Self portrait

[nick]

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So this is a self portrait I did a year ago taking a class from Shawn Barber at the Paradise Artist Retreat. This is the second portrait I have ever done. I have only been painting for 2 years and this was done a year after i started so please be nice ;) since then I have done a few portraits and realized not to use white for my highlights but rather tint my white according to the light source. So that is what I learned since then. This is from my phone so I hope the picture is ok quality. I got more paintings I am thinking of uploading for critique as well.

[(Opted Out)]

Awesome!

[casey]

Absolutely stunning!......unless you are a black midget that is:)

[Vinoshitto]

Absolutely stunning!......unless you are a black midget that is:)

Hahahaha!!! Thats right! We dont know how YOU look! :)


This could might as well be a portrait of how you SEE yourself... you black midget you!!! ;D

[nick]

My secret is out. I have been trying to hide it my whole life and it comes out now. Crap! haha But yeah we got into the class and Shawn said, "step in front of the window". Why? "We are painting ourselves today". After doing this all I wanted to do is paint some cute girl or something. Shawn Barber definitely has those "emotionless" portraits. But I look up to him and his style. here is a better photo from my computer
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[Vinoshitto]

Its awesome!
Tell us more of what you used in ways of material, also size of the piece..
How many hours?

I envy this because I dont think i would have the patience to do it.

[nick]

It is a 16"x20" Oil on Canvas. This was before I started making my own canvas so it is on a cheap one from a local art store here in Denver. I used artist grade Winsor & Newton paints. I spent 50 hours on it because I didn't know what I was doing. I learned how to glaze from Nick Baxter and I feel like I discovered the Matrix. It was crazy.

The oil paint I used are:
Titanium White
Yellow Ochre
Cadmium Scarlet
Burnt Sienna
Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Olive Green
Manganese Blue Hue
Indigo

I set my paints up in that order which is how Shawn Barber sets up his palette. In order to make black you can mix Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Olive Green, and Indigo. You can vary the ratio depending if you want a cool or warm black. Now I use a completely different palette to paint which is WAY easier for flesh tones which was founded by Leonardo DaVinci with a mix of the Munsell color system. It ROCKS! It takes a bit of color theory but man when you have the formulas and get used to it, it makes varying flesh tones easy as pie. I could write a post of my new palette on the forum if I had enough interest. There are 3 variations (depending on what the race of your subject is), and when I was searching for it there is hardly anywhere on line that explains it. I had to take a class from a friend of mine who has been professionally trained in the palette specifically. The painting I am working on currently is the first painting I have used it on and will be done in about 2 weeks. If I were to write about the palette it would be quite long and be a novel but unless it is laid out in a grid and explained it is complex as hell. But as I said, if there is enough of an interest I could explain it in detail.

[nick]

And as to the patience, it's weird man. I have an extreme case of A.D.D. and I know everyone says that but most people don't know how hard it is for people like me. I have a hard time focusing on much of anything for an extended period of time. I sometimes have a hard time talking to people and maintaining eye contact, not because I am trying to be rude, but because I un-intentionally get distracted. Painting and art has always been the one thing that calms me down and that I can focus on. I forget to sleep, eat, and even go to the bathroom. haha My friends often ask how I can sit in one chair and do a single thing for so long because even they can't do it. But I have been told it is the equivalent of meditation for me. It just gives me something I enjoy that I am so focused on one single at a time, it quiets my mind.

[Vinoshitto]

Interesting reading this!
I have felt it before, and feel it even more now reading this, that I want to cool down on tattooing for a while, step back and go an art class for a year. Just to open up my mind to new ways. Then come back way stronger! As soon as Ive opened up the new shop and schooled up some apprentice, Im gonna go take that class!!

I understand completly what you mean with the ADD.. the put that diagnose on my in the mid 90s.
And I cant focus for shit on stuff I have no interest in. But when it comes to things I have interest in I'm totally focused for a long time.

I guess its like this with ADD: its like the brain automaticly shifts to This is some boring shit-mode as soon as there is something out of the spectrum of interest. And the totally opposite when there is.

