New Cosplay Paintings!

"Classic Harley Standing" 9x19 Oil on Canvas
Prints Available

"Daddy's Lil Monster" 12x19 Oil on Canvas
Prints Available

"Spider Gwen" 12x19 Oil on Canvas
Prints Available

Figure Drawings From Last Nights Session

One Minute Poses

 One Minute Poses

 Three Minute Pose

 Six Minute Pose

 Ten Minute Pose

 Ten Minute Pose

Ten Minute Pose

20 Min Gesture Paintings

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One of my favorite things to do is painting short poses. When I was in art school we did alot of gesture drawing which was always 2,3,5, and 10 minute poses. Only rarely did we get anything longer. When I moved to Arizona, their idea of gesture drawing was  some two minute poses in the begining and then 20 minute poses for the rest of the night. I decided to try painting them and instantly loved it.

I always draw with the brush. I use Burnt Umber and White and do a quick gesture sketch. Then I draw over it in straight Burnt Umber. I try not to let the drawing take more than 10 minutes on a 20 minute pose or I will not have enough time to paint. On rare occasaions, I have just left it as a drawing in paint if I like the way it is coming out. 

After I get a drawing down, I then move to the shadow areas. Sometimes I fill them in in solid burnt umber to save time, other times I am more precise. If I am in my studio I tend to be more accurate, because If I like the painting, I can just make the pose longer and finish it. Can't do that in a public painting environment. I can always go back and add color to the shadows later but sometimes I like to focus on the lights. A quick pass for the halftones which are often the same value as the tone of my canvas. If there is any time left I work on the lights. Often by the time I get to the lights there are only a few minutes left.

I use a limited palette on these of: White, Yellow Ochre, Cad Red Med, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cobalt Blue, and Ivory Black.

Figure Studies - Short Poses in Oil

Here are a few quick studies from last Sunday's open studio in Florida. The seated front pose was about a half hour. The seated back pose was about 20 minutes and the standing pose was about 25 minutes. These were painted on a 20 x 24 canvas in oils. I usually get between 4 and six figures per canvas.

I used a very limited palette on these:
White, Yellow Ochre, Cad Red Med, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, and Black.

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Quick Figue Studies/Sketches Nudes

Here are some recent 20min Oil paintings from a local figure drawing open session I have been going to on Sunday mornings. I do the drawing in paint with a brush and work in a very limited palette. White, Yellow Ochre, Cad Red, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cobalt Blue and Black.

Crouching

Hello there,
I received a question on another site asking how I mixed the flesh tones on this piece. I thought I'd post it here.

First I'd like to say there is no secret formula for mixing flesh colors because every person is slightly different. Furthermore each person can be different colors at different times depending on many different circumstances not the least of which is the weather.

That being said I have never met a person I couldn't paint with a simple color palette. So people are different, but basically the same.

The colors I choose are:
Titanium White or Permalba White
Naples Yellow
Cad. Yellow Med.
Yellow Ochre
Raw Sienna
Cad. Red
Alizarin Crimson (optional)
Sap Green (optional)
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Raw Umber Green Shade (Windsor & Newton) (optional)
Prussian Blue
Cobalt Blue (Optional)
Ivory Black


One of the first things I do is take a look at the model. I then spend a few minutes (about ten) mixing up what are called strings. Strings are pre-mixed colors of paint which are lightened with white in small increments to get seven values of each color. Although the desire may be to jump right into painting, believe me this will save you time in the end. My teacher, Daniel Greene first introduced me to the idea of strings. He, and many other artists, pre-mix their strings before the model arrives, with the same formula every time. Although this is effective for a beginner, I feel that since each person is different, I like to mix different strings each time based on the colors of the model. After a while you will become familiar with how to mix those colors fast, by sight.
Lately I don't mix them at all anymore, I just jump right into painting. 

As for the painting above, I remember using a lot of Raw Umber and White. Most people have very low intensity of color or "chroma" which means there is a lot of grey in their skin color. For this painting I used White, Raw Umber Green Shade, Red and Yellow. I also added Alizarin Crimson for many of the pink areas. I also used Naples Yellow to lighten some of the mixtures.

It was painted in three hours, from life. 20 x 24 Oil on Canvas