Hi, my dear readers, it's the end of May and I'm back with a new monthly blog post.
These are what I've done for this month:
- Painting Cloths (hell yes, finally, it feels so great to paint a costumed figure)
- Participated in Community Challenges (one for Escape Motions and another one for Grafit Studio)
- Studying past Live lessons from Iliya Mirochnik
After spending a couple of months on human anatomy, it's about time to spice things up by learning about various kinds of folds and how to analyze and apply those folds on a real model.
The top image was painted with oils in Rebelle 5 Pro. The bottom one was my study in Photoshop
This time, I'm learning from Aaron Blaise, a teacher I used to learn from during my early artistic journey. It's great to come back to learn new things from him again with all the powerful fine art knowledge I've picked up from the past two years.
2-min, 5-min and 10-min drawing sessions
It's so interesting that I'm no longer a slave to any software Blend modes. I, now, can even paint on only one layer without relying on them thanks to the solid color mixing skills I've got from traditional oil painters from New Masters Academy.
I painted my own digital oils version of this painting based on a lesson of Aaron Blaise
Back in the day, I had to pause countless times within each video lesson just to type a color code to get an exact color that Aaron Blaise only took a few seconds to pick up. I felt super pathetic back then. That's why I'm so thankful for my fine art training even though the academic subjects can be super boring most of the time. "It's bitter but it's good for you", I guess!
I, now, can unleash my creativity and add my own colors and design instead of mindlessly copying my instructors
I finally decided to participate in two community challenges which coincidently happened about the same time this May. As I kept thinking "Nah, I'm not good enough yet, maybe next time", I have missed quite a lot of learning opportunities before.
I painted this portrait with digital oils in Rebelle 5 Pro
This is my Speed Painting Video submission for Escape Motions, the creator of Rebelle 5 app.
Here is my submission for Grafit Studio - Mermay Mashup 2022
(I selected a White Flower, a Female model, and a Chess Piece for this challenge)
Now, I do believe that each competition is a learning opportunity too. It forces me to challenge myself with different themes, subjects, and techniques. After a contest, I will know what I like to do or not to do. Then I can focus on levelling up relevant skills to have a better chance next time.
Finally, it never hurts to revisit some good old lessons. I'm watching and relearning from the previous Live class of my dear instructor, Iliya Mirochnik. I really like how he constrains the tools used for each painting. This helps me deeply understand how a particular tool like Soft Round brushes work, for instance.
This portrait was painted with only the default Soft Round brushes in Photoshop.
Portrait with only the Hard Round brush in HeavyPaint app.
That's it for this month, my dear readers. As I've painted lots of things with various apps this month, I'm so exhausted now. That is why writing a blog at the end of each month is a wonderful way to stay away from usual activities and self-reflect upon my artistic development regularly.
Have fun with your journeys and I'll see you around at the end of next month!