time you paint it.
I really like this. The simple graphic style is very different for you and I really like it. I'm inclined to advise you to keep it simple... and maybe do another in a more decorative style. You can have a whole Tiger series. At any rate, I really like this one.
What interested me in the photo were the dark shapes whether they were the eyes, the inside of the mouth, stripes. or shadows, treated all alike, like a linocut or a tattoo. Some of them make sense visually, like here is a mouth, an eye, a nose, but some of them seemed pretty arbitrary, but together I thought they made a harmonious whole.
ReplyDeletePutting them down I mostly just did the grid. This dark shape crosses that horizontal line here, and that vertical here, and the line is a convex curve, but curvier at the bottom and straighter at the top, with a little bump two thirds of the way up. I drew them in with a burnt sienna watercolor pencil and then filled them in with indigo paint.
While I was doing that I was just following the lines like route 45 going from Chicago down to Champaign, and it wasn't until I was done that I leaned back and took it all in as a whole, and I'll be damned, there was a Goddamn tiger. I felt like the boy who pulled out the plum.
Often it seems like it's better when a painting starts out not so well. Right away then there are all these things that could fix it and there are so many things you can do.
I think this one started out really well, and now I suffer the bane of artists, not wanting to ruin something that is going well. As opposed to the not-so-good start where you can travel almost willy nilly down the road because what do you have to lose, in this case I feel like there is only one true path forward and I have to find that exact path. I am just going to pick a small area, in this case above the left eye and just put down paint and see where that will take me.
What happened to Alan's post?
ReplyDeleteSome of the images seem to have disappeared so I think he's redoing it. I see some other images coming up missing too. I'm not sure what's happening, but I am sure it is Blogger and not us, since it's happening to more than one of us.
DeleteThis is very cool. Love the eye and the snout or nose. I like it as just as it is, almost like a lithograph or print. The great thing about having the sketch is that you can do as many paintings as you want. So if you’re af4aid you might ruin this one, draw another one and paint that. And then another. And another. You learn something new each time you paint it.
ReplyDeleteI really like this. The simple graphic style is very different for you and I really like it. I'm inclined to advise you to keep it simple... and maybe do another in a more decorative style. You can have a whole Tiger series. At any rate, I really like this one.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the super high contrast + in your face look is great together. It won't need much else to make it work.
ReplyDelete