PRACTICE for PAINTING COLOR & LIGHT; ART CONTEST

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Wayne

Homework for Painting Color & Light

Here is a little assignment you can do, or not, but if you would like to, take the challenge and see what you come up with.

I would love to see what you come up with and maybe blog some of it. If you do something pretty cool, attach it to me in and email. Well, don’t attach it to me, attach it to an email and email it to me to my personal email.

WayneAndreason@Gmail dot com

Art Contest

(I just got an idea forming in my brain, this is now an art contest or a painting contest, or maybe a coloring contest, either way, see below, or the bottom, or the end of this blog for details.)

Just Color These

If you can figure out how to download these drawings, or save them to your computer or device, print if you wish to paint traditionally, or work digitally if you’d rather. Or do your best to draw them.

Then color them.

Variations of a theme.

Colored-Mushrooms-lineSM

Take these mushrooms and make set different. That is, color them different colors, explore different light, colors and what ever. We have an example at the end of this blog if you want to see some possibilities.

Complex things are made of basic shapes

practiceDrawing

Bare in mind, that most things are built with basic shapes, so this is simplified. Take it and decide what you will do with it. Light source and direction. Warm light, or cold, dark and dingy or light and cheery, you decide, add detail if you like.

Santa Claus (AKA Father x-mas) on a Tropical Island

SantaBeachValue

So Santa is on the beach. See what you can do with color on this one. Is it morning, is it noon day, is it evening, morning, or night? You decide. Do one in the day and one in the night if you dare. Same scene but Night vs Day.

Mad Scientist in his Laboratory

jakes

This is an awesome black and white that Jake Parker drew during his Inktober phase last year. This could be realy fun to color, heck it’s fun just the way it is. Think of what you could do with color. You could use harsh light, contrasted by soft light, maybe some creepy fog. Have fun with it. This should be fun for comic book and graphic novel lovers.

and this is “below, the bottom, and the end of this blog”

contest details:

Entries must be emailed to me WayneAndreason@gmail dot com (that’s code, figure it out, the dot means period and there are no spaces) as an attachment in the form of JPEG, no later than one week from today, Okay, 8 days, take Sunday off and go to church for a change. (this was an attempt at humor, please don’t take offence, I can only be so PC)

We will find some artists in the community to judge the artwork who will choose 1 to 4 winners, depending on how many entries we get. Or maybe I should say 0 to 4 winners as we may not get any entries.

By entering a piece or more, you are giving permission for that piece to be displayed on the internet etc. Just in case.

The winner/winners will get a FREE Folio Academy art lesson course of their choice.

Contestants are not allowed to EVER be offended by Will’s or my attempt at humor. We mean no harm, except to that girl named Tammy who tore up a picture I drew of a dinosaur back in second grade. I do mean to offend her but she can still enter. I promise I won’t tear it up. I think her last name was Roundy.

and oh yeah, you can’t go around selling it as your own work as the drawings are drawn by Will Terry

and Jake Parker who are famous artists and hold copyrights.

have fun.

EXAMPLE: COLORED MUSHROOMS

So we took the mushroom theme and ran with it to give you and example of what you could do.

PS if you know Tammy Roundy that went to Lincoln Elementary school in Salt Lake City about 45 years ago, tell her to friend me on FB. Any of you may friend me too. thanks. Your best friend, Wayne https://www.facebook.com/wayne.andreason

Climbing the Corporate Ladder

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Will Terry

Editorial Piece about Women Climbing the Corporate Ladder

editorial illustration from over a decade ago

Originally printed for Hispanic Magazine.

One of my oldies that I painted the old fashioned way with real acrylic paint and real brushes. Now days I do most of my artwork using pixels. Digital art work is just faster and… well you’ve heard me say it before and you’ll hear it again. I am not dissing on traditional painting, in fact I love the real stuff. And I encourage every artist to learn to manipulate real pigment.

LOOKING BACK

Looking at this takes me back. If you’ll notice, I would paint or tone the canvas or paper, with a rather dark color, and then paint lighter colors on top and slowly build up the painting with a very dry brush. Leaving a lot of the toned background to show through. In a nutshell, that is my acrylic painting style.

A VISUAL ARTS DEGREE ISN’T NECESSARY

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Wayne

Better Get that “ART” Degree So You Can Make Money?

