Paintings to make you smile

Hello all!

It's been a long time since I've been online--I hope that all of you here on ATS are doing well. I wanted to share some of my paintings with you and I hope you like them!

As always, I welcome and encourage all critique and advice. Additionally, if anybody could tell me a good brand for acrylic paints, I would appreciate your input.

Thanks guys: Enjoy

🦚 Peacock 🦚
Acrylic & Posca pen on canvas

Autumnal
🎨
Acrylic & Posca pen on canvas

🦁 Lion 🦁
Acrylic on canvas

🦅 Eagle 🦅
Acrylic on canvas

a reply to: rukia


Ummm...very nice work Rukia...very nice...

How do you get the eyes to look so damned real...it's like there's life looking back...






YouSir

a reply to: rukia

Love the use of color...The trees are my favorite.

a reply to: rukia

Very nice work

a reply to: rukia

Do you use paint thinners for acrylic?

I like to use them, because paint will last a bit longer and easier to shade from one color to the next one.

a reply to: rukia

Have you considered using water-based paint (gouache) along with Prisma color pencil for detail and highlight?

beautiful.

a reply to: solve

I do not. I thought paint thinners were for oils--but using them with acrylic sounds really interesting for blending. I'll have to give that a try, thank you!

a reply to: YouSir

The eyes are my favorite parts. And thank you for the compliment! I take my time on them and try to make them look striking. For every painting besides the peacock, I did a sketch in pencil underneath to help guide my work. To make them pop, I try to use bright colors and white, along with shading to give them some dimension. I think the most important part is having fun with it

a reply to: IAMTAT

I've never tried that before, but I would love to explore new mediums! Gouache looks really cool--is it difficult to use? I'm a beginner when it comes to painting. I may have to give it a try, though!

a reply to: rukia

Usually i use a thinner that is used for acrylic airbrush colors, works great with regular painting with a brush, also the reason why i like them, is that when added to the paint, it distributes the pigments evenly, when compared to water for example, that sometimes makes the paint "behave badly" and do weird things.

a reply to: solve

Nice! Do you have a favorite brand that you like for your acrylics or thinner? Also, Is there any sort of precaution that one should take when using it other than an open window? Thank you very much, solve!

I'm very intrigued by this idea of making the paint behave.

a reply to: rukia

Have been using Vallejo airbrush thinner,

Also like to use their paints.

Oh and acrylic thinners are not like the ones you would use on oil,, they are not so smelly and dangerous.

originally posted by: rukia
a reply to: IAMTAT

I've never tried that before, but I would love to explore new mediums! Gouache looks really cool--is it difficult to use? I'm a beginner when it comes to painting. I may have to give it a try, though!

Basically, it's an opaque watercolor...with a little more control and viscosity.

Love it... I wish I could even draw, people who can turn paint into paintings will forever astonish me.. You capture the essence of what you envisage. It is when someone can do that, and relay it back in their medium of choice, that it becomes art...

Here is one a friend of mine on youtube did for me. he's hanging on my wall even now.

Actually, here is the video of her making it.

originally posted by: rukia
a reply to: solve

I do not. I thought paint thinners were for oils--but using them with acrylic sounds really interesting for blending. I'll have to give that a try, thank you!

You may want to try using floetrol. It is a "paint extender" formulated for acrylics. I use it in my acrylic pour pain to thin it out without losing the cohesiveness of the paint (wont flake with age as would happen with too much water as a thinner).

Hi Rukia, very cool to see you back and still making art!

I really like Golden heavy body acrylics. I'm in no means a professional but I used these in school. They come in tubes and larger containers and they're not too expensive imo.



As for your pieces, I think you have a great sense of composition and perspective and molding.

Keep going with it!

And I'm not sure if you're doing the unifying color trick that I learned in color theory which I found to be so priceless.

So the trick to getting your paintings unified (which yours does already look pretty unified btw except maybe the green in the lions eyes which really stands out but maybe that's on purpose) is choosing 1 color to mix into the rest of your colors, it could be any color.

So say you choose red to be your unifying color, when you mix your blue for sky and your green for grass and brown for trees etc, if you put the tiniest dab of red in the blue so as not to change the color from being blue but red is still in there, and do the same for the green and brown and any other colors, then what happens is... the painting looks more unified and like one piece.

Sorry if I've said it before (having dejavu), lol, I can repeat myself.

Also one other priceless tip that I came by in school was learning that there were translucent paints and opaque paints- and learning how to use them. If you want to paint white on top of say black, and you don't want to use sixty coats, choose the opaque white, lol. Translucent paints are exactly what they sound like, less bright? Less intense? More translucent and requires more coats if you want to cover something. And actually now that I think about it, a translucent paint would be a good unifying paint choice to mix into your other colors.

And that's all I got for now.

Thanks for sharing your stuff.

Take care Rukia!

a reply to: geezlouise

Wow! Thank you so much for your assistance! Your post was great. I just checked out the paints and there are so many different color choices--very cool. I haven't been adding the unifying color while mixing the paint--I've been making sure that the piece is unified by using the unifying color throughout, either. But now that I think about it, mixing it in directly certainly makes sense!

I do I have one question, when or why would one want to use translucent paint? Thank you again!

a reply to: rukia

Thanks, I'm happy to help and hope to be an encouragement!

So I think using a translucent paint is good for mixing colors.

When you mix translucent white with opaque red for example, you won't lose as much intensity of the color as you lighten the red. You will have a bright pink left over. Same with translucent yellow and opaque red, you will have a bright orange afterwards.

So then what happens if you use an opaque white with a opaque or even translucent red? You got it, the intensity of the color decreases and becomes softer, pastel, and isn't as "bright." You will have a less bright pink, a softer pastel pink.

The mixing may get tricky when you switch things around... like I don't recall what happens if you take a translucent red and mix it with an opaque yellow(the reverse of the example above)- I would gather that you will lose intensity however because of the white in the opaque yellow is also opaque. But it's not the same the other way around- so just something to consider there. You can experiment mixing these at home at your discretion and see how the intensity of color is effected.

And then after mixing your colors and when you have your desired bright color that hasn't lost it's intensity, whatever that color may be (orange, green, blue), you can add regular opaque black and white to the mixed color to create your shades and tints and tones and etc.

I also learned that the process/step of mixing your paints before you start a piece, and learning to store them (just putting your mixed colors into containers) is important. It makes it easier when you have all the colors premixed... and then you can really take your time on the painting and not feel so rushed.

I even kept notes about which tubes I used to create my mixed colors too, so I knew how to mix more of that color when I was running low. Example, flesh color = tubes x,y,z then add white. No measurements of how much of each, lol, or very vague directions on that at best. It's just eyeballing it so the color matches what you already have but at least you know exactly which colors you used so you have a good head start.

It seems like a lot of prep work but it's worth it. I personally gravitate towards certain colors... like I really like flesh colors and specific blues, and I use em a lot. And I enjoy mixing my own colors, lol. Have no idea why but it is what it is.

a reply to: geezlouise

You definitely are!

That's really interesting about the differing intensities of colors based on the opacity of the paints. As for storing paints, I take it the local craft store will have options? Also, do you think that using a varnish at the end is pragmatic? I wanted a matte finish, so that I didn't make things too glossy, but I'm not sure how that would affect the final product. I've heard you have to let a piece cure for about a month before applying the after-coat. Many moons ago, in high school, we used to use some sort of spray as a topcoat.