15 min. speedpainting. I started with a blank black canvas and a white brush, I used a black brush in just a couple spots. Oh what I would have given for a grey brush, lucky it was only 15 min.! 
I should have changed my brush sizes a bit more.
Both about 20 min., the unicycle one took a little longer. I really should have taken a little time to fix those windows when I was laying in the background. :shrug:
Well, I (predictably!) like the last 2 
You’re really making me wish I knew how to draw better… please keep that up 
Abby
Thanks for the encouragement, Abby! 
Not sure I like the background. I tried to mute it a bit, this would have been much easier if I had added another layer to play around on. Instead, while playing, I ended up dropping the background to the canvas. Usually I work on just the canvas, but sometimes with color I rock 2 layers.
Anyways, I tried to pull more oranges through, but I think it’s very much in need of some sort of reds. I don’t have too big of plans for this image, it’s just for the sake of practicing color.
looking sweet! Love that you’ve given her some greenish on the shirt! sweet stuff [and oooh nice to see someone not layering excessively LOL I work with just the bg + 1 layer sometimes… is that painter you’re using?]
Hey Intervain, thanks for the support! It really helps, especially when I realize how many shaky color studies I have left to do. I’m sure they’ll never stop, but these early ones… :eek:
And yep! I use Painter exclusively. I have an old copy of photoshop laying around that I should tinker with someday for all of that crazy texture work other artists are pulling off among other things, but for now I have enough to learn. I try to mix up the Painter brushes I work with, but lately I can’t seem to put down the X-Soft pastel. I’ll have to be sure to keep experimenting.
Here’s the most recent one minus the new background and perhaps minus a few features on the gymnast. If I get brave or rather patient enough I may try to work in that background again using layers, so I can easily tweak any background work so they don’t steal the gymnast’s thunder.
EDIT: Forgot the image!
Those legs are looking pretty good, I think you’re doing fine with color. Though the body might benefit with some subtle reflected light, see how that works.
Thanks for visiting my thread, you keep up the good work too 
Aye, looking at the reference again there seems to be a hint of reflected hitting her mid/upper back, really subtle. Heh, I’m working from reference yet you’re the one to catch it without. 
Cheers!
I might spruce this one up a bit more, though I’ll probably move on to another color study soon.
I was also reading an old post from Rebecca about really studying the planes of the faces in the Master Head studies. I honestly learned alot about value and gained experience in handling brushwork and proportions, but I wasn’t terribly focus on the planes of the heads. 
This may call for some skull studies.
HEY…Adam…
Nice group of works…my favorites are the up view of the woman’s face on the first page, and the woman with the fancy dress with the deep burgundy wine red in the middle…that little section is totally beautiful…There is a brush in painter, in the tinting section under brushes, at bottom of menu…called SOFTENER…You might hit the outter edge of the mid section of that dress with that brush…should creat the illussion of roundness and depth needed on that edge.
I think the best way to explore color, is to take a face,…say the up angle one that I mentioned, where the planes of the face are fully expressed…take each plane, and get six values of one color in each plane/ from dark to light…lay them down with a broad oil brush, found in the tinting section,…then hit them with that SOFTENER brush,…then a little blending, using the blender brush #30, found in the blender section of brushes, in the brushes menu…then again with the SFTENER, …if needed.
If you try this technique out,…your colors will start to luminate and glow, because you will have many values of color next to each other, and merging with each other…this effect, is what makes a humming birds feathers luminate, and is also what makes skin do the same in a painting…
I think that speed painting is great for some things, but the finished results you are seeking, can’t be gotten through it, or with it…it’s all in the SUBTLE VALUE RANGES,…that come with very close observation, …which takes TIME, not SPEED… …just my opinion though…
Hey…have you ever thought of writing down your thoughts while you are in that state that
is between sleep and being awake…that state is the artist most fertile ground, and is where the best ideas and visions are created…just a thought, that might help you benifit from that sleep disorder that you mentioned…you might as well make the best of it…if possible…
REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING MORE OF YOUR WORK, AND PROGRESS WITH COLOR:thumbsup:
TAKE CARE
Glenn
Glenn,
Thank you for the compliments and especially all of those tips, I will definitely take them to heart! Speed paintings have helped me loosen up a bit. I also think they helped me by forcing me to break down form and value more quickly. With my fatigue I pretty much always have a fog over my head, when I paint I find myself staring (the blank sort) at the painting too much and not working. The speed paintings help get me going, because I have no choice, but to work in that short constraint. Lately I’ve been far better at consistently working at longer pieces and I’m sure some of that is just from good old fashioned experience and having an idea as to what my painting needs next. I’m condfident that the most learning will come with long studies and hard effort.
