Learn to… Art!

Inspiration Courtesy of John Lanthier and Dee Siffer

Jul 19, 2011 Special Bulletins Leave a comment

Congrats on the wedding. I love your blog – very interesting and useful reading. I`m an artist and graphics designer myself. Here a link to my website with some of my portraits and paintings if you would like to post it. http://johnlanthierart.com/ I hope one of my compositions could help kickstart your creative process.

A lovely message from John Lanthier, who is currently studying at Concordia. John is a man after my own heart; he does portraiture, still life, surrealism and abstract. Check out his site. My favorite is Enter the Void Part 1 under “other.”

I also got a message from long time reader Dee Siffer, who I’ve had the pleasure of corresponding with before. Below is her portrait of Ronald Reagan. So glad she decided to share this! Beautiful work, Dee.

It’s not too late! Share your work!

Inspiration from April Quast

Jul 19, 2011 Special Bulletins Leave a comment

It’s so much fun to hear back from my readers, especially after being MIA for so long!

Here is a message from April Quast:

Glad you’re back, I enjoy following your blog. I would love to have you share my images on your site if you’re still looking for artists.

Based on movement, dance and yoga, April’s work is truly inspiring. Here are just a few of her dynamic paintings, and make sure you check out her website for even more: 

More inspiration to come! If you have something to share, let me know!

Back in the Saddle

Jul 18, 2011 Special Bulletins 2 Comments

After nearly a four month hiatus from this site, and an even longer one from the studio, I’m ready to jump back in!

The wedding was spectacular, but despite making an effort to keep everything as simple and easy as possible, it still took over my entire life. Blogging went out the window, along with tweeting, painting, cleaning the house and pretty much everything else. But now it’s all over and I can move on!

I’m on summer holidays and now that there’s nothing to occupy my time, I’m feeling that itch. You know the one… it says, “it’s time to create something, anything!” So here I am, upgrading plugins, approving comments, doing damage control with my many neglected friends and followers and getting ready to hit the studio.

I know how annoying it is to follow a blog and have the author disappear off the face of the earth. I apologize. There’s really no excuse. That being said, I’m back! I have some new ideas to implement, based on the survey that I did a few months ago, and I am more open than ever to ideas, suggestions, guest posts, questions, anything!

In the meantime,  I need a little inspiration to kick-start my creativity!

I’d love to see some of your recent projects. Send me a link to your website/blog or just e-mail me a picture and I’ll post it here for everyone’s benefit!

Thanks for sticking with me

Artist Websites

Mar 13, 2011 Art General Leave a comment

Let’s face it, some artist websites absolutely suck. Is yours one of them?

Caroly Edlund of Artsy Shark (a marketing website for emerging artists) tracked down a handful of art bloggers (myself included) and posed the question, “what bugs you most about artist websites?”

The resulting article is a comprehensive collection of what-not-to-do’s. From music on websites and url names to crediting images and aesthetics, this should be required reading for every artist who has (or is thinking of having) a website.

I mean, you’re putting the effort into making it, why not make it right?

Anyways, I am extremely honoured to be  included and I encourage you to check it out:

What’s Wrong With Your Art Website?

Anatomy of the Eye.. and How to Draw It

Mar 9, 2011 Drawing Leave a comment

What is more alluring than the eyes? For many portrait artists, it’s the eye that is the main attraction, the feature that drives us to draw portraits at all. There is the intricacy of the structure to master, and then there’s the challenge of capturing something as elusive as emotion.

I’ve talked about drawing eyes before. I’ve covered tips for drawing eyes, as well as done a full tutorial on drawing and shading the eye.

Today, I am going to take a more general approach on how to draw the eye from a knowledge of basic anatomy. An awareness of the structure of the human eye will help you in achieving a realistic likeness in your portraits no matter what your reference image is like.

1. The Tear Duct

Often over-looked, this tiny little apparatus is essential! While the outside corner of the eye is pointed, the inside corner forms a little round nub. Next to the tear duct, before the white of the eye, there can often be seen several tiny folds of skin. Of course, if your portrait is quite small, you won’t need to worry about these details.

2. The Iris

This is the exciting part of the eye. The coloured area, it is actually a muscle that relaxes and contracts in order to allow certain amounts of light to pass through your pupil. When drawing the iris, you need to take into consideration the colour of the eye. Blue eyes will be shaded lighter, brown eyes shaded darker. Don’t forget to add some detail in the form of striated, radiating patterns. Also, the outer edge of the iris is often darker than the rest.

3. The Eyelid Crease

Often, all we see of the eyelid when the eyes are open is the crease above the eye. Sometimes, we see the entire crease and sometimes the fold overlaps the outer edge of the eye. These details are a huge part of creating emotion and individuality in your eyes. Although we see the crease as a line, don’t forget to add some shading to create a short, but smooth transition to the lighter areas of the lid.

4. The Eyebrow

This is another key element for showing expression. In general, men tend to have thicker, straighter brows that are lower (closer to the eyes). Women’s brows are thinner, more arched and placed higher on the face. Check out my eyebrow tutorial for more details on how to achieve the right texture.

5. The Whites of the Eyes

Scientifically known as the sclera (my day job keeps me refreshed on grade eight biology terms) the whites of the eyes are not actually white! Like any three-dimensional object, the whites of the eyes vary in value. Under the eye-lid, the eyeball is a sphere and should be shaded accordingly. The whites are often darker in the corners of the eye, lightening towards the middle. They are also darker right under the upper eyelid, as the eyelashes cast a shadow.

6.  The Lashline

The lashline, or the edge of the eyelids, define the shape of the eye. In general, the eye is widest where the iris is. When drawing the lash line, your technique depends on the size of your drawing. For very small portraits, a slight darkening of the upper lash line is sufficient. For larger portraits, you will want to draw the individual eye lashes. To do this, use short, quick, curved pencil strokes. Start at the eyelid and pull away, creating a tapered line that mimics lashes.

7. The Highlight

This is the point of the eyeball where the light is hitting it directly. Because the eye is wet and shiny, the highlight is often quite hard-edged. The shape depends on the type of light source. For example, light from a window will create a square highlight. This part of the eye should be significantly lighter than the rest of the eye, pure white if possible. The highlight gives your eyes sparkle and makes your portrait come to life. Even if your reference doesn’t have one, add it in!

8. The Pupil

One of few objects in nature that is perfectly round and symmetrical, the pupil is the actual hole in your eye that allows light to enter. If you want the eyes to be the focus of your portrait, make the pupils the darkest value. Also check out this post by portrait artist Gwen Seemel where she explains that larger pupils are more attractive.