Jesse's Details
5:39 PM
Rather than show you all of Jesse, I thought it might be more helpful to see some of the details up close. This is Jesse's chest with all the spiky fur that was masked in the last photo. Here I've completed the black and lifted the mask. After removing the mask, I spent a good amount of time blending in the hard edges left by the mask and adding all the colors you see in this image.
Blues, reds, purples, greens, and browns make this a much more interesting area than just a flat black. As you look further down his chest, you see the shadow growing darker, but there is still a great deal of color other than black.
One of the other things that makes the black interesting is the patterns in his fur. He had been playing and was wet so the fur really clumped together to make the patterns stand out. One of the things that seems to really help the animal look themselves is capturing the fur correctly.
The other detail shot is of his front and back left feet. Here the colors are cooler. The shadow and light areas are still captured, but there is not as much detail in the fur. This also gives you a closer look at the grass.
By using the masking around his feet, I was able to lap the grass over his feet giving the impression his feet were further down in the grass and hidden. On the right side of his front leg you'll notice a slightly lighter edge to the leg. This gives it dimension and keeps it from blending in to the back leg. It's subtle and really not noticeable unless it's pointed out, but it helps the image to read correctly.
10 Creative Thought(s)
You are such a tease! I can't wait to see the unveiling.
ReplyDeleteJesse's looking great. He has such a happy-go-lucky face. You did a wonderful job. Can't wait to see the entire painting!
ReplyDeleteWhat I find remarkable is that you've done such a faithful likeness of the original photo but added a whole other dimension to it. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteThank you all!
ReplyDeleteAh, Teri, Your impatience is showing!! ;•)
Hi, Gwen, thanks so much for sropping by! He does seem to be a happy go lucky kinda guy! That and a total play hound!
Hmmm, Andrea, can you explain that?!
...thank you for putting so much time into explaining these techniques. It's interesting and helpful. Ditto what Andrea said!
ReplyDeleteLaure you have blown me away with your painting of Jesse. I went back and read all your WIP posts.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Love it!
Kelly, I'm glad they're helpful. This kind of info was/is something I always sought out as there was/is almost always some piece of info I needed/wanted.
ReplyDeleteToni, thanks so much for the kind words. It's been a labor of love!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, Laure. I am not taking the class, but KC is a "cyber friend" of mine---sort of like you are ; )! It just looks like so much fun; but, between the fact that we are moving back to the states for a year come mid-June, and tight finances, I just can't do it right now. I thought someone else might be interested.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am really enjoying your posts about the progress of Jesse. It is so helpful when artists are willing to share those kinds of things with those of us who don't have a clue! I love the pole bean sketch below, too. Thanks for sharing~~
WOW - you never cease to amaze me the close ups are incredible - thanks for the update
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathy and Amy, for the kind words! And, Kathy, you have more than a clue! Way more than that, I'd say, by looking at your art!
ReplyDeleteLet's talk!