Transcripts
1. Quick Preview Video: This is a fun course that takes you through the process of creating a custom art commission that's done with acrylic paint and then take you through this two-day process that a document. And I also create an original art with leftover pain pastor. So there's an interesting process. There were one, I follow the clients guidelines and I have fun with that. And also hydrogen creates something that's spontaneous for my own imagination. And how so? Have fun with that. So come along for the ride and let's get to it.
2. Lecture 1: Introduction: Come along for this fun creative journey, working on a commission for a client or a trip 80K, which are three different pieces that are connected in subject matter. And I worked with acrylic paint. I spent two days on it. And I'm gonna take you through each day's journey as I complete this wonderful, imaginative and almost abstract work. And then at the end, There's a little bit of bonus where I make some interesting artwork with leftover paint. So there's something that I create for a commission and I take you through that whole process, including like hanging the piece. And then there's something that I do as an artist which is spontaneous and imaginative and unique. So I look forward to the journey. And let's get started.
3. Lecture 2: Supplies: So I'm using very basic sublimes here. I'm just using some big brushes, a couple of small, all very economically purchased. I mean, in fact, those brushes are a dollar each and a paint store have a cup of water. I have a small cup for mixing if I need that. And I've chosen this plastic container that I figured out what was in it like I think a salad or something, I gotta clean the real well. And I'm going to do most of my mixing here. Now. You can also use other pallets. It turns out, and most of what I really needed here is all done within this little plastic ten. I think, I think this style of painting is conducive to this sort of format where you can just work in, in bins are, are just mix large amounts. Because it's dobry complicated. It's not like a realistic painting where you do need a pallet. So that's a difference really. I treat this differently than if I was doing a classical painting. So that's why you see that mostly I'm mixing in this little plastic container, easily clean up. I just toss it afterward. And I've got just your primary colors. Black and white. So red, yellow, and blue. Black and white, and that's it. And these are pretty good quality paints. The retained pigment fairly well. And the rest is whatever I can do with them. And same for you. Additionally, the canvases are a high-grade premium gallery canvas, which means they've got the extra support in the back. You see thick on the sides. Just great quality all around there. 18 inches by 36, each of them. Couldn't sturdy, nice thick canvas. And lastly, don't forget the tarp. So you can keep your floors clean.
4. Lecture 3: Day One - Part One - Covering the Canvas: The first thing that I do is I get rid of the white canvas. It's a little trick that a lot of artists use is they don't leave a white canvas. Or if they're using black, they don't use black straight out of the tube, then mix it with some other color so they get something off or they can mix all the other colors together and get a black in that case. So in this case, I was told that the wall that the client had was maybe a little egg shell, not quite what, bright white. So I went with an eggshell Color. Id. I'm yet to hang the pieces, so I'm hoping that it's slightly darker than the color of the wall. So I haven't I haven't seen the wall, but typically, I would recommend that you do maybe get a sample and I don't know because it's hard to know unless you put the canvas next to it. So if you're off site, there's not much you could do even if you see the location and I have seen the location. But it was several months before and this commission was online. So I've done my best to guess the tint, You know, and I definitely didn't want to go too dark. And one little trick that you'll encounter with acrylic painting is any oil. When it dries, it's always darker color because when it's wet, it looks bright and shiny and new and light. Perhaps because of the water and the reflections. But then when it dries, it's always darker. So I've noticed this over the years and I always account for that. So the first thing that I do is cover the canvas with this color. So I'm using water to really dilute the paint. One. So it goes a long way. And to just because it's an underpinning. Also, the canvas is I've laid down flat. I'm going to be paying the majority of this painting flat because I'm trying to recreate a watercolor effect. Here, I begin to paint the sides of the cameras. Now this is a gallery canvas, which means it's thicker. Typically they're like one inches. And this is almost two inch thickness. And therefore, when he's going to hang, it won't meet a frame. So it has to look good just on its own. And that's part of the process to paint. Besides, some hairs may fall up and brush, just pick them off. It's natural with these bristle brushes, that hair sometimes with the paint being very diluted. You have to be careful to make sure that the patient is even the colors, even on all three canvases. And what you don't see here is actually that I went back and made sure that all of the shades are even.
