small illustrations on 20x20 canvas (mixed quality.. bad decision to mix) done for my book. And just after being happy about having done everything ... one illustration is missing. I totally forgot to do one and this is so... just odd. I didn´t get my head ripped off but it´s not the best start to plan some *free* days. I guess I will spend my saturday evening @ home instead of being with my family and PAINT. Arg... Anne, how could you do it >_< *punching myself*
So.. this might be a happy message for all those upcoming illustrators: Even pros do epic FAILS. arg.. yes, you are allowed to laugh =_=;
Anyway, mah little bunny turned 5 today. Born in Vienna, growing up in Berlin, hopefully infecting the whole world with cheerfulness and red capes.
Happy birthday, Kulla!
I can´t believe it.. it´s 01:03 in the morning and everything is done... everything. Ok, except those:
Today I finished 5 (in words: FIVE) canvases and corrected one additional. I haven´t done that many since.. well, last year in April when I had my last huge deadline. >_>
My back hurts, my neck hurts, my arm hurts and even my butt hurts from sitting too long on a chair made for sitting straight (but not comfortable). But nevertheless I´m in a bliss. It´s done.. nothing to worry about. Just some small canvases left.. who cares. Those are easy. No backgrounds, no trees (ok, one tree...), no million clouds and no more red hoods (just carrots... but those don´t count).
I hope I won´t regret the night-shift when I wake up in five hours. Uh... @_@ ...
don´t panic... 5 illustrations in two days... and book-signing... and two illustration corrections. I can do this.. I can... ok, I HAVE to, but it´s still possible that I actually *can* do it.
This gonna be a looonngg night. And next night: as well. I think I´m gonna be sleepy all day in office but well, just a huge illustration and a huge meeting to do. Well... I still have the option of drugging me with ten double shot coffees >_>;
omg, omg, omg
ps... my workspace at daytime. Looks a lot better with daylight. Not that I see it liek that too often ^^;
When you have a fullt-ime job painting is a bit complicated. Mostly because I´m really tired when I come home from work but also because you have to puzzle around with things like "doing the dishes", "crap, I need to wash my cloths", "oh my... we wanted to go to the cinema", "birthday?! Which birthday?!!!" and just the normal stuff most people manage in their freetime. The only problem is: What do you do when the "freetime" is down to 4 hours. Which you might better invest in getting your illustrations done.
So I took some days off. Which might be cool. But now I have a constant headache due to bending just centimeters over the canvas. When I bought my drawing I thought: "Oh so cool, you can change the angle. Never again pain in my neck! Weee!!!"
The only problem: it doesn´t work if you have like 30 tubes, a water-glass and dozens of brushes lying around. Try that in a 45° angle (without gluing everything to the table). So i have like 4 unfinished canvases, a heavy "burn forest burn"-color problem and headache.
I thought a lot about the copyright problem too...
On the one hand: Obviously I can´t make the watermarks bigger and uglier because normal people won´t accept and understand it and honestly I don´t do pretty illustrations just to destroy the whole image thoroughly with a watermark.
On the other hand: There will always be people stealing. Ever. If you don´t do things non-compatible with a so called "mainstream" taste, people will steal. Sure...
Dang, why do my neighbours have to start making out next to my window just now... and crap, that woman stresses me out. If they are not trying to procreate, they are fighting.. arrggg!
Back to topic *using earplugs...* so if .... rah, I don´t want porno dolby while working on children´s book illustrations! I can´t concentrate.... the two might be happy but you don´t have to entertain the whole STREET. >_>;
So, anyway, I hate legal stuff, it is annoying that I have to spend hours on the phone, hours at the lawyer just to make sure somebody who spend five minutes with stealing will stop.
And it doesn´t make the whole situation any better when I get mail like that:
"Hi, I would like to have XY as a poster. Can I order it? Or.. if you don´t have time, could you send me the high resolution file so that I can print it on my own?"... what? O_O ... sure I send you my highresolution files. You want the pin for my bank account as well?
*looking deep into my bunny mug and wish that all those things will vanish and evaporate*
finally the middle and right one are "dead". I an´t use them anymore :((( Crap. The left is still kinda new. I know the brush doesn´t look that "healthy" but it´s sable. I think ALL brsuhes based on natural fur/hair/whatever die faster than the synthetics.
a 10x6 cm part of the whole huge thing. I like it.. but I think you won´t have such a close look later when the rest is done as well. But finally I found out which colors work (while painting with colors that do not work... wonderful XD ). I think this gonna be nice.
Today is odd.... sunshine, rain, sunshine.... rain....
uh.
bunny dishes... cute, aren´t they? Funny Nata gave me those as a belated birthday present. Two years ago I gave the same bowl to Maike as a birthday present... what a coincidence XD The table is my old painting table... 6 years of color stains. I hope i can keep the table when I move. I like it... Kulla book one was made on it.
anyway.... I just realized I forgot to mention something regarding acrylics and canvas...
When do you know that the colors are dry? When the canvas doesn´t feel cold anymore. When the colors dry the surface gets colder than usual.
The temperature drops and gets back to normal when the colors are relatively dry again. Up from that point you can add more layers without ripping the recent color layer off (yeah, that might happen... or you get blotches... especially when working with a sponge).
Of course you can use a blow-dryer to shorten the time. ^^
author: Wolf Wrisch
publisher: Knaur
language: german
The book got excellent reviews and that´s why I bought the book. I thought: k.... seems like you can learn a bit more about techniques.
