Hello, my dear readers, another month has passed and here comes another update on my artistic journey!
It's summer and there are a lot of online art related sales going on like software, brushes, and lessons. It really took me a long while just to look at them each day. They were all so tempting though. Besides, there were art challenges too. I just couldn't find enough time, and of course money, to play with them all!
Firstly, I was honored to be among the winners of Escape Motion Speed Painting Challenge Vol.2 at the beginning of June 2022. It was so much fun to combine my love for Age of Empires II over the past 20 years (yes, I started to play this game in 2000) and my painting abilities to create artwork related to the game setting. I really wish to help make the game someday!
Thank you, Escape Motions, for featuring my artwork on their Instagram story on June 27, 2022!
Meanwhile, I keep horning my portrait painting skills with 'old but gold' digital painting lessons of Iliya Mirochnik at New Masters Academy. I still find it enjoyable to listen to him talking about art and life while I'm painting somehow.
It was fun to paint this portrait using the Zorn palette and the default hard/soft round brushes in Adobe Photoshop.
Taking advantage of this year's summer sale, I'm exploring the inking world with True Grit Texture Supply (TGTS) brushes in Clip Studio Paint. Exploring different software and tools has been like switching to strange new painting materials. This has truly been a big motivation for me to keep venturing deeper into the art world.
My inking practice using Rusty Nibs from TGTS in Clip Studio Paint
Besides playing with new brushes and functionalities of Clip Studio Paint version 1.12 (10th Year Anniversary update), I'm also expanding my knowledge by learning how to do Landscape Painting with Ben Fenske. I had wanted to learn from him for months ago but got to focus on my portrait and figure painting skills first. So, finally, here I go!
My landscape painting practice using oils in Rebelle 5 Pro.
At this point, I prefer to change the default layout of my frequently used painting software to suit my workflow better.
The Landscape Painting training with Ben is also to better prepare me for the massive 15-week long Live class called "Figure in Environment" with Renae Wang. It started two weeks ago, so I still have 13 weeks of excitement ahead. I can't wait to see how this party of 'colors and lights' turns out!
Week 2 Assignment of "Figure in Environment" done with oils in Rebelle 5 Pro.
My portrait underpainting is on the left side. Cool light and Warm light study are on the right side.
For those of you who are taking Live classes at New Masters Academy, I painted a "creative" portrait of Stem, a nickname of a very cheerful classmate who is currently studying in the same 15-week long Figure in Environment class too.
Portrait of Stem, painted in HeavyPaint with joy as this app is so unique, unlike anything I've tried before!
As you can see, I love playing with various painting techniques and different software while improving my fine art fundamentals. It's just more fun for me to do art that way!
Thanks for reading my quick June update. I'll keep you posted at the end of next month. Until then, have fun with your journeys, my dear readers!