Universities give degrees to who haven’t mastered their craft

Question: Why don’t companies like: Disney, Pixar, Sony, Blizzard, Microsoft, Blue Sky, Mattel, Hasbro, Random House, Harper Collins, Scholastic and Folio Academy hire artists based on whether or not they have a college degree?

Answer: Lets cut to the chase – it’s because colleges and Universities routinely give degrees to students who haven’t mastered their craft. And because many “students” master their craft with out ever getting that “invaluable” certificate of diplomacy. This really isn’t news but I thought I’d briefly write about this so I have a link to send to artists who ask me for advice on what degree they should get? recently an artist wrote to me asking what colleges look the best on a resume for animation studios.

Companies want you portfolio, not your diploma

If a bachelor’s degree in visual arts said anything about the quality of the students pumped out each year, companies would interview and require applicants with BA’s and BFA’s. The truth is that these companies couldn’t care less that you have a degree. They want to see what you can do. They want to look at your portfolio. They also want you to be semi normal but that’s another discussion, don’t eat paint.

BUT Most of the Professional artists Went to School

Most professional illustrators DID go through a University or art school program. While that is true, it doesn’t mean the DIPLOMA is what made them a Pro. Most artists (most people) aren’t motivated enough to impose the rigorous hours of practice necessary or even know what to practice on in order to become a professional. Schools provide an immersion of exposure to mentors, professionals, assignments, markets, networking, methods as well as techniques, history, standards, and philosophies. These introductions can unlock hidden talent, desires and passions the beginning student never knew they had. So ironically, maybe you should go to school (and that could mean everything from University to art school to online classes and tutorials – one or a mixture of them) to get good at your craft but don’t think too much about the certificate you get – nobody is going to ask for it. And they don’t hand out cushy jobs and art careers with the diplomas either.

You do need that degree in order to teach.

You don’t need a degree to teach, unless you want to teach in a formal setting. The bachelors degree is really only valuable if you want to teach at a public or private school, institution, or college and then you will need a masters degree to top it off. Ironically, the school probably doesn’t care if you can do or if you can teach, they care if you have that “invaluable” certificate of diplomacy. What’s that old saying?

“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”

Prov. People who are able to do something well can do that thing for a living, while people who are not able to do anything that well make a living by teaching. (Used to disparage teachers. From George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman.)

And oh yeah – getting a degree WILL make your parents happy.

You can’t just fix a bad design with good color

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Wayne

If it don’t work in Black and White, it ain’t gonna work in color.

A good painting will also look good in Black and White. That is to say, if you can’t work out your value patterns in black and white, you won’t be able to just fix it with color. Have you ever heard of a grisaille, (that was a tough one to sound out, let alone spell) It’s a black and white under painting. I think the word gray, or grey, as I like to spell it, comes from the same root.

What is a Grisaille and how do you pronounce that?

Grisaille (/ɡ r ɨ ˈ z aɪ / or /ɡ r ɨ ˈ z eɪ l /; French: gris [ɡʁizaj] ‘grey’) (Giz-eye is how I pronounce it) is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. ~Wikipedia

Work out your lights and darks before you add color

So, where was I? Ho yeah, it is often wise, especially for beginners, to work out you lights and darks before you move to color. I like to give it the squint test. Squint at your work and see if it reads well. Do the wrong things disappear? Do the right things stand out?

The under painting can be in a sepia or other tone too, for a nice effect, it doesn’t have to be BLACK and White.

Light and Shadow

Where is your light source? Is it in the picture? If so, you shouldn’t have anything in the painting that is brighter than the light source.

Are the shadows, cast, core etc, in the right places? I am thinking that the cast shadow in this piece is not dark enough.

Do you have reflected light in the right places?

Just add Color, or Colour as my UK friends like to spell it.

If you are painting digitally, like in Photoshop or on the iPad, you will enjoy the ability to undo. If you are using water colors then you can just glaze transperant colors over you black and white under-painting. AKA Grisaille.

If you are using oil paints, you may want to try a water color, acrylic, or gwash, (i better look that up) Gouache. The oil paint goes right over the aqueous paints without disturbing them and it works really well. You should see how Robert Barrett uses gouache, for under-paintings to create a beautiful effect. He calls it a “Rub-out” technique.

Working with Color

Sold to the highest bidder! A Painting of a Mean Dog Chewing on a Little Cat

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Will Terry

Art Auction: Acrylic Painting on Paper: Original Artwork

Neighbor’s cat ~Will Terry – Sold for $300

This is an image I did for a fund raiser for Reagan Academy School in Springville Utah awhile ago.