This is my very personal opinion: Don´t buy it. Ever. I was so dissapointed. I didn´t wanna have lotsa pictures with techniques you never gonna use while doing illustrations. It´s more a compilation of different techniques for combining metal, acrylics, oils, pastels... whatever. I had no clue what the book should be called: Combine everything you find in your supplier´s shop or "Learn everything about material... except acrylics". The book is perfect for people who want to experiment with different materials... really. Artistic allrounders might be happy with the book. Artists who wanna learn how to actually paint: No way.
I have no idea what to do with the book... throwing away would be a shame. Hello ebay?
author: Lexi Sundell
publisher: F & W Pubn Inc
language: English
That book might be perfect for people who wanna learn how to paint photorealistic flowers. Sometimes I thought: "Well, she has to use photos.. can´t be!" If she doesn´t... total respect, most illustrations are truely beautiful and Lexi Sundell knows how to explain her steps well. I think it´s a good book to learn basic things about shading and why you might use color xy instead of the one you wanted to use.
The illustrations show how to work in a very neat and controlled manner of painting. I would even say: The book is good for beginners. Maybe the wrong theme since flowers aren´t that easy to do (except.. if you have a nice photo and want to adapt that), but basically totally okay.
What I liked most about that book and the previous books was the list of material and colors you need per illustration. Most beginners struggle to find the fitting shades and buy everything (like me.. except I strongly try to convince myself that I really need those ^^; ). If you wanna try out acrylics and follow Lexi Sundell step by step you get an overview, the color shades you need and which brushes. That´s good.
but again... the basic things like bristle vrs. other brushes was too short for my taste. Maybe I am really looking for a book made for total idiots but I think basics are too important to give only a short introduction.
*******
Regarding palettes: Three out of four authors favour the "wet-towel" palette. Why??? I mean, if I use colors, I put only a small amount on my palette, start mixing the final shade and put on new color if I need the shade again. The colors will dry on the canvas anyway, so what´s the point of putting a huge amount of acrylics on a wet paper/fabric if you could leave them in their tubes/jars. o_o??? You can´t even mix on that palette but have to put it onto your final palette anyway. Sense? Am I the only one thinking that´s everything but economic.
Mah reviews:
Buy Lexi Sundell if you like to learn "the neat way"... I stay with my messy technique. :)
I am so pathetic but isn´t it cute O_____O (and yes, the plush is ON the tote). It´s too small to get anything but a purse (which has the same look :D ) and a book in but well, I can deal with that... eventually. If I ever gonna use it.
C&A, 9 Euro... didn´t hurt that much. Worth the fun looking at it.
I have my scan deadline on friday. Besscom was so nice to squeeze me in and I have to get at least ten canvases done. TEN O_o oh my...
4 finished (one not usable for the book since I messed up the colors... dang!), 1 unfinshed and five more to do. Ok, the deadline is friday, I can do it. I really can. Rully! ;_;
hschhhhh... till march :)
Finally my shirt gave up. Scrubbing along the table edge all day long seems to be a bad idea for thinner fabric. Totally destroyed my shirt *and I really liked it*. Bye shirt, you and me... we had a lot of fun, stains, coffee and tears while working late at night.
my actual palette.. ok, I have no idea why I thought I might need tons of red but... well, you can´t know. I have been working on a promo-illu for two days. Together with a lot of "normal" work I feel like I´m gonna fall asleep as soon as I hit my bed.
Got home today around 19.00, ate, went straight to bed and slept till 22.00... I was so effin tired. Now it´s 23:59, I am still working on something that needs to be finished within the next 24 hours and I know my night will be short again. I love working at night but I get the feeling that I could do that a lot better 4 years ago... or even... 6. ^^;
Crap!
i got jars. A lot of jars O_o I don´t even know if I need all those since I already mixed my basic colors. Well... at least I can´t complain that I have no jars for my colors for the next ... ten years.
I got a Miffy as well. I don´t like Miffy -__- I tried to "read" a book of those but after ten pages I thought "oh my god, where´s the plot, where the message?!"
If I offend anybody sorry, but I am rather into traditional story-telling. Or did anybody ever found a sense in Teletubby? See... that´s what I mean.
I´ll keep her. Ty couldn´t know so I can´t blame him. For a plush it´s kinda cute... if you ignore the Miffy fact.
my recent tool "list"
1. synthetic fan brush
2. bristle fan brush
3. bristle short head
4. bristle normal head
5. retouch brushes
6. synthetic cat-tongue
7. normal synthetic brush
8. bright sable
9. folding leg (for my palette ... not for painting)
10. sponges
11. hand broom (getting rid of dust)
I bought two books last week. Those are:
&
I had a look into both yesterday and I think those are for semi-advanced painters.
I favour the first one since Annette Dozier included some pages which explain the materials not only via text but also with photos which i think is very important. Especially if you have no idea where and how to hold the different brushes.
Both books have step-by-step explanations with text and photos but in the end I think it´s a lot of guessing and trying out yourself. I thought about using some techniques on my own, had a look on my own illustrations and decided to try it when I am done with my recent proejct (Kulla 3). It might be frustrating to try new techniques in the middle of a project. For both me and my publisher.
pro:
-good explanation of brushes
-good explanation of colors (for those who have a problem mixing and wanna stick to given colors in the first place)
-good explanation of light/shadows
-excellent explanation of grayscale-technique (never found that in a book before....)
contra:
-not for total beginners
-if you want to learn techniques you bettter attend a course, the books are as additional material helpful afterwards
-the books can´t solve general problems and they won´t talk to you when you´re stuck
I think I will keep them although they disturb me a bit with the "general techniques". I work totally different (and that´s not via accident but I learned it that way) and I felt a bit bad about it afterwards. Like.... "Am I doing it wrong all time?!" XD
oh my...
