Thursday, January 29, 2015

Studio Studio | Progress Color & Light - Week 1




Study by Mary Highstreet (Left), Original by Mike Hernandez (Right)




Study by Mary Highstreet (Left), Original by Granville Redmond, "Patch of Poppies," (Right)




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Week 1 - Color & Light - with Nathan Fowkes

My first Studio post of the New Year!!!  Proud to say, I signed up and have started my Color & Light class with Nathan Fowkes.  I have wanted to take this class since forever!  I am over the top excited about it and I can truly say I have never been more excited about painting!  I had a great week, finished Week 1 lecture and started the homework (see above).  These are quick study thumbnails (Left) of color and light I did based on an original work of art I admire (Right).  Can't wait to get working on the rest and looking forward to next week!!  

2 down 10 to go!



keywords:  studiostudio

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

REVIEW || ImagineFX | Issue 117 - January 2015

Pepper Super Hero Cover Art for Imagine FX Issue 117 by Stanley Lau

REVIEW

 ImagineFX - ISSUE 117  - February 2015

My title for this issue:  don't judge a magazine by it's cover.  The hyper real pink and purple superhero glazing the cover of ImagineFX this month had me thinking this issue wouldn't be my cup of tea.  But true to it's theme, Comic Art, a twist ending was in store.  As it turns out there were quite a few articles I enjoyed and I took away some great tips!

The FXPose on Digital Matte Painter, Robert Oleotto of Italy (pp.18-19), had me drooling over the entire spread!  Talk about photographers becoming artists, this guy blows me out of the water.  Surreal, painterly, incredible light and attention to detail with a photographer's eye, his art is unreal!!

The Artist In Residence article on dynamic duo sculptors, the Shiflett Brothers (pp.26-27), was truly inspiring and makes me want to re-think my studio space.  Talk about great advice to battle "the blank canvas" with inspiration on the walls and in books throughout their studio.  Awesome tip on making maquettes, validating my clay of choice: Super Sculpy Firm!  Not to mention their six four-legged and furry studio mates: can we be friends please?

TWO WHOLE SPREADS on Claire Wendling (pp.50-53) YES PLEASE!  Simple adore her dreamy, eclectic, and masterfully drawn characters!  Claire suffered from ill-health in 2013 and had to put her work on hold but has since returned & they even showed one of her first big training exercise since she fell ill.  Reading about how she is back in the game was extremely inspiring to me since I suffered the same fate for three years from 2010-2013, which also put my career on hold.

Great little review on SketchBookPro has me wanting to give it a go (p.67).  Mitch Breitweiser's workshop on Color & Lighting for Comics (p.76-80) was chock full of tips I can't wait to try on my next digital art adventure!  A little maquette workshop with James Gurney (p.106).  And lastly enjoyed reading a little about the inspiration and background on Bill Sienkiewicz (p114).

So thanks Pink and Purple Super Hero Girl (Pepper), this issue really packed a punch!



tags:  featuredposts, magreview

Monday, January 26, 2015

Contemporary Colonial



Visit California Peach for links & post.



keywords:  styleboard, artinthehome

Color Palettes with the Masters | Cole Canyon (Arizona) by Edger Payne


A new series I'm starting - Color Palettes with the Masters!

This Monday's Palette is from "Cole Canyon" (Arizona) by Edgar Payne.  Just wanted to pull out some of the main colors here, I'll be doing different patterns of color every time to keep things interesting.  

Today's all about Edgar Payne, two more posts on the way!!

xo. m


keywords:  artinthehome, colorpalettes


Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Baby Highstreet's Room on Project Nursery!



Based on the Style Board I created last year:



Here are a few of my favorite details from the Room Tour!  If you want to read more about this project and get the links, visit California Peach:


























Be sure to stop by Project Nursery to see more images and to read about my inspiration!

xo. m

links:  artinthehome, realrooms, roomtour, styleboard

Friday, January 16, 2015

Friday Thoughts | The Benefit of Doing a Favorites Roundup




Just a quick thought exercise / challenge for you to do today! 

On Wednesday, I did an Animation Art Favorites Round Up, and was greatly surprised at what I learned: upon viewing my favorite art together, I found out the works as a whole reflected my own artistic goals and desires!! Above is my collection, you can view the Pinboard and read what I learned about myself here. In addition to learning about myself as an artist and my own artistic goals, I learned what draws me into an art piece and what I like in art as well! Not to mention...it was so nice to see 10-15 of my absolute favorite artworks in one spot all together. It really is a fun exercise, I thought some of you might like to try it too! 

. . . . . . . . .

In completing this exercise, you will find out: 

Your artistic tastes!

What you like reflects you!

