I have some other paintings that are not ready yet so I decided to do a study for today’s painting. This time a puddle after a rain storm. I struggled a bit with this one. There are translucent areas but there are also areas that have reflections. On top of that there are a lot of pebbles and other organic branches and leaves. It wasn’t quite working at the beginning but as I kept adding details it all came together.
I’ve worked with some reflective ground surfaces before, but this time I wanted to do one where you could see the ripples and the reflections. It would be cool to try and paint in the reflection of someone instead of the actual character, well except the shoes.
This will be the background for a certain painting that I will upload in the future. Surprisingly I kept having trouble with something so simple. I kept painting and repainting both this background and the actual subject. All I’ll say is that I’ve come to really like the sponge brush.
Looking at past works, I really wanted to give “Bulma’s Delivery Service” another try. It was so close and yet was still in a very rough state. Some areas were tilted and the background painting was also in need of another attempt with my current skills. I loved working on this painting again. The original artist for the Kiki’s poster is amazing.
For today’s background painting I am continuing the Spring theme (which is getting closer to it’s end). I was worried about whether I could bring to life what I had in mind. I had to take in steps among a couple of days to figure out how to make it work. Not rushing things and taking time off away from the painting has really helped me. Now I understand why other artists do it.
The actual painting is actually now finished, but like other paintings I will upload it at another date. This will help me as well to look at it at a later date with fresh eyes.
This is both a study and a RE:do of an old painting I did that had potential but was definitely left very rough. I remember struggling back in the day, but now it was very relaxing giving it another go.
Somehow last time I uploaded an unfinished version of the background. This was actually the version I was supposed to have uploaded it.
I’ve been re-reading One Piece. And I’m enjoying it more as an adult than when I was a kid. What’s amazing is that as the series goes on, it just gets better and better. This also goes with the emotional parts of the story. I forgot just how tough Robin’s life was growing up. Oda did a great job of making us understand why Robin would do her best to distance herself from the Straw hats during this arc. Truly a great character and addition to the crew.
This week has been something… Somehow I was able to make progress on this painting though. Here is the background for now. We have been having waves of strong winter storms lately where I live, and it seems like more are coming on the way. Winter this year has been living up to it’s name (and the end of the last).
I’ll upload the finished painting on Monday if all goes well.
It surprisingly didn’t take me too long to paint Shining Gundam and Domon, along with their reflections and snow. Checking mountains in parts of Japan, there are actually quite a lot of types of shapes. Including the pointy ones that are common where I’m currently at. So I just modified them a bit.
Shining Gundam was the main focus and what took the longest for this segment of the painting. The main form and base colors were easy to choose From there I tried to make out the form to showcase the most prominent forms. But since I wanted to emphasize that the Gundam is far away, I made sure to use more muted colors and as little value changes as I thought were needed. Then came the snow. I felt a bit bad about covering some areas with snow and water, but I feel that really ties it all together. As for the reflections I used the same techniques as with the torii, but I made sure to add highlights to create waves moving away from Shining Gundam as it rises up.
There were a couple of ideas about where to place Domon. Walking in the frozen ground, atop a small boat or standing on the torii. But ultimately I came upon the idea to have him leaping towards it. This I feel really fits the fantastical elements of G Gundam after all.
I made two versions, one where it’s all quiet and peaceful and another where snow is falling. Although I do like the snow, I think it looks better where it isn’t present.
I’m currently working on a new painting before I try to make one or two for Valentines. I’ve actually been planning to make a painting of this sort for… damn. A couple of years now. I’m surprised it took me this long to finally give it a shot. The background is mostly done. I’m actually quite a bit ahead of this but I quite like the atmosphere of where the painting is at this point. Although I can render the painting further, I wonder if that will detract from the focal subjects. So for now, I will leave it mostly as it is.
This is the reference photo of the background, modified to have snow of course:
I just did an image search to find the original creator and it seems to be from a photo manipulator that put different assets together to create this. I found it strange that the pine trees and mountains looked somewhat Western. Now I know why.
With that in mind, I will go back and edit a couple of the trees so that they fit Japanese ones. Among other changes. I wonder if there is a place in Japan that will actually fit this scenery?
The Toori is actually painted already, along with the reflection. I’m surprised at how easy it was to emulate. You guys will have to wait till next time to be the judges though. Luckily I won’t have to edit that part of the painting.