Articles

    Artist Spotlight:  Marvin Mattelson (Portrait Artist) Go to his web page:  https://www.fineartportrait.com/ Select “About” and read through his background, where he went to school, and jobs he has had as an artist Select “Portrait Gallery” and look through his artwork.  His technique in painting is very technical, similar to what you have learned in this class.  He is very strict in maintaining values and does not veer away from colors in that he wants them represented as he sees them.     [...]

    Reference the following blog post by Paul Foxton on color matching for still life paintings: https://www.learning-to-see.co.uk/a-blue-lemon-why-understanding-colour-is-the-key-to-realism    Note:  He is using oil paint and Munsell scales in his blog post, we are not, but the overall concept is the same   [...]

      Artist Spotlight:  Colie Wertz (Concept & VFX Artist) Go to his web page:  https://www.coliewertzdesign.com/ Look through Colie’s gallery of concept art.  (VFX in the title is Visual Effects) Focus on his use of values and color.  His digital paintings are very subdued in color except for one or two colors that really pop out.  It’s a good example on how not all colors have to be their maximum hue. We need to vary the chroma based on what we see, or in the case of Colie’s concept art they vary it based on what they want to pop out.       [...]

  Artist Spotlight:  Ian McQue (Sci-Fi and Concept Artist) Go to his web page:  https://www.iamag.co/the-art-of-ian-mcque/ Look through Ian’s artwork.  His work is done on the computer. Focus on his use of values.  Even though the colors are bright, his values are maintained throughout his artwork. Also focus on his use of atmospheric effect and how the values change to make objects appear further away, similar to our example number 5 in this exercise.   [...]

    Artist Spotlight:  Kadir Nelson (Illustrator) 1.  Go to his web page:  https://www.kadirnelson.com/ 2.  Select “About” and read through his background, where he went to school, and jobs he has had as an artist 3.  Select “Gallery” and look through his artwork.  As a study in this homework assignment look at the painting called “Morning Post” (just past halfway down as you scroll across the pictures). Look at the values used for the light colored shirt and newspaper versus the darker pants and skin tones.  The boy is standing in a shadow so even the brightest part of the white [...]

Value Study   Select 2 photographs of your choice to draw.  Select something simple and sketch them about the size of an iPhone.  The emphasis of this exercise is to draw the shadow and light areas resulting in 3 values:  white, mid-value gray, and black.  Do not focus on any details, just the variation of light.    SQUINT – when you squint, colors and details are minimized so that all you see are the values that stand out as white, gray, and black.  SKETCH PICTURE – using a pencil, lightly sketch the picture you selected.  Occasionally squint while sketching so that you focus on the light [...]