5. Lecture 4: Day One - Part Two - Drip Work: So in line with what the client is shown me online, which was first a digital illustration of flowers and the trip teak. What is a watercolor of trees? So in the same ten, high mix and dilute, a darker tenth. Then I covered the countless going. And you see when I have to add a darker shade like red or blue, I sometimes use a small brush to get it out of the tube. Spot on, you know, drop big chunks. Darker paint. But I'm using big broad brush strokes to try to simulate that watercolor effect. That's the beauty of acrylic paint, which is what I'm using here, that I can create pretty much come very close to a watercolor effect. But I can work on canvas. And what's watercolor? You pretty much have to work on paper. So I get, in some cases, ultimately I can build up to a much thicker effect. So that's the benefit of this. You see, I'm pretty much using all the paints that I have from that little train. There's a part here. I'm where trying to create an even drip amount. So I start shaping the canvases. Little awkward play. Then I noticed that there's an even tripped pattern. And then the middle cameras to see needed to have some more drips. I mean, they don't have to be exact, but the number of trips approximately and the patterns should be very close in design. So that's what I'm trying to achieve here. And then middle Canvas is really lacking in those points, but I'm really pushing it. You can hear me tapping it there. And now shaping up and down. Getting those drips all the way to the bottom like the other to Canvas. I think I've got it pretty close. Now on next thing. Kinda yellowish color because I remembered in that second client example and with some yellow in the background. So I don't wanna make things difficult for myself. I don't want the client to feel like, oh, you know, maybe I didn't follow a guideline or, you know, it was just too different than what she's used to having seen. So as a good Commission artist, I just try to mimic the patterns and the style that she's used to. So that's why I've included this yellow touch to the paintings. And again, I made these strip to trying to speed up the drying process. Based on some of the images that I found online of orchids, which is what I plan to paint. I noticed that in the middle there's a lighter pattern on the pedal. So I'm building that under painting of lighter to slightly darker. So in the end, to look like a cross between those flowers and digital flowers and the watercolor of the trees. It'll be a mix of that style. So the background is essentially and the effect that the watercolor or the trees has. And then later on, the fact that I'm going to be creating flowers will be kind of a callback to the digital power sample.
6. Lecture 5: Day One - Part Three - The Turning Point: At this stage where I'm finally beginning to add the shapes of the flowers. The paint is being mixed all on this ten. And you see everything is still wet. This is the first day. I'm trying to match the shapes of the leaves on each painting that they're similar but a little bit distinct. I think one of them has a little bit more than the one on the far right. But there is a little bit. And now next, I'm just kinda like feeling like I should do more for the background song, trying from splashes. This is pretty much an abstract work the way I look at it, except for the end. There's like the figurative flower. So some treating it like an abstract way. What I'm noticing here very, very soon is how, because the paint is so wet, that can't get the darkness that I want as a final product. So it's apparent very quickly that I cannot finish this painting all in one day. And here I'm trying to add some texture, thinking that maybe maybe I can make something of it today. And I'm a little stuck at this point. So this is interesting here. Everything was kind of going well. And I was blocking in things. I was kinda conscious about the wet on wet and wasn't really it's kinda of having my doubts and I felt like the process was gonna take longer. But then there was something that was not a right about and I started to assert the hated. Like I just, it was such a weird thing when you're, when you have so much freedom as an artist is. And this is almost like abstract the way I treat it. I don't know. I was I was kind of not getting emotional about it, but like, I was trying different things. So I tried like some some splatter and that didn't seem to be enough. And then finally, I decided to like, pretty much like ruin it. This is the point of no return. There's a possibility in my mind that maybe I can't pull it through that maybe this is going to be ruined. But I'm going with the flow and I'm feeling like that. I was kind of lucky that all the paint was still wet. So I had the underpinnings of the lighter colors and there were still wet, especially the blue, the light blues, which were a little bit thicker than the yellows at the beginning. So now the top colors, which I can Blue and a little bit of red, there were really wet. And plus I emptied over half a glass of water. And now what I'm trying to do is and talents to trips. You see, because the pattern has to be consistent. So trying to make sure that Paul the splashes are pretty consistent throughout each of the paintings. And, and by the end of it, I figure like, if I just leave it till tomorrow, we'll see what it looks like. And then hopefully, what I'm hoping for is that these dark splashes and smudges won't be as dark as they look right now. In fact, because when the paint is really wet, it's it becomes kind of the opposite that when it dries and seeps into the canvas, he could appear less dark. So so I guess this is it for today. And that's it.
