A Tiger Of A Different Stripe

First and foremost, I know that I have severely neglected this blog, and I sincerely apologize for that. This year has been a whirlwind of amazing changes and growth for me and I couldn't be more excited about it (although my head has felt like it was about to spin right off a few times!) If you are following me on any of my social networks then you've been right along for the ride and I hope you've enjoyed it! However, in all of the craziness, my poor blog was pushed to the back burner, but I'm pulling it up to the front and I will try to get better at keeping it up and sharing more in depth my processes and progresses with you guys because you are awesome and I wouldn't be who or where I am without you!

Lately I've been in experimental mode and trying a lot of new things with my artwork because I feel that is the best way for an artist to learn and improve! One such experiment is this painting I just finished that I'm calling, "A Tiger Of A Different Stripe."

I've always loved the idea of flat, graphic imagery mixed with fully rendered, three dimensional imagery so I wanted to create a piece that compared the two side by side. As always, I started with a sketch. I split it down the middle, shading one side and leaving the other side simple line work. Once I finished the face, I overlaid some tracing paper to design her hair and other elements.

After the general piece was figured out, I transferred the sketch to a surface to begin painting. (Please check out my earlier post about transferring a sketch to see how I do it.) I decided to work on gessobord for this piece instead of a wood panel to achieve a solid flat look without the the natural wood grain that usually flows through my work. I started with the side that I wanted to look more realistic with depth and shading.

I then moved on to the side that would have the graphic feeling to it. Just for some visual fun, I decided to swap some imagery, placing graphic over rendered and vice versa.

I loved the idea of using all things related to tigers for this piece because I felt like it all worked so well with what I was trying to visually create, so I used tiger lilies, tiger's eye beads, a tiger tattoo and of course little tiger striped hummingbirds. And thus, A Tiger Of A Different Stripe was born! The painting is 12"x12" acrylic on gessobord 2013.

Thanks for stopping by and I promise to post more and keep giving you guys a glimpse into my crazy little world. Enjoy! 

Transferring A Sketch

Hey guys...

I've been getting a lot of questions about how I turn my sketches into full paintings. So I decided to make a step by step tutorial on my process. I use a transfer rub method using tracing paper. It can get a little tedious but I prefer it to using a projector because I feel like the transfer is a little more precise. 

STEP 1.

First I make sure that I have all the tools that I need to make a transfer sheet. To transfer this piece I'll be using the original sketch, a lightbox, tracing paper, a soft lead mechanical pencil, a hard lead drawing pencil, a blending stump and the prepped wood panel that I will be transferring the sketch to. 

STEP 2. 

To make the transfer sheet I flip the original sketch (drawing side down) onto the light box, place a sheet of tracing paper over it and begin to trace. I like to use a mechanical pencil with a soft lead for this part for two reasons: a softer lead will transfer easier and a mechanical pencil will keep the line work consistent without having to sharpen it. When making the transfer sheet, I try to keep the lines as simple as possible to make the transfer clean and easy. When I'm done tracing I end up with a reversed, line drawing copy of the original sketch. 

STEP 3.

Once the tracing paper transfer sheet is made, I flip it back over (pencil side down) onto the wood panel. I secure it with masking tape to make sure that it doesn't slip or shift during the transfer. I use a blending stump to rub over the entire drawing to transfer the pencil lines onto the wood panel. When the transfer is finished, the lines left on the wood panel are usually somewhat faint and can wipe off fairly easy so I go over the entire drawing with a hard lead drawing pencil (I use a 4H) to secure the image.

STEP 4.

Now that the transfer is done, I clean up any lines or mistakes and then I'm ready to paint. I like to keep the original sketch nearby to use as a value study so I know where all of the shadows and highlights will be. 

And that's about it. Thanks for stopping by and I hope this answered some of your questions. Keep in mind though, there are many ways to transfer a sketch to another surface to get it ready for paint. This is just the method I prefer. Take care everyone! Until next time!

Glenn