A Pair of Hawks

I finished painting this last night. It is 14 by 20 inches on coldpress watercolor paper.  I used four colors - primary yellow, primary magenta, turquois (phthalo) and paynes gray.  Normally hawks are solitary creatures, but I came up with an interesting composition that I wanted to use.  The larger hawk is the clear subject, the other hawk in the background is intentionally muted and lower in contrast.  All the paint is transparent, I generally stay away from opaque paint when working on watercolor paper.  I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy!  Below are some more portraits I drew with charcoal, the Karl Urban portrait is painted with paynes gray.

Lena Headey Portrait

Hello everyone!  I finished another portrait, this time I feel like I nailed down the likeness really well.  This is Lena Headey from the movie "Dredd"  It is 11 by 17 inches on coldpress watercolor paper.  I only used four colors - primary yellow, primary magenta, permanent green light and turquois (phthalo).

Stay safe and healthy!  I plan on painting some raptors next but I will of course continue practicing the portraits.

New Sketches and Portraits. Kickstarter update

Hello Everyone!  I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy during this time.  My plans to launch my kickstarter are probably going to be delayed due to this pandemic the whole world is in.  I think people are less likely to back a project during a health crisis.  I'm hoping that I will still be able to launch it this summer.  We will just have to wait and see if this virus slows down.

In the meantime, here are some new sketches as well as some portraits for you to enjoy!  The painting is Emily Blunt from "Edge of Tomorrow", not sure if  I nailed her likeness but I came close.  The charcoal drawing is a self-portrait.

Children book sketches! Kickstarter to launch in May!!

Well hello friends!  It has been a long journey to complete this project, I started drawing this book in the spring of 2016 and I must say that it has been quite enjoyable.  I have learned so much as an artist and a storyteller and now I am finally ready to share this project with all of you!

I am almost ready to launch my kickstarter, May is supposed to be the best month of the year for crowdfunding so I am aiming for May 6th!

I am currently waiting for a hard copy proof from print ninja to arrive in the mail.  It is mostly so I can inspect the colors.  There are only a few edits that I need to do with all my files and then I will be ready to print!  My friends Brian and Stine have been so incredibly helpful with preparing the indesign and pdf files.  I have learned so much from them about the process of preparing a book for print.  I am so grateful for having both of them as my teacher and friend!

The only hurdle that remains for me is to learn how to use video maker software so I can upload a video to my kickstarter page.  I'm hoping I can find something suitable for the ipad since my computer is way too slow - it couldn't get hitfilm express to run at all. 

The drawings you see here are done in my sketch book and are intended to be practice.  One of the extra rewards will be an inked sketch on the inside of the book.  I am trying to get used to drawing my character using traditional media since all the line art for the book was done digitally.

I will keep all of you informed in these next couple of months as May 6th approaches.  Thank you so much for all of your support!!

Crow Acrylic Painting

I finished this about a week ago.  It is the largest painting I have done in a while - 16.5 by 20.5 inches.  I made it those dimensions because 16 by 20 is a standard size for frames and windows cut in mat boards.  I had a lot of fun painting this,  fairly simple design with such a dark subject against a bright background.  I will probably go back to painting a little smaller for the next ones since I will be able to produce them a little faster.  I am enjoying the switch to coldpress watercolor paper - it is much easier to get smoother blends.  The only thing I miss is that opaques do not like the surface of the watercolor paper since they tend to soak into the paper instead of floating on the surface.  As a result, opaques look duller on watercolor paper.  I did manage to do some opaques on the crow since he is so dark that the paint shows up quite clearly despite becoming duller afterwards.

Cardinal Painting - Progress Images

Here are the progress images for my cardinal painting.  I took a photo every other day while I was working on it.  Generally after settling on a strong design, I then start work on the line art.  The line art has to be solid before I begin painting.  If I am not confident with my drawing, the painting will be much more difficult.  I always work background to foreground and light to dark.  The subject (cardinal) is always the last thing to be painted.  I build up the paint darker and darker as well as more and more saturated.  This was a large painting (14" x 20") but it did not take me that long mostly because I only used transparent paint.  If I ever have to use opaques, this sometimes makes the progress a lot longer.

Cardinals Acrylic Painting

Finished this painting tonight!  It is fluid acrylics on a 14 by 20 inch sheet of coldpress watercolor paper.  Had a lot of fun painting it and I had to do very little adjustments to the scan.  I will paint a couple more paintings over this winter break - another wildlife one and a portrait.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!