Overall Thoughts

One thing I noticed is that all that proportional drawing and measuring seems to have really trained my brain to see better and my brain and hand to work together better. After doing my first painting for Block 2, I used the leftover paint to imitate a comic book cover I had, and I was surprised by how accurate the parts came out. I was reminding myself not to see the image as a “face” but as “shapes,” and it worked!

Before, I would have never been able to copy something so accurately. It’s still far from perfect (my rendition of the woman’s face wasn’t angled down as much as the original), but it’s a tangible improvement 😀

Also, gradients have definitely gotten better. Still room for improvement, but I took a bit of extra time, maybe 20 minutes or so, to smooth out the gradients on the ball, and it also really makes a difference. I had re-watched those early gradient lessons a few more times a few days ago, and I kept reminding myself of the principles:

• Use a wider buffer band
• Don’t let the admixtures crossover to the other side
• Use a small motion when blending the edges, not a wide sweeping back-and-forth
• Be patient, take your time…

…The lessons are sinking in!

TK YT Pub Assignment video

Total time spent:

• Drawing: Started at around noon on July 4, worked for a few minutes, then finished it from 6-7:30pm. It took extra long because I didn’t just do the drawing on paper, I doubled all the measurements and transferred it to the back of a used canvas to check the dimensions. So total was maybe about 2 hours of drawing.
• Painting: Started around 10:16am and finished at 3:58pm, but then used the leftover paint to copy a comic cover until 5:18pm, and cleaned up until a bit before 6pm. Total painting time for the actual painting was about 6 hours (including drawing the image onto canvas before painting, and setting up a new palette background) plus another extra hour or two for using up leftover paint and cleanup. 5~7 hours.
• Altogether, this painting took about 9 hours, but I expect the time needed SHOULD decrease as I get better at this. Although it’s hard to say, because the drawings will get more complex as well, so there’s that…

If I were to start this painting over right now, what would I do differently?

• Honestly, not much, I think…maybe just be extra careful with the initial measurements, to avoid redo’s and erasing lines.
• I think my painting was a bit big, too. Maybe I should have modified everything by 1.5x instead of 2x, but 2 was easy to do in my head and 1.5 would require a calculator.

Day 1

• Drawing day: I chose a ball with a cone and a box because they said to start with simple geometric shapes.
• A ball is the easiest thing to do for proportional drawing because you can check your measurements from any angle on the diameter.
• I included the box because I’m challenged by boxes and need the extra practice. (I think I may try to include some kind of box in every single one of my paintings from here on out, just for the practice)
• And one of the examples in their sample images (super useful help article here) included a cone. Also because it’s paper art, and I have a notion that I’d like to also include origami, ranging from simple to complex, in my future paintings.
  • I was inspired by the origami crane picture in the article I linked to above.
  • A lot of people use statuettes and figurines, but I don’t have access to a lot of those things here, at least not without a giant hassle.
  • That’s why I’d rather “make my own” objects via origami. So I have started reading up on origami, looking at videos, etc., it’s fascinating!

Day 2

• Painting day: Really pleased with the final result. This is my first ever painting

Final Submission

This is the final painting I submitted for grading:

Based on this still life setup:

And the same thing, in black and white:

I submitted the assignment at around 12:42pm on Sunday 7/10, and got a response at TK.

I also used my leftover paint to make this image (the face I mentioned in the intro):

My Questions & Instructor Feedback

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Lesson Video Notes

Initial Thoughts

Date #, 2022

Notes on TK Assignment Name

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