Thursday, March 11, 2010

IF - Brave 2


While perusing IF, I came across this entry over at xhen's blog. Upon seeing that neat little illustration, I was inspired to draw what you see above. Kind of reminds me of the old Warner Bros cartoon dog. I once again braved the acrylic beast, and I must say that this painting is quite the step up from the one in my previous post. This was painted on paper for acrylics which didn't seem to help the drying time like I'd hoped. Below is the sketch.


I will admit that I was discouraged at first as it wasn't working like a I wanted it to (again the paints were drying too fast). However, with patience I managed to find a workable solution. I basically painted on more base color and then immediately added tints, working back and forth between the two to create a smooth transition. I think it came out pretty good considering my experience with the medium. Below is the palette after I was finished.



I do want to experiment more with acrylics, I just want to do it correctly. I will be hitting the web to see what I can find for reference. Any suggestions are always welcome.

Wow, 2 IF posts in one week. That's a record!
Link

5 comments:

Susan said...

Tom this is a riot! That big 'ol dog does remind me exactly of the Warner Bros. one, that other dude better watch out! You're doing great with the acrylics, I don't think it'll take you much longer to find your rythm. To help with a longer drying time, you may want to try an extender. I get a lot of my colored pencils and other supplies from Dick Blick if my local art store doesn't stock something. They have pretty good prices:

http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-matte-acrylic-mediums/

I've never used this before, but if I was experimenting like you, here's another product I would try:

http://www.dickblick.com/products/fredrix-canvas-pads/#photos

Best of luck, you'll get to those murals before you know it!

Tom Barrett said...

Thanks, Susan!

I have ordered from DB before as they were the only ones who carried the non-photo blue pencils I like.

justdoodleit said...

This reminds me of Tom and Jerry as well. Nice bold colors...you could search 'Acrylic Painting Lesson' in YouTube for some useful demonstrations and tips.
Goodluck :)

Lisa M Griffin said...

I always LOVE seeing another artists process and peak into the work environment as well, so you can see why I loved this post. I also find the more one delves into a medium and freely experiments, the more at ease he/she becomes with the craft... art is all about exploration right? Keep experimenting and don't get discouraged, you will certainly find your "flow" soon.
Oh and lovely take on IF.

. justin segal said...

Tom, this is awesome — great big sleeping dog, like someone from a Warner Bros — classic! Have fun with them acrylics — I'm going to be diving into actual paint pretty soon myself after a period of digital-only. Nice to mix it up a bit! (literally)