right now i am earing my house apart, as the subject of the drawing, honor, has swiped my mechanical pencil and secreted it away somewhere. i asked her where my pencil was and she brought me a purple pen. sigh. todllers.

those things are like 30 bucks man. i know if i buy another one ill find it as soon as i get home, and if i dont buy one it will stay partying with all my left socks.

thanks for saying im talented vicki, but like i said before, its work. i consistently produce things that stink.probably 2:1 crappo to good. one out of five is a keeper. some people here, it seems like everythign they do is a keeper, and they probably do it faster. although i tend to work larger, minimum 16x20, so that slows things down a bit.

i just dont let bad starts bother me anymore, cut my bait and start againl if it isnt right by the second try on the same page, bye bye. new page. thats why i like to do studies on newsprint. it is cheap. and it has a tone, so i can use grey chalk on it for the brights if i carelessly let things get too dark too soon.

off to hunt for boris, my pencil. later all.

second, you should know some color theory basics, like what priamries do when they are mixed, and which colors are complementary. just the basics, since knowing more than that doesnt really replace learing to mix with real paint.

thats the stuff i had to do in class anyway. the color charts were the only really memorable exercise, so thats the only one i would reccomend. it is tedious, but not as tedious as spending 25 minutes every time you need a new color.

that said, its pretty much a noodle fest. the more experienced you are, the faster you can match. it still takes me a while, ut i can usually get it, although some of the greens like in an outside landscape bewilder me, and i dont really try landscapes anymore. not for now. leave that for those who know. i need to learn basic techniques still, with a muted earthy palette for the most part.

the key is to do it on the palette rather than the canvas, and then put a little bit on the canvas before you make that one disastrous stroke.

i have found my pencil. honor put it in between the piano keys and closed the piano. now i can begin, finally.

good luck all, and i am proud to be a part of this forum. (i cant believe i justi have learned a LOT already about blending that i never would have had the courage to try. the skills here are amazing, and you all get really awesome and dramatic values from the blending, that can never be achieved by the cross hatching stuff that i do

is blue tack that stuff i used to hang posters up with in college that always leaves a bue stain on the wall? i think i have some of that around. .

learn from a master. you cant find a better treatise on underpaiting published anywhere since the renaissance. and its 25 bucks for the stripped down versin, which is a huge bargain. seriously.

the portrait one id hold off on until you get through the still life. infinitely more things can go wrong with portraits. compoistion is a little easier, since human beings are (hopefully) more interesting than bowls and fruit. but thats about it. im really nervous, actually. really nervous. thats why im going to post. im hoping to attract attention fromsome of the painters. im fdefinitely moving this over to the painting board once the drawing is done. trouble is, it takes those guys forever to reply.

what are you working on now?

also, i apologize for being so chatty on this thread. its not exactly what i had in mind, but there a lot of nice people here, and im glad to have digitally met you all. ill try to stick to the point in the future.

and please, any and all, please be as nitpicky, critical, etc as you want/can. its crucial that i get this drawing nearly perfect if i want this painting to be good. antonovs technique leaves little room for sloppy drawing.

later

i do think chiaroscouro is the way to go. i've seen it done, and i've done chiaroscouro still lifes before that looked convincing enough. i think the key is subtlety. the colors of the objects are nearly exact matches of the main colors in the painting. the teapot is warm yellow, perfect cad yellow medium, with orange in the shadows. yellow, thehat band is yellow; the far right object is a crimson/violet, the shirt honor is wearng is a crimson violet, and the far left teapot is a cool yellow with blue green shadows, further harmonizing with the hat(bluish green with the aforementioned warm to cool yellow hatband).

on the other hand, if i dont pull it off, (which not only is very possible, it could even be said to be probable without help from observant folks like yourself)i am going to be left with a horrible flat looking cabinet space punctuated by floating objects. in essence, an insoluble defect. perhaps i should seek further advice from experienced painters on this matter.

for now, though, painting this seems hopelessly far away. i have freehanded most of the rest of the line guides except for the hand and the middle of the hat. perhaps when i'm halfway through the rendering in two days or so i will have more input from others.

you have ressurected a nagging concern, one that must be answered before i start the 1sr umber underlayer. and honestly, i have no idea what to do. if i leave the cabinet and objects out, i will most likely have to something with the background that i cannot even imagine right now. HELP people!

and thanks especially to you, because this could take time to resolve and i have shown a distinct preference for avoiding it.
thanks to all who are watching and helping. i expect to post a half-rinished drawing in two days. it will be more clear at that time whether the still lifes in the background are good or crap.

a note on small scale - i notice that many if not most artists here work primarily in the 8x10 realm, yet their works look as if the were 18x24 at a minimum. how can you guys control getting a likeness so well on small scale? i always twitch or something and blow it. ive found it impossible to prodeuce effective stuff smaller than 16x20. any tips or tricks i am missing out on?