7. Lecture 6: Day Two - Part One - The Detail: It's a new day, it's a new dawn. And today's the day that I'm going to finish these beauties. So I start one by one. The background seemed to dry. Okay. And I'm pretty confident that once I add these darker colors on top, that it'll really pop. And the background will be, will be subdued and won't seem as striking as it does now. Another little tip is that you see, as I'm grabbing the colors, I'm actually not mixing the colors on the palette. What I'm doing instead is I'm grabbing a little bit of each color. A little of the black, a little of the blue to the red. So when they hit the canvas to create smears of a little bit of each color. The shapes are based on a slew of photographs that I've seen online. And I'm taking some creative liberty with shape them a little bit of texture. But what I am keeping in mind basically is that they're lighter in the middle. They're supposed to look like petals. So there's like that three D fading effect. And that's why I'm trying to use the brush strokes in the same direction, has a paddles fading into the center. Adding a little bit of water now and again to make sure the paint does not dry on the palate. Acrylic paint tends to dry within maybe 20 minutes or could be totally dry. It turns into a plastic tube. So you got to keep it stimulated. Now I'm adding some extra colors and I'm using a little brush. And this is the, that is the stall, so to speak. There are the columns in The center of the flower and leaving the lines, especially down by the stem, very loose. So it almost compliments the background. First painting is air beside this one. And now I'm, must be matching the texture as well as I can. The petals seemed to me like bigger naturally on the second, third canvases. So I figure, as long as generally the flowers in the middle, it's organic and little differences are acceptable. But in the end, I'll have to take a closer look and make sure that everything works, but three of them complement each other equally. This is a very relaxing, as you could tell. It's wonderful to do a painting like this on a weekend. Birds chirping in the background. A nice summer day. And we've got plenty in the zone. Here. I'm adding the poem's. I'm going to add the same amount in the same cluster formation. So there's four of them. I'm basically mixing a little bit, a little bit of yellow and red in there. This third painting is the most different. Petals are little bit different than the first two. And the leaves on the stem are definitely closer together. So I'm kind of aware of that, but it's tricky because I don't want to overwork anything. So I'm just going with the flow a little bit conscious. But there's a few things that I could do because the darker color. So I'm just putting it in the sea and hopefully it all works. What's neat about this one painting here is the top. I loved the splatter. I love how like it almost seems like the pedal bursts the edge just kind of like towards it to a fireworks. Here, I'm starting to think that maybe the original painting wasn't, has dark somehow. But it's an illusion for the most part because there's more light on that far side. So it does look lighter. But I'm just double checking. And so I'm looking back and forth. I'm noticing that discrepancy, especially with this last one. So I feel like I will have to do a touch up. And that'll be next.
8. Lecture 7: Day Two - Part Two - The Touch-Up: As I'm doing the third one, I notice there's a bit of a difference than I need touch up. I just made it a little bit different and then I was a little looser with the brush up top. So this made it less visible that there were like four petals. And I'm pretty sure that at the beginning I was kind of envisioning four petals and when I blocked it ends. So this means that if I want to make that distinction, I have to go in and bloc in the parts and accentuate the petals. And to do that app to re-mix the background pain. And that's difficult. When you look on closer inspection, you you do notice that there's a kind of a little off-color about a, however, that's a sacrifice that I decided to make. Because from a distance, you're not going to notice that it's not going to like stick out like a sore thumb. And I had the kind of also keep myself in check not to overwork it because the more I was working at, the more likely it could have been a mess and I would've required to do more labor over it than necessary. So I just kinda have to just accept it and not be a perfectionist. Just kinda block in this color that I mix, say like it's fine if it's only like on closer inspection that you really see it. Here. I was testing the color and I keep mixing till I get something that I feel has right. Oh, and don't be afraid to use your fingers to smudge down again. Here they are altogether. A I'm pretty pleased with them. I feel like I feel like it was more the experience that I enjoyed. Because years ago I used to do a lot more of these paintings. I mean, I started out doing more fine art and I've gone into commercial. So I feel that this is like kind of bringing me back and it was really fun. And it was really fun working on the floor because I started on the floor. Not and I don't mean like when I was a baby, although that's true. I did start on our and then I started getting up, you know. So there was a Lincoln nostalgia aspect about it. But yeah, for me because it's not typically what a pain. It was really the experience that I was after. And that's something that I have learned to, except as I mature as an artist, it's really the experience. And I learned something new with this. I mean, I learned that I could create these flowers in this style and and I could still do what I used to do. And I thought like, I thought maybe physically it might be taxing to do all the squatting and things and but it wasn't at all. That was really great, that was really rewarding. And some are just happy.
