I've haven't post latetely since I was planning on moving my Journal to its own domain to manage it myself. Finally the time has come! From now on, I won't be updating this pages. The new blog will be at: http://blog.paintercreations.com

It's been a while since I last updated my blog. I've been so busy. I am excited because I finally put together my new online learning center where artist and aspiring artist can learn about traditional and digital painting. It takes a considerable amount of time to put together each classroom so I will be building it little by little.

In my classrooms, I always support my lessons with videos showing and supporting what's being discussed. This is why it takes some time to prepare each class. But it's definitely worth the effort. And of course, there will be quizzes and assignments to do. So be prepare to really study! LOL

If you are an experienced artist and would like to be part of the staff, you may contact me directly.

The new home for the online learning center is: http://paintercreations.org/learn/
Feel free to look around and email me your suggestions.

Solitude II DVD Digital Painting Video Demonstration has just been released!
2 DVD Set - 4 Hours of Video
In this video, you will see how you can achieve the look of traditional painting using Painter program. My approach of painting digitally is similar to how I paint traditionally. I apply all my knowledge as a traditional artist to my digital art as well.

In this portrait demonstration, I'll show you how I painted Solitude II from start to finish. I also explain how the brushes I used work and when to use them.
Since Painter replicates all conventional mediums, it allows me to paint digitally with a similar approach, building my portraits by applying paint over paint, without the use of any filter, cloning, or any automated action. No Undo is used either since I believe that when you fix your mistakes by applying paint over paint, it will add to the richness of your painting. This is very well demonstrated when you see how I 'struggled' while painting his ear! Order your copy today and take advantage of this great Introductory Price!

Bonus:
All brushes I used, including my captured brush and a video showing how they work will be available to those who order the DVD set! Free!

For more information visit my website: www.janetgarcia.com
To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo
To view some work in progress pictures, select the link from the top right menu:
Solitude II - Oils wip.

Stay tuned for the soon to be released Solitude I - conte,pastel portrait!

I've been working with pyrography. Pyrography is the art of burning. I combined Prismacolor pencils with the burning of the wolf. Burning the colored pencil marks will set the color on the wood. This project took several hours to complete.

I did this project while following a great instructional DVD set from Artist Lynda Gibbs Eaves, and although I did this pyrography/painting, the original design is copyrighted by Lynda. For more information on her instructional DVD sets, visit her website at: http://pyrography.blogspot.com/2004/07/lobo-wolf-pyrography-dvd-release.html

This is one of my new pieces of art. I started by drawing the portrait on a piece of paper. Then I redraw the portrait on a Tagua nut. The Tagua nut is a renewable rainforest crop used in place of ivory, thus called Vegetable Ivory.  The Tagua Nut is the dried seed pod of the Tagua Palm tree. These seeds are harvested in the rainforests of Ecuador. While it may take many years for them to form, the harvesting does no harm to the trees allowing for many years of productive growth.  Once the nuts are harvested and dried, they form a very hard material very similar to animal Ivory in appearance and workability. Covered in a tough outer skin which when peeled reveals an Ivory-White interior.

Once I re-drew the image on the Tagua nut, I engraved it. Then I 'pyrographed' it or burned it with a burning tool to increase the intensity of shadow areas. Once finished, the image was sealed and a leather necklace was added.

I've been currently working on Scrollsaw Portraits. The most important part of the process is the design and making sure that you don't leave loose pieces. All parts of the wood must be connected to each other. Otherwise the piece will fall.

Here are some examples:




This portrait is from my painting: "Prayerful Jesus."

I reproduced the wood carving of Christ (see May 1st journal entry) as Acrylics with some tinted colors.

Here is the first version in beige:




The second version was done in blue:




And the last version, I left it clear.




Light pass through them in a different way. They look better when lit from behind. I will probably build some type of stand for them.

Christ Woodcarving
I did this woodcarving from imagination. It is approximately 2"x2"x1.5".

The idea was to use it as a paperweight.













I will reproduce this carving in acylic. Stay tuned.

