Monday 18 October 2010

painting composition process- so far

Figure 1
 In Phil's lesson on friday he suggested that I made some thumbnail sketches of how I would like the composition of my painting to be. the top set of thumbnails are some examples drawn by Phil as a guide.
Figure 2
I then drew some more at home and liked the larger new pose I wanted to scan it in and do some editing in photoshop.
 Figure 3
 I opened a new layer and started to sketch out some changes in red.
 Figure 4
 I then hid the initial layer to see just the red progress.
Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7
 Changing back and forth the visibility of the original layer to keep the basic idea.
Figure 8

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Figure 17
 I was trying to draw a sense of depth by using a table and the hand and feet coming towards the viewer.
Figure 18

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Figure 21
 I decided this way wasn't working for me so I opened a new layer and re-drew part of the image.
Figure 22
 Here the head was too low and wasn't showing the neck at all so I re-drew this also.
Figure 23
Here the head is tilting slightly and the shoulders and fat are giving the impression of one side lifting (the arm reaching). 
Figure 24
 I refined these points a bit more then started re-drawing the other leg back in.
Figure 25

Figure 26
 I added hair in a new layer to give it some features.
Figure 27

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Figure 30
 Here I noticed the toes on this foot were shorter than the other so I marked in some new position indicators.
Figure 31
 Then I drew them to the markers.
Figure 32
 I copied and pasted all of these layers into a new page.
Figure 33
 Then these layers had to be positioned on the page.
Figure 34

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Figure 37
 When I had decided on the final position I selected all of the layers, then merged them so I could erase all of the messy sketch lines.
Figure 38

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Figure 40
 I wanted to see what this drawing would look like on a black background so I filled a new layer with black and arranged it behind everything. Here it shows white patches. This is from the original photoshop sketch-out where I painted over some lines in white instead of using the eraser so it wouldn't show the lines in the layer below.
Figure 41
 These white patches are now erased. The ones inside the drawing don't need to be removed.
Figure 42
 I then removed the black layer to continue editing.
Figure 43
Here the image has been made into black and white so I can work into it differently.  
Figure 44
I tried out adding some loose shadow. 
Figure 45
And some more. 
Figure 46
Then adding some tone into the metamorphosis. 
Figure 47
and some more. 
Figure 48
then some white highlights to remove some of the sketchy lines. 
Figure 49
And here I took a screen capture of it on a black background to sum up the progress of this post. 
There will be more to come soon. 

2 comments:

  1. I love how comprehensive this 'unpacking' is, Nat - great :-)

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  2. I found this to be a great method when I tried it for my College final. you can have a look at a 170 page photo documentation of my self portrait inspired by dali if you like? hahahahaha

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