Rendering Techniques

During my Fall 2008 semester I took Rendering Techniques. Basically the concept was learning to make things look like things. Such as; wood look like real wood, fur look like fur, ect. We worked with Gouache, which I had never used before. It was tough but in the end I can at least appreciate gouache. It certainly isn't my favorite medium but it has it's highs and lows. Below is my project. Both ends were chopped off by my scanner but you still get enough of the image.


From Left to Right [Top]: Wood, wine, handcuffs [metal], dress [fabric]
From Left to Right [Bottom]: Bricks, fur [dog], fur [cat], water [leaf]

Lacey

This is Lacey the Airdale Terrier. It was a challenge getting the curly fur. I think I killed my xacto knife but I've been wanting to get more blades anyway because the blade has been getting dull.

Medium: Scratchboard with a watercolor wash
Size: 5x7

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH:


FINAL RESULTS: View in Full Size

What is...?

I added a "What is...?" paragraph to my website. What is scratchboard? I'm asked that question a lot and thought I'd finally put a little blurb in explaining it before viewing my actual scratchboard examples. I used the easy approach, wikipedia, and got a nice quick sum up.

I hope to one day write a more in depth, with pictures, more personal, 'What is...?" when I have the time.

The Yogster Cat

Happy 2009! I hope everyone had a lovely new year's and will have a great 2009! I'm hoping for a great new year! To start off the new year here is a new commission I finished. I was very excited to do this one, especially considering I know this cat in person. He's a big orange tabby cat named Yogi. One of my favorite nicknames for him is Yogster. He's very friendly, smart but dumb; he'll sit and give paw for treats and yet he has run through a banister and caused himself internal bleeding [he was fine!].

I definitely want to practice cats more and I still have yet to do some experimenting out of the scratchboard realm. I hope that day will come before classes start and my free time is limited. We'll see.

Medium: Scratchboard with watercolor wash
Size: 5x7
VIEW FULL SIZE

The Boxer

This commission was of a Boxer. The woman wanted it as a gift for her son because the dog is getting old and may pass soon. Certainly a nice gift! I worked on my short fur rendering...slowly getting there. Very tedious. I really worked on a new method for the eyes and nose which I think is working quite well.

Medium: Scratchboard with a watercolor wash
Size: 8x10
VIEW FULL SIZE

Cracker Jax

Introducing Jax the mixed breed. The first commission I received at Mutts Mania [the fundraiser for the animal shelter I participated in]. I'm so proud to finally be giving money to the shelter via my artwork. I tried a few different techniques I'm learning from fellow artists on eyes, noses, and fur rendering and trying to slowly apply that to my own style of scratchboard. I feel a lot less stressed having this commission finally done. Now I want to take a short break before I start my next commission and play with my new Golden Open Acrylic paints!

Original Photo:
[will upload later]

Final Results [VIEW FULL SIZE]:
Medium: Scratch board with a watercolor wash. Size: 11x14

Beagle Pup

If this wasn't a commission I would possibly keep it. He is a Beagle puppy, so cute, and I'm pretty content with how he came out. I'm not sure what his name is [I have to find that out]. For this scratch board I went for a 'more is less' approach. Also to substitute the hands, which I didn't want in the piece I replaced them with a piece of wood. So, it appears as if the pup is hanging over the side of a wooden fence of some sort. I think it fits. It only took me about 3 hours over 2 days to finish this guy. I really hope to finish off the other 2 commissions I have before November is over so if I don't get any commissions for the holidays I don't have any back logging. I also went to a demo for Golden Open Acrylic paints. The demo was interesting...mostly I felt like I was at a lecture but instead at the end I received free samples. Yay! I can't wait to start experimenting with them.

Original Photograph:


Final Results [VIEW FULL SIZE]:
Medium: Scratch board with a watercolor wash. Size: 5x7