FAQ's

frequently asked questions

My old studio I miss dearly! An old second grade class room.

 

Some Answers to Your Questions

Q: What size and brushes should I do my master studies with?

A: You can try painting smaller, like 6x9 panels, try to finish the painting within 3 hours, so it stays fresh. When you do about 20 of those, get more ambitious and paint 9x12 format after that. Also painting with gouache is another excellent medium on cold-press illustrations board... similar size. You can start with watercolors as a base and add gouache to your mixtures as you build things up.

Brushes should be natural hog hair - filberts 2,4,6,8 and 12. You can mix in a few rounds of similar sizes... sable or synthetic. If you paint most of the sketch with 6 or bigger, then you will have a more confident sketch study. But sometimes it's good to use small brushes for modeling the form... using big brushes only is overrated. The painter Gerome would be using fan-brushes and very fine sables with his oils, for instance. Some of the long rigging brushes are good for final detail, like clothing, highlights on eyes, etc. It will probably set you back 100 bucks, but good brushes are worth it. Windsor and Newton ones are fine. Keep them very clean, and wipe with cloth rather than paper towels.. like old t-shirts. Keep those rags aired out (ala clothes pin) when done, so as not to start a rag fire.

 

Q: How do you work with pastel and gouache?

A: Regarding pastels, get a whole bunch of them, different brands and varying degrees of hardness and softness. Usually a set of warm and cool grays are great to mix with your pastels.

 

 

Q: How do I sharpen my traditional oil painting skills?

A: I think you should paint with oils as soon as possible, try gessoed papers, linen and canvas, etc. as supports. Wood panels are wonderful to paint on too. Sargent was talented, any medium he touched was brilliant.

My best advice is to copy Sargent in black and white oils, pushing with warm browns and prussian blue grays to shift temp/color changes. You will learn many lessons about edges, composition and the meaning of life, ha! At least artistically. If you find your paintings thick and muddy, clean your brushes more often in thinner(get plenty of fresh air! too) and put the lid on when you are not dipping into the jar. You can really change the quality of the painting experience by how you add mediums like linseed oil to your paints. Gainsborough literally had homemade mixtures dripping off his palette arm, because it was prepared so fluidly.
Just start painting, 2 sketch paintings a week in b+w for a year and you will be 100 times more confident and knowledgeable than most artist you will meet. Jumping into Plein air painting is a big mistake without those foundations of painting first.

 

Q: What kind of pastels do you use?

A: Carre is the brandname for the harder pastels. I would buy a complete set if possible... rembrandts are fine too, schmeinke (sp?) are excellent, but expensive.

 

 

Q: What medium do you paint in and what software do you use?"

A: I usually approach my art with sketches made in pencil or ink..nothing fancy. I like to layout a perspective point and horizon to establish the height & lens of the camera. I mention camera because I like to think of how I would set this up for a shot, being for film or just for my self (fine art). Lately I have been working back and forth, using the computer scanner to scan in the original sketches and then work in a digital tonal wash on the computer to establish mood and atmosphere as a quick pre-viz comp tool. I will later hang these up on the wall and look at them while painting the traditional final as a guide. Setting the tone for the image is crucial, without mood why bother. If it's a dynamic moment in a film, I think about the color range.. holding the strongest colors and value contrasts in reserve for maximum effect. When you can really splash in a vermilion hard edge shape among a field of soft muted maroon of darker value.. You create drama that may enhance the environmental framework of the story. With this kind of control you set up a system of first, second and third reads (center of interests). I use Holbein Acryla Gouache as my current painting medium with Cartoon Color- white and black as mixers. A good sable set and synthetics work fine for brushes. I use a cheapo mixing dish with little cups to hold about 12 colors. This I have broken down to the primaries, RED, YELLOW, BLUES, & greens with Neutrals being the last tray( 5 trays in all). All of these keep well because of the covered lids that are somewhat airtight. You need a little spray bottle to keep them damp while you paint during the day.. but at night..they get covered. I have been experimenting with Gator board and adhesive paper to mount 100% rag hot press Fabriano papers. 300lb or 140lb works fine.. Cold press is for rougher sketches. You need to use a artist's white tape to mask off your film format. Let's say 1:85 or 2:35 to one unit. If you scumble a light gray wash over brown/red ink washes you get a lovely glow in your underpainting.. a sort of poor man's Baroque oak panel effect. Since I use the acrylics, they don't lift as much as regular gouache.. so you can really work them. Also using a pen over this... lends to a nice work environment for the draftsman in all of us. By introducing washes and scumbles (some semi opaque) you build the color up. If you plan well, you would want to use triads and complementary colors in your grays to enhance richness with the top contrasting local colors. For example... a cool bluish gray sky zings a bit more if you try laying in warm washes of burnt/ pinkish sienna underneath. But don't use it as a tired old formula.. this is just a starting point to push for variety in your work. Another method to enhance color variation is to apply a second medium to the paint.. this being pastels. I like the Carre' pastels that are a bit harder and hold on smooth surfaces better, but softer ones would work fine on rougher papers. Pastel works well to bridge gaps between your brush transitions. If you can think of paint as a patch work and the pastels as a hazy day, values get closer and harmonized color is the result. This speeds the block in approach along. The finishing technique in this medium can end here.. but as I mentioned earlier you can work over scans of your sketches and even paint new versions on the computer. To have random surfaces and real world materials come through the scans, the work.. to me is more interesting. Try it out! The computer can be set up with Photoshop 6, Painter 6, Wacom Tablet , Stylus and a fast processor. This is all you need to get going. Try using a larger monitor or two of them, one for palettes the other for the working screen if possible. In the future I will do a breakdown of my working process, illustrated.

 

Q: How do I get a job in the film industry or places like ILM?

A: My best advice is simple: if you have the talent and the desire to work hard at what you love to do.. things will fall into place. I once met a young guy from Japan who was absolutely driven to work at Industrial Light and Magic and do matte paintings. He was going to art school at the time.. and each time he showed me his work it was getting stronger. He also worked part time at a matte painting company to get experience. All of this concentration on the goal paid off. He submitted his book for an internship at ILM and actually got accepted in the matte dept. Working very hard and weekends... his eagerness and raw talent impressed the crew.. and after his school studies were finished he went on to be hired!

If you have the skills and a sincere dream.. it shouldn't be impossible. I believe people soak up information like a sponge and when you have your heart set on a certain goal..do your homework and be prepared, you might surprise yourself. My approach was a tad methodical, I knew by 8th term (Art Center)I wanted to get into the film business as a concept artist. I felt alienated by the fads in illustration, and the ever weakening importance of sound drawing in print. There was no interest for me there.. and to me the movie artist seemed very inspired and creative, most gallery art at the time seemed too random, anything goes sort of thing, I like unified periods in art history. It was also more mysterious than it is now about getting into the business. So that made it a good challenge. I felt that it was important to get real life experience in Hollywood first. I was fortunate to hook up with a director in LA and get onto a big film just out of school. With this project I had examples of professional work to show ILM. I also was lucky to get experience with Disney Animation in Florida as a intern. All this helped me get their attention and then the real learning began.