I just finished the sculpting of Cristo Rey. You can view the painting reference in my website. With this sculpture, I wasn't after any likeness. I was more interested in the pose.

What I am going to do now is to make a mold to reproduce it.
Here are some pictures at different angles. Thanks for visiting.

This is the final piece:




The following two are work in progress:

Hi,
I am currently working on transforming one of my digital painting into a 3D scupture. A small one though. I was carving it in wood but thought it would be helpful to sculpt it in clay first. Once I finish the model, I will proceed to make a mold.

Here is what I have so far.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.



The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

Finally, I got the chance to finish Solitude II - Digital Oil painting!!!!
Here are the final steps.

Step 62:
I worked on his shirts paying more attention to folds and detail, adding dark blues and red to areas in deep shadow.




Step 63:
Once I defined better his shirts, I went back to his neck to soften and blend it better, giving it a smoother texture. I also worked on his forehead, the top of his head, nose, cheeks and hair.




Step 64:
Here is the completion of the portrait. Notice the addition of color and definition of details on his face and shirt.




Step 64:
Close up of his face.




I hope you have enjoyed this work in progress.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.



The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

Step 58:
I reworked the shadows on his neck and face adding greens and reds.





Step 59:
I worked some more on his neck blending a little all applied paint. I was trying to make his neck darker than how I had it before.





Step 60:
I added now some blues and purple to the neck and started also to work on the shirt.





Step 60:
I kept working on the shirt adding reds and blues to shadow areas.





Step 61:
I still need to work on his neck, but I wanted to work on the shirt first. Once I finish with the shirt, I will concentrate on his face, neck and hair.




Tomorrow, hopefully, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.



Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
jmg_Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

Ok I've been so busy lately that haven't been able to update my journal as frequently as I desired, but here is another update.

Step 52:
I continued here adding pink tones to the forehead to balance all other colors on his face.





Step 53:
In this close up, you can better appreciate the brushstrokes on his forehead as well as on the hair. Notice the many different colors and tones.





Step 54:
I have painted some shadow on the back of his hair and reshaped his eyebrows too. Some green tones were added to the hair.






Step 55:
I added now some bluish grey tones on his hair.





Step 56:
In this step, I was working on his beard adding different tones.





Step 57:
You can see here that white hair is never really white.







Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.




Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
jmg_Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.


Step 47:
Close up shot so that you can see the brushes stokes and detail.





Step 48:
Finally, I started working on his mouth by adding purples as undertones.





Step 49:
Once I got the mouth dark enough, I proceeded to reshape his beard working on values. This time, I am using the jmg_Round Camel Hair-hair custom brush.





Step 50:
I continue adding greens to his beard and hair to mix them with the bluish-grey tones I added at the beginning.





Step 51:
I zoomed in to better reshape his hair adding also some yellow-green tones.




Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.



Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates. To view previous month's entries, select Archive from the links at the top.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.


Step 42:
I started again refining his neck.





Step 43:
Now for some blending on his neck.





Step 44:
After working further on his neck, I darkened the back area of his shirt which is in deep shadow. I also defined a little better the yellow collar of his inside t-shirt.





Step 45:
I reworked his neck adding different colors to it to add interest.





Step 46:
I started to work again on his forehead and temple adding pinks.




Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.



Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.


Step 37:
I continued shaping his forehead, more the area above his eyebrows, adding a basic red tone before adding lighter values that will shape this area between the eyes.





Step 38:
I added the lighter values, using some pinks on the area between his eyes to achieve more likeness.





Step 39:
Here is a closer view of his face.





Step 40:
I worked further on the face. Notice the pinks, brighter oranges and how the face structure is being developed. Still, I haven't touched the mouth.





Step 41:
Finally, I started working on his ear defining lighter areas.





Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.



Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

Step 31:
Once the eye was a little fixed, I started to work on the rest of his face adding more yellow tones to areas hit by the light.





Step 32:
I zoomed out a little bit to see how his face was looking from a distance. Some more work needs to be done on his eyes. I haven't painted his mouth either.





