Creating Flower Girls
You have seen my “flower girls” posted in a previous blog. I made this video to show you how to create them. It is quick and easy – unless you choose to paint them as I did. But for this video, I chose to do a non painted demo just to show the technique. I think you will find it interesting – I hope you will enjoy.
I bet you never heard the term “negative” painting before. I had not until today – in my online class with Skip Allen, my watercolor instructor at the Digital Art Academy. There was quite a bit of discussion about this term. First of all it is a watercolor term, and it refers to painting in the negative space, the space which surrounds the focal point of your painting, to give the subject of your depth and luminosity. That as opposed to doing substantial positive painting on the subject of the painting itself. Am I being clear? Hopefully looking at my finished image helps. In case you are interested, Skip gave us references of a couple of watercolor painters who do “negative” watercolor painting,
Well, I am making progress – I hope you think so after what I showed you yesterday. That was playtime – this is more serious.
I started with this photograph. I think I was in – I am not sure really. I will do better with that next time. Anyway… the photo from which I painted…
I then took in into Corel Painter. This is how I set up my workspace. I am surrounded by many tools, brushes even images when I paint.
Thus is a screenshot I took while I painted. It shows the canvas I am painting on, to the right of that, there is a selection of paper textures I can bring into my painting to simulate watercolor paper or many other textures I might want to include. Next, my color wheel and to the right of that many short cuts for actions I might take during the course of my painting. On the bottom row you see another, what we call “custom pallet”. It is a way of keeping some of my favorite tools, commands and brushes close at hand. Next you see a blue toned water color image by traditional water colorist David Taylor. I wanted to keep it close at hand to reference his style and just for inspiration. Beyond that – more tools. Beyond that a mixer pad. I can mix colors on the mixing pad, just as any artist would use a mixing pad. In addition, new to Painter 12.1 I can bring in an image to my mixer pad to use in my selection of colors. In this instance, you can see a small version of my reference image. it served two purposes. One, I could select my colors from it as I painted, and two, it also served as my visual reference for the painting.
This is my final image – at least for today. I enjoyed painting it.
I don’t photograph lots of seniors but when I do I enjoy it. They are definitely fun to work with. I like to keep things simple, natural, and outdoors when possible using simple but complimentary settings. I think long tern and don’t want to go wild with the possibilities which are available to us digitally. I want to create timeless portrait. These are important portraits and mark for many a major turning point in life. The following are recent images of “Missy”.
Modest enhances were added to these images using Nik Software.
My monitor display is optimized using X-Rite Color management solutions, in this instance, i1 Pro Photo.
This process started when Karen Bonaker, instructor at the Digital Art Academy, mentioned that one of my paintings reminded her of Klimt with all of the gold on it. I thought I should go further and created this piece. The video allows me to share my creative process.
The world may not have needed my landscapes and portrait creations – but I created them anyway. I was there in 2008 and I am still selecting and painting images from that trip. I must say that the beautiful light Italy is known for hid itself during the days I was there. It was overcast and the light was very flat for the most part. It is fortunate that we now have such excellent software to pull out image detail and fortunate again for me that I can paint. I am including here a collection of mainly of paintings but a couple of my favorite enhanced photos as well. If you have not visited Italy, I hope these paintings and photos encourage you to do so.
A NEW must have Brush Set – Buttery Oils Download Here
Skip Allens Gold Leaf Brushes – Plus A must have – even if you don’t know it yet
Color Management
Winifred’s YouTube Channel – Corel Painter Tutorials Client Interviews and More
Nik Software Website – Launch Your Creativity
Winifred’s X-Rite and Nik Sponsored Webinar
I like it. It’s fun. Actually I was inspired by some of the concept artist – illustrators who design for games and other animation. This was my twist on it.
Can you believe even that the necklace was painted. No photo here. I have great brushes which do not come with Corel Painter – which allow me to create a painting like this – brushes created by David Gell
I never fully envisioned this. I just start with the sketchiest of an idea and keep putting one foot in front of the other following my inner guide. If I had known what I was doing from the beginning, it would not take so long.
Download Concept Glow Brushes from Jitter Brush
When I am working on a photograph or when I know I am going from a photograph to a painting, I have a very definite workflow which includes NIK software.
I find this first image – warm and loving. Nik Color Effect’s filter Dynamic Skin Softener has been applied. We could stop there – but NO!
In the second image, I have applied the filters Detail Extractor (one of my absolute favorite filters) and Tonal Contrast have been applied, but the contrast is moved toward the left to, the negative, to decrease rather than to increase the contrast. With both filters appliedI have both detail and a broad range of color intensity. I like this rich warm look as a starting place, particularly when I know I want to create a portrait painting.
In the image below, I have applied Nik Color Effects 4 Bleach Bypass filter. When back in Photoshop, I applied the Nik filter layer in the lighten blend mode to really “pop” the highlights of the image only. I have enough shadow detail.
In this digital environment, we have so many options available to us in how we create paintings. We can clone and take information and color from an underlying image, while retaining the ability to add new information, brushstrokes and unique creativity. We can paint on top of an image, smoothing, blending, changing texture and color. Creating custom work for my clients, the above two options are the best choices for retaining some degree of likeness and these are certainly the best options for most photographers who cannot paint. And then there is the process of painting from imagination and one needs to be able to paint to do this.
With this process I visualize an image – even if only a starting point and I start painting. I have no sketch, no photo to look at, no still life set before me. It is so liberating. It is an exploration. It is fun. That is how the paintings below were born recently. If at the end of a painting, I look at it and feel nothing – is it brings me no joy or has no power or impact, I simply delete it. The time and effort os never wasted. There is nothing to loose. If you are interested in learning to paint in any of the ways, I described, please send an inquiry so I can determine how I can assist you.
