Tea And Biscuit, Or How To Paint A Perfect Selfie Portrait
Not all art sessions,
take lots of preparation.
Creating digital ink sketches,
takes a minute per sketch.
Line art can be just as magical,
as impressionism.
There is nothing to stop line art
from perfectly capturing a face.
But playing with the sun and clouds,
summer shadows, and nature's own colors.
And discovering just the right background colors,
to match the weather is wonderful.
An you know what, you almost certainly,
are going to need a bicycle.
The simpler the better,
and fat tire ones are very stable.
Get a camera,
perhaps with a wide angle lens.
Or clip-on lenses for your phone,
though a dedicated camera is best, somehow.
And grab a thermos of tea,
perhaps cold sweet tea, even.
And some biscuits,
because you never know.
Or perhaps even,
grab a bun and a hot dog.
A couple bits of charcoal
and a mean stick or two.
And throw them in your backpack,
a lot of sunny parks have little BBQ girls.
And they are not all,
bespidered.
It is a little know fact,
but picnics are a huge part of being an artist.
You always,
see a painter by his canvas.
But you never see what is up,
behind the person taking the photo.
Let me tell you,
it's a picnic.
Biscuits,
and everything.
Be careful,
of cloudy days.
Even great portrait photos taken on cloudy days,
may end up feeling flat.
Though adding sun to a cloudy day photo,
is a great way to learn more about painting.
Make it a two day adventure,
instead of canceling one altogether.
And make sure there are good shadows
and strong highlights in your photos.
Those make a world of difference in a painting,
deepest dark and brightest light do most of the talking.
Pose here and there,
take plenty of photos.
Often they are good for many painting sessions,
and make for precious reference.
When ready, open up Krita,
use the Reference Images Tool.
Stretch your reference over the entire canvas, set it to 50% opacity.
and use it as a shape and color guide.
And you may wish to adjust your photo temperature,
and post process your painting by sharpening it and adding some noise.
While it is hard to see in a photo,
every painting has its own atmosphere.
Facial expression, temperature,
horizon and space.
And even detail like a thin sun highlight,
on the side of a face...
And whether or not you blur the background,
to focus sharper on the face.
Create a new world,
a world that has not yet existed.
Every one of your paintings,
will come with its own mystery.