we are having a fabulous time in the February Masterclass, and I thought I would encourage our class to share our takes on this Mughal princes in progress:
After first colorfill, face and turbin, almost dry: So blotchy! The paint must be too thin. And why does he look purple? I used titanium white, terre verte, ochre, vermillion, and a little Naples yellow deep (but it was gouache!). Is too much terre verte the reason? FYI, I think I did burnish before trying again on the colorfill.
Purple, because it's against a non-pure-white background... the ground always makes the colour look different... I'll post about this too! Also maybe a little too much white, that's all.
I decided to make the second colorfill titanitum white, yellow ochre and a little Cad Yw Dp. And I made the paint thicker. But this time I could barely fill the area before the paint started to dry. And I was being pretty sloppy - I missed the lower lip (makes him look a little like Homer Simpson!). I tried to restrain myself from touching up, but gave him a bump on the cheek or two before I stopped myself:
Oh vey! Look at that pockmarked cheek! And I forgot to separate hair showing on the turban!
Colour fill on a large scale is hard and also - we are doing a giant supersize face! My fault for making it this big. In reality they were never this big. I like doing big things in order to learn - the lines, but - for the colour fill, it's really hard and it never would have been this giant in books.
A very pink robe colorfill, but I think it will work out all right. After burnishing I am okay with the colorfill 2. It is one shade too dark in my opinion, but it is fairly smooth and a bit of shadow remains on the side of the face where the hair and beard would be, so I actually like that.
Today in class I identified one of my biggest struggles, which is that I use flooding techniques almost as an eraser every time I think I make a mistake in shading. It’s overkill and I end up turning a perfectly good surface into something that’s a little more blotchy, so I need to learn about letting go and accepting that I make mistakes in order to get better.
But still - you've managed to get a good colour fill in the important areas and the rest you can actually cover with hair. So on balance, a great job. Also, a few of you seem to be using a kind of oil painting technique for the colour fill, or maybe it just comes out like that naturally... it still works though for your painting!
This is where I’m up to, the colour fill isn’t as flat as I’d like it to be but it’s okay to work with. I’m going to carry on rendering with the walnut ink - I need to get more of his moustache in and that curl!
I keep thinking of Charles Dance - maybe that's what this Mughal actually would have looked like if he had no hair and no eye colour (as in here, as it's unfinished), hehe! @Anastasia Doran I love it, it's so accurate and delicate. Just needs hair of course now! Although - I have not come across a bald Mughal yet, and in the interests of diversity - I imagine they'd look a bit like this! (and not need a turban, therefore). I have come across bald skulls in miniature (in all my years of flicking through, can't remember where/when but if I come across I will share as is interesting). I look forward to the hair, and it's also such a pleasure to paint!
@Vaishali Prazmari Yes - I could definitely see Charles Dance when you mentioned it! And thank you, I’m so glad you like it so far! I’ll post him here when I’ve finished, I’m looking forward to completing the hair. I’ll look out for bald skulls in miniatures too!
And also didn't mention - brilliant yellow you did on the side too to 'warm him up'! Well done and I'm so glad you're enjoying and hopefully learning lots about how to 'see' etc! Wonderful to have you as always too @Susan Dobrian !
'That man'! Around the edges in the margins I've experimented with various skin colours. Not all of them are suitable for this deeply onion-skinned paper ground! It makes a difference. So I went with a skin colour that looked human. I've been as faithful as possible to the original to the extent that actually I've repeated some things I think the original painter may have overlooked - on a small scale it's not seen nor felt but on this supersize scale... I don't like the way his skull sticks out of his turban at the back of his head. I'll stay faithful to the original but cover it all with hair. Something I REALLY dislike is the bland faded looking colour of his robes - which again is faithful to the original when blown up to this scale (remember, everything is blown up so the colours are too!) - I much prefer your beautiful pinks or vibrant red. I will stick to the vibrant red I also originally painted. We can change things, we don't have to be bound to the original colours etc!