9. Lecture 8: Hanging the Artworks: Here they are up on the wall. Final installation. To get them to the stage, I had to prep the back and set up, hey, instruments. So I measure the canvas is 18 inches. So I divide that in 29 inches for the center. And I make sure that this hinge that I use is right in the center, like the groove. The middle groove is right in the middle of the second event, right? Make it even. And for each camels got a nail, I make sure that this hinges also right in the middle part of the wood. There are other options like these. So you could use screws and wire. But I went with the first option. And here they are. The client was extremely happy. And so my
10. Lecture 9: Making the Most of Leftover Paint (Part One): Since it's the end of the workday and the first day, I decide to use whatever extra wet paint that I have in my palette to prep some pages that I can later use in my art. So I just kinda mess about a gravity's three sheets of thick Bristol paper. And I lay them out. Use some paints that I have left over the first day. And I just kinda go with feeling and try to create some sort of abstract expressionists thick dealing onto the pages. Just going with the flow. I have in mind that I will cut these into smaller pieces once they dry. Triumphal splashing Here to very fun. I know that fixed by nine inches is a good size to work with. As I've done several pieces in the path of this size and I have matting for this size. And I know that with the matting at an eight by nine inch size, it's very easy to frame. So I figure That's what I should chop these pieces into. And I get three of these six by nine pieces out of it had to be big suite. And along with that, I also get smaller pieces that as concrete tipping case like something come through and I think it's going to use for us along with about 60 little bookmarks. So there's just an extra piece to that, an artist like the hat around and never know what you can make for them. These are fun to look at on their own. At the leg. Say couldn't be finished pieces. I'll probably add some figures later on. Sheets that I keep around for future ideas.
11. Lecture 10: The Gorilla Painting - Making the Most of Leftover Paint (Part Two): So I had this six by nine paper that I had taped to a bore. And with leftover paint, I just threw in some extra Black who was already actually spray painted underneath. It's very simple. This took like less than a minute to block in a color and black. And you see there's a blue streak and read. And, and that's it. And then I mean, this whole process where you're about to see you took 12 minutes at the most. And I have no idea what I'm going to paint. And that's what I love about this. When inspiration comes men, it's like, it's beautiful. I spend the first couple of minutes just figuring out where to start. The thing is that before I put the red and the blue and the black on this piece of paper which you see it's taped down. I had a rough sketch underneath that was like this gorilla running in the woods with a girl on its back, is a fantasy painting. The problem with it was that it was so small that to do the detail is just two meticulous. And I don't like to work in that small. It just it's a strain just even on the eyes. So keeping in mind that I had this gorilla idea sketched underneath, I thought, why not just paint on other guerrilla? But this time it's just too big phase, which is easy enough. And there was a moment to where it right before I started, I thought, should I reference that? And the thing is that I've drawn and painted some gorillas in the past. And I know the proportions well enough and I figure OK, as long as I line up the facial features pretty evenly, I add a good distance from the eye to the nose and the nose, the mouth. So it has a big enough upper lip and so forth. Then I shouldn't be safe. I figure. So here you see the process now. I sped it up obviously. But the whole thing took about 12 minutes. And you just see it all here. And it's just, it's magical to me. As an artist. I feel like I worked twofold days to get to this point where within a few minutes it just floods out of me. You know, this kind of primal impulse to paint this subject. So this as an artist, is what I look forward to. To create spontaneous work. Quick and fun, as well as a beautiful piece. I'm totally mesmerized by it. I can't stop staring at it. And here it is up on the wall.
12. Lecture 11: Conclusion Video: Congratulations for getting to the end of this awesome fun commission that I had. And I hope you enjoyed yourself. I hope you learned some things about doing commissions on pretty much like a budget with limited materials. Just kind of do it yourself. Style. A little bit about like some experiments with drip worked and abstract art for the underpinning part. And the way you do a triptych for wine where you're like matching images together. And and then afterward, what you could do too, make use of extra materials and extra paint and the amazing things that you can do with them with extra paint, for example, the way I did with the gorilla. So I certainly had fun. I hope a lot was useful and at least inspirational. So please comment. If you have any questions about any aspect of the course, I could always add things as a follow-up if needed. And please leave an excellent review. Thanks and see you next time.
Cristian, Masterpiece Art School
