Ian’s 100-Day Art Challenge: Faces, People, and Places

[Jessica]

I love your composition of the model.  And your choice in colors and the contrasts between light and dark. Very cool!

[Ian Coltman]

Hi Jessica, thank you so much for the encouragement!

[Ian Coltman]

Days 48-49 | Fifty-day project planning 

It’s almost the halfway point… so my goal for the next week is to create a cohesive combination of figures in a meaningful context. I’m still pretty shaky on inventing figures from scratch, so I’ll continue to rely on photographic images. My 100-day project goal will involve the creation of figures inspired by reference rather than directly sourced.

I’m attempting to engage the idea of willful ignorance in the face of imminent danger… something I see going on quite a bit these days.

These are thumbnails generated in an iPad app called Concepts. I spent the last couple of days learning this app, and have found it to be a capable sketching tool and ideal for working through the planning stages of design. It takes some effort to get the hang of, and I would not recommend Concepts for straight drawing and painting – but I will be using it increasingly in the future for layout and idea mapping as I gain speed.

[Ian Coltman]

Days 49-50 | Storm Study 1 – Reference: Google images

After using cold press and craft papers for the past fifty days, I switched to hot press watercolor paper for this study.

The colors are far less prone to reactivation than with the hot press papers that I have tried… and I appreciate the way the paint stains this surface.

I hope to gain confidence with the more restrictive and deliberate approach to watercolor painting that this paper requires.

[ZHI SU]

Beautiful colors! And I like the layered and textured approach.  I find hot press less forgiving than the cold press paper, but as you said, the way the paint stains is unique and can be well exploited.

[Ian Coltman]

Thanks, Zhi!

I am still figuring out how some of the papers behave and but it does seem like bond weight plays a big factor an absorption and permanence.

I picked up three new colors yesterday: Q Rose, Hookers Green, and Nickel Q Gold – these should complete some major blind spots in my spectrum.

I’m pleased by the deep and bright pigment of the gold…it has a rusty orange quality that I could not achieve otherwise and intensifies my palette substantially.

[Ian Coltman]

Day 51 | Storm Study 2 – Reference: Google images

 

This was a bit of an experiment with a few new colors that I picked up.

I think it was dragged down substantially by the use of old caked paints that I was exhausting from the past few pieces. I didn’t add enough water to the dried remains in the initial stages. I ended up overcompensating later with a few hundred unnecessary strokes.

Lesson learned here: Better to risk an extra $0.50 worth of paint than to risk a $1.25 sheet of paper and an extra hour of redundant brushwork.

My new rose and gold colors are playing well together and I look forward to a cleaner result using a similar palette in the future.

[Ian Coltman]

Day 52 | Storm Study 3

I went ahead and improvised on this one a bit more than the past couple. Only the motor home is referenced from a photo.

I made it a point to go heavy on the pigment this time and I think I may have overdone it.

I’ll look to find the sweet spot on hue and coverage in addition to crisper lines as the studies continue… I also intend to do some more careful cloud studies for better modeling and superimposition.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Ian Coltman.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Ian Coltman.

[Jean Carlos]

Hi Ian! These are awesome! The tornado pieces are so good! Well done!

[Ian Coltman]

Hey thanks, Jean Carlos!

And thanks for bringing lots of skill, personality,  and positivity to the community!

[Ian Coltman]

Day 53 | Bad Hair Nation

 

Like many Americans, my hair situation gets worse every day. So today it was time to celebrate bad hair with some digital head drawings from imagination.

It was interesting going back to digital painting after being confined to traditional methods for a few weeks. A few weeks of watercolor and gouache has informed my digital approach in unexpected ways.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Ian Coltman.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Ian Coltman.

[Ian Coltman]

Day 54 | Color Study

I recently saw a video on Teoh Yi Chie’s YouTube channel where he performed a full-color watercolor using a cyan, magenta, and yellow.

I’m making some attempts with a facsimile of this palette using Cerulean Blue, Q Magenta, and Cad Yellow.

Four-color printing methods often use CMYK color, so I am experimenting with the addition of Paynes Gray for the K component.

[ZHI SU]

Love the digital paintings and the hairs, so lively!

[Ian Coltman]

Day 55 | Figure and Clouds Color Study

Another experiment with the aforementioned CMYK watercolor palette.

The reference was lit from the opposite direction so I attempted an improvised the light source from the other side. Things got a little messy as a result, but I had fun trying to rescue it.

[Ian Coltman]

Days 55-56 | States of Mind – reference: Lillias

Hit the sketchbook to look at some psychological color experiments combining facial expressions with editorial applications of hue.

This was ballpoint, Pigma pens, a white gel pen, and a CMYY watercolor scheme incorporating an additional lemon yellow with the cad yellow that I’ve been using.

The yellow and magenta combinations tend to produce a dirtier “flesh-friendly” orange-brown than a straight orange or red-yellow combination… I think I’m starting to see the value of limited-palette watercolor approaches and the discoveries they present.

 

[Author]

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