Painting with Giovanni: video tutorial

[jknaus]

My efforts.

Paint is still wet so glossy. I'm going to try and find a higher magnification glasses as I can just see the eye to paint and cant get anywhere near what you are getting. I used a new brush and it still didnt hold a point. split in 2 for some reason. Not happy with him at all.
James

 

[johnbowery]

James,
Have you thought of trying to paint the eyes with a sharpened toothpick?
The toothpick needs to be a hard wood toothpick and these can be found at the Cracker barrel store for $1.50 for a large container of them. I use this a lot of times and you can resharpen the tooth pick so it will last for a long time.
Just a thought.
Cheers
John

 

[jknaus]

I'm going to have to in the future. This paint thing is harder than it looks
James

 

[moon puppy]

James, you're too hard on yourself. This is not BAD...OK he may look a like he's ready for a night out at the Blue Oyster Bar...but

Seriously wait till we hear from Giovanni, he may have a suggestion on how to get some blending done. The eye lids are the only things I see really over done. The cheeks look fine and will look better with a couple more layers to blend in.

 

[gioazz]

Hi James, all,

Sory if Took me so long to answer, but hasn't been a great period for me lately..

Anyway, I'm planning to look better at your pictures and give you a fully detailed answer in the next couple of days.

Ciao

Giovanni

 

[jknaus]

Hi James, all,

Sory if Took me so long to answer, but hasn't been a great period for me lately..

Anyway, I'm planning to look better at your pictures and give you a fully detailed answer in the next couple of days.

Ciao

Giovanni

Take your time Giovanni. The figure isnt going anywhere and I have nothing but time. You have more important things on the go right now. When things become a bit calmer we can carry on.

James

 

[jknaus]

Still not taking the best shots but I think while not great the corrections I made have improve the look of the face.

James

 

[gioazz]

Still not taking the best shots but I think while not great the corrections I made have improve the look of the face.

James

Hi all,

Sorry for my rally late reply and to be a stranger lately, but life sometimes takes strange path..

Enough of my blurb.

James, I had a look and analised your pics.

Overall, I can say that your taste has less contrast compared to mine, which is not good or bad, just different, and world is beautiful because we are all different!

Pic1:

1: there is no contrast on the nose side, neither on top of the nostrils.Just add a little bit of a medium shadow on the side nose, add a point of light highlight on top of the nostrils. Remember to place the pure oil colour on the figure and blend it with a FULLY DRY and CLEAN brush

2:you should have a medium brown shadow on the eyebag and a really light line on the edge of the lower eyelid. Solution first paint the upper part of the eyebag with the highlights (so you don't need to trace a fine line on the edge of the lower eyelid).When dry add the shadow dropping the colour starting on the eyebags from the edge close to the nose to half of the eyebag then blend it the whole eyebag.

3:the highlight should be painted towards the back of the face. Just extend the highlight area

4:I think that you may have painted the shadow with a diluted colour, try to apply the shadow placing the medium reddish tone starting from the edge with the highlight.

5:is ok, my mistake...

1a/5a:you should have a medium brown shadow on the upper eyelid and a really light line on the edge. Solution as from point 2 above first paint the edge of the upper eyelid with the highlights so you don't need to trace a fine line.When dry add the shadow dropping the colour starting on recess of the upper eye.

2a:eyes, re-paint all with the acrylic base colour. a little trick, use magnifing glass as I do, and try to place a dot of dark colour in the middle using the edges of the mouth as reference.

3a: use a less violet tone here maybe, looks a little bit cyanotic, trying to add a more reddish tone.

4a:is ok, my mistake...

Ciao

Giovanni

 

[jknaus]

I'll go over this and look at my figure and see what I can do. The biggest problem is that I am using optovisors and still cant see, My wife bought me another set which I hope will be here soon which goes to 3.5 times magnification and has a led light. Will see if that helps any. Let you kow soon where I am.
Thanks Giovanni.
James

 

[moon puppy]

Neat tutorial G, looking forward to getting to a figure where I can try some of your techniques.

 

[johnbowery]

Giovanni,
Thanks for the added information. Great videos of you doing the actual painting.
Cheers.
John

 

[gioazz]

Hi John,

Thanks so much!

Glad you like the video,

Ciao

Giovanni

 

[jknaus]

Hi Giovanni. My new Optivisors arrived and what a difference. Here is what I did according to your points.

Although it doesnt seem like much in the pic there is a difference to the naked eye. I think the next face I do will be even better. I found some of the brushes you mentioned on ebay and they should be here soon I hope, although they will be Christmas presents. I have a Macedonian waiting and between the new glasses and brushes might be able to get a good face in one shot. Look forward to more instruction.
James

 

[moon puppy]

Git'er Done James! Really can tell a difference. Looks like we have a pretty good teacher here also.

 

[bob letterman]

For what it is worth James, I have been using Optivisors since 1976 to paint figures, and that was when my vision was great! I found them at a Model Engineer Convention in London. The first I had ever seen even though later I learned they are made in the USA. A little later, VLS began distributing them and we sold thousands!

I could not work without them! Especially today! I'm about half blind.

Hang in there. Nobody starts painting figures and becomes good overnight! It takes time and practice!

I can tell you Giovanni could not be a better teacher! You're lucky! I learned using a book.

Bob

 

[gioazz]

Hi Giovanni. My new Optivisors arrived and what a difference. Here is what I did according to your points.

Although it doesnt seem like much in the pic there is a difference to the naked eye. I think the next face I do will be even better. I found some of the brushes you mentioned on ebay and they should be here soon I hope, although they will be Christmas presents. I have a Macedonian waiting and between the new glasses and brushes might be able to get a good face in one shot. Look forward to more instruction.
James

Hi James,

Sorry I took me so long but I've been away for a long time!

Your painting is looking much better, but, I can't really see the pictures,are out of focus, do you think you can take other pictures?

Really looking forward to see more pics and keep painting with you!

Ciao

Giovanni

 

[jknaus]

Okay. Here is another try.

Still cant get the hang of close ups.
James

 

[moon puppy]

James, try taking pictures normally and use a photo editor to crop in. Take a shot at normal distance but very high resolution then crop it.

 

[gioazz]

James, try taking pictures normally and use a photo editor to crop in. Take a shot at normal distance but very high resolution then crop it.

Hi James,

I've too agree to Bob, try to take a normal pic on a tripod at the highest resolution your camera allows you. also use the timer to take the pic so you are sure you won/t move the camera.

Then crop the picture to the particular you like the most.

Ciao

Giovanni

 

[jknaus]

Another try

James