Stephen Pratt, the school art teacher suggested I call it “Neighbor’s Cat”, so I did and it auctioned for $300. Had I called it, Neighbor’s Dog, it may have sold for a lot less, or not at all.

It was a lot of fun to meet some of the other artists and catch up with friends.

This was done with card stock, gel medium and acrylic paint. And water.

Yes I sold it awhile ago, I am just finally now bragging about it. I am still convinced that I wouldn’t make it in the world of gallery art.

Political Correctness in Art and Illustration; Are You PC?

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Wayne

Is your artwork politically correct? Should it be?

The consumers drive the market, & publishers want to Make money.

Supply and demand. What do people buy? Picture books about white folk.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author in his or her, okay it’s Wayne so his, private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of FolioAcademy, or any others involved with FolioAcademy. In fact, many views portrayed here are not even those of the author, he is only exploring ideas and suggesting what his opinion might be, as even he is too spineless to make up his mind. He says he is always willing to update his opinion. So is he open minded or wishy washy? I think he is a short, chubby, gray haired, wrinkly old, slow learning, pale faced, Gringo, Stupid, right brained, attention seeking, art teaching, blog posting, picture drawing, lazy, art loving, math hating, spell check using, time wasting, attention seeking, Yankee and a little man who used to wet the bed.

Yet another opinion from another middle class, white maLE. Go figure.

Let me start with my own disclaimer, I do not in any way mean to offend and I refuse to be offended if you comment. This is a LONG post, read as much or as little as you want and please, Don’t let me offend you. That being said, POO-POO PEE-PEE! tee hee. No offence.

Strong words that offend can be used for shock value.

I used to think that (poopoo peepee) was the absolute most worstest thing a person could say, and i peaked over our fence as a child and just blurted out “POOPOO PEEPEE!” at some innocent people. I ducked back down, giggling and feeling exhilarated and at the same time, scared for my eternal soul.

What Politically Correct means to me.

My opinion in short, or in long as it may seam. In a nutshell, PC is a hot and popular topic and it can affect your bottom line. Since the beginning of time, the white man (figure of speech) pretty much controlled and dictated what was published and HE didn’t care who he offended as long as he was on top and was making money. Well, we the people started to notice, and people are easily offended. So we complain and things slowly change. Depending on who’s buying your product, and if you want ‘those kind of people as customers’, you should comply to their needs and wants. A true Artist may draw and paint what ever SHE (to be PC one needs to limit the HE word) wants and “If you, (the would be client,) don’t like it, tough! I am being true to myself.” Maybe that’s why artists starve. If you want to make money, create value. If people want PC in their art, or ads or magazines or books or training material, then ultimately, they won’t buy your racist, chauvinistic, leave out the minority, pick on the handicapped, social faux pas art work and they will buy from artists that are smart enough to provide PC work. If you are working for Ebony magazine, for example, feel free to leave out the crackers. (white folk) if you are working for a White supremacist magazine, (I hope there aren’t any) then you could probably leave out the ‘people of color’ or even dis other races and be as non PC as you want. The cool thing about free enterprise is that you can do what you want and if you provide value, you will be rewarded. I believe however that it is ‘uncool’ to be racist, sexist, communist, supremacist etc.

People will take offence when they shouldn’t.

So what does Politically Correct mean to me? It means walk softly, try not to offend or exclude anyone. Be ultra fair. Do not pick on anyone. Stay far away from racial slurs don’t use racial, old age, career, or gender stereotypes to help get your point across. Look at your work objectively and be nice. That’s just good practice. But even still, there are a lot of people, I feel, with huge chips on their shoulders, just looking for an excuse to be offended. I hope you are not one of those, and I try not to be.

As a white child in a white (trash) neighborhood, going to a white school, with white friends in a white family, I never gave it a thought that most of my toys and books were “white”. My favorite fisher price character however, was a little black kid and I had a black G.I. Joe, and a red headed one, and a bunch of white ones. Billy blast off was white, my Bozo doll was white, (clown white), my trucks were yellow, my army men where green and my Teddy Bear was brown. My dinosaurs were all colors, and my blocks and tinker toys ere multi colored too. My favorite doll, yes I played with dolls, (Sissy!) was Zipy, a chimp and Bozo was my next fave.

