Looks as though I'm going to fall at the last hurdle, anyway hoping to finish "Mando" by tomorrow evening : / but at least the background is nearly done.
Attached ref was actually my third choice for this drawing:
Oh well, suppose 2.5 completed paintings in a tad over 6 weeks leading up to christmas eve isn't to bad and anyway got my workrate up a bit which was the whole point of this exercise.
So I think I'll probably finish him off in the following week, after boxing day not forgetting of course including a portrait of "Kuiil", as well!
Last minute Christmas eve job (...basically pulled an all nighter)
A Chrissie present for my land lady with whom I've lodged as a boarder since 2017, really lovely person so thought to express my gratitude, artistically.
An acrylic on canvas, of a Tawney Frogmouth and chick. In the backyard mum had built a nest up a gumtree about 3 months ago, they're still around, most nights can hear them hooting in unison while hunting for dinner because the property backs onto a small nature reserve.
(excuse my big hooves peeking into frame )
(excuse dodgy phone cam pics of the pair - was at max zoom when snapping them )
Still working feverishly away on finishing this set of vectorized drawings.
Had initially thought, Din Djarin 'Mando' would be the easier illustration among the four to execute...silly me : / but nonetheless I think my fourth attempt, since xmas looks promising despite being 40% done.
Probably at this point, a brief descriptive walk-through would be useful to document, especially when a personalized approach is applied drawing with Affinity Designer, any given mid level complex subject matter in 2D, while generally utilizing a closed curve technique.
Now, put simply optimal layer management is key for generating in this case, realistically generic output.
For example a few points of note:
- As always, pre-planning is intuitively handy by mitigating perceived or indeed unforeseen bottlenecks.
- Typical naming convention, streamlining navigation (primary alongside sub-layer categories which can easily creep into the hundreds)
- Ensure sub object vector layers are masked/nested appropriately whether ascending or descending order.
- Color picking via parent reference image - usually I've found most helpful is to choose if possible a de-saturated region, whilst attempting to reproduce multiple tint/s.
Well, as it turned out had decided to extend this subd modeling interlude a while longer. Probably aside from an innate affinity for pushing/pulling verts over hard surfaces but also hone albeit somewhat develop precision detailing which I'd struggled with on occasion in the past.
Yeah, I'm a diehard "Tifosi" and the previous 13 year period has been terrible for us, since Kimi Räikkönen last won the championship for Scuderia...oh well we but live in the hope that Maranello will someday engineer a masterpiece too rightfully reclaim number one spot, from the Germans
Was initially notified by email in June which coincidentally was not long after I'd jagged a new bill paying job, that I'll receive a batch of commissions for a set of figurative portraits from a single client later in the year. At first pretty stoked but at the same time tentatively thinking if I could pull it off, since I've not attempted any serious paid work for ages, well 1998...! to be exact using traditional media via a genre without mincing words, had previously excelled when a working artist, during the 90s.
So anyway, I'm guessing they'd hit on an old long forgotten post of something leading too sparking an interest. Therein over the preceding months amidst a plethora of day to day detritus whilst also week in/out preforming high risk duties as an essential onsite worker, throughout a series of nationwide covid lockdowns due specifically to the Delta strain, coupled with our low vaccination rate in my region...trying to get back up to speed practicing using either stylus or pencil, sketching like there's 'no tomorrow'
Henceforth, finally taking delivery of relevant reference material several weeks ago, made a somewhat hesitant start, plus time-frame toward completion considering my usual workrate, at face value was a little tight (two & a bit months) however it's paid so needs must. Consequently, decided to lean heavily upon a digital format, hopeful in providing an efficient alongside effective solution meeting or indeed sliding under the agreed deadline.
Current progress, first done, actually final edit was yesterday evening so happy to report the client's response was an approval of the finished result.
Vector Outline:
Curve Segment Paths - [Blockout]
Workflow Breakdown
For those interested, a brief walk-through of the process I've been 'tweaking' for the best part of two years, drawing realistic content utilising Affinity Designer. Personally I think I've struck a balanced approach in terms of technique out-putting whatever subject whether organic or hard surface, basically not that dissimilar too 3D pipeline tasks i.e.
Background Ref's
Blockout
Base Sketch
Refining Details
Final Pass / Render
Post Processing / Comp
Typically, when freelancing as a Portraitist back in the day I'd mostly work from photographs, simply because of a preference for painting at ones own pace and also suited my persona as an artist without the additional hassle of in situ sittings. Now this particular methodology is fairly straightforward, base sketch is blocked out by tracing an image, from the outset primary color gradients are initially layered down.
Once appropriately edited, I'll toggle over to ADs Persona suite of raster tools for texturing. In my opinion they're fully featured for my present need, default brush sets are intuitively user friendly including a fleshed out settings menu, quite useful when changing properties on the fly while implementing effects such as blur, opacity, glow etc, as well.
Although that all said, layer management is pretty crucial, when dealing with complex content, the layer stack especially vector / pixel combinations will propagate fast, quick! so keeping tabs on usable naming conventions is well worth keeping an eye on, probably mitigated to an extent by some forethought during pre-planning.
Each Relevant Stage Highlighted via Gif:
Generally, with some optimism can state I've 'ironed' out more than a few wrinkles drawing using this app which hopefully bodes well for the remainder.
Recently hurt my knee at work but still trying to stay productive doodling arty stuff with the time off covered by my medical certificate:
In so doing just the other day, managed to finally finish the Murray Walker tribute piece I've been working on since March plus also mentioned earlier upthread, might be a probable addition. That being said, never ceases too amaze on occasion in the OSS world of OOP, people freely give of their time and expertise to author an extremely useful image editor addon like for instance G'MIC for GIMP. Which I fully made use of in post by leveraging the filter utility - Deformations > Textured Glass - in order to define a 'heat haze' effect or something as close to the ref I'd sourced for this particular project:
Moar work on this Corvette, with panel cuts and thickness done will then move onto carving out insets, windshields plus other bits of 'ephemera' up next.
Although, I don't particularly like the guy as a person by any means or rather how he conducts himself outside of racing but nevertheless one must acknowledge excellence in terms of achieving the supreme accolade for a professional driver, by snatching victory for all intents and purposes from impending defeat, on the final lap at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP.
Max Verstappen achieves his maiden F1 Drivers Championship Title :
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