Portrait Artist
I am a huge Peaky Blinders fan and I am so excited for the new series. Cillian Murphy plays Thomas Shelby in the series. Been desperate to paint him so I have.
Outline all done on the canvas in pencil. As you can see currently looks nothing like him.
Looking a little creepy at this point Cillian.
Now he is starting to appear from the canvas. Sadly I have been working all day but as soon as the kids are I bed I will get my paints out and finish this painting.
Started a new one. Bit of a controversial celeb but I have always enjoyed his music and lyrics. You don’t need to like a person to appreciate there work.
The image above is the one chosen to scale the colours down on as I mentioned in my previous post. Love this image because of her features. The proportions of her eyes, nose and mouth made for an easy painting.
Hi I am Melanie Fiona Little. I have recently started painting again after a break away from the paint brush due to many factors in my life which got in the way. My three children take up most of my time but add a four year degree into the equation and then a full time job and it equals to no spare time. Now my life is settled and the degree is done its time for me to pick up the paint brush again and enjoy the new style of painting that I have come across.
I have started this blog due to peer pressure from friends who have seen my work, and also my partner Tom who is finding it hard to move with the amount of canvas’s taking up the house, and I agree with them. Its time to put myself out into the electronic world and share my passion with you all.
So the new technique which I mentioned previously involves the use of a photo editor. The software I use is Photo Shop but that’s just because I know my way around it, there are many others that are out on the market which would perform the same job on the photo as could be done on Photo Shop.
So the image I pick has to be incredibly clear but that’s not all I am looking for when selecting an image to work from. Here is my check list:
Colour is not an issue when selecting the image because they do not need to be imitated within the painting as it is not the colour that depicts the likeness of a person but the shapes within and around the face and the proportions of a persons features.
Once the image is selected and uploaded onto Photo Shop I reduce the colours within the image to 16. Once the painting is complete this technique makes the image come together the further away you get from it.
This is Jack Garratt who is an incredible musician. Many of you would not of heard of him or seen his face before but I am a huge fan. After attending his concert in Manchester last year I decided he would be my first victim. This is the exact image I picked.
Once the colours have been reduced its time to select the size of the canvas. I always use a flat canvas as they don’t rip under pressure and are easier to frame due to the thickness. Draw on the outline and his features and its time to wake out the brush’s and paints.
My setup is not professional at all. I sit on the floor to work with my lap top, plastic plate to mix on, paints and brush’s.
I love adding glitter to my work. It sounds tacky but by adding a small amount just gives it an extra dimension when walking around the painting. The only issue I have with painting this image of Jack is his hat. The detailing in it is so intense that I have actually had to take a break from painting it.
Luckily the frame cost me nothing to make. I work in a DIY shop and they were skipping some boards of solid oak laminate flooring that I dived in the skip after.
Melanie Fiona 