My latest Effort!

Gustav

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#1
This is my latest effort, an oil on canvas of Gus!
Please feel free to give me any suggestions on how I can improve my art work!!

 

Saje

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#2
Oh that's neat! I like the eyes the best I think.

I can't give you any tips because I don't know anything about painting! But I love it :)
 

Vickih

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#3
Wish I could give guidance, but I cant draw for toffee, sewing is more my thing :D

Thats absolutely gorgeous though!
 
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#6
Just remember there is no "special" way to do art or to render paintings, its all in your brain and in your eyes on what you see...Its a very beautiful painting...keep up the great work:)
 

Barb04

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#7
I love the expression in his face. I don't much about painting/drawing, but I know others on the board may be able to give you some insight.
 

smkie

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#8
ohhhhh that's so purty!!! you can see love in the eyes! That is a very nice picture you made!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't you wish the dog could see how you see them..i hold my work up to them all the time and ask Hey whatcha think? They don't care..darn it! Your dog would be proud if he knew how you see the love in his eyes..just great!
 

smkie

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#10
If anybody wants a fun exercise to learn even more about their dogs..like we don't already..try to draw them using all planes..as if they were made of rectangles and triangles..one plane for each shift of the feature..it is fun if you don't get frustrated . You end up with a futuristic robot looking dog or cat. first..i had to do a person..you walk around feeling your face and feeling foolish at the same time..then i did a cat as well. My cats immediantly improved.(people i am still working on and not near hard enough either) This is an assignment that they give me in life drawing that i found useful. I will find mine soon and post it. I am sure it is around here somewhere. i am buried in pieces of paper at my desk so somewhere can be an ominous word.
its best to do with a pencil and eraser..starting with the largest planes and working your way into the smaller ones.. when you have it right they will all fit like a puzzle.
 

smkie

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#12
here you go ct..this was from a long long long time ago..funny tho it was easier to find then the piece of paper i have been looking for all day! I kept it around because sometimes i help some of these guys when they want to learn something..so here's the cat..it is just an exercise..not a finished piece or even a serious piece..just a learning thing.
 

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Gustav

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#13
Thanks everyone for your kind comments! :) I have tried to do one of those planes and rectangle drawings before, but sadly got frustrated half way through and it ended up in the bin! Patience is not one of my virtues!! Lol!
 

smkie

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#14
that is where a ton of mine went too.and still do..it takes awhile but i learned so much from that particular assignment..one of those nothing good comes easy..they made us work hard at my school. WE drew skeletons of course, and muscle men,as well as the models, then there was studies of just the negative space, five studies of a box, five studies of a hand,feet, it gets fun when you don't try to hard..just play and it will eventually come. WE did a sheet hanging up with the folds and a light shining on it to understand drapery. People think you just sit down and draw but it isn't true..i have been doing this for (i started at 2 with the booby lady..my mother saved them all) so that is 40 years. I still suck in a lot of areas but it s great to know that you never get worse..only better and each piece is a key to your next. Sometimes when i feel i am not working good at all..i get excited because it know NOW that i am getting better..the not working good is my seeing what is wrong..and struggling to fix it. Then my work will take a big jump and that makes me happiest of all. Gesture drawings, blind drawings, negative and positive space, five positions, light study, perspective study, each teach an eliment for an artist to make a vocabulary without words..a skill that will come without effort, but first you must teach yourself, and that is by doing it wrong..until you do it right! It is very much like learning to play an instrument. 15 20 minutes a day can lead to fabulous things..it is just a matter of taking the time and having tons of fun with what you are doing.That is why it is so hard to teach an adult to play the piano..they want to sit down and in a month play mozart. I saw a qoute that is my mantra..
The LYFE SO SHORT THE CRAFT SO LONG TO LEARNE..that is the best part becuase i get bored very very easily and have to have something to keep me going. Try the geometric on something easier..say your thumb.or a dog's paw or just a pair of lips..i think there are about 7 planes in the upper lip alone..after you do that you will see your line say so much more then it did before. You will be aware of more subtle changes that give greater depth. We even had an exercise of taking one branch from a tree..then going back and drawing the whole tree..kind of a fractal thing..and making the most beautiful line..just a line..i must have made a zillion of them before i found MY favorite. I was fortunate enough to be on full scolarship at the art institute, and i can attest to the fact that i never worked so hard at anything in my life..no body dated or partied, there wasn't time.We had a finished piece due every morning..sometimes it would be 3 in the morning when the piece "blew up" on me and i would cry while i started over. I did get the priviledge of going to school with people from all over the world..even tho our student body was very small. Korea, Japan, England, pakistan, as well as many states..only two of us were from kc orignally in my iillustration dept. One of my favorite teachers was from the royal academy of ARt in England..she taught me so much about myself as well as my art. I adored my school can you tell? i never felt so much like l truly belonged where i was until then. I even told the person that did the portfolio revue to see if i could be a candidate that i had no money so unless i could go to the school for free, he might as well not bother. I just knew he would say no.He didn't say no.
 

Gustav

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#15
I never had any formal training in art, apart from school, which was one lesson a week, and what can you do in an hour a week? I like sculpture best of all, one year for Christmas I made Father Christmas, a Sleigh and 8 Reindeer out of Blutack while I was at work. (I used to work for a specialist wine shop, where my ability to speak French was handy!!) It was really good even if I do say so myself! Everyone who came into the shop admired it. This year for Christmas I made our village out of clay. And then painted them, I made holes in the back of each building and poked fairy lights through, so it looked really cheery! I also made trees small cars and street lights, so it was a whole village. I would take some photo's to show you but it's packed away in a box with the rest of the Christmas decorations.
 

smkie

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#16
would love to see if you ever get to them some day..would make great Christmas cards!
 

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