EASEL OF Mike Millian
You must be logged in to critique
CRITFeedback for Image 1
-
mpMann on August 2, 2018 at 11:57 pmYour cats have a lot of personality. Do you begin with light blocked in forms to get proportions correct? I would recommend the practice, it can help you find the right shapes before committing to the final lines.
Log in to Reply-
wulfric on August 3, 2018 at 9:14 pm
Thanks! I usually start with light marks using a 3H pencil to find the nose and eyes. Then I shade the form of the body with a 2B pencil. Then I’ll shade the darker areas and do highlights last.
I will try what you suggested. I am having difficulty forming the edges of the head without making it look a mess of graphite, or too sharp like in these examples.
Log in to Reply
-
Mike Millian
Hello! I am a beginning artist who hopes to focus on traditional oil painting and illustration. I have a special interest in depicting animals and fantasy creatures.
I am open to critique
I WOULD LIKE HELP WITH
Looking for advice to improve my drawing and value skills.
Hi Mike,
These pieces are wonderful beginnings! I’m happy to see that you are doing thumbnail sketches before starting your painting. That is exactly what you should be doing, and is a step a lot of beginners miss. Good job.
There are two main things that stand out to me when I look at your paintings…
1. It looks like you are painting the background AROUND the figure. I can see light areas where you tried to avoid messing up the figure. This is common mistake, and one that really prevents the figure from ever feeling like it’s part of the scene. Try drawing your figure first, but paint the entire background before you paint the figure. You can paint right up to, and even OVER the edge of your figure a little bit. Any paint that crosses over into the drawing of figure is OK, because when you go to paint the figure, you can easily clean it up. The rule of thumb is to always paint things background to foreground. If an object in an image is over something else, paint it that way. Paint the mountains OVER the sky. Paint the figure OVER the mountains, etc. That doesn’t mean you have to paint the entire area behind an object, just a little bit at the edge to avoid that outline affect.
2. You need to start thinking about shadows. I don’t mean shading (when things just get a little darker at the edges), but actual cast shadows. Does the head cast a shadow on the neck? Does the arm cast a shadow on the leg? Stuff like that. Shadows are how you create a sense of form. Without shadows, everything will feel flat. Accurate shadows are hard to make up though, so I recommend taking a photograph of someone in a similar pose outside. See what happens with the light, and then try to capture that in your made up figure. It will make it look SO much more real!
Good luck!