Tag: digital

Painterly faces

A minimalistic style piece inspired by Henri Matisse portraits

Want to know how to create your own prints in Matisse’s style?

Inspiration

These faces have been painted with Gouche using a paint brush. A minimalistic style piece inspired by Henri Matisse portraits.

This painting style is called Fauvism characterised by strong colours and fierce brushwork (Tate Museum).

“Fauvist art is characterised by its bold colours, textured brushwork and non-naturalistic depictions. In some ways, Fauvist artists emerged as an extension of the Impressionist artists working at the turn of the century.”

What I love about this style is that it really highlights the use of colour and the way in which you can still see the brush strokes. It illuminates the artist’s process as it looks unfinished, like a work in progress.

Interested in reading more about Fauvism see #source1 #source2 #source3

If you want to find out more about inky paintings see my post on Sumi Ink

Original art by Teresa Dang – Mahogany Girl

What you need for this exercise:

  • Pencil
  • Paper
  • Gouche (HIMI #link) or Watercolour paint (Koh-i-Nor #link)
  • Round paint brush size 6 (ROY MAC paint brush #link)

The process:

  1. Find photos of faces you want to paint.
  2. Look for shapes in the image that you can sketch out as larger shapes.
  3. Once pencil drawing is laid down, load up your paint brush with a good amount of paint.
  4. Use the lightest touch to line the pencil drawing. It may be useful to practise a few strokes before hand to get the feel of the paint brush and to see what lines you can achieve.
  5. Fill in the rest of the area of the painting with quick bold brush strokes, be guided by the image, looking for area of shade and light.
  6. After you scan the painting on to the computer you can use the Magic Wand Tool to remove the textured paper background.
  7. Use The Bucket Tool to fill in the light areas.
Original art by Teresa Dang – Green Girl

Some tips:

  • Trace trace trace so that you have a base image to experiment with. Use a window, glass door or the screen of an Ipad to illuminate the image so you can trace it.
  • Practise using your brush to create various styles of strokes so you get a feel of the different lines you can achieve with the brush.
  • Load up the brush with lots of water and pigment.

This style of painting would look lovely in a vibrant blue, enlarged and framed for home decor.

Good Luck with making your beautiful master pieces! Hope you are all having a fun holiday season with family and friends.

Teresa xx

Note to self

A little reminder.

Draw as much as possible.

Don’t be limited to what you feel you NEED to draw, draw what your heart and mind are drawn to.

Tim Burton (director, producer, creator) says, do what you love and what you are passionate about and keep doing it, for it’s the love of the the labour that leads to mastery and true artistic expression. Don’t get swept up in easy wins or shortcuts, it can lead you down a pathway or direction that is not authentically you. Stay true to what you love… (Tim Burton – Master Class)

I hope this helps you to draw and create as much as you love to and not limit yourself by any rules.

Be you, that is what the world wants to see.

Love,

Teresa x

Sumi Ink

To be more free with my lines, to allow my hand to flow without too much thought behind it. I am still yet to “get there” but am enjoying the process.

A lesson on ink.

Ink is a super fun medium to play with. I have been playing with Sumi ink lately and have found it loose and free. As someone who has tendencies toward careful and slow mark making using ink has helped me to loosen up. To be more free with my lines, to allow my hand to flow without too much thought behind it. I am still yet to “get there” but am enjoying the process.

Fun, loose and quick!

I found doing these studies helped me to use my ink brushes on my digital drawing apps.

What I learnt:

  • Ink makes you commit to your strokes, don’t think too much. Have a word/picture in your mind and paint.
  • There is little room for error.
  • Simpler the better.
  • You can achieve different values by adding more water/ink. The more water the lighter the wash (just like water colour).
  • Quick strokes work best.
  • Composition is key.
  • Rhythm is needed, light touches to create dotted thin strokes and more pressure to create bold voluminous lines.

What you will need:

  • Sumi Ink Option 1, Option 2
  • Paint brush (any)
  • Paper (printer paper works but can bleed if you use too much water)
  • Porcelain dish or cup to hold the ink
  • Cup filled with water for washing your brush

Art created on: Bamboo App

A few artists I drew inspiration from to do my studies.

Matisse

Henri Matisse has a few notable pieces whereby he uses brush strokes to depict nature, faces and still life.

Anna Farba

Anna Farba, a botanical artist, has made some lovely floral art with ink.

Rosie McGuinness

Rosie McGuinness, London Based artist fashion artist and life drawing.

Lucy Auge

Lucy Auge, UK based artist has a beautiful collection of inky flowers.

Check out my pinterest board for more ink art ideas to learn from Pinterest Board.

Wishing you a lovely week ahead.

Teresa xx

Part 4: Lockdown hobbies – crayon digital drawings

Hey there friends,

Things haven’t changed much the last few weeks, still in lock down and I am grateful to have this time to explore art and drawing.

I spent some time in the sun in my parent’s garden on Saturday. The sun was so lovely on my back. Under the shade of the plants hanging in the garden, I sat with my Ipad and stylus to draw the things I see in front of me. I spent about 1 hour lost in nature and the warmth of the sun just doodling. This is what I drew.

I used the Tayasui Sketches, it’s an app you can download on the Imac and the Ipad. I paid for the extra features and am actually really happy that I did. It’s really easy to use and love the textures and effects you can create on the app. So I looked up the meaning of Tayasui and it actually means easy and simple!!!

What I learnt through doing this:

  • I really enjoy using digital apps to draw textured drawings – it is really forgiving if you make mistakes.
  • The difficulty about using these apps is that you need practise to remember where the controls are. It took me a few months to get into the rhythm of drawing, knowing where the buttons were to increase and decrease brush sizes, picking the right tool for the right stroke, intensity and colour.
  • What helps is having a limited pallet and working with one tool at a time so you get a handle on how it lays on the digital surface … just like mediums in real life.
  • Doing swatches, why do they not talk about this more often!!! It has really been the best thing in my art making practice is to test the tools I have before creating something with it. Make Swatches. They look really pretty as well.
  • Drawing from life is so so so great for your soul. It adds so much life into your art naturally. The colours and movement really pop too!

Take care during this time,

Teresa x