As an sports artist,  I have been commissioned to paint several famous athletes.  I always, work from several photos of the person, but here are some tips to keep in mind when painting or drawing people. If you are a beginner, this would help you to understand the skeletal framework for your first drawings. Let’s check it out!

1. Simple Planes

Whenever you start drawing the head, I recommend starting with basic planes. It’s the best way to eliminated details and simplifies the human structure.

2. Proportions

Focus on the basic proportions of the head. Such as the following;

a) Eyes: They are positioned almost in the middle of the face. They are about one eye width apart.

b) Nose: The bottom of the nose is on the middle of the eyebrows and chin.

c) Ears: They are between the horizontal line of the eyebrows and nose.

d) Mouth: It is about two-thirds of the way up from the chin, between the nose and chin.

3. Basic Structures

In order to start drawing the human being, it’s important to reduce the human figures into geometric shapes, such as ovals.

4. Gestural Framework

Adding a roughing gesture into your human figure can help to capture the essence in your drawings.

Whenever you finish creating an art piece, the first thing you want to do it to is to show it to the world. Sending some pictures to your friends and family, galleries for any exhibitions, uploading it on social media or you can gain some money by selling it. Nowadays everything is found in social media, which is especially important for sellers, to upload a high-quality picture of the product. In order to have a professional quality picture of your art, there are some options to consider, such as: paying to a professional photographer, investing in your own equipment or using the camera on your iPhone. Having to invest in a professional or semi-professional camera is a noteworthy option, especially if you are constantly creating art and selling it or just for a hobby. It is definitely a fun experience to take pictures of your own creations! Here are some tips for a better performance:

1. Light:

Light is crucial! Whenever you want to photograph a painting, I recommend you to turn off the camera´s flash. It can create glare or reflection. Instead, you can use the natural light that is coming from your window. Also if you want to have a better result, you can set the camera facing the artwork and a pair of lights, equally spaced 45º from the artwork.

2. Filter

Having a polarizing filter attached to your camera is a great option to avoid the hot-spots and glare from your art. Also, it can increase the saturation of the colors, depth, and fidelity.

3. Tripod

Always used a tripod! Sometimes we think that the pictures look center with perfect edges. However, whenever you upload the pictures to your computer, you may find that something is off. The tripod is an element to avoid those mistakes. Also, try activating the viewfinder and grid on your camera; it helps to frame the object.

4. Crop

It is an important option to crop everything that is not needed. Whatever you think it can be a distraction for the audience from the main piece. When I say crop, I am talking about the moment you are taking the picture. Otherwise, if you digitally crop it on the computer you may limit the size of the image; as a result, you might get a low-resolution image.

5. Edit

Editing our pictures before uploading them to social media is a must! Putting an extra effort in editing represents the professionalism you have with your piece and how much you care about it. In order to pursue this idea, you may need to use software that can help you in your editing process. Out there can find inexpensive or even free photo editing software such as LightRoom ($9.99 per month), Photoshop Express (Free)… etc. The last one mentioned is a great option for those who like Photoshop. It is a less complex website version, compared to its counterpart, that allows you to upload the picture, edit it, and download the pictures with all the modifications made. Isn’t that great?

Are you ready to take some pictures?

In this new blog post I will give you some tips to clean and protect your paintings from damage.

Cleaning Process:

Dust is everywhere! Especially whenever you open that box with all your paintings in it. Here are some ideas that will help you get rid of all the dust!

1. Use a soft brush to wipe off the dust.
2. Use a large baked loaf of bread and take a handful of the inside. Wipe the bread against the painting.
3. Use the brush again to wipe off the breadcrumbs.

The magic of using bread, even though it sounds unusual, is that the bread helps you get into the nooks and crannies of your painting without damaging it. However you can also use a professional picture cleaner to take off all the dust that is stuck on the paint or if its stained.

