End of Summer

Oh my goodness it’s already the end of August! By next week it’ll be September and before you know it, we will be approaching the autumn. It’s now a great opportunity to make the most of what we have left and create as many flower paintings as possible! I love drawing them. They radiate happiness and positivity, and of course I love the bright vivid colors! Today, I thought I’d start practicing more of some digital painting again. I am still following the on-line classes of Maurizio De Angelis and just embarked on a new lesson in which we incorporate oil painting brushes in our artwork

The Beginning

Still not yet having decided what to do with the background, I went straight into the subjects. What I had in mind was Little One standing next to a huge flower, then work my way from there. At this point, I just simply painted with airbrush and worked in layers where needed. For each flower petal, I created a new layer in order to make shading and highlighting easier as seen in the bottom illustration below. The purple dress was added as was her hair. Then based on the hair, I went about shading the face. A little orange spray paint was applied in the flower center.

Oil Paint Brush Effects

I continued working on Little One by also drawing her cute smiling eyes and a matching flower in her hair. So far so kawaii! The sprinkles from the spray paint were also applied on those flowers too. Then I decided to experiment with the oil paint brush. This brush gives an interesting streaky appearance, adding a bit of “texture” to the subject. First that came to mind was the hair of course. And wow that looked amazing! Whilst I normally go for hair touch-ups in the Touch Up menu, this oil paint brush was even better. And now I wanted to try that brush elsewhere. How about on her pretty dress? Now that certainly worked very well! Look how retro 60’s the tie-dye patterns look on her dress!

Adding Some Leaves

Let’s frame this painting a bit more now! How about some leaves? In his video tutorial, Maurizio demonstrates the usage of oil paint brushes on leaves and stems which came out so beautifully. I was quite awed by the results, in fact, that I thought I ought to emulate it hear too! A lighter shade of green was used for this purpose, adding more dimension and an impression of texture on the leaves. Seeing how successful it turned out on the leaves, I gave it a shot on the flower petals too. You really see the difference now!

Change of Background

And by now, I was able to decide what to do with the background. A warm tan-orange, I thought, would be a great idea. Firstly, it works as a perfect triad color scheme along with the green leaves and purple dress. Another is that as we soon approach the end of summer, orange would be a suitable autumnal color, hence, by chance, some symbolism. Alternatively, the image could also be seen as sunset which in turn could symbolise the end of sunny days. There are many interpretations to my choice. I further decided that the background ought to be plain with nothing else added to emphasize the effects of the oil paint brush. And now I’m very happy with this piece!

So much fun with digital painting again and learning more with the on-line class. This oil paint brush effect worked so well for this piece, and I shall certainly be incorporating it again in future paintings where suited. I a now looking forward to the next lesson and see what other secrets I can discover. Meanwhile, I’m very pleased how pretty the plants and how sweet Little One turned out. Can’t wait to do more!