Step 33:
I zoomed in to work on the bridge of his nose and other features this time using my jmg_Soft_Impasto custom brush for smaller areas and better blending and brush control.





Step 34:
Now, I went back to his eyes, darkening the irises and reshaping his eye bags.





Step 35:
I added more detail on the irises and eyelids.





Step 36:
Once I was satisfied with this basic shaping of the eyes, I proceeded to work more on his forehead.





Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo


P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.



Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

Step 21:
I mixed some white with the greens at certain areas of the green shirt.





Step 22:
Still working on his shirts. Mixing several green tones. I am mixing paint directly on the canvas with the same brush. Since I started this painting on January 23rd., I haven't change brushes yet. You can accomplish a lot with just one type of brush in Painter IX. There is really no need to use many brushes or different categories to do an effective painting.





Step 23:
I added bright yellows to his yellow shirt and then I turned off my sketching layer to evaluate the overall painting. (I kept the sketching off for the reminder of the process, only turning it on sporadically to check details.)





Step 24:
I started forming his forehead adding some darker warm tones to pull this area to the front and keep the eye sockets residing.





Step 25:
Once I finished adding darker values, I proceeded to add his eyebrows. Notice how eyebrows are so particular to a subject. This is an important feature that needs to be painted as accurately as possible to maintain likeness.





Step 26:
Here, I started working on the nose especially on areas in shadow.





Step 27:
I started working around his eyes making preparations to paint the 'white' of his eyes.





Step 28:
I added the white of his eyes. Notice that the so called 'white of the eyes' are not really white. They are usually bluish grey and on some people, they are yellowish. So, never paint them white. I also started painting his eye bags.





Step 29:
Adding lighter areas to shape the eyes, I added mistakenly too much paint around the eyes but I never use the Undo feature of my painting program. I think that correcting mistakes right on the canvas with more paint will add to the richness of it and it would look more natural.





Step 30:
I am correcting his right eye, first, darkening that lighter paint I added mistakenly on my previous step.





Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.




Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

Step 16:
I started working of his shirt, adding red, which is the compliment of green, to areas in shadow. I also added some lighter green to the shirt.





Step 17:
I added very bright green colors. This particular model likes to wear very bright colors. I guess he is a very happy person. LOL.





Step 18:
Still working on the shirt, I also added some blues to areas in shadow paying attention to the folds.





Step 19:
Still working on his shirt, I now added bright yellows to areas being hit by the light.





Step 20:
This time I work on his yellow shirt underneath the green one.





Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo


P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.




Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

Step 11:
I still have the sketch layer on.
I finished all darks on the face. Now I started adding some other color combinations to the face paying close attention to form. At this stage, I am like sculpting his face.





Step 12:
I continued adding more yellows and pinks to the face. I also work on the hair adding some greenish tones.





Step 13:
I went back to the face and reshaped some areas like his cheeks.





Step 14:
Here, I added different tones of yellow to the forehead and the top of his head. I also added some dark pinks to his cheeks, lightening the areas in shadow.






Step 15:
Once I finished adding still basic colors, I turned off my sketch layer, which is on top of my canvas layer, to better see how my painting is developing. I call this stage 'the muck up stage' because what I have right now is just the base where I will later on add the details and define his features.

Never be afraid to make areas in shadow very dark. This is part of the process and those values will be lighten up when I paint with local colors and add the reflected light.





Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo


P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.





Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. Some of it's settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16x20
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

Step 6:
I started now to block in some basic colors for the hair. At this moment, it is bluish, but later on I will add other colors that will be closer to the subjects' hair color.





Step 7:
Still filling out the hair. Now adding darker tones on the back.





Step 8:
At this stage, I finished the first layer of paint on the hair.




Step 9:
Now I started working on the shirt's basic colors. I needed to do this and all previous steps to better assess his skin colors. If I started working on the face too early, once I do the surrounding areas, I would have to go back and adjust my skin colors since they are relative to surrounding colors. This is why it is preferable to add a layer of paint to the whole canvas before starting to work with details and actual colors.





Step 10:
Once I finished applying the first layers of paint, I concentrated on the dark areas of the face, like the eye sockets and the side of his face, adding darker undertones.





Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II. Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.




Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil's Round Camel Hair - for hair

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 20" x 16"
Working Size: 10" x 8" at 150 dpi

This is a digital painting I am currently working on. I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

This is the reference photo I am currently working from. (This Photo and all images in this site are Copyrighted © 2006 Janet M. Garcia.) The reference photo was taken by myself at a live workshop. I have painted this subject in the past several times with traditional oils and pastel from a live sitting.





Step 1:
For this video, I wanted to show viewers the option of sketching by cloning from the source, although I recommend not to use it so that you can further improve your drawing skills which are going to help with you painting skills too. The resulting sketch is shown below.

I decided on a dark brown background to keep the mood of the painting in a quiet environment. The sketch, I decided to draw it with a light color using a 2B Pencil so it would show up better against the dark background.






Step 2:
I started painting the background with the Flat Oils 30 and 40 from the Oils category. This is a soft brush that won't leave too much impasto marks and it's very good for blending several colors directly on the support.






Step 3:
For this step, I chose my custom brush: JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick. This is a custom brush based on the Artist's Oils' Clumpy Brush. When I was naming this brush I misspelled it and instead of naming it Clumpy, I named it Clumpsy. LOL I guess I had the word clumsy on my mind. LOL.

I started blocking in some flesh tones on the face. This brush allows me to blend my selected color with the chosen background/canvas color. This is why it is very important to select a background/canvas color before starting to paint. If I had chosen white, my brush would be blending my flesh color with white, changing then my end result.






Step 4:
Once I covered the face with a basic flesh tone, I added darker flesh tones to areas in shadow. Shadows can be cool or warm depending on the light source.






Step 5:
I continued to add darker flesh tones to all areas in shadow, like his neck and the side of the nose.






Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.

To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo


P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post. Don't forget to leave your name, so that I know who visited my Artists' Journal.

I am currently working on another piece titled Solitude II. This time I'll be exploring Artist's Oils and it will be a male model. I'll be posting some work in progress pictures on Monday.

The work in progress for this painting will also be available in DVD soon. Stay tuned.

Since many traditional artists as well as digital artists have asked me several times what do I use to create my digital paintings (digital fine artwork), I've decided to include as part of my journal an brief explanation of the tools I use to create my artwork.

 

Hardware:

I am currently using the Wacom Cintiq 21X monitor/tablet shown below (featuring one of my digital drawings). The Cintiq functions as my monitor and at the same time, as my tablet, so I paint/draw with an electronic pen or stylus directly to my monitor. So this monitor is my drawing table and support! The stylus/pen is sensitive to pressure so I can draw/paint with strokes of different opacities and size.

 

 

 

If I am at my other computer, I use my Wacom Intuos 3 Tablet featured below. With this type of setup, I paint/draw on the tablet, as shown here, and whatever I draw/paint is shown on my secondary 21" monitor (not shown).

 

 

 

 

When I am away from my studio/office, I travel with my Toshiba Tablet PC, shown bellow. My Tablet PC is a computer/notebook that allows me to rotate and turn the screen 'upside-down' to allow me to write, draw, or paint directly to the display, just like the Cintiq.

 

 

 

Software

I use Painter IX to paint digitally and PhotoshopCS to prepare my reference material and web content. I believe Painter is the best program for Digital Fine Arts because of it's many options and wide range of brushes and many different categories. Even is an artist don't want to create a finish product digitally, the program is still great to do your color studies, sketches, putting down your ideas, playing with composition and other alternatives. Photoshop, in my opinion, is the best program for photo editing and composition.

 

        

 

So, now you have an idea of what I use to create my colorful Digital Fine Art.

 

Thanks for visiting my journal once more.

 

Don't forget to scan through other dates on the calendar at the top right. You really don't want to miss anything, right?  See you soon.

 

This work in progress started on January 12th. (You can navigate to a different date through the calendar that appears on the right.)

 

The work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.

In this page, I will show the last steps in the creation of Solitude.

