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eurocopter as 350 in oils .. w.i.p. !!


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going to be doing for a friend it is his heli !! will hopefully show how i tackle paintings from start to finnish

i usualy copy from my own photograhic work

this is only on a small canvas about 12'' by 8'' but gives an idea !!

i may do a w.i.p on something larger on a later date !!

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i have now roughed it out i use the gridding system not to bad this time as it is 1cm to 1cm so niether enlarged or reduced

it rarely works that way though as i usualy paint larger pictures so have to work out how much enlargement is required

for example using inches going from a4 size roughly 12 ''x 8 '' increasing from 1 inch squares to 2 inch squares would use a canvas 24 '' x 16 '' so quite an increase so you have to work out what percentage will fill the canvas used

the reason i use this method and to be fair quite a lot of other artists for aviation is fairly simple before it's asked

yes i can draw free hand

but natural things have some leeway in that they are constantly moving shapes so there can be some descrepancies but they can be accounted for by subject movement

in engineered shapes there is no movement they have to be right to look right

some artists i find also work with the image projected from a overhead projector

originaly i was taught by an aviation artist to trace your picture if working from a photo but i found this more hassle and more difficult to find what i wanted

if i can i usualy work by photographing my subject myself sometimes not of real aircraft either if theres a subject i wish to paint but can't find a shot or take a shot

the answer is to build a model , photograph it in the position required then grid out as per method !!

as350painting001.jpg

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first basic colours are now on !! more often than not i work in acrylics especialy if it is a commision this is because oils stay wet a lot longer ( days instead of minuites ! ) but it is this virtue that makes them more workable !!

if i ever do a commision in oils i would ultimately charge more

my commisions are usualy horses although i do do the odd plane !!

we are now at a stage where i let my first colours dry before carrying on because as they are wet it saves smudging !!

as350painting.jpg

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Amazing drawing!

I will keep tracking this post to learn from your work :worship:

Cheers,

Marcos.

no problem marcos !! that was the intention , for those that have never tried painting in acrylics or oils to learn some basic skills to have a try and evolve thier own technique !!

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Nice work! I'm a professional artist also, and if you'd like some tips/tricks, feel free to ask! I have a few ideas for you to make life easier for you on that one. Always willing to help out.

cool !! anything tips and tricks wise is always welcome as i havn't had a single art lesson in my life ( something i was never intrested in until my mid 30's ) so pretty much worked out where i am today on my own bar about 2 hrs of chatting to two difrent artists , one in 98 the other in 09 !!

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cool !! anything tips and tricks wise is always welcome as i havn't had a single art lesson in my life ( something i was never intrested in until my mid 30's ) so pretty much worked out where i am today on my own bar about 2 hrs of chatting to two difrent artists , one in 98 the other in 09 !!

Anytime! I'm self taught too... never could stand art courses, so didn't bother, so I was best off reading and learning on the go! Everyone has their own way of doing things, so feel free to go how you want.

First off, I see you mentioned oils and acrylics... is this Eurocopter oil or acrylic? I have no experience with acrylics... just oils as far as painting, but the same principles apply for techniques.

The first thing you want to do is take an eraser and erase your grid system and heavy lines - for the background only at this point. Don't worry... they will still be visible underneath. The idea here is to lighten them so the paint covers it, otherwise, you will drive yourself up the wall trying to cover it!

Secondly, go buy a roll of white contact paper and some new exacto blades (you already have those as a modeler anyway!). You're looking for the Con-Tact brand of paper. It sticks well, and cuts clean. They also have transparent paper, but have never used it because I want to know exactly where the paper edge is without guessing.

Lay one piece of Contact paper over the helicopter so it covers it in one piece. Carefully cut the contact paper following the outside lines of the helicopter - do all, body rotors etc. The entire thing. It doesn't take much pressure of the exacto blade to cut the contact paper, so don't over do it, you obviously don't want to cut into the canvas!

Now that the subject is covered, it makes it so much easier to paint in the background to get smooth blending, uniform color and no brush strokes without worrying about painting around the subject.

By leaving the subject as a white silhouette underneath, it provides a clean surface to begin painting. This is critical for using transparent colors. It will allow the light to pass through the transparent colors, hit the white and make it that much more vibrant and realistic. Otherwise you'll be painting it over and over.

Now I'll need to know if this is oil or acrylic for the next tips. There's several outstanding products I use that I couldn't live without. One is a medium that increases dying time, and thins down oils without using paint thinners. I will not use thinners on a canvas. It can cause cracking over time. Another invention of mine is a drying box. I made one that can house 3 foot x 5 foot canvases and used a small space heater with a fan that blows in warm air. In conjunction with the medium, I can dry a painting in 8 hours and be ready to go and dry to the touch at 105-110 degrees F. During the summer, the same thing can be done by putting the painting in your car during the day. Car will smell like oil paints though!