Thank you for the tips on coloring, I will be trying out those brushes and that technique very soon. I really didn’t know anything about layering different values of color and blending them together. Since working from dark to light, I assume I overlap the values instead of cascading them across the plane then blending them together? I’m worried that I’ll lose control of my overall values in the painting, although I suppose the value range will still be limited per plane. Anyways, I suppose I’ll start experimenting and see what happens!
As for ideas that arouse before sleep. You mean those absolutely wonderful ideas I have just before slap that when I waken I realize they’re absolutely terrible? Just joking! Actually that’s probably a good tip for any artist, I have a sketchbook that I might as well log a few thoughts/ideas from that sleepy state instead of forgetting them before morning.
“SUBTLE VALUE RANGES” ponder Disregard the earlier questions about laying values, I think I have a better idea of how to lay the values into the planes now. You gave me plenty to chew on, THANKS again!
-Adam
Thinking about it again, I know plenty about laying different values and have done so in grayscale although not always to the fullest degree. For some reason with color I pretty much stick to the same value per color, which makes no sense at all. Haha, thanks again! :bounce:
hi Knilblink - you have some very strong drawings in this thread - keep em coming!
Gord
Thanks Gord, I really appreciate you looking through my gallery. 
Been a bit busy with the holidays, but to show I haven't been absent in my studies here's the sort of challenge that SpiritDreamer offered to me. None of the facial features are set, some need serious moving. The study has been driving me a little mad, but I'm not giving up on it. Right now I'm further defining forms and colors, while adding contrast back into the image.
I'll be working on a black and white master head / body study shortly, possibly before this one is done, I may need a break!
HAPPY NEW YEARS!
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/fnailsarepretty/Anatomy/71954.jpg[/IMG]
EDIT: Oh, in addition, I didn’t find all of the brushes you recommended, SpiritDreamer, but I’ve been messing around with Oil Pastels, the softener and a basic blender brush. I also started from scratch to fix some proportion issues in the original and to re-attack it with just color brushes.
I’ll try to update the above image soon, with about 10 min or so of additional work I think it’s looking quite a bit better. Previously I had blended too much and overtime lost alot of my dark values and colors, I’m buildling those up again.
EDIT: Ugh, I was working on my low res. .jpg version. Time to up-res., turn it to .riff and hope for the best! 
Not too drastically different, I pulled some darker values back into the image. This one will be slow going, but this is it for the evening as I need sleep. Ignore all of the color swatches, I use my canvas like a pallete and make a mess of things while experimenting.
EDIT: Small update, replaced the old image with the new one. They’re not spot on, but I fixed some of the proportion issues.
Took a break from the color study to work on a master head study. I started blocking the large shapes, caught myself focusing on some details too soon and got back to medium/large shapes. I should have paid a bit more attention to proportions at the start, his shoulder on the left is a bit large and even though it was a head study, I neglected the head and have to reattack it, hence I cut it off for the final update.
I also realized that for some of my studies I’ve used the same canvas proportions of my reference, I’m not doing that any longer for figure studies as it makes me focus more on the form in relation to itself rather than copying the image.
This one has a ways to go yet, so far it’s been a good excercise in breaking down complex shapes. It’s not right on, but here’s what I have so far.
UPDATE: Quickly scribbled in an unfinished head, I found the blackness distracting.
Hey adam!
Just wanted to register here to show support, and because you seem more updated than on DeviantArt. Keep it up!
