More Matt WIP

ok so here's the finished rough. his face is still a little iffy in tone but I have a reference photo that i didn't feel like opening :P
Expect to see the monoprint and maybe I'll upload my fossilized spider charcoal piece

Matt WIP

This is a side view of my brother Matthew. For my concentrated study assesment I need to complete two more monoprints and a charcoal piece. My first monoprint is of an Australian Peacock Jumping spider and the second will be this design above. The design behind Matthew is based off the inside of a pearlescent shell.

C'Mere and Gi'Me a Kissssssssss

a new piece I made. the technique is tempera resist. The mediums used where white tempera and black ink (and water) on watercolor paper. I've been itching to paint something old but alive in nature; maybe an influence from doctor who? "it's something old, something new, something big, something blue." well alligator snapping turtles aren't blue but they can grow to be relatively big and they have a bit of a prehistoric look to them don't they? So anyway the way tempera resist works: first, you paint the picture or design on watercolor paper and then paint over it entirely with black ink. (you can make marks or draw the entire picture with a #2 pencil without it affecting the color of the paint) Then when your done just run cold water over it and gently rub off the ink where the tempera lies underneath and the tempera will begin to show through. The best subjects for this technique are those with texture. It doesn't have to be rough, I saw a piece done by another classmate that had a silvery-type shiny statue of a Budha that looked beautiful. If you mess up by having too much white you can go back with black ink, however, more white tempera or acrylic won't match with the original so ya don't do that... it's really obvious

i'm making surrealism :3

its based off a picture I found of a evening cloudy sky. In the photo there are birds but these strokes arent horizontal like clouds so I'm calling this impressionistic. Actually looking at it this could be the inside of a flower couldn't it. huh.... ya so I'm tired but I'll work on another thing to be finished tommorrow see ya

To My Surprise...

-this actually came out pretty good. when I first unwrapped the clayboards back in Christmas I was excited but did not have very high expectations out of this. I'd never worked with this type of material and hadn't a clue what I should do for it. my first trial was sort of a bust but good practice. then I decided to give this crinoid subject a chance and this time I decided to try a mix media experiment with watercolor and colored pencils.
    It started out rusty, the smooth surface wouldn't hold more than one layer of watercolor, and the colored pencils would only hold to the paint. My teacher noticed this and suggested that I use a Matte acrylic coating from a airsoft and that worked really well. (even thought I know it's really bad for the ozonlayer. Sorry mother earth XC )
   one other thing you have to know is that this is a crinoid, maybe an ancient ancestor of the horseshoe crab. Its a prehistoric crustacean that was fossilized and dug up, loosing pieces of his eyes in the process. (which is not the geologist's fault. It takes a lot of skill to unearth these in one piece and he did a fine job, using a tremendous amount of care getting out of the ground without many scratches on it and picking the sediments out of every one of it's little creases) So anyway my point is yes those tube things sticking out of the front which is the head are probably eyes or antennas and yes one is shorter than the other because it broke during the excavating.

(photo which I took and edited on Picnick :3)

this should be the final, minorly edited picture. I worked on it with photoshop to even out the papper and darked the backround and worked out the opaque hue to make it pop out a little more

Ok I found out the better way

Note to self: when even lighting is required just take the photograph outside :P