Arastin Squid by Meg Lyman

Character commission for the Wandering Men

WOW. It’s almost here. Labor Day weekend approaches much too quickly!

I want to share with you a bit of my convention preparation, in the hopes that it might help someone someday. First, a bit of background: I’ve never done business at Dragon*Con before, so it’s all new to me. I have two panels in the Art Show and an Artist’s Bazaar table, which is like a Dealer’s table but in the same room as the art show. In slightly organized order:

• Get prints and t-shirts restocked
• Decide what art to put in the show
• Mat it, bag it, price it, put the pre-printed Dragon*Con barcodes on it, and decide on a layout
• Print an inventory (so I know which prints, originals, and t-shirts I have and how many)
• Start and finish a large cephalopod-related painting GAH
• Update my print book (the one I put out front for people to flip through)
• Print out a list for people to sign up for commissions
• Buy candy for the table - free candy stops people like no art can do
• Get ready to PARTY

It’s going to be a blast, but I am not going to enjoy the anticipation like a non-working attendee until I get all these things done. I have a good handle on them… except for the painting. I am not going to sleep this weekend. And I’ll probably not get to post again until after the con.

AIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! :D

Coulton Squid by Meg Lyman

5×7″ gouache on paper

At a recent convention, I was commissioned to create a Jonathan Coulton squid by a fan of his. He’s a cool musician guy who writes fun songs… and some are about cephalopods. How cool is that?

This is one of those commissions I really enjoyed. I love when people ask for cephalopod-related things, because it indicates that I am becoming known for them, but also because I love painting them.

For those artists out there who take commissions, what are your favorite subjects?

It’s love… strange love, but love.

Gouache on watercolor paper, 8×10″

I’ll post more artsy things later this week. For now, have some photos from my trip, featuring a cute little monster made by treesofmachinery. Let me know if the photo link works or not!

This one gave some interesting results. The warm blue and warm yellow provided a nice, clear, warm green. It looks like it’d be good for grass that needs watering (a common sight in Atlanta recently). However, the cool blue and cool yellow gave me a brownish mess. Since the cool blue and warm yellow gave a similar shade of mud, I’m guessing it’s the fault of the common element, ultramarine blue, although I’m not sure why. Any suggestions? I’ve only mixed it with browns (to make dark, blackish colors) and reds to make purples.

The warm blue and cool yellow created a surprisingly pleasant mix. It reminds me of what grass is supposed to look like. I’ll actually get to see some of it during my road trip to Iowa next week. Which, by the way, is the reason I won’t be posting for the next week and a half.

In conclusion, I still have no idea what I’m doing with color mixing, and nothing consistent has come out of my experiments yet. Next installation: purple in all its glorious mystery.

I am a fan. Uplifting but not sappy. Go see it!

Today I’ll explore more warm and cool colors. See this post for the introduction to the experiment. I will attempt to draw conclusions. You are welcome to chime in.

Here’s my first experiment: red and yellow together. Also known as orange: the color of construction, and when put next to navy blue, the colors of the Chicago Bears. GO BEARS! Ahem.

On the left, I mixed oranges with “like” primaries - that is, I mixed warms with warms and cools with cools. On the right, I combined warms and cools.

The orange in the upper left corner is the most vibrant. It’s certainly a warm orange, and has the most life to it. If I wanted to paint a vibrant giant pacific octopus, I’d use that combination.

The orange at the lower left is more muted. It’s definitely more muddy and cool than the warm/warm orange. I think there are two reasons for that: first, orange is generally a warm color, so making a cool orange is a bit difficult. Second, the cool red I used has a lot of blue in it (you know, its being “cadmium red purple” and all) and that means there were really three primaries in the mix, making it more brown and muddy.

The orange on the lower right is an interesting one. It’s fairly vibrant and light; I think it is the most successful cool orange I mixed. Using the warm red instead of the cool one really gets rid of the brown look. It’s sort of pastel orange, almost peachy, and I like it.

The orange in the upper right is the muddiest of all. I think this is because it mixes warm and cool AND it includes all three primaries. But it’s orange mud, for sure. In fact, if it ever rains again in Georgia, this is will be the color of my yard.

In conclusion, the warm/warm mix created the most vibrant orange, and the warm yellow/cool red created the muddiest orange. But the most important conclusion is that you should do your own color tests, because I still have no idea what I’m doing. Check back after a few more posts.

EPIC.

Also, note all those “cool” colors.

I’ve wanted to do this experiment for a while now. I heard theories about warm and cool colors, how they relate, how to mix them, what to use them for, and what to avoid. I figure it’s all good advice, but there’s nothing like finding out for yourself.

I have warmer and cooler versions of the primaries in my gouache palette. I generally choose the tint that suits the painting better. Should it be more scientific than that? I know warm and cool are relative terms; putting a cool red next to a cool purple might make the red look warmer. But in general, I can pick out which tubes are warm and which are cool.

My attempts to color-correct the scan didn’t go so well… but I think you get the idea. The warm colors are Flame Red (PR170), Permanent Yellow (PY1), and Prussian Blue (PB27). The cool colors are Cadmium Red Purple (PR108), Lemon Yellow (PY3), and Ultramarine Blue (PB29).

During the next few weeks, I’ll show you my experiments with warm and cool primaries. I hope to learn a lot and share it all with you. I just might end up making lots of different shades of “mud,” but even that can be useful… especially if you’re painting dirt.

Adorable Armadillo by Meg Lyman

Gouache and ink on notecard

Going to Anthrocon

I have been crazy-busy this week, and it’s not going to let up soon. I even got some art done! I’m heading for the beach this weekend and Anthrocon is next weekend. Getting ready for any convention is hard work, but this is my biggest con and I have to cram everything into two suitcases and get on an airplane. CRAZY but fun!