My mother and father were nearly illiterate and seldom read to me. But I enjoyed it when they did. Among my favorite books were, Where the White, I mean, Wild Things Are, (that would have been my fave no mater Max’s race, was he Asian?) ping, (Asian) and a bunch of white people books, Dr. Suess types. My sister’s favorite dolls were Mrs. Beasley (an old lady, white) and Nancy (a black girl). And some little dolls called Kiddles, some were of color. My mom was puzzled.

This was Inspired by Will Terry’s Response to the New York Times ‘Why No Peeps of Color in Children’s Books’ Article; by Walter Dean Myers

WHY DO YOU THINK THE CHILDREN’S BOOK WORLD IS so NEGLECTING TO DEPICT, PEOPLE OF COLOR?

When I was a kid, I didn’t like any people in the books at all. The fewer humans, white or other, the better. I liked animal characters in my books and in the cartoons I watched, and in the coloring books I colored in. Or monsters or dinosaurs. Animals are cuter than people and more fun.

I worked as an in-house artist for 12 years creating educational software, books and videos for Waterford Institute. We were mostly white folk there, trying to create artwork and educational stuff for the ‘inner city’ children, so we had a ‘PC department’, more white folk, and a lot of our stuff got shot down. We were only allowed to put so many white people in our work. One time an artist there, we’ll call him Pat, illustrated a book with a whole family of whities. He used up our cracker ‘quota’, so then nobody else could illustrate a white person again on that project.

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10 Things I Learned at SLC Comic Con 2014

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Will Terry

Great for Artists/Illustrators, SLC Comic Conference 2014

Ten Things I learned at the SLC Comic Con last week, or so:

1. I was supposed to geek out on the famous firefly insect Adam Baldwin but I don’t like insects much.

2. I take really good blurry pictures. Most people struggle with this technique – not I. Here is Corel Painter, artist, Don Seegmiller better known as Neil Young. Maybe I should take a Photography class at Folio Academy.

3. I enjoy meeting online friends in person like these Disney interactive artists; Mathew Armstrong and Jason Kim

4. Reconnecting with my blurry friends like Disney artist Ryan Wood.

5. …and gopher turned Japanese poster artist Jed Henry (google Ukiyo-e Heroes)

6. That Ty Carter is trying to bulk up for his next career as an MMA fighter…

7. …and Jake Parker is already an MMA fighter…so don’t disrespect.

8. Oh – and that Bjorn Thorkelson created the “Accurasee sketch caddie” the BEST product I saw at comic con! It’s an art tools carrier that fits over the cover of your sketchbook. I was blown away by this nifty device. Many of you know that I mostly sketch on my iPad now but I had to have one of these for the times when I take my sketchbook out. I remember what a pain it was to try to carry everything I wanted – no longer! Check it out at his website.

9. That many of my students from UVU although blurry, have become amazing artists and will be forces to be reckoned with in animation, visual development, and illustration.

10. And finally that Jared Salmond has become completely invisible. People loved watching his pen sign all those posters. When I had him in class he was only “mostly” invisible but through hard work and determination he has finally arrived at his present form of, well, not being there….and for his next feat he will become mute.

MY RESPONSE: WHERE ARE PEOPLE OF COLOR IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS?

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Will Terry

Where Are People of Color in Children’s Books?

Walter Dean Myers, didn’t relate, he was black reading books about white kids.

DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reﬂect the views of FolioAcademy,LLC or every artist there in. We can’t help it if Mr. Will Terry has an opinion after all. ~your best friend, Wayne Andreason; Mgr.

The New York Times recently posted an article entitled: “Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?” Walter Dean Myers, the author shared his experience growing up reading books that he didn’t relate to because he was black and most of the books he read were about white kids. It’s a very thoughtful article that provokes many questions.

My mom didn’t ‘pass’, & wasn’t allowed to attend a white school

I thought I would share some of my experiences as an illustrator relating to ethnicity in children’s books. I grew up in a white suburban neighborhood just north of our nations capital in Maryland. I always identified myself as white even though my grandmother on my mother’s side has native american blood in her ancestry and my mom is suspected of having an African American father. It wasn’t until I was in college that my mom felt comfortable sharing that as a child she wasn’t able to attend the white schools because she couldn’t “pass” – a term meaning you were classified as having a mixed-race heritage.

There’s color in my Genes but I think of myself as white

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