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Hi NMA – I’m an aspiring concept artist/illustrator trying to improve my digital painting skills. I’ve been practising for about the last 6 months, so I’ve developed some skill already, but I’m looking to improve the consistency of overall quality in my work. I also don’t post my work anywhere, so I’m hoping this will get me more used to the idea.
I’ve mostly been doing portraits, but I’ll also be attempting figures, landscapes, and anything else that crosses my mind. My work will probably be black and white (until after day 50 or so) so that I can focus strictly on values. I’m going to spend around 2 – 3 hours on each piece, but some pieces will end up more finished than others. I may go back and touch up previous pieces based on feedback.
Excited to see what happens by the 100th day
DAY 1:
I’ll be working directly from reference for the next while. I find most of my reference just by looking up portraiture on Pinterest. I didn’t include it here because I wasn’t sure If should – I don’t know what the rules are on that.
Anyways, this is a stronger start to the challenge than I thought it would be, but again, I’m trying to improve the consistency of quality in my work. I definitely have some uneven days ahead
DAY 2
The expression on the persons face was so difficult to get right! I didn’t even really capture it, but this was as close as I could get. The angle of the head proved very difficult as well. I redrew the base sketch many times to try and figure it out the piece as much as I could but at a certain point, I had to go for it.
Welcome! This is a great challenge. I recommend you try to keep your form and lighting very simple as you build confidence.
Just gave you your 100 Day Challenge Badge!
DAY 3
My underlying sketch was a little too messy. I seem to give faces too much of a roundness (as if their features are resting on a sphere, instead of being carved into them). Still, I managed to make some smart decisions in the last hour and brought in a stronger likeness and some better harmony between values.
DAY 4
My first landscape painting of the challenge. This proved pretty difficult! I used Isaac Levitan’s “Alps, Snow” (1897) as reference. You can see it here:
https://www.atlasofplaces.com/painting/mood-landscape/#figure-6
I’m fairly new to landscape paintings as I generally favour figurative work, but Levitan truly captures the powerful dynamics found in nature. He makes it look easy! I had been using rounder, softer brushes initially and felt I needed a harder edge to capture the sharper angles in the picture. I’ll have to change my approach on the next landscape; try out some textured brushes.
DAY 5
Pretty successful portrait! The likeness is a bit sharper than in my other portraits. Tried to spend a bit more time on the eyes and mouth. Trying to make a point of seeing things as more basic shapes instead of capturing all the details. I’m always a little annoyed when the sketch from underneath is still visible, but its something I’ll adjust as I keep going.
DAY 6
I think my weaknesses are more apparent as I work on these everyday. I feel like I always make the bottom half of the face/the lower jaw much larger than necessary. Everyone ends up with a square looking jaw. I do feel like I was able to make the jawline a bit softer and more natural in this portrait, but I can still tell the discrepancy between the eyes and the mouth. Still, I had to work on this one a bit faster than I normally would have liked, but I think there are still some strong ideas in this piece. I’m starting to see why I have to simplify things more. And doing a small write up on every upload is helping too!
DAY 7
A full figure today! I ended up spending more time on the face because I think I just naturally care about it more than other parts of the figure, and because I’ve done so many portraits. This was tough to get into something cohesive, but generally speaking, I think the proportions are alright. I will definitely be doing more figure work in the near future – I want to be a character designer!
DAY 8
I feel like I’m improving my rendering skills. The drawing underneath the painting could definitely be better, but I feel like I was able to make the “painting” have less of a streaky look, especially around the torso. Values could still be blended together more smoothly. I might end up doing some sphere and box studies sometime next week.
DAY 9
Trying out some more fashionable figures as a way of studying drapery. Some nice variety of fabrics in this piece. Still figuring out the best way to render all the folds and small crinkles in the material. I feel like the sleeve on the left turned out pretty well! Still, I should be simplifying my approach a bit more.
DAY 10
I figured out the word to describe the issue in my paintings – muddy! It’s a common problem, which is kind of good because theres lots of different ways to try and fix it. I am simplifying my approach a bit more and more, and trying to be a bit more conscious of how I’m blending values. Again, I naturally spent more time on the face, and the posture is awkward but sometimes you only get 1% better. 90 days to go!
DAY 11
Progress! I changed my approach by working with a higher opacity setting right from the start. I had been been trying to slowly build up values by applying thin layers, but working at a higher opacity meant i had to map out some key parts of the piece and then try to unify in a way that felt natural. It really helped to get alleviate some of that sketchy/muddy/marker quality in the work.
The face itself is also noteworthy! This was such an interesting face and I really wanted to capture that expression. I think I did it some justice. Definitely a piece I could see myself working on a bit more in the future.
DAY 12
Rendering folds is difficult! But I’m getting a little better at it. Proud of the vest and the the sleeve on the right. In particular about the vest, I did feel like I was able to show the folds using just values. I normally use too many lines to try and get the same ideas across, but it turned out well this time. A bit too heavy a use of black on certain outlines, but I’m definitely finding larger shapes and simplifying my values more.
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