Intro: As you already know I have plenty of portraits sketched out and ready to go. They are on their final stages, with the guided lines that I use to paint already set up on watercolor paper. All of them are 4"x6" and waiting for my to lay down paint on them. I do believe I have now roughly 24 total faces with half of them painted and completed. Below are the first pair that I actually got requests for during the 29 Faces Challenge. What I created: again, 4"x6" postcards done on Canson watercolor paper using Reeves watercolor paints and normal white gel pen with Le Pen marker for detailing. Face #11 - plumhill2001 (Lisa R.) She has given me permission to keep the original as a part of my portfolio. She provided me 3 references to work with and I found this one to be the most unique as it is not a simple selfy done with a mobile phone. This makes me wonder if I can get enough volunteers to sign up for a Selfy project... Face #12 - zandradee (Rebecca W.) I have got permission to keep this portrait in my portfolio as well. I really liked how the realistic anime approach worked out with this portrait - something that I need to practice. Define Selfy (Project): I mentioned it in face #11 so might as well give some details on it. I am hoping to get roughly 20 people to sign up for this project or more (even better if I get more). I think it'll be interesting to see how people take selfies, not just using a mobile phone. I'll limit a "normal" and modern selfy to only one individual from the group of volunteers and request that everyone else tries something different. It'll be hard to get volunteers as not that many people like getting paintings done of themselves. Limiting the use of phones might not be a good idea... but it would be less unique if everyone who volunteered used a phone. It would be free of charge of course... all you have to do is send me a reference picture to work with and be okay with getting a printed copy of the original work.
I really want to do this project, especially near September. Let me know if you are interested? Any tips or ideas maybe...?
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Intro: I know I have not posted anything in awhile as I have been focusing more on making art instead of sharing it online. Activity has been low from me on all sites, except for Instagram but I am only playing catch-up on there.
What am I making? I have been making all sorts of things... I for one spent a lot of time on DeviantArt.com just catching up with users that I follow. I have been scouting on there for plenty of things like references and good photographers who offer stock to be used for painting - I found plenty of good ones that do not have crazy rules. I have also gotten addicted to this new habit of the virtual world called adopts! I made a new account on dA for just adopts (ParadoxAdopt.deviantart.com) where I posted only three characters so far. I did create roughly 23 already that are ready to be posted. Because of this, some people only let you adopt if you make them art in return so I have some art requests that need to be done. Look at how lazy I am getting at providing links...tsss. I was chatting up with a fellow artist via FaceBook and learned about a new art site - ArtStation.net. Has anyone used this website before? I went ahead and made an account on there... I am not sharing at this time as I have not posted any art on there. I am still trying to understand the atmosphere there and the how-tos of the website. For those that are waiting on something from me: I am going on vacation (out of country) for 2 weeks in March so I would not be able to create any art. I am going to have some limited access to the net during this time, so I should be able to stay in touch but I'll have to work on art when I get back. I am going to try to finish some things before leaving but no promises.... with that, this is where my list of things to do stands at this time concerning art:
ARPG Update: I figured updates on this topic were due as it'll become a big part of my art now. You'll be seeing art of my characters and personal ARPG group (SandhuEstates.deviantart.com) coming up. The list above gave a hint at some things. I have been writing drafts (all saved to Gmail at this time) that need to be posted to the group. One point of creating this group was to provide an easy access for myself to settings (places, locations, etc) for my stories and characters. If a world was already established with details then it makes things easier to just have the characters adventuring in said world. Another reason for this group was: I have been meaning to make my own field guide for some time now. This group gives me the base for doing so. My first main project is going to be focused on making art for plants (and the like) on tea bags. I'll then attach those tea bags to pages in a journal to create a field guide. It'll have a feeling of scrapbooking, bullet journal, plus visual journal/collage book. I am trying to decide for the other categories what kind of canvas I should use. I really like the idea of recycling so I'll have to do some research. Recently in the EAU forum thread (ATCsForAll) there was discussion on recycling old Monopoly game cards. I might have to get some myself to use for my field guides. I want each category to have a different media... the categories being: plants, amphibians, insects, reptiles, mammals, other creatures & beasts. Final thoughts: I do not think I'll be sharing art on here for another 2 weeks or so.. unless I am able to put together a post while on vacation - but no promises. Intro: as predicted by myself... I got behind due to other art distractions! Woohoos for starting off my first challenge properly. At any rate... I am putting all efforts into this challenge now as I find it is helping me find my own art style. I am starting to figure out what things (elements, color choices, decorations, etc) I like putting in my art. I spent the weekend (partially) catching up but did not spend enough time. If I had spent some of Sunday catching up then I would have gotten ahead but that was not to be...