Attached are a few pics that I think you saw in my other thread. The F4's background is done, but I used the contact paper to keep the F4 clean. Then went over the silhouette with several layers of white to match the thickness of the background layers of paint. The same for the motorcycle. You can see on the right side how it's white underneath with some pencil sketchings to show location of a few objects of the bike. Again, this allows for a spectacular background with a flowing brush, uniform blending etc. I'm my worst critic when it comes to trying to get ultra realism from painting, but that's just my style and what I'm used to and willing to help you out in that area if that style is your goal.

Are you also located in the states? That would determine what products would be available to you as well.

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4081249711_b5f6bc0f1b.jpg

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wahey !! some good tips ,,,thank you !!!, i rub the lines out as i go along as i use them for working out where details fall , but never even thaught of the covering it up idea makes sense for the outline to keep clean ,

as you say the lines showing through can ba a nightmare with pigments like reds , yellows , light greens etc even after erasing , so i am considdering a projector once i have more finances

i'm only just starting up in oils again the eurocopter being my second , i use acrylics usualy for speed mainly , so i have to re-buy things like poppy oil and other mediums as at the moment i only have the cheapest set of paints and a tube of windsor and newton titanium white

eventualy will change to all w+n

the drier is a fab idea that i have never thaught of and probably will prove to be an essential eventualy with our weather

love your phantom painting !! in the past i used to find i did the aircraft well but didn't concentrate too much on the background which sometimes made them just look wrong now i find i spend as much time looking at the landscape as well

so improving me in other areas

Edited by tornado64
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Ah, oils, perfect! To also aid in drying time, smaller paintings can be placed vertically over a heater register in the floor or wall, or whatever. The trick is having low heat pass over it. Oils dry by oxidation - the exchange of oxygen, so air flow over it yields excellent results. Acrylics dry by evaporation of waters in the paint.

Your best friend for oil painting will be a medium called LIQUIN ORIGINAL, made by Winsor & Newton. It is used for fine detail work by thinning down the oils, used for glazing, decreases drying time a lot, and adds flexibility to the oils preventing cracking over time. It will not yellow either. A similar product is LIQUIN FINE DETAIL. Works the same, but is a little bit thinner in consistency. If you can't find that, use GALKYD, which comparable, but made by Grumbacher. These are ALKYD mediums, and they work with all brands of oil paints.

As far as mediums go, toss out linseed oil, poppyseed oil, Saflower oil, Sunflower oil etc. They all go out the window!! These will make your paintings never dry and will cause frustration. They also have a tendency to yellow over time. The ONLY benefit these mediums have is by giving gloss to the painting. That's neither here nor there because you'll be varnishing the oil paintings anyway long after they're done. The LIQUIN is the only one you'll ever need.

If you're in the US, you can find any of these at either Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Dick Blick or any art store.

As far as oil paints themselves go, it really doesn't matter. I use both Winsor and Newton Winton and also W & N Artist's Oil Colours. Any work. Could be inexpensive, could be really expensive. Could be student grade, could be Sennelier $30 for a small tube of paint. I've used them all. The difference is the student grade paints have man made pigments. The expensive ones use naturally occurring pigments, increasing the cost. The expensive ones also have a little better vibrancy, but that's about the only real difference.

Here's some real fun stuff. For backgrounds, I use a wet on wet technique - but only to get basics in. This is tricky and varies from painting to painting and what you're trying to get. With oil painting, you always have to think out five steps ahead and how you're going to do it.

Products for wet/wet technique: Bob Ross Liquid White or Alexander Magic White. Both almost the same of each other. If you don't feel like buying these, no biggie. Use titanium white OR Flake White OR Soft Mixing White (does not matter) and mix in some of the previously mentioned liquin and rub into the canvas of the area you want to do. I use the white for the sky, a track surface and that's about it. ONLY a thin coating... just enough to get a touch on your fingertip when you touch the canvas. The key is to lubricate the canvas. This will ensure that the colors will blend so so so nice when creating a sky. Once the canvas is lubricated, start laying in your blue sky, for example, and let it fade to a lighter blue/white towards the horizon. Have to do it while it's wet!!

Along those lines, look for Bob Ross Liquid Clear or Alexander Magic Clear. Again, very similar products. If you can't find these, no biggie! Liquin will work fine! Same principal, If using Liquid Clear or Magic Clear, add in some liquin and just barely lubricate the canvas. Same when using just liquin by itself for lubing the canvas. Throw it on the palette and use either a 1" or 2" brush and work into the canvas.

An example of using the liquid clear would be on my F4 painting for the landscape. I painted the ground one color of green to start with (used liquid white so it spreads easily). Let it dry then coated it with liquid clear/liquin then started adding detail like the segments of fields.

The whole idea with liquid clear/white etc is to lube the canvas. Then when adding the oil paint, it just flows so nicely and effortlessly.

What I would do with your helicopter scene is first mask off the helicopter with the contact paper. Secondly is mask off the mountains or hills one at a time in layers. Start with the sky, using the above mentioned techniques of lubing with a white. When dry, paint in the hills a solid color. Then use the liquin or magic clear (the key here is using clear, not white) then start adding in detail. So by now you've created an underpainting to start laying in details.