 

Up to this point, as I mentioned yesterday, I has spent 1.5 hours. This is straight painting hours. This time does not include any preparation time. Nor the breaks! LOL With the addition of this segment, the total painting time has reached 4 hours of straight painting, from start to finish and last minute corrections.

 

Tools Used:

2B Pencil (Pencil Category)

Tapered Conte 8 (Conte Category)

Sandy Pastel Paper

 

I started this session with her ear. Remember that I didn't touch it for a while? I'll never do that again. It gave me such a hard time! My fault! I was supposed to work with it at the same time I worked with her face. I guess I had a moment there. I don't know why I left it for later. LOL

 

 

 

At this stage, I started to work more detailed on the hair trying to closely follow the directions of her wavy hair and to mimic it's texture by applying bold strokes. I set my brush to a reasonable size to fill in the masses.

 

 

Here, I added reddish tones to her hair and reshaped and softened the hairline.

 

 

 

Here I painted some hair strands. Notice the hair on her back. Values are important here because the hair on the back is in shadow. Whenever I went too light, I increased my brush size considerably to tone it down with a darker value. The area on the top-front needed to be lighter because is receiving more light.

 

I also tried to fix her eye but I screw it up. Trying to fix it, I even mistakenly placed some reddish mark on the bridge of her nose that now it's touching her almost hidden eyelashes (the tiny eyelashes on our right). I will later have to come back to it and fix this. Painting is always about correction, correction and more correction.

 

 

 

Now I added her necklace paying special attention to where the light is coming from. Since the right should be a tidy bit lighter, I added some lighter values of yellow ochre.

 

 

 

Still not totally happy with her eye, I decided to take my chances again and rework it. I also added her earring.

 

 

 

Now, it was time for the dress. I added yellows for areas receiving light. For areas in shadow, I added green. I also simulated the texture of her dress painting thin and lighter lines .

 

 

 

I got back to the eye. Yes, again. It has given me such a hard time.  

 

I signed the painting thinking that I was done, but I forgot that I needed to tone down the green on her chin since it was too strong.

 

 

 

 

Finally, corrected the eye! This time for sure! Also corrected the area between her nose and lips. And done!

 

 

 

This is the close up shot so that you can see all facial details and texture. And my eye, of course! LOL

 

 

 

This brings this work-in-progress to an end. I hope you have enjoyed all progressions and that it has provided you with valuable information regarding how to work in Painter IX using the Conte brush and following the same principles of traditional painting.

 

I will now proceed to work on the recorded video featuring the progress of this painting. I'll be posting her in my journal when this DVD becomes available. So, stay tuned!

 

For my next project, I will be working on a different media but I am not sure which one yet. Any suggestions? See you soon!

 

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post.

 

Don't forget to view the other two previous pages by navigating the calendar that appear on the top right of this page and selecting January 12th and January 13th.

 

Thank you once more for visiting my blog. Hey, that rhymes!

You can also view the beginning of this work in progress by selecting Jan 12 from the calendar or selecting the 'previous date' link below. For the last steps, go to Jan 14th or select the 'next date' link below.

If you leave a comment, please leave your name so that I know who responded, if you like. Thanks.

 

This work in progress started on January 12th. (You can navigate to a different date through the calendar that appears on the right.) This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.

 

Tools Used:

2B Pencil (Pencil Category)

Tapered Conte 8 (Conte Category)

Sandy Pastel Paper

 

I am following up on Solitude's work-in-progress posted yesterday.

 

On the following step, you will notice that I have increased the intensity of reds, especially on her skin because my goal is a warm painting. I softened some areas by applying color with very, very little pressure on my stylus/pen to avoid having hard edges where they are not supposed to be.

 

 

 

 

Here, I defined her eyes a little better and also added more color to the hair for better definition. I also added more tones of green to the skin. I haven't done anything on her ear yet LOL, but I know that soon I will have to. That little icon you see close to her nose is my brush. I forgot to move it away before capturing the screen. LOL.

 

 

 

Here I added yellow-orange very lightly, so that it would be like a glazing in other painting mediums, to the entire skin to unify it.