What I created: As you can see from the slideshow above, I created four total faces this weekend. I had only one sketched out before but I sketched the other three on Thursday. All four were painted Friday evening and majority of Saturday afternoon. All four are ATC sized (2.5"x3.5") and done in watercolors with some detailing in Le Pen marker and white gel pen. These are probably going to be the last of my ATC sized faces for this month... I have up to number 24 sketched out all on postcard sized canvases (4"x6"). I might for the last few come back to ATC just because they are quicker to finish but who knows...it'll depend on my mood. For Portrait #06 (Janine) I went and had a little experiment with materials and my style. I would say that it was fun but I would probably not make faces in this style again as I did not like how her hair turned out in the end. I used distress ink to lay down the foundation for background and some parts of the face. Then went in with watercolors on the face only. Added to that I used Prismacolor Markers to make the bold shading in the hair plus some areas of the face. Final touches were done with a white gel pen, Le Pen Marker, Sharpie Fine-Point. Further thoughts: Out of nowhere... I have gotten this blog an Instagram account (ParadoxSketchbook). I'll be focusing on uploading all of my work on there (all media, and all canvas types). I might eventually start sharing some works-in-progress and just other musings. Along with ARPG related art... that'll be big starting in March as I have officially joined 2 ARPGs and am in the process of working on joining 3 more. You ask why so many? Only because I know I get tired of drawing the same subject over and over again... so just to keep my creativity fresh and your eyes fresh it'll be nice to keep rotating between them all. I am planning on finishing up my first art related to an ARPG for a February event soon but it is not a priority right now. March has another challenge in store for me... Arch Triptych Challenge! I have already prepared the canvas that I'll be painting for the challenge... and soon to start coming up with themes and possible sketches this week. I hope you do join me when the time comes as I find the challenge quite entertaining. Intro: Week one of the 29 Faces Challenge for February was great and very productive. I was able to get the first two faces done in one day... but then this weekend got really tiring and just not healthy. I was not able to create face #06... Looks like this week I'll be playing catch up. I was able to get #06 to #24 all sketched out and ready to go! #06 is still an ATC (for this swap) but the rest are all on 4"x6" postcard canvases. I already went ahead and purchased an simple leather album from Hobby Lobby (only for $3.49) to start collecting postcards in. My first blind postcard from a PIF already came in, plus I'll be getting 2 more from MMHs so it looks like the album should fill up quickly. Especially when I have all of these faces completed.
What I created: I made all of the faces on ATCs sized canvases (2.5"x3.5"). The first two have already been traded for personal trades (so quick!). And the next three are for the Paying Tribute - Celebrities We Lost in 2016 Swap. All were done with watercolor paints plus detailing done using Le Pen markers and white gel pen. Further thoughts: I am not so sure if I'll be able to get the bigger sized canvases done all in one day now.. I found that working with the faces on ATC sized canvas was pretty quick even with details. But the details did get difficult to create even with a really tiny brush. It looks like I might need to purchase markers/pens for detailing seeing as the brushes are not working out. At any rate I am still going to stick to my goal of finishing one face a day even if they are on postcard sized canvases now. No further requests came in for portraits but I was able to get a really lovely collection put together on Paint My Photo plus some images from a Facebook page (with permission). I still have 5 more faces left to think about... I might use the Facebook page for those seeing as I have not used any of their images for reference. For the upcoming week I'll have my first 3 requests completed. I have already sketched a self-portrait so I'll not be shying away from that. I am going to keep the last 5 slots open still just in case I do get a request.
Intro: The start of a new month... and the start of a new challenge: 29 Faces! A challenge started by Ayala... it is held every February and September. The goal is to draw, illustrate, or paint 29 faces (yes that means those dreadful portraits) and have them completed by the end of the month. Some artists work on really detailed and time-consuming faces and thus cannot complete 29 faces in one month... but there are no set rules saying that you have to complete that many.
February 2017: So for the month of February 2017, I'll be working on portraits as well. I have had a similar project come up in the past that after not much activity ended up at a standstill. I am going to bring that back up once again to see if I can get two birds with one stone. I have a list of friends who have already signed up (eons ago) to have their portraits done by me..and the invitation is still open to everyone. If I do not get to your portrait this month then I'll get to it in September...so do let me know if you want to help me by being a model. You can send me an image to work with as that works out best... due to location differences it can be difficult to do live modeling but we can attempt it. You can read about it all on my dA journal. I'll be posting my works for this challenge on here once a week... you can keep tabs by selecting the #29faces category on this blog. My theme: There is already a theme set as it is about faces but I wanted to get more specific... I have previously done portraits in pencils...colored pencils and pens so this time I am going to focus on watercolor. I am going to put my Strathmore Visual Journal to use by filling it up with these 29 portraits. Who knows...if I feel inspired enough I might switch over to some acrylic portraits...maybe even oil paint (I have doubts about oil paint). I am going to stick to postcard sized canvas to try out portraits on a smaller scale. I do not think I am yet ready for ATC sized ones but perhaps when the challenge happens again in September I might be ready. References: for those needing references feel free to browse Paint My Photo. I am going to be referring to PMP when I run out of requests. There is also a whole thread focused on free-source reference photograph websites on ATCsForAll. Check that out if you need more references. Do share links to where you are going to be posting if you are participating in the challenge! |
Author: RejiI used to be a digital artist but switched back to traditional art as I feel more connected with the art I create this way. Currently, I create art whenever I can for art trades and commissions. I have worked with clay (earth clay to modern forms like Polymer, Sculpey, even Air Dry clay) along with watercolors, acrylics, oil paints, pastels, charcoal, pen and pencil drawings, India ink, Chinese Colors, wires, felt fabric, yarn, weaving, basket making, and the list goes on and on. I am currently working on exploring nail art, make-up, dress making, scrapbooking, and small canvas art. Archives
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