First finished 2016 project

I actually finished it January 31, but waited until February 1 to put it online. And waited a little longer before finally posting it on my blog.

This was the painting that took up the end of my 2015, so a lot of it was already finished. It still took another month before I finally fully completed it! Here is the text from the dA entry:

It’s been WAY too long since I last painted in acrylics (late 80’s – very early 90’s when I “regularly” used them), and in all honesty I didn’t know what I was doing. I switched over to watercolor/gouache, some coloring with markers, did some digital coloring over scanned inks… and then focused on b&w/ink as my main form of art, before taking a way-too-long break from art completely (the past few years, I’ve started adding a bit of regular pencil back into the mix). I’ve been craving painting again, so I thought it was time!

This started off as a little 3.5″x3.5″ blue pencil scrawling that was difficult to see and very vague. It went through a long process of changes until I was happy enough with it to start painting. I was very tempted to use watercolor/gouache, but they were all dried out and all my “nice” brushes were for inking — I had more supplies for acrylic, and needed to get back into practice for some upcoming acrylic paintings too.

I am not a photorealistic artist — I’m more stylized, with many years of comic books as my main focus (that’s actually how I met my husband, he is a writer). Also I am such a lover of inked art (brush), so I did use black to mix in with some colors, like the dark shadows/sections of his hair, to bring my style of drawing a little more comfortably into painting mode. This whole piece was simply practice, but also a fun experiment to see how I might like to push my way of drawing in new directions.

Acrylic paint on 11×14 canvas, and scanned with color and contrast adjustments — the scanner changed some of the tones, like the skin which is a little darker/redder than the actual painting, but taking a photo also doesn’t show the painting in its “true” form either. I also had to do a lot of scans, trying to figure out what worked best for my dark living room wall, yet also looked good enough on a digital scan without driving me mad.

I’m honestly not sure how long this took. The drawing was a drawn-out off and on thing, and when I wasn’t sick or had other things to do, I tried to push myself to work on it as much as I could every day. I also used natural light only, so I could not paint during cloudy days sadly. I just didn’t think to keep track of painting time closely enough. “Too long” would be my response, since I experimented, changed things if I didn’t like the effect, and obsessed a little too much (slowing progress even while working often on it).

Some links related to the drawing/painting and the process….
The line art used to transfer to canvas
Blog Entry about the line drawing
Blog Entry about the quick/sloppy color test
Blog Entry about the canvas transfer

The finished painting here.

Now I need to find a frame so we can hang it on the wall with some of the inked drawings, and I hope to eventually paint Thorin’s father Thrain in a matching style to include in the little group.

I have other paintings planned as well, but right now I’m enjoying NOT working on art. 😉

About Cynthia Griffith

I have way too many interests and hobbies, and continually cycle through them -- paying attention to some, while others wait for when I can get around to them again. My main interests are sewing and costuming (I enjoy historical clothing, such as 18th and 19th century, as well as fantasy costumes like elves and hopefully someday even dwarves), as well as getting back to art by drawing fan art of Thorin Oakenshield and Company. My husband Christopher and I spend a lot of time together, enjoying the outdoors and shared hobbies such as juggling. This blog and website is my way to share what I'm up to with friends and family.
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2 Responses to First finished 2016 project

  1. Well, you know I love it! I’m amazed that you hadn’t touched paint, let alone acrylics, in well over a decade. (Maybe 2 decades for acrylics?) And then BOOM! you paint this!

    It’s been wonderful seeing the progress and having it out in the open so I could see it all come together. It’s a great start for a new(ish) year!

  2. The last time I touched acrylic paint in any way was sometime in the 90’s, but I used them more often when I was a junior or senior in HS. No idea what I was doing, but at least I made stuff. 🙂

    I’m glad you enjoyed it. Honestly though, I really wish I could close a door and not look at things I’m working on. Especially when they’re driving me nuts — my poor mind needs a break sometimes!

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