Create your own unique art style!

in art •  8 years ago  (edited)

Finding new art techniques you can call your own

There are many styles of art and so many different mediums to choose from that it becomes difficult to decide on a style to specialize in. In art school I was told to loosen up and to speed up. There were times when a deadline would be drawing near and if you had a really tight (slow) meticulous style and medium you worked in, you could get crushed by not being able to finish in time.

So I decided to create a faster way to get a colored drawing done.

There is a technique in traditional painting where you have a base tone painted on to the canvas that is more or less a middle value. You then paint in darks, then lights in order to complete the painting. So what I decided to do was to take a piece of translucent vellum that could accept paint without beading up or curling and paint on the backside of it a creamy base color. Then on the front I could use colored pencil and goache for the colors and highlights to complete the image.

colored_pencil_findingastyle.jpg

As the great portrait painter, John Singer Sargent instructed:

" You begin with the middle tones and work up from it . . . so that you deal last with your lightest lights and darkest darks, you avoid false accents."

While the technique of oil painting is not nearly the same as pastel or colored pencil, it still makes your job much easier to follow this simple blueprint.

Expand your knowledge and mix and match

In order to expand your creativity and make your own unique style or technique, learn about all the various different mediums and techniques and always be on the lookout for ways to incorporate these techniques in new and novel ways. Notice what works together and what doesn't and don't be afraid of using the computer to help you achieve effects that are either difficult or impossible with traditional techniques. The great artists of the past would be using computers if they had them; so should you!

One basic example

  • Draw your sketch > scan in to computer > paint digitally > print out to inkjet printer > spray with a clear coat and paint on the inkjet paper > let dry and scan back in to the computer and do as many times as you need to achieve the effects you want!

Don't let me spoil your fun though, try to think of your own mix and match of techniques! Google up every art technique and see what suits you best!

V.


Please follow me for more art and creativity tips!

Some things I have planned are:

Doodling is good for more than wasting away idle time. I'll show you how to become a better artist by using your doodling time to hone your drawing skills!

I will show another novel way of speeding up the process of completing a highly detailed pen and ink illustration by using a copy machine and coated paper to create a scratchboard effect with no fuss and no muss!

Please leave comments, any questions you may have and suggestions. Thanks!


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Great tips! Can't wait to see your doodles.

Me too!! I love to doodle! Everyone should be doodlin' all day!! It's great meditation. For myself it's really relaxing and I think everyone can get in to it, right? Who doesn't doodle?!!

Thanks for your comments and for what you do for the Steemit and Steemit art community!!

Doodling is good for more than wasting away idle time. I'll show you how to become a better artist by using your doodling time to hone your drawing skills!

Looking forward for this one!

Oh yeah @roy.batty. Familiar situation when customer needs quickly. My customers like my original style, but its important to them to get files for print, not the original work drawn by hand. After all, the original work costs more. On this most part of work staying with me)) , waiting for exhibition. I often work a gel pen - and not an ink pen, because I can by gel pen at home or in the workshop, or anywhere alse. Ink may leak and spoil many hours of work. Of course working with gel pen has its downsides - when you need to fill a lot of the surface (this is a very lengthy process), but finished work whith its texture shows the beauty of labor invested. Sometimes when Im not sure how to work out some detale or part of the picture (to make a mistake in the original can ruin all the work) in these cases, I certainly do copy and train on them. When the timing is very important - I draw basic elements, scan and collect them in the computer. But when such works delivered to the customer, I often return to them and finish the work without haste, for me own pleasure.

You know it!

One thing really good thing about Steemit is that it can potentially reward us in those times when we don't get maximum pay for our work. Like when you contract to keep the original work or don't sell certain publishing rights. You can still post your image here and if people like it, then you can make up some of that 'lost' revenue.

The computer is a double-edged sword though. It speeds up everyone's workflow and quality so you need to compete against that many more illustrators.

Love your work and I'm always waiting for your next post!

Would you be interested in a collaboration? Our pen and ink (black and white) styles could interact very well together, I think!

I'm glad you appreciated it @roy.batty I am always for collaboration. but I have not had that experience. my only collaboration was a pictures on the wall in my friends entryway when I was a teenager :). we had a general idea, and we drew alternately, in rotation, his detail -> me detail and so on. we can use this idea. of course we need the idea of drawing and understanding how to do it technically. Do you already have any ideas about this?

next time you come to steemit.chat look for me and we can discuss something. There's no huge rush, just seemed like it would be fun and a good match!

Cheers

ok

Nice tips but are you a replicant?

"Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave." - roy.batty

Lol. I love that movie:)

Doodling can also be a great form of meditation! :D Great tips :)

I really hope that users will get a lot out of my post on doodling. It's something that everyone can get something from, not just artists.

Please follow me so you don't miss it!

I'm following you!

Love the loose lines in this one. It's very expressive.

Thank you! I wanted to show that I can do more than just the technical pen and ink drawings and realistic sketches.

very creative, I like the idea of using different medium together and techniques. lovely work.

Thank you! That's the idea. Be creative and don't follow the recipe others have laid down exactly. The more you know about the possibilities the more options you have for doing what you feel inside.

There are many many possibly mixed-media combinations, so get in there and try 'em!

Thanks again for your comments!

I love the suggestion of the different techniques. I used to always love sketching when I was a kid, but no one really ever thought it was good so I got discouraged. Would love to get back to it again some day.

No reason not to get back in the groove and do it again! I'm planning on showing how to take doodling and make it do work for you. All it takes is a pen and paper and POOF you can go in to a magic world!

Everyone can get enjoyment from even the simplest drawing, there is no good reason to ever be discouraged and you can see results so quickly if you hone your hand through doodling. I hope my doodling post can show some of what I feel when I'm doodling. I think people will dig it!

Thanks for your comment!

Looking forward to it! Maybe one of these days you can upload a tutorial about digital coloring as well. I've been wanting to learn how to digitize doodles for quite some time.

I could do that! It's not difficult and I've been using photoshop for a long time, so I know the process. Good suggestion. Hopefully people will want to see some sort of original tutorial. I'm going to test the waters first.

Thanks for the suggestion!

You're welcome, man. I wish you all the success in your tutorials!

I totally love your work. Great post and great idea to spread the artistic idea across this platform. Cheers

I'm trying to do what I can! Thanks so very much for your kind words!!

Thank you for the advice. I like the idea of painting on the back of velum. I can't wait until your next post! Beautiful work too!

Thanks again! I'm looking forward to your next post as well!

Have a good one!