Kiwi / Textured Surface Study

[Delofasht]

So I did a little study on a custom made textured surface that I found rather fun and interesting, thought I'd share.

Kiwi, reference. . . I dunno, I looked at more than a few but tried to keep my time spent to like an hour or less.

It was was a fun study, learned a lot.

[D Akey]

Nice colors. The texture is a trip. Good one!

[Big-G]

Lovely feel to this. Really like the background. Compliments the foreground beautifully. Bravo my friend.

[Delofasht]

Thanks so much guys! I am hoping to figure out a way to create some Edward Seago kinds of effects with these textured backgrounds, it's tricky though and difficult. The hope is that I can combine those with some more traditional glazing techniques later and get some really cool effects (also stuff I'm going to be trying in my traditional oils here soon so I can feel it from both effects and see their differences).

[D Akey]

I had never heard of Edward Seago. Thanks for that. A good one to know about.

As to getting his effects, I'm not sure which of his effects you were looking to replicate. From the few minutes I was perusing his work, it appeared he was all over the place. But the two classifications I could tell were he did watercolor and he did oil, each with their own distinct style. The watercolor looked like it took advantage of the way the pigment would separate a little along with some wet against dry marks in which some would bleed and some would retain the mark in a sort of free dry calligraphic approach. And between those marks and how he edited the image he was painting (ie. what he left out and what he inferred with some sharp, almost sketchy marks that somewhat defined the subject) he got a look. But I don't know what it is specifically about it that you're chasing.

Then the oils that I saw looks to me (though I didn't see the reproductions in enough detail to know for sure) that he looks like he may have done some of his work over time where part of it had time to dry. And then he would work over the areas not as totally integrated through blending, but where some paint sat apart on the surface. If I am right about that, it would mean he would sometimes paint over time rather than with his watercolors and do it all in a single sitting.

There are probably books on his technique.

It's challenging chasing a technique that is very real-world in a digital method. I have found in my own limited way that I can replicate some of the marks, but it wasn't about painting. I was using tricks with layers that held the textures I wanted (like watercolor) that I had done on a board that I scanned in and would apply it over paint I would do digitally. And then it was a matter of erasing away the bits I didn't want. And that really got too far away from painting and it became all about achieving someone else's look. And yes, it did work to a certain extent. But it was very labor intensive. Perhaps were I to do it a lot I could get it down to a quick process, but like I said, it was going after the craft rather than the art. It looked spontaneous but wasn't. So I dropped it.

You may find it different. Perhaps one of the things you like is his dry brush work. And if that's the case, you can try dry mediums in ArtRage like chalk over watercolor or visa versa, or different settings for brushes. And if I were trying it, because of my familiarity with masks in Photoshop, I would perhaps make masks that had a dry brush feel and then apply it ahead of time and paint such that the paint would only show where the mask that had that dry brush feel allowed. And following that, I would apply the mask and then in regular mode smear some of the paint around for that contrast in textures.

Or as you say, just paint in the original medium and be done with all the tricks.

I'm of the mind that playing to the strengths of digital leaves plenty of room for spontaneity and it allows for the fun of painting for painting sake. But I understand the desire to push the envelope. The layer mask idea is probably one of the more promising ways of adding a character to the mark making process though. It's analogous to applying a garbage mask in advance rather than as an overlay layer to give a painting a certain grit that has been so popular for a while.

Good luck with it! I can easily see why you want that look. It looks great.

Go man go!!!!!!!

[pat1940]

Fun to experiment and you did a great job

[Delofasht]

I knew when I started trying to replicate the effects that I'd be hard pressed to get exactly what I was looking for, in fact I've still not quite managed to do so. I will keep working at it though, Seago's oil paintings were often done alla prima outdoors on a surface he prepared prior to going out. There is a little information about his style and approach, and it's good reading. His work is quite impressive, for this particular digital technique I have encountered some difficulties in creating a textured surface with the exact qualities I'm looking for, I have also tried setting the canvas texture to a prepared texture of blacks and whites to get taller hills and lower valleys and then adjusting it's roughness with the canvas setting as I go to get particular effects with mixed results. I find that the major issue is that the brushes do not respond to the texture of the paint on the canvas as expected regardless of the settings in the brush (stiffness adjustments don't replicate it quite right, nor does pressure settings). It's a work in progress, I do a lot of studies around the house that I don't take as far as I did this one, and as such I don't post everything I do (though I've been working hard on going further with my studies and taking them more to a finish than I have in the past). I often just stop after getting the information I was looking for and then do several quite incomplete studies to make sure I understand the technique.

Digital painting is at a crossroads currently, it's approaching the point where natural media currently resides. The digital techniques have great strength in speed and options, but the major difference for some artists is that it lacks the personal connection with the materials (this is where one's personal settings and hence why I've made my own brushes, canvases, and color palettes). As such the differences are subtle, but the one thing natural media can do is applying one layer over the other and have each layer causing textural effects, opacity effects, and so on in a very direct manner. The distinctions are becoming smaller between the two, enough so that unless you are an extremely process oriented individual more than likely you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.