This is from the cover of an Ortho Bird book.. I did a drawing of it which is posted in the drawing forum.. under the "getting a likeness" topic..

Your painting shows a lot of good observation, with the major proportions close to the mark.

I think you would get a better center of interest out of the head if you added tone to the background, keeping it lightest by the head for contrast. I figured (since you used white) you wanted a light, simplified, non-detailed background, so rather than 1000 words I did a picture with one suggestion for a simple background other than stark white (better to have a highlight or two be the lightest thing in the painting rather than the background). If I can figure out how to upload it, it will be here, if not, I apologize for my ignorance. Of course this is only one of a zillion possible ways of handling the background better than straight white. Of course the addition of colors in the value range of your gray underpainting also greatly influences the look, and where the viewer looks.

I didn’t change anything you painted except the bottom and top of the branch (a fade to add a bit of weight on the upper left and reduce stark ending and parallelism at the bottom). I also lowered the white highlights in the flowers (so they wouldn’t detract from the head tonally). The rest is as you did it with the addition of a simple tonal background. If you don't like this sort of background tone think up another that gives a bit more contrast around the birds head than elsewhere.

To refine this so it looks a bit more realistic, I think the piece would benefit from the following suggestions.

A little blending in of some tonal transitions between one tone and the next, in some spots (a clean soft brush with no paint on it pushing the paint around to blend two tones together). Alexie’s video probably shows that.

Red value tone is out of register, red is actually somewhat darker than you have it in grayscale, which means you may need to darken the shadows a tad in places also, if you go ahead and darken where the red is.

To reduce typing in this message, I took your photo, marked, and labeled areas where you need to look in a more detailed way at the contour edges and actual value tones. You will see what to do from your own observation if you look closely in a relaxed way at the marked spots. For example the top back area of the bird is not as straight as you have it, There are definite contour changes that add interest and form there, for you to discover. Some of the values that give form and definition were either missed or a bit out of register like the red was. I sure hope the pictures upload for you, I haven't tried this before.

I didn’t want to overload you with to many things to do, so I’ll stop there. The changes suggested are mostly minor and not to time consuming, but should be fun to play with.

Lots of good comments, tips and suggestions!

I think it does look better with a toned background.. the gray looks good with the gray scale of the bird as it is now.. once I put the colors on the bird, though would gray still be the color of choice?

I have to print all of this out and read it a few times..

It will take me a few weeks to try these things.. so if it's a while before you see another post here.. I haven't forgotten..

Thanks again..

Quote .. the gray looks good with the gray scale of the bird as it is now.. once I put the colors on the bird, though would gray still be the color of choice?

Mark,
I was just addressing the "Grisaille" gray stage in the background as you were doing it al la Covino's book. It would likely look best with a few well muted colors (warm & cool) of your choice behind the subject.

One of the ideas of the "Grisaille" is to have the gray values close to the value tone of the colors that will go on top. That way you can let a little gray show through in parts, or nearly show through, and the gray will not look substantially lighter or darker than your color around it (unless you plan it to for a specific reason). The value of the gray as you have painted it, where your red will go on the bird, is currently lighter than the cardinal's red value is in the photo . Sometimes it's fine to leave the gray lighter in value (if you will not let the gray show 100% anywhere, where the "value" on the subject should be the final color's value).

A lighter "value gray", than the "value" of the "color that goes over it", will influence the top color differently than a gray of =value does. These things are hard for me to explain adequately in typing.

Value is (definition)= If you scanned a red square into the computer. Opened it in Photoshop. Chose "mode", "grayscale", and turned the square into a colorless black and white type of image (like a pencil drawing)......how dark or light the "(now gray) square" looks is it's "value". Even when it is a color image in the computer looking very, very red, it retains this "value" of lightness / darkenss, regardless of the fact you are seeing the color "red".

Each color has a tone of gray, just like your pencil drawings rely on tones of gray, or "values".

I think accurate value is more important than color in creating convincing form. When I discovered the value scale, my work became less flat and more form filled, more real looking immeadiately.

A tip, if you squint your eyes (or just close them a bit) until you are looking through your eyelashes, when looking at the red square (or any color) you can see it's value a bit better until you get used to judging. Also get a value scale hold it up to colors, squint and note what value number different colors are. You can also mix a color, hold it over the scale while squinting and see what value you mixed. Eventually you will know without doing this.

I appologise if you already know this, but I wasn't sure.

I painted a Cardinal years ago in acrylic. It's on my website in the "gallery" section (URL is in my profile). I would do it differently now (beter I hope). It was a front view and so a bit of a pain form wise.

On the Cardinal, I did no Grasaille first, just sketch out, mix and apply. not many coats at all. No airbrush (except a fade in the background) all drybrush blending. Quite small 5x7 inches. which is PAINFULLY tiny for me as I'm used to working large. Again I'd do it differently now, but it has similarities to what you are doing, so I mention it.

I am busy, busy, also, so I fully understand it takes time to get to this stuff. I'll just check back in every once in awhile as I can, and look to see If you posted a further step. Remember to mute, lower the intensity of, your shadows when you go to mixing colors. That will help your red to sing like the bird.

I can see you will be improving quickly. The most important part is to do a large number of paintings in the beginning, with a lot of attention and memory applied, as to what actually happens when you do somthing. Be sure not to worry about bad results, but determin to learn from bad and good results. Live experience is the greatest teacher. Of course tips can help, but it's the doing with attention that teaches.

Keep on keeping on,
Carl

I haven't painted or drawn anything since early October.. until this weekend.. the computer stuff was getting kindof "heavy" so I needed some creative outlet..

Here is the latest on the Cardinal.. I will put in a muted colored background.. Not sure of what colors to use.. I'll mess with it a bit and see..

I had the leaves about where I wanted them and then accidentally brushed my hand against them when the paint was still wet... I have a lot of detail to add yet also..

I also noticed that I really don't like the photo that I took this from.. The photographer used a flash, and destroyed the natural shadows.. so I'm guessing some.. Also, the scan came in a bit grainy.. Aside from all of those excuses and apologies, I'm pretty pleased with it..

I also started a painting of a Lighthouse that I had drawn previously.. Cape Blanco.. I had posted this in the drawing forum on this site (in the archive now).. I gave the drawing away, but am doing the painting for my family..

I really like doing the underpainting in gray scale to work out the form and shadows.. then going back and adding color... I have found that I like my paint pretty thin.. I suppose it's from all of those years of model building.. I like the paint to flow from the brush.. I hate it when it begins to build up in the upper part of the bristles near the ferrule..

I also have found that I really like a smooth surface to paint on..

I did not prime the canvas sufficiently on the lighthouse, and now I can see the reason why Alexei says it should be thoroughly primed and scraped smooth.. It's hard to get precision in your details when you have to fight the canvas weave..

I'll probably use 320 grit sandpaper in between the gesso coats.. Used to do a similar thing to get a smooth finish with silkspan and butyrate dope when finishing a control line model airplane.. Silkspan is very thin and easy to sand through, so you put on three coats of dope and sand lightly, then another coat then sand with a finer grit, and repeat until you have a glass like finish..

All of the old masters are now probably rolling over in their graves from what I just wrote..

Better get back to work.. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a great 2003!

Mark