Epic Haley done

I finished the epic Haley I've been working on for the past couple of days. I'm pleased with the way she came out and can see a definite improvement over my older models. There are still areas I need to work on, such as skin tones and faces and improving the smooth transitions between shading and highlights.

I was looking at Marika Reimirs CMON gallery and was inspired how her work has improved over the years. I can certainly see the same progression in my figures, though I'm not at her level yet.

I'm excited as to where things are going and can't wait to paint my next figure.

Just a quikie

Tonight I painted the jacket of kovnik Joe and blending is coming more naturally to me. I suspect that after awhile it will be like second nature. I'm very excited about the direction my painting is going.

I want to keep painting but I must go to bed.

6 am will get here sooner than I know it.

Eureka, pt 2

Yesterday I stumbled across the correct way to utilize the two brush blending system. I painted most of Nemo tonight and am very pleased with how he's turning out. There are still areas I need to work on, but for the most part I am pleased with my progress. Small areas are difficult to blend effectively on and I will have to experiment with them a bit.

After a full day of painting, its time to go to bed.

I will try to have pictures up soon.

Eureka!

I have felt as though my paintings skills have platued ove the past year or so. I have kind of been turned off to painting in the meantime, perhaps experiencing a bit of painters block. I knew I could produce better results yet my figures were consistantly mediocre. I tried new techniques to try and push my figures to the next level, and while a few of them helped, I still was not where I wanted to be. Then I decided to give two brush blending a shot. I had read about this in the past, but for some reason was wary to try it. I decided to give it a shot about a week ago and all attempts ended in frustration. The paint ended up being too thick, the highlights were too gradual so it appeared there werent any there, or the highlights were too drastic.

I started a topic on the PP forums to vent and recieved support from my fellow painters who also experienced difficulty with this technique. Terrarin of Brushthralls fame suggested it should just click after a while.

Well, tonight, it did. My technique needs some refining, but the basics are there. I already think in this early stage the figure has what I thought was lacking. I plan on perfecting this technique and throwing my hat in the ring at the P3 painting contest at Gen Con next year. No amount of drugs could get me to the high I'm experiencing right now.