Monday, May 20, 2013

Tweet Tweet

Good day to all!

This long weekend I was up at my family cottage/trailer and decided to practice some watercolour work. I love the look of watercolours so this is something I've been really wanting to improve, and it was a lot of fun to do.

Because it's still really practice for me I didn't really take pictures of the process, but here is the original sketch I made, which I then transferred on to watercolour paper. These birds were not drawn after and specific type, they were just a doodle I came up with.

Birds-sketch

Here we have the finished product! Ta-da! I love to use a lot of colour in my paintings so yellow and blue was just a fun choice for me, and green was a no-brainer for the leaves in the background. I started by painting the background completely first, then the birds.

Birds-colour

Well that's all for now! Be back soon with more stuff going on in the world of Melissa!

"Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them?"
Rose Kennedy

Monday, May 13, 2013

Old is New

Hey there!
Today I've decided to post some older works that I've done but don't really get enough attention.

Here is a digital painting I made on Photoshop. I call it "I Spy - Bionic Eye" Kind of a 'look' into the future I guess.

I spy- Bionic Eye

Here's my first attempt at a steampunk character. Also done with Photoshop digital painting

steampunk

And finally for today, this is a t-shirt design to promote a fictional brewing company. Modelled after the popular 't-rex trying' comics you can find all over the internet.

T-Rex Can't Drink Beer

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
Frederick Douglass

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Oil For Me

Hello all!

Welcome back to another exciting post with Melissa! Today I decided to try my hand at oil paint. This medium has always intrigued me, as I love to blend my colours. I've been told that my style really lends itself to oil paints, but I've also heard many people complain about the medium, saying that it takes too long to dry, it's finicky, they're too expensive... Well I didn't let all the nay-sayers stop me! I wanted to try them, so I did!

And here is the finished product after editing with filters on Photoshop!

Dandy3

As I have never used this medium I bought an inexpensive set from Wal Mart, and I used a very small piece of illustration board to paint on. This board didn't have much of a tooth so it's not exactly like canvas, but for my experiment today I figured it didn't really matter. Next time I will definitely be using a small canvas though.

Supplies

My first step was to map out my image with colour. There was no original sketch or idea really, so I just mapped out a dandelion on a greenish background.

1

After mapping the image out I started layering on the yellow section. I decided to improve the balance it would be well to include a dandelion leaf, so I added that to the image as well. Because oils blend so much I had to use a thick layer of green to make this addition.

2

Next was to add a bit more depth to the focus. By adding a yellow ochre colour to parts of the flower and thicker, darker green to the stem and leaf I was able to give it a slightly more 3-Dimensional look.

3

After adding the darker shades, it came to adding the lighter ones. Again because of it's blending powers, I decided to use straight white to mix on to the flower, stem, and leaf, applying the white to the highlighted and reflecting areas.

4

And after blending in the highlights and shading, I said voila, it is finished. Of course I messed around with the background a bit, improving the gradient, but in the end it turned out to be a simple, neat little painting. This is my very first oil painting!

final

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more adventures in art!

“I was a dandelion puff...Some saw the beauty in me and stooped quietly to admire my innocence. Others saw the potential of what I could do for them, so they uprooted me, seeking to shape me around their needs. They blew at my head, scattering my hair from the roots, changing me to suit them. Yet still others saw me as something that was unworthy and needed to be erased.”
― Nicole Bailey-Williams