Also @Nadia T. Madden forces me to finish it hehe ;-) I will, but maybe not next month. However when I do I'll post it also as a reply.
Baldie
&
The various skin tones this guy underwent! Because my ground is so rich, colours appear different.
A Krishna blue noble skin - blue blood ;-)
More human.
The original tracing - always keep these as especially for faces we may need to re-use and re-trace on top of the colour fill, especially if is as large a scale as this! I used my large Ether brush for the transfer and an English red pigment for the back.
On the top left I diagrammed the eyeball just to show how it worked and also I did notice some of the eyes were looking up... then again it's a great personality trait to always be looking up, to be looking at the bright side of life!
@Sara , seems I'm not able to move your 'Mughal Face' post over to here so I'll leave it where it is. We've all been replying as comments to this thread which @Nadia T. Madden kindly created. So if you feel inclined (no pressure), you can do some pruning by copying that post over here as a comment and delete the original one. I'm not a good gardener, I like a bit of weedy mess, but it's also good practice to keep this forum neat and for those who like their shrubbery tidy!
I will attempt to do the color fill tomorrow morning and post my results shortly thereafter!
I am really looking forward to taking this sequence when it is offered again!!!! My best wishes to you!
@Alison Guest , you could join next month and learn along with us! miss having you in class....
@Nadia Madden I shall try to juggle my schedule! I miss you guys too! And looking at this thread , your work is so great!!!!! Inspiring!
After first colorfill, face and turbin, almost dry: So blotchy! The paint must be too thin. And why does he look purple? I used titanium white, terre verte, ochre, vermillion, and a little Naples yellow deep (but it was gouache!). Is too much terre verte the reason? FYI, I think I did burnish before trying again on the colorfill.
Purple, because it's against a non-pure-white background... the ground always makes the colour look different... I'll post about this too! Also maybe a little too much white, that's all.
I decided to make the second colorfill titanitum white, yellow ochre and a little Cad Yw Dp. And I made the paint thicker. But this time I could barely fill the area before the paint started to dry. And I was being pretty sloppy - I missed the lower lip (makes him look a little like Homer Simpson!). I tried to restrain myself from touching up, but gave him a bump on the cheek or two before I stopped myself:
Oh vey! Look at that pockmarked cheek! And I forgot to separate hair showing on the turban!
Colour fill on a large scale is hard and also - we are doing a giant supersize face! My fault for making it this big. In reality they were never this big. I like doing big things in order to learn - the lines, but - for the colour fill, it's really hard and it never would have been this giant in books.
A very pink robe colorfill, but I think it will work out all right. After burnishing I am okay with the colorfill 2. It is one shade too dark in my opinion, but it is fairly smooth and a bit of shadow remains on the side of the face where the hair and beard would be, so I actually like that.
Looking forward to any comments.
The color is quite nice! This class is making me aware how difficult it is to photograph colors accuratel.
Much better and I love that pink!!
Here is my prince who is a bit green, but I think it will turn out
From what I saw on Zoom you actually had a good skin colour @Nadia T. Madden . Again - love the pink!
Excellent colour fill all round - the skin colour and the dramatic bold red robe!
Thank you, Vaishali!
He’s looking so good, Susan!
This is looking great, Susan!
@Anastasia Doran Thank you, Anastasia!
Here is my prince:
Today in class I identified one of my biggest struggles, which is that I use flooding techniques almost as an eraser every time I think I make a mistake in shading. It’s overkill and I end up turning a perfectly good surface into something that’s a little more blotchy, so I need to learn about letting go and accepting that I make mistakes in order to get better.
I love that nose and that eye, Nadia! Well done!!
He looks wonderful, I really like his eye, too!
But still - you've managed to get a good colour fill in the important areas and the rest you can actually cover with hair. So on balance, a great job. Also, a few of you seem to be using a kind of oil painting technique for the colour fill, or maybe it just comes out like that naturally... it still works though for your painting!
This is where I’m up to, the colour fill isn’t as flat as I’d like it to be but it’s okay to work with. I’m going to carry on rendering with the walnut ink - I need to get more of his moustache in and that curl!
I keep thinking of Charles Dance - maybe that's what this Mughal actually would have looked like if he had no hair and no eye colour (as in here, as it's unfinished), hehe! @Anastasia Doran I love it, it's so accurate and delicate. Just needs hair of course now! Although - I have not come across a bald Mughal yet, and in the interests of diversity - I imagine they'd look a bit like this! (and not need a turban, therefore). I have come across bald skulls in miniature (in all my years of flicking through, can't remember where/when but if I come across I will share as is interesting). I look forward to the hair, and it's also such a pleasure to paint!
@Vaishali Prazmari Yes - I could definitely see Charles Dance when you mentioned it! And thank you, I’m so glad you like it so far! I’ll post him here when I’ve finished, I’m looking forward to completing the hair. I’ll look out for bald skulls in miniatures too!
Looks great, Anastasia!
Thank you, Susan!
The final class, he still needs some work but I’m quite happy with how he turned out (And I think I’ve fallen a little bit in love!)
Well done, Nadia!
Love that you've fallen in love!
@Sara , please share your work as well when you have a chance. @Vaishali Prazmari too (may as well see the master in action!)
Bunch of photos coming below, and will also move Sara's post!
He turned out great! Thanks for sharing him. Your paper looks textured. Is it coldpress, or is that just an illusion of the photo?
@Mary Yaeger its hot press, but I did some washes and I think that raised the grain. I will have to burnish and see if it goes back down again.
Thanks Nadia for helping me find my way in & the very lovely compliment 😉 I shall try & add my under construction Mughal bronzed for the Gods face in.
Such wonderful work you guys did!!!
And also didn't mention - brilliant yellow you did on the side too to 'warm him up'! Well done and I'm so glad you're enjoying and hopefully learning lots about how to 'see' etc! Wonderful to have you as always too @Susan Dobrian !
And here is my final Mughal man. I absolutely love this faces course!
That mustache! Absolutely delightful....
@Nadia Madden Thanks, Nadia! This was fun!
'That man'! Around the edges in the margins I've experimented with various skin colours. Not all of them are suitable for this deeply onion-skinned paper ground! It makes a difference. So I went with a skin colour that looked human. I've been as faithful as possible to the original to the extent that actually I've repeated some things I think the original painter may have overlooked - on a small scale it's not seen nor felt but on this supersize scale... I don't like the way his skull sticks out of his turban at the back of his head. I'll stay faithful to the original but cover it all with hair. Something I REALLY dislike is the bland faded looking colour of his robes - which again is faithful to the original when blown up to this scale (remember, everything is blown up so the colours are too!) - I much prefer your beautiful pinks or vibrant red. I will stick to the vibrant red I also originally painted. We can change things, we don't have to be bound to the original colours etc!
Also @Nadia T. Madden forces me to finish it hehe ;-) I will, but maybe not next month. However when I do I'll post it also as a reply.
Baldie
&
The various skin tones this guy underwent! Because my ground is so rich, colours appear different.
A Krishna blue noble skin - blue blood ;-)
More human.
The original tracing - always keep these as especially for faces we may need to re-use and re-trace on top of the colour fill, especially if is as large a scale as this! I used my large Ether brush for the transfer and an English red pigment for the back.
On the top left I diagrammed the eyeball just to show how it worked and also I did notice some of the eyes were looking up... then again it's a great personality trait to always be looking up, to be looking at the bright side of life!
He looks amazing! I love his expression, and the hair!
@Sara , seems I'm not able to move your 'Mughal Face' post over to here so I'll leave it where it is. We've all been replying as comments to this thread which @Nadia T. Madden kindly created. So if you feel inclined (no pressure), you can do some pruning by copying that post over here as a comment and delete the original one. I'm not a good gardener, I like a bit of weedy mess, but it's also good practice to keep this forum neat and for those who like their shrubbery tidy!