Protection:

In order to protect your paintings and show the same fresh colors from when the painting was new, you can use Varnish. The down side of it is that you may have to wait one year before varnishing textured oil paintings and six months for apply it on a regular oil paint. However if you want to have a faster process you can use alkyds.

When I paint my golf paintings, which almost always have a sky, it seems to be the part I struggle most. I´ve learned through experience that the perfect comparison of how to paint skies above our landscapes is when we think of a lamp. The light bulb will be the sun, the lampshade is the atmosphere and all the decorative patterns or designs suspended, could be the clouds. The density of the light bulb + the lampshades + suspended decorations are the details which interact with and dictate the feeling of the room. The same effect is produced in a painting.

Most of the time, we are used to having a predetermined color for our skies, which could be bluish. However, we forget that it has a variety of colors. Here are some tips that will help you to visualize the color range of your skies.

1. Various Tones

Instead of looking for an overall color of the sky, just focus on the detail of it. When it comes to creating a sunset you may have darker colors with a range o-f deep reds, pinks, yellows, and purples. However, on a rainy day, you may add gray, green and sometimes yellow tinges to it.

2. Brightness of the Sky

Sometimes when we are painting skies, we feel that something is missing; typically this is the lack of space and depth. Shadows are what will produce this effect in your painting. Even in bright days, when you think that it doesn’t need any type of accentuation, it does! Shadows would enrich your sky with color and reflection.

3.   Effect of the Clouds

Clouds sometimes could look really white. And, if you choose painting them white, they would probably have a flat looking with no realism. However, sometimes we forget that clouds reflect light, which means that it could perceive all the colors from the sky. Do not hesitate to experiment with more colors than just white and blue.

4.   Textures

Experimenting with different thickness of strokes can give a peculiar atmosphere into the paint. It helps to emphasize the element or situation of the paint. Also, textures are the perfect option to add dimensionality into the painting.

5.    Horizon Light

In order to have a convincing landscape painting you may need to keep in mind that the sky tends to lighten toward the horizon. So be mindful of this and start using brighter colors the closer you get to the horizon.

When you start painting, I recommend having a restricted palette. Those could be the basic colors or the ones that you use most often. So pick your colors correctly and you can still achieve as many combinations you need for your paintings. By having a limit in your colors, you produce a more unified painting, whether we are conscious of it or not. This would be the easiest way to control their relations in your canvas.

We talk about limitations, but is the number of colors an important fact to keep in mind?  Let’s think about our printers, they only used three to four colors of ink in order to print wonderful pictures. As crazy this sounds, we can paint with the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. So just with three colors and adding a tube of white paint would be enough to create outstanding paintings. The determination of these colors basically depends on the uniqueness of your own artwork.

Whenever you want to create values or shades, you can use the color white. Which means that you may have to prioritize the quality of it. Choose a brand that has premium elements like titanium and zinc. Stay away from the ones that contain fewer pigments, as they won’t give you a good result. However, when we talk about the rest of the colors except white, you can go for a cheaper brand. Whatever brand you pick for your colors it will have the same effect when you mix them so do not stress over what brand to pick for those.

Let’s start experimenting with a new palette! You will see how the phrase “less is more”really applies to your new painting.

“Derby”

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton.

When we talk about art we can think about something tangible but at the same intangible. Tangible could be translated as a physical piece; and intangible is everything that we don’t see but somehow is transmitted through the piece, in which all the emotions, effort and time were invested into the new creation.

I´m sure that many of us may feel some fear of creating art. Some may think that they are not good at it or they use the excuse that they are not a creative person. However, you don’t need to be a professional artist to transmit your emotions and thoughts onto a blank canvas. As Pablo Picasso said: ¨Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up¨. This reminds me of the processes of painting, which consists in painting from inside to outside. And that´s what art is for us! It´s a tool for mindfulness and self-discovery facilitated in a safe, non- judgmental environment. The simple act of painting and mixing colors is considered a therapeutic process in which you can find yourself or lose yourself. Don’t be afraid of your personal skills and try an alternative art world.

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