How I used to paint with real oilpaint and real brushes but now in ArtRage (tutorial)

[Briex]

Thanks to Rob in Denver I was challenged to paint as I used to do with real oil paint and real brushes on real canvas but now with ArtRage. It is Saturday, outside is a true blizzard going on, inside the heating is doing its best and with a pot of tea I'm enjoying ArtRage again. And what a great fun that was. I show you here alle the stages from sketch to final artwork.

The painting: the Wilhemina Bridge is about a hundred meter distance from the Saint Servaas Bridge in Maastricht (NL) and is open for all traffic. The factory in the background is the local paper factory Sappi Maastricht (former KNP (Royal Netherlands Paper)). This is a late summer afternoon shot made in 2004.

The painting I made is thus based on a self made digi picture. With Photoshop I first cropped the original photo picture to square size and adjusted it with more contrast and more vibrant colours.

In the next replies within this post you'll see the painting process.

[Briex]

The painting process (painted with ArtRage 3 (Dutch version) on MAC with Wacom pen tablet). All done with oil paint (wet on wet), oil brush and knife.

Step 1: I import the photo into ArtRage and add an extra layer.

Step 2: then I add, beneath the photo another extra layer which I make full ocre yellow. On top of photo picture (which now is made a bit transparant) I add an extra layer to sketch on it with thin paint. The layer with the photo will be trashed later.

Step 3: Now you see the 3rd layer on which I sketched with thin oil paint.

Step 4: Here I blinded the photo picture layer so that you see my sketch. I added the photo as a reference which is easy to study details and picking the right colours with the colour picker during the paint process.

Step 5: Is also like real oil painting: putting roughle all the colours on the canvas. Note: layers are still separated EXEPT for the sketch layer. I paint on the same layer as sketch. I paint/mix my colours direct on top of sketch lines which will result in a fine mix of tones.

Final steps to come in my next reply.

[Jasminek]

Wonderful. And I love the way you explain the process, I am learning a lot.

Thanks for such a kind sharing.

[Briex]

The final steps:

Step 6: An important step because from the ocre yellow layer and the painting layer I made 1 layer. Now the full ocre yellow is direct beneath my paint layer and so I have no white canvas spots between my different paint colours. When painting and working with knife, the ocre yellow will mix with my colours and that is the trick to get a warm painting.

The basic painting is almost done after several hours painting, painting, repainting the basic elements.

Step 7: again painting, painting, correcting, adding details and ofcourse last but not least my signature: the final result. I through away my photo picture layer (I could have done that already in step 3 because I did not use it during the painting process). The painting is established by painting thin paint over thin paint, over and over again: like the real oil painting though without any drying times.

About 8 hours paint work (including lunch time). Maybe I will add pedestrians, cars and busses on top of the bridge later...

This was fun and tastes to more! Hope you liked this tutorial.

[foxytocin]

Briex, thank you very much for the detailed tutorial....it is always a marvel to see the process at work.....

[Rob in Denver]

Wow,Briex! What an excellent response to my little suggestion! I learned quite a bit here from seeing how you work things. And the end result is lively and painterly, and it is a joy to look upon.
Best of all, you seem to have enjoyed doing it, and then going to the trouble of sharing the process with us, thanks so much!
You have so quickly become such a valuable member of this community of artists!

[Briex]

Thanks for the comment ArtRagers.

Rob, I'm still surprised that I was looking for a painting software last December for the very first time in my life. By Googling I found ArtRage, saw it and I believe I bought it the same day or the day after. I'm still surpised how user friendly and natural this software is. Above all it has a friendly price aswell.

I felt your comment in my other post as a true challenge and I'm glad I picked up your handglove. This Wilhelmina Bridge tutorial is the real painting.

THANKS!

[hanzz]

Thanks for this, briex !
I added the tutorial to the tutorial index for version 3. A great addition if you ask me.

[Lima]

Briex, very cool your technique. Certainly your tutorial will help many on how to use ArtRage. Now, your painting is a real gem.

[Briex]

Thanks Hanzz! Good job. By the way I did not even know I had the AR3 Studio version. Just purchased the Pro version and is now coming in via download.

Thanks Oriane!! Especially the ocre yellow basic layer (or other coloured basic layers: that depends on the picture someone wants to paint) is for many junior painters a welcoming tip. A white canvas is often too difficult to start on. A coloured underlayer gives a painting immediately the right mood.