Your own artistic style.

What you'd like to be/do/accomplish as an artist (or patron).

Your artistic goals!

(If you are an art patron/appreciator, you can try this exercise too! Find out more about the art you like, and get a better understanding of just why you're drawn to in particular artworks. This exercise can help you hone in on what types / styles / genres of art you would like to collect or give you clues to what kinds of artists you might like to follow in the future.) 

. . . . . . . . 

CHALLENGE:

STEP 1: Gather 10-15 images of your favorite artworks.

If you are looking for specific goals for a certain medium/genre you are interested in it may help to pick art from only 1 category. ie. animation, landscape, seascape, people, abstract...etc. If you want a broader picture, or to learn more you can try your all time favorites from every genre, and get a different perspective. This exercise is something that can be done multiple times! (If you are reading my blog and are not a Fine Artist or Patron of the Fine Arts, you can try it too! This exercise is not limited to Fine Art. Any profession could apply this exercise to their craft - writers looking to hone their story ideas, engineers looking for their favorite projects, scientists, sculptors, graphic designers, interior designers...etc.)

STEP 2: Once you pick your favorites, put them together!

Use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, a word document, a PDF 

OR bring them all into one Pinterest Pinboard like this (I recommend viewing it at 75% zoom so you can see everything at once).


STEP 3: Analyze them! 

Answer questions like these: 

1. What is the overall visual theme? 

2. Are the colors similar in all the pictures? Or perhaps there is a lot of variety!

3. What do you think this says about your artistic tastes?

4. Are there overall style queues?

5. What do you think these works say about your personal goals or desires as an artist (or your goals / desires as an art patron)?

Here are my answers (based on the images shown above):
This collection of work I like reflects who I am as an artist! I found out: I am a color & light junkie!! I love definite shadow shapes and highlights. I am drawn to cool colors predominantly with warm accents! I love detail (paintings, pencil, pen & ink)! A mastery of perspective is present. Also, I seem to like bears... :) These works helped me to see my artistic goals: 1. Master color and light!!!! 2. Master perspective!

STEP 4 (optional): Share! 

Show us your images and tell us what you learned about yourself! Comment below AND attach an image / screen cap of your images OR link to your Pinboard OR blog about it link to your blog post! 
. . . . . . . .

I'd love to see what art you admire and hear what it says about you as an artist (or patron)! 



tags: friday thoughts, fridaythoughts

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Wednesday Inspiration | Animation Concept Art Favorites Roundup

Prince of Egypt BG by Paul Lasine

by Paul Lasine

Legend of the Seven Seas Layout & BG by Ed Li

by Ed Li

Spirit Layout & BG by Ed Li

by Ed Li

Conceptual Drawing for Atlantis by Marcelo Vignali

by Marcelo Vignali

The Discovery, Conceptual Drawing for Atlantis by Marcelo Vignali

by Marcelo Vignali

The Lost Script, Conceptual Drawing for Atlantis by Marcelo Vignali

by Marcelo Vignali

Evil Queen Show White

Show White

Armored Ice Bear Concept The Golden Compass


The Golden Compass

Rapunzel's Tower Tangled

Tangled

Castle Concept Tangled

Tangled

Tapestry Art Brave  

Tapestry Art Brave

Tapestry Art
Brave
(Click to View Larger)

Witch Hut Concept Brave

Witch Hut Concept
Brave

Escape Color Key Brave

Brave

Merida and Queen Elinor Concepts Brave

Brave


Their are a million and one inspiring Animation Artworks I could showcase... I know I will be revisiting this topic again!  Here are a handful of my top pics (both past & present), from various Animation Art disciplines.  I am very inspired by Concept Art for Film and have always wanted to be a Visual Development / Concept  / Background Artist.  I have taken several classes on the subject over the past several years and just love it!

I am a Color & Light Junkie, so it's no wonder these images are some of my favorites!  You'll notice a majority of these images have very strong light sources, separating light and dark shapes clearly.  I also love Pen and Ink and Pencil Drawing (Fine Detail) work, so that pretty much sums up the other images I included!  I will be doing a few more posts featuring Animation Art coming up in the next few weeks: Classic Animation Concept Art , Live Action Concept Art, & Character Design for Animation!

Speaking of Film + Color & Light, I am signed up for Nathan Fowkes Color and Light class with Schoolism, and I am way too excited!!!  I have wanted to take a class with Fowkes for about 4 years now and was so excited when I found out he taught online too!  So so glad I can continue my Visual Development education from home when I am so far from LA.  I'll be posting my progress and assignments on Thursdays so you can follow along with me - get excited!!!

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For more Animation Art inspiration,
follow my Pinboards here: