CrashOctopus Blog

Larry’s Warrior painted by Meg Lyman

12×18 ish oil on masonite

I attended another of Larry Elmore’s painting classes in September. We all used the same drawing and he showed us how to paint it. Mine isn’t great – there are a few things I’d like to change – but I learned a LOT. It was so fun to be with other artists, painting 10-12 hours a day, learning, and having a great time. It was great to see how much I’d improved from the first class, and how much easier I find oils now than I did then. Much less frustrating. Fun, even! I itch to do larger, grander paintings, and gouache doesn’t do well with large, expansive areas.

This class also got me thinking about my career and life. More on that later.

Thanks, Larry! Also, critiques welcome.

I enjoy painting on canvas with oils. I’ve been wanting to try gouache on canvas. (I want to try gouache on everything. It washes of faces and gesso but stains clothing. Go figure.)

So I tried gouache on canvas. It failed miserably. In general, canvas is primed with acrylic-based gesso, making it ideal for oils, but gouache simply won’t stick to it. It literally washes completely off.

So you can imagine my thrill when I saw Fredrix Watercolor Canvas, which is primed with something-or-other specifically designed for water-based paints. Finally! A canvas that will take gouache!

Except, not really.

I’ve found that one of the critical differences between gouache and watercolor is the thickness of application. Watercolor can be used thickly, but for the most part, people water it down quite a bit and use washes and layers. Gouache can be used this way too, but the washes rarely turn out as smooth, and layering without lifting requires finesse. Gouache is more suited to thicker, opaque application. Unfortunately, this canvas is great for washes and horrible for thick application.

I’m not sure what it is about the absorptive qualities of the cotton canvas + special gesso combination, but washes sink in, whereas thick paint does not. It sits on top and will come off with even the small amount of moisture on your (seemingly) dry finger. I learned this after I painted the sky of The Witch and rested my hand on it to work on the trees. There were little finger whorls all over the sky and bits of white canvas showing through. It had to be repainted.

If I had taken the time to read the label on the canvas, I would have seen that one of its virtues is “superb lifting ability for easy washes and corrections.” Layering, therefore, is nearly impossible, especially with thick paint. The first thick layer is fine, but once the canvas gets wet, forget it… everything lifts right off. Reworking can only be done after everything is completely dry, and even then it’s a tricky operation. I don’t have the patience for it.

I was able to use fixative spray on it after I finished, and the canvas took it wonderfully. No changes to the finish or colors. However, even with several coats of spray, the gouache will lift off with water. At least it was safe from my fingers at that point!

It is durable and doesn’t buckle. That was nice.

So… this canvas will work with gouache, but in a limited capacity. Washes work, and if you want a messy, textured painting. I simply chose the wrong support for this detailed painting. I estimate it took me twice as long to paint than if I had used illustration board.

Today’s lesson: test your medium+support combinations on small projects before you have only a week left before the painting has to be done.

Duh, right? *sigh*

Another quick step-by-step demo, on a simpler piece. This technique is quick and easy and I can do it in my sleep now. When convention time rolls around and I have to do dozens of these, it comes in handy… but it gets old. Makes me want to break out the oils, or at least do a complicated gouache piece with a full background an no outlines.

Luckily I have a dozen of those complicated kinds of pieces I have to get ready for Dragon*Con, which is in a month. A MONTH. Pardon while I go panic and paint all day.

Step 1: Sketch, transfer.

Step 2: Since this is on dark-ish paper and the character is yellow, I lay down a white base layer. Without it, the yellows end up very dark and neutral. My advice when painting on dark paper: do a test sheet so you know what colors might need assistance.

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So it’s been a while because 1. I’m on a business trip in Colorado, 2. I just turned in my control sheet for the Dragon*Con art show and ambitiously filled it with paintings I haven’t even started, and 3. I have commissions to finish. Excuses, excuses, I know. So here’s a ridiculously detailed step-by-step view of how I do my “turn your character into a cephalopod” commissions.

Whether your character is a cat-lady, an elf warrior, or a sparkly vampire, I can transform it into a cute octopus with a hobby. The first step is to get a character reference and ask what “accessories” to include – like ears, wings, or game controllers.

Step 1: Sketchy

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Racquetball Squid, a.k.a. Davy Jones’ Gym Locker

12×16″ gouache on Pastelbord

For Sale: $425

Last month I finished one of my more involved paintings. You know, the kind that actually has a background and tells a story… one that I planned out very carefully. I get one of these done every once in a while, between commissions and fun, quick little paintings. I try to focus on improving one specific aspect of my painting skills during each one, while hopefully maintaining (and improving) the skill I learned on the last one.

(Click the thumbnails for bigger versions.)

This is the beginning of the Racquetball Squid. The first thing I did was try to block in the background with a wash, to help establish darks and lights. And the first thing I learned is that watery paint bleeds on Pastelbord. BAD. Almost as bad as a paper towel. But that’s OK – it’s just a block-in, and I could still see my pencil lines. I used wax paper and foil to help create the textures.

After the wash dried, I completed the locker background. Texture is fun! But the best part about it was adding compositional lines. I used lines hidden in the background elements to draw the eye toward the focal points. The main focal point is the eye of the squid on the left, and the secondary focal point is the eye of the squid to the right. Can you see all the lines I pointed at that first squid’s eye?

Next I filled in the racquet. One good suggestion I got was to push the darks darker for more contrast. There’s enough to know it’s a shadow, but it isn’t as convincing as it could be. At least I was able to push the top of the racquet into the background. By the way, it’s really hard to paint sports equipment without real-life reference.

Here’s a supreme example of the wash bleeding on the Pastelbord. Yeesh.

Anyway, the next and final step was to color the squids. I believe I succeeded at my goal; the left squid’s eye is definitely the biggest focal point. Do y’all have any other suggestions?

I’d only ever used masking fluid once before, and it didn’t go all that well. I learned a lot, though, and when I tried it again this week, it worked splendidly. I feel that this qualifies me to give you advice.

Before the advice, though, a question: How long does masking fluid stay “good?” I ask because when I bought the fluid, it was… well… fluid. It’s been almost two years since then, and I didn’t open the jar once. This week, I opened it to find a custardy paste that didn’t budge, no matter how long I held it upside down and shook. The brush went right in, and after diluting it with water, it worked OK (save for a few chunks). I threw it out after that, because life’s too short to mess with chunky art supplies. But does anyone know the shelf life on the stuff?

Gooey questions aside, the experiment went surprisingly well. I used cold-press illustration board, masked an area, waited until it was dry (still sticky to the touch, though), and painted over and around it. Incidentally, I flattened out a piece of wax paper on the painting while it dried, which is how I got all those cool textured areas.

Once the paint was dry, I attempted to de-paint the masking fluid. Last time I masked something, I ended up smearing the paint that had dried on the mask all over the white area while I was removing it. This time, I tried to clean it… but the paint was stuck. So I recommend cleaning off the mask when the paint’s still wet.

I used this gummy eraser-type thing to remove the mask. It worked fabulously. I used a dragging motion in big swaths, much like you’d use a kneaded eraser on large areas of pencil. Some of the mask stuck to it (see red corner), but I can always cut that part off for next time. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s designed specifically to remove masking fluid.

So, masking fluid + gouache + illustration board works great. The end. Questions?

Sometimes you can really get your sketch on. Other days, not so much. Warm-ups help, but even so, some days you’re just not feeling it.

Recently I’ve been frustrated with my lack of ability to imagine a certain perspective or viewpoint of something that exists only in my head. Practice makes perfect, but I’m fairly sure I’m never going to have a racquetball squid to draw from life. Still, drawing from life really helps hone your skills… and you can apply that to drawings of real or imaginary things.

So, to ease my frustration, I headed off to the zoo this morning to do more life drawing. I really didn’t have my sketch on today, but I made myself keep doing it. I didn’t improve much throughout the day, but the general practice really helps. I noticed it was easier for me to sketch today than it has been in the past. Go, me! Experience points!

The best part of being a zoo member in Atlanta is that you can get in half an hour before the general population. I was the first guest inside the zoo today and got some great one-on-one time with the animals who usually have crowds of screaming children blocking the view and idiot parents telling their children “look at the bobcat!” instead of reading the sign right in front of them that says Clouded Leopard.

Remember last year when I posted about accuracy of sky color and mentioned a painting I was working on? Well, I finished that painting in time to get it professionally photographed before delivering it a Christmas gift. I finally picked up the CD from the printer, so now I can share it with you. Finally.

Chicago from the Lake by Meg Lyman

12×24″ oil on canvas

SOLD – Limited Edition Canvas Giclee prints available

The biggest lesson I learned from the experience was: gesso your canvas before use. Even the pre-gessoed ones. I had one strip of canvas that would not hold onto the paint. It lifted off even after drying for several days. I nearly tore out my hair. *sigh*

Canvas doesn’t scan terribly well because of its 3-D texture. And most canvas is too big for household scanners. So I had my pals at Silver Dog Digital photograph it for me. Apparently it was tough because I used a lot of medium on the top layer and it dried all shiny. Pretty, but a bitch to photograph, with all those specular highlights.

They also printed it up (archival) on canvas, full-size, and stretched the canvas for me. Actually, they did it twice, since the first one’s color was wonky, but only charged me for one. (This is a sign of a good printer. And the more I order from them, the more perks I get. Yesterday I was waiting for some prints to finish, and the owner let me watch Transformers on his iPhone.) Varnish, frame, sign and number, print a certificate of authenticity, which is required in GA for large reproductions, and I was set. Now I just have to sell it, and cover the cost of the photograph, the canvas print, and the stretching. It was a simple process and the print is full of awesome.

Nautilus macromphalus – work in progress by Meg Lyman

11×14 gouache on Pastelbord

I did a brief review of gouache on Pastelbord last year, and although I liked it, I hadn’t used it since. However, I am a spineless worm when it comes to art supply stores. Colorful sirens in the form of papers, paints, and other such paraphernalia call from the shelves… “Buy me! Buy me!” and I am loathe to resist. Therefore, I recently found myself with half a dozen large pieces of Pastelbord that need to be used.

My first gouache on Pastelbord was this, and then this last week and now this current WIP. I am in love with the stuff. I know artists who swear by it for colored pencils and pastels, too. It is slightly sandy from the marble dust they mix into the substrate (which is probably why it’s expensive). It is of course rigid and non-buckling. The tinted ones suck a bit of the life out of the colors, but not much – and I haven’t tried the bright red gouaches yet, which typically dominate any surface with unyielding authority. They go on boldly, lording it over the other colors until you notice holy cow that’s bright and glaze some green over it. We’ll see about them.

The delight of this surface is hard to describe. For me, it’s mostly in the pull of the brush across the texture, and the way you can smack paint around without worrying about pulling up the under-layers. Pastelbord is absorbent and textured, something which none of the other Claybord-type products (or even papers and illustration boards) pull off very well. I am going to try gouache on Wallis at some point, and I hope it’ll give me the same feeling.

One of the only downsides to Pastelbord is its brush-eating. I have used one particular brush for 3 paintings: the two previous Pastelbords mentioned above, both 5×7, and the underpainting of Felipe (on illustration board). This is how the new bristle brush looked and how mine looks now:

It’s not a very high-quality brush, but man, two and a half paintings? That’s pretty bad. Oh well… it’s worth it. And maybe it’ll be nicer to the soft brushes I use for detail work. I’ll report back later.

p.s. This is the first of the 100 Cephalopods project. Details still forthcoming.

Bontebok Sketch by Meg Lyman

So, does anyone know how to clean a scanner? Mine has been very good to me, but recently, the dirt on the glass has reached annoying levels. No longer do I have to use the Gimp to clean one or two dots; now they’re everywhere.

When I look at the surface, I notice two things. First, it’s foggy. The fogginess isn’t on the outside, but on the underside of the glass. I have no idea if it needs to be cleaned, or how to do it. It has slowly gotten worse throughout the scanner’s short life. Second, I see little dirty dots. They look green, presumably because of the way the scanner reflects light while it’s idle. But when I go to brush them off, I find that they’re sticky and need to be chiseled off with a fingernail, and mostly they smear all over.

When I scan, I see two undesirable things, both of which have gotten worse recently:

1. Grey areas on the edges. This admittedly may be a problem with the cover.

2. Spots in the scan, per the second complaint above.

I have a nice, soft monitor cleaning cloth that I use on the glass, but it won’t budge the sticky spots, and obviously has no effect on the fog. I keep the scanner covered so well that even cat hair never gets inside.

Does anyone have any words of advice? I paid a lot for this scanner, and I want to run it into the ground – many, many years from now.