Getting back on the Horse: aka I need to remember how to paint!

Before yesterday (May 7th) I hadn’t painted a head in 1:6 for months.

Yes, months.

November was the last time I actually sat down with a head to paint.

:?

Understandably, I’ve been feeling uneasy at the thought of sitting down again and doing it. It isn’t really like riding a bicycle at all–and if you don’t do it for a while you get rusty (and in my case you forget how to do it).

So yesterday I finally sat down and determined to beat down my procrastination and do it. And my thanks to Milk for the encouragement yesterday & today, it was (and is) much needed.

Yesterday’s exercise didn’t go particularly well… I had 11 heads that I got out of storage (my whole volks/obitsu stockpile) and tried to sketch in their starts. I struggled with that for a couple of hours but managed to get the eyes relatively even/acceptable for my use. I even got a few expressions/character in them so I was pleased.

But then, (of course there’s a but!) when I tried to actually add color, dimension and some illusion of depth everything went south.  I don’t know if it was from trying too hard, not trying hard enough, or a low level of frustration, but all in all it was not very productive.

I came out of yesterday with 3 things:

1. The new (and odd) knowlegde that it is easier for me to draw 3 level lines on both sides of the eyewells with my left hand than my right.  My right hand (dominant) seems to be unable to do this. The left can. I don’t know if it is related to perception or what…now if only I could develop better fine motor skills with my left hand! (must try in the future).
2. I’ve begun to remember some of the process…so I am on the right track (although my brushes are getting ready to give up the ghost).
3. One head painted that I feel is acceptable, although not particularly good. I decided against wiping it as I feel the face has a “bitchy” feel to it and I need that for some of the students.

Now I am trying to settle in and give it another go.  If I can get a few heads done today that I like I will post them all here and you readers can have some fun telling me which names & faces seem to fit better (I actually want to have a bit of fun with that so it will also include a little bit of dialogue for each)

Ok. Enough procrastinating! Off to paint!