Bad Ass Babes of Sci Fi & Fantasy, Series I

During my last semester of grad school I had a quick study class in which you were made to paint things reallyreally fast. We used oil paint and I reallyreally enjoyed it. You were given 10, 20, or 40 minutes to paint a still life, or a portrait, or a nude figure. It was challenging and nothing made you feel like less of an artist then looking at your work after 20 minutes. But the best part was that hey, it was only 20 minutes! Now I can try again and do better, and I didnt waste a day, a week, or more. Working so fast you have to learn how to see things clearly, learn how to translate what you see quickly, and learn how to commit. Im very grateful to have been able to take that class with Craig Nelson, an amazing instructor and artist. I highly recommend taking a class like this, or practicing doing your own quick studies in whatever medium you work in. You'll be surprised how much you learn and how much art you make from it!

Unfortunately I havent touched my oil paints in a while, but I've continued doing quick studies as digital paintings. I find an image I like, I copy it, and I really focus on shapes, value, and exaggerated color. I love to push the color around and try new things. Using photoshop I can work with a lot of fun brushes and textures too. I personally enjoy a loose feel in painting, where you can see a nice balance of blending and brush strokes, so I practice that in my own work. These exercises have been a great way to unwind, warm up, and really get to understand lighting and the planes of the face. I give myself about 45 minutes to an hour, any longer and I just start to noodle and things usually go downhill. Learning how to call it done and move on was a big challenge as well.

Enough technical chatter, lets just move on to the main event: the paintings! For this series I thought it would be fun to paint a subject matter that I love, beautiful people who have inspired and entertained me through my life. And lets be honest creating "fan art" is just a great way to indulge myself. Im proud to present my "Bad Ass Babes of Sci Fi & Fantasy, Series I." Personally I still love River, and she was my first attempt. I think I captured something there that was very unintentional, and now I am very intentionally trying to recreate it. Sometimes I hit the mark, sometimes I miss, but they have all been great practice. I'll definitely be working on more, thats for sure!

To see updates a little more frequently please check out my tumblr: http://zealousceles.tumblr.com/
You can also find my on deviant art: http://zealousceles.deviantart.com/

Thanks, I hope you enjoy. :}