I just read through all of that... I really hope I'm not confusing you any! When I first learned about all of this, I was driving myself BAT S*** CRAZY! Once you start doing it, it becomes second nature.

In the meantime, go on youtube and do a search for Wilson Bickford. He's a personal friend, art instructor and helped me when I made the transition into oils. A really good guy. has about 8 videos on youtube. Look for his vid on clouds, he briefly shows the white lubrication process.

Also, feel free to email me at: info@darrellwhite.us I can send some progress pics etc which may help in discussing these techniques. Always willing to lend a hand!

Darrell

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cool info . not too much to take in i will take in and check out the you tube vids at my liesure , it is all here , i will probably copy and paste it somewhere the liquin is a great tip , as i love oils for their workability but at the moment it is cold and damp here so drying takes an age

that's the trouble with the uk even when it's warm it is still cold and damp !!

luckily there is no particular landscape or cloud to this painting ,

as it is a tight landing pad in amongst fairly tall trees , and the sky was just a plain light paynes grey

g-omcc122.jpg

Edited by tornado64
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Good deal. Seeing the photo now makes more sense. I thought that maybe those were either hills or mountains in the background from your initial sketch.

Now remember you can embellish that a lot more than the photo. Meaning add a more blue sky, creating a sunny day. Cloudy days always look too flat, especially in paintings. If you go this way, the trees will pop more, the grass, the helicopter etc. Then that will allow you to create your own angle of the sunlight and also create a shadow on the ground. it makes it more interesting with highlights on the subject.

Like I said, feel free to email me from my above post towards the bottom. I'll be checking this out more and more, but for a quick answer, just email! Happy painting!!

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just been to check out the videos he's a great and talented tutor i'm impressed with his painting style and will be trying those techniques

i was basicaly there but these tips and techniques i feel will improve my technique no end

the clouds and trees being particularly useful lessons !!

much apreciated you taking your time to improve my own technique in the future !!! paul ..

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Glad to help, Paul!

Yeah, he's really good. He stays with nature scenes, but the same techniques apply to a lot of situations. He recently published a book on acrylics with nature scenes as well, which I think he advertises on the youtube videos as well.

When I made a switch to oils, I asked him about 50 million questions!

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Glad to help, Paul!

Yeah, he's really good. He stays with nature scenes, but the same techniques apply to a lot of situations. He recently published a book on acrylics with nature scenes as well, which I think he advertises on the youtube videos as well.

When I made a switch to oils, I asked him about 50 million questions!

yeah his techniques transfer to other situations quite well like shadeing etc and his trees working from the back to front works well i do simmilar with figures in that i'll start the drawing imagining no clothes then build the clothes over the body

it sort of gives a more natural hang to the clothes

for horses i take into account thier musculature first , then thier paces and build from there so they look correct !!

i do find every painting improves on the last

i can honestly say my first ones were like kindergarten paintings but over the years you learn and improve your technique

by taking bits from here and bits from there it all builds up into your own individual technique

but i have to admit that guy shows it quick , clear , concise whilst giving everything you need to know not only giving you the subject he is showing but also demonstrating multitudes of transferable techniques

best tutor i have seen

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but i have to admit that guy shows it quick , clear , concise whilst giving everything you need to know not only giving you the subject he is showing but also demonstrating multitudes of transferable techniques

best tutor i have seen

Yes he does! He does art instruction solely for a nice living. He travels around every week for 6 hour classes over a several day period at any given location. He also just built an addition to his home that is his studio and classroom. He's a really nice guy and into guitars too... plays in a bar band on weekend for fun.

Another place that has some good lessons is this site: http://www.jerrysartarama.com/videoApplica...sonListing.html

It's a big art store, and Wilson Bickford did some videos there as well, although I think they are the same lessons as on youtube. You can select a category then a sub category. Some other artist's there are pretty decent too, for learning some techniques. Some aren't so great though. Take a look and see what you think there!

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added some clouds as per one of the video lessons and they are quite effective , it must be mentioned now that photographed paintings look a lot difrent than looking at the actual painting

for instance the yellow ochre shows up as brown patches here wereas to the naked eye it doesn't show and just appears as a warm tone !!

also started to fill in the banking behind !!

asinoil002.jpg

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It's starting to fill in nicely!

I know what you mean about taking photos of them. They never turn out the same with colors or clarity. When I get mine photographed for prints, the photographer uses a 39 megapixel Hassleblad camera that costs as much as a nice new car. That's about what it takes to show them how they really look in person.

Another thing you can do with the clouds (when dry) is use some of that liquin and mix in white, then glaze over the highlights. This will make them really jump out more. Then use a goat hair blender brush to really fade it in seamlessly.

Can't wait to see this one progress along!

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as darrel mentioned earlier contact paper would be good to preserve the outline of the subject , and it will probably be the way i go on my next painting as i can see the virtues of it being able to provide cleaner edges !!

the method i use presently though is windsor and newton liquid mask , although i have presently run out so humbrol maskol has been substituted

kjhj.jpg

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