Thursday, January 27, 2011

Art Tools Sharing

Thought to share this with my fellow bloggers and creatives.



This is NOT a traditional how to work book. It focus on acrylic material handling plus some basic acrylic painting techniques.  Though the acrylic and acrylic medium it refers to is of GOLDEN brand, most of the information is applicable to other brands.

Here is a photo of "acrylic skin" I learn to make from the book.

Left: Acrylic skin. Right: Original image photocopy on plain paper
2)  Color Mixing Recipes Books:





I'm pretty sure a lot of you know color mixing like the back of your hands, but I don't.  And to make the problem worst, my first acrylic painting was of nude girl figure.  Through my internet search, I did find some basic formulas to mix skin tone, but most of these formulas were for 1 color value only.  The instructions on color value change from these formulas are very confusing for me to understand.

These book are recommended to me by the owner of my local art store.  I wasn't quite sure about "recipes" book at first.  It sounds suspicious and honestly a bit tacky.  Also I would feel like a cheat to use "color recipes" to paint.  But after reading the books, I was glad to have got them.  I actually learn more about color mixing from the "color recipes" than from the 2 big fat books I got last year on color theory.

Also, the book comes with a "color mixing grid" which helps me greatly when I need to mix the same color twice or more.  (Again, I'm sure mixing the same color twice or more to you is not difficult at all.  But for me, a total novice to painting, it's a GIGANTIC problem.)

Note:  For my painting "Come to Me", I didn't use any one of the color recipes. I developed my own recipe learning from the book.  However, my "recipe" didn't work that well ...

Lastly, a pix of my painting area for your musing.

My Messy Art Space
Cheers and have wonderful week ahead!

4 comments:

WrightStuff said...

Ooh, I missed your last post. Your painting is amazing. You know, I think you have real talent there and a very special ingredient called dedication!! Spending so much time on getting it right speaks volumes. You have already developed your own style - you're going places girl, I can feel it in my bones!!
Nice to see your workspace. I buy art books all the time - I just can't resist!!

WrightStuff said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wyanne Thompson said...

Those are really good books. I highly recommend them too. Your art space is not messy! You should see mine! Besides...I'm really leary of artists who have really neat art spaces. Your painting, "Come To Me" is very beautiful. Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving such nice comments. You made my day. Love, Wyanne

Cameron said...

J, My Darling...I'm so sorry I didn't read this as soon as it was posted! I do so like to catch you right when you're fresh!
I adore seeing people's work spaces...yours has such a fantastic element of scientificness (not a word, I know...but I'm going with it..haha!)

As far as color mixing....I just do a little of this, a little of that.....I'm far better with watercolor than acrlics...the subtle layering you can do with wc allows for more versatitlity, I think....my first few attempts at skintone with acylics have not been great. :(

I do cheat a bit now and just buy flesh tone shades, and then adjust with other colors to darken or highlight...call me lazy...but it's easier for me to achieve what I want to do...

Curious about those oil crayon thingies some people use on their faces...gives a real soft texture I just can't get with acrylic.

I'll gladly show you my "hide from public eyes" works if you need a pick-me-up...lol :)

Y'know I love ya'...talk to you soon,
Cam