When I met my spouse I used to lay on my back and draw stuff in the air with my finger.. she thought I was some Rainman case.. took her a while to dare to ask me what the hell I was doing.
Said I have no idea..
I dont know if that is some ADD shit or just plain stupid behavior.

Keep up the good work. Gonna go far you!

[nick]

Yeah Vinoshitto, My mind definitely works in both extremes. In terms of what you are saying about art classes. I heard a quote the other day from a business seminar I was watching online. He said, "Never pay someone to do what you want to do, and get stuck doing the things you never wanted to do". Tattooing is great, I love it. It is most definitely the hardest art form in the world in my opinion and I am so fortunate to have found this career to allow me to do what I want to do for a living. But if you are always working on client work all the time, you will never have time to do art just for yourself. And only being a tattoo artist for 2.5 years I have realized that most tattoo artists get stuck up on the idea that they are a tattoo artist and nothing else. Their egos soon follow and don't realize how much they can learn about tattooing and improve from learning other mediums. This is just my opinion of course.

[CajunDave]

haha man u described me perfectly. i struggle to sit and tattoo ...it begins to drive me nuts after 35-45 minutes and i usually break after an hour and gotta take a smoke break or something. crazy thing is i only need 3 -4 minutes to talk away from the tattoo and i can sit down after that refreshed and focused . but after 45 more minutes i feel like i cant sit still any longer .
u can see this effect in alot of the old masters oil paintings.
paintings look great man! id try to add some sfumato to your work (smoke like edges). makes a huge difference with realistic painting...but tricky to pull off. also there is a realism oil painter by the name of scott waddell. he has some short videos on youtube which are amazing. definatly watch them . his video on color and chroma are so informative. made a big difference in my oil painting and my color tattooing.

[nick]

Well that's the thing. Tattooing is easy for me to sit for awhile too. Not as much as painting but I can still tattoo for a good 2-3 hrs before I need to stretch it out. Most of my tattoos are one client a day and just chill with that person the whole time and get 6 hrs of tattooing done.

What do you mean smokey edges? Do you have a link to a reference so that I could see what you mean. Sounds cool. And yeah Scott Waddell does amazing work.

[CajunDave]

the edges for the most part blend and disappear into the background. it helps the painting look like the image wasnt cut out and pasted over the background. some artist can do it alla prima which is fucking hard...most use glazes to do this. u make a glaze the same color as the background that falls next to the edge u want to smoke out (basically soften and fade with the background) and lay it over the hard edge. u do this in layers a few times with drying time inbetween. or u can try alla prima. u can also have everything dry and then break down and make a glaze of the flesh tone of the face and put a few layers of that around the edges of the face.
heres a few references . these are all paintings by david grey, amazing oil painter!

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http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb6jx9MFtz1qep93so2_1280.jpg

[CajunDave]

both of these have great examples of stumato in them. second picture if u look along the back of her neck and down her shirt u can see how the paint kinda diffuses into the background leaving a hazy edge. u can also see it on the front of her neck and under her chin, the edge of the face above her eye...and the entire head of hair all has soft edges. to me sfumato is one of the techniques that can give your paintings the "it" factor.

[nick]

That's amazing. I want to try this now.i will have to do It on my next painting I start because I am already committed to my current background In the painting I am working on now. I will be doing more research on this for sure! Do you have any examples of your work? You have no idea how stoked and geeked out I am now to want to learn to do this! Thanks a ton

[CajunDave]

ive taken a break from oil painting the past 4-5 months but here is one i did last year.(shitty iphone pic) you can see heavy sfumato on the left edge of the face almost completely fading in with the background. did it by making a really transparent glaze of ivory black and medium and layering it over the edge of his face and letting it dry a few days then doing it again until desired effect was achieved.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/12620_297684263683711_1981304012_n.jpg

i used it in this painting as well but i think i went a little overboard.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/481414_297679373684200_1867641883_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/215006_297686567016814_2102435371_n.jpg

[nick]

Definitely need to try this out

[Vinoshitto]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLO7tCdBVrA

[Vinoshitto]

Also, look up the technique of chiaroscuro.

[nick]

I will be doing more research on that too Vinoshitto