 

 

 

I covered the purples on her forehead with different tones of orange and reshaped her nose that was a little off. I also reshaped her mouth and added some dark values between the lips. I also reshaped the corner of her mouth. To do this type of detail, I always Zoom In by pressing Ctrl and the plus sign (+) on the keyboard. To Zoom Out, just press Ctrl and the minus key (-) on the keyboard.  I also have set up one of the touch strips on the side of my Wacom to zoom in and out. I also corrected the shape of her nose.

 

Until now (besides the 2B Pencil I used for the sketch in the beginning), I have only used the same Conte brush for everything you have seen so far. You can accomplish a lot with only one brush at different sizes and opacity. The entire process has taken 1:30 hour until now. This includes yesterday.

 

This is it for today! I hope you enjoyed it. If you missed the start of this painting, just select January 12 on the calendar on the top right of your screen. It will redirect you to Part I of Solitude.

 

I hope you've found this work in progress interesting. I will probably add more steps tomorrow. Thanks again for visiting.

 

P.D. Feel free to leave any message or comments by selecting the link that says "Leave a comment" located at the bottom right at the end of this post.

 

 

You can view further progress on Jan 13 and 14 by selecting the corresponding date on the calendar that appear at the top right, or by selecting the navigational link below for 'next page'.

If you leave a comment, please leave your name so that I know who responded, if you like. Thanks.

This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.

Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category)
Tapered Conte 8 (Conte Category)
Sandy Pastel Paper

This is a digital painting I am currently working on. I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter's selections and options as I go. This video will be available at the end when I finish the portrait completely.

I chose the Sandy Pastel Paper for this project because I'll be using the Tapered Conte 8 from the Conte category of brushes and this particular brush reacts to the paper texture just as traditional pastel and conte allows you to show the paper's grain through your strokes. I toned the paper with a mid to dark tone of grey because the whole painting will be fairly dark and will help me speed up when filling out the background. The exact grey tone used are of these values: R79, G79, B79.

Here is the reference photo I will use for this project. I shot this photo myself at a live oil painting session. (All pictures, graphics, and photos shown here are copyrighted material).




Once I setup my workspace, I start the process selecting my 2B Pencil with a dark grey to sketch the model. I sketched the model on a new layer that I kept on top of the Canvas to guide me. As part of this sketch, I also drew the shadow areas to facilitate later the application of color to the different areas.




I now started to block in the areas with different colors. The purpose of these combinations of color is to act as an under-painting or muck-up for the final colors.




Once I finished blocking in the shapes and covering the entire paper with basic colors, I proceeded to add additional combinations of color, paying attention to the light source. At this point, I am not worry about likeness yet since I will be adding lots of color over and over until I feel that I am ready to detail the features.




Notice the bold strokes and colors applied that still act as under-painting.




In this step, I felt I needed to add stronger colors to her dress in order to be able to judge the values and my color choices for her skin color and tone.




Now, I defined better the areas in shadow on her dress.




After adding the basic color to her dress, I continue adding color to her skin, this time being more careful while applying my stokes. At all times, I've been using very little pressure on my stylus. This keeps the colors translucent, just as they are with the equivalent Traditional Media. Notice also that I turned off my sketch (you can turn off a layer by clicking on the eye next to the layer's name on the Layer's Palette) and worked with even smaller brushes to better define her facial features; this time trying to have a better likeness.




I hope you've found this work in progress interesting. I will probably add more steps tomorrow. Thanks for visiting.

This is a Digital Acrylic Painting with impasto for texture.

The goal for this painting was to stay loose in my brush strokes. Likeness wasn't important, but color was for this particular piece since I wanted a vibrant, expressionist painting. This painting probably portrays what many men do often: watch TV.

This painting was done in Painter IX.
Tools Used:
Wet Acrylic 30
Wet Soft Acrylic 30
Dry Brush 30
Basic Paper

All brushes were used at its default settings. I just changed their size as needed. A canvas texture was added at the end.

I did this painting this past year but has just been made available through my website.





Detail view:




Thanks for visiting.