I took a brief break from my charity piece to start on a personal project. I picked up a bunch of tips and ideas for improving my work at NOVA, both in classes and from talking with the other artists and judges. So I was eager to start something new and start to play around. As I said, I got a lot of ideas from NOVA but I need to actually start experimenting with them on a figure to really learn how to work them into my own painting.
I backed the Brave Halfling kickstarter last year and have had a printed copy of the figure kicking around my work station for a while. I decided he'd be a good piece to start on. I want to continue working on my use of light and shadow, which is what I've focused on so far. I picked a light direction that I thought made some interesting cast shadows and have started sketching them on the cloak and pants. I'm also trying to be aware of bounce light and how that can show up in the shadows. It's subtle, but along his jawline on the shaded side of the face, I've tried to paint some pale green light reflecting off of his cloak. I might increase the intensity so it's more apparent or maybe I'll leave it as is. This is part of the experimentation phase as I try to see what works and what doesn't.
The other topic I want to explore on this piece is the use of textures. Those parts are still to come, but I felt this piece has some great opportunities for texture on the cloak, the rolled up sleeping bag on his back, the metal pots and pans on his backpack, and the various leather parts. I'll hopefully dive into those parts soon. For now, I need to get back to the charity project and wrap it up in the next couple weeks. But, once that is done, I'm excited to get back to this halfling and see how the next part turns out!
