So this piece was kind of a spur of the moment piece, I was moving some things in my studio, and saw a sheet of watercolor paper that I had used for previous pieces to test out color combinations, I saw a mix of blues and blacks that had mixed on the paper on their own and resembled something like thundery clouds, which at the time also resembled the mood I was in.
I often get inspired by the smallest things, splashes of colours, a song I hear on the radio, something I hear someone say, really it could be anything, and inspiration hits me at any given moment.
With this in mind, I pulled out my watercolor block, and decided to also setup my cameras so I could record the process in hopes of making another time-lapse video.
Ill share pictures of my setup in another post, but it involves, one camera on a tripod behind my shoulder, another camera right above my table (on a makeshift holder I made from a Towel bar and a retractable lamp) and 2 soft box lights, which get pretty damn hot sometimes.
I started out with the sketch which was very simple, a man with a stern look who would be facing what would eventually be the colorful clouds portion, added the first layers of skin color to have a base to work with and shaped the face.
The initial stages of a painting always look awkward and sometimes creepy, I call them the zombie stages..LOL
I start adding in light washes of yellow and blue to different areas of the face to breakup the skin tone a bit and make it look more like real skin. Once I have him to the point where he's only missing shadows, highlights and specific details, I pull out my size 20 round brush and start with the wash of what will be the thundery clouds.
Then, I started with the light washes for the lips and eyes. I always use multiple glazes of paint on the lips and eyes, to create depth, I always try to make the eyes the focal point for any piece, because to me its what draws a person in and helps show what the character is feeling, they truly are the windows to the soul.
I start adding in light washes of yellow and blue to different areas of the face to breakup the skin tone a bit and make it look more like real skin.
Take the time
If you take some time to really look at someones skin tone, you would be shocked to see how many subtle colours compose their skin. Light blues, pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, browns, greens, purples. Most people just see the overall skin tone, but don't pay attention to the underlaying colours, and thats a big part of portrait painting. Take the time and really LOOK at someone and see how many colours YOU can find hidden in their skin.
Once I have him to the point where he's only missing shadows, highlights and specific details, I pull out my size 20 round brush and start with the wash of what will be the thundery clouds.
This is my favourite part about watercolour painting, I let the watery paint drip and do what it wants to do naturally and simply continue to build up colors and let them mix on the wet paper until I like what I have. I let some paint build up in certain spots and then blow on them to get a spider web effect, and then drip paint from my brush onto the paper to create some spots.
Now that all that's done, I finish up on the details, darken my darks, and use a white gel pen to create the bright white highlights on the lips, nose and eyes.
And this is the finished piece!
Mayhem
14x20 - Watercolor on HP paper
So now that he is all done, I start to download the footage from my camera onto my MacBook and load them into IMovie which takes forever!!! LOL
I decided on the song "Till it's gone" by Yelawulf, because
- I think it went well with the characters expression and feelings.
- I love it!!.
I cropped and cut, added effects and transitions, adjusted color etc, until I came up with something I was happy with.
Now after creating the video in IMovie, I got a copy of Final cut pro and decided to try that out. Since I hadn't published this piece or the video yet, I thought I would try remaking the video entirely in FCP and I'm soooo glad I did!.
Gotta say, I love FCP, its just amazing and gives you absolute control over every aspect of your video, effects, transitions etc, and with that said, the official video for "Mayhem" was born.
You can check out the video below as well as on the below sites, go ahead, click them, you know you want to ;)