need some input on this

chivo

Double Actioner
So im thinking about trying this... my wife has wanted me to paint a pelican for her since i first picked up an AB. The pic she picked out has always intimidated me so i havent done it. Id like to try a portrait too, so this morning i had the idea of combing the two into one. The idea is to have her grandfathers face (who died when she was younger... tis where she got her love of pelicans from, they used to go feed them when shed visit) in the sky to the right of the bird. Im planning on stretching the ocean over a bit so theyre not on top of each other, but i want it so its very faint... almost subliminal. How would i go about this? Face first then paint the sky over top? Im sure this has been done before so i figured someone here wpuld have a good idea about it.
Heres the pics
pelican1.jpggramps1.jpg
 
I haven't done anything like this before, but think it's a lovely idea. Thinking about how I would approach it, I think I would paint the sky, then do grandads face in a white monotone, not exactly ghostly, but definately think it would give an ethereal quality, and then do the rest in colour for the contrast. I'm interested to see how others would tackle it, and will be looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
 
I would do the same as squish said. You could do his face in a white and made of clouds or just tint the blue just a slight bit darker and so on till he is just a darker shade of the sky, which I think will give it more or a look that he is off in the distance. Then if you make the sky a lighter blue to almost white just behind his head fading darker away from him, it will give a neat glow from behind him. Can't wait to see what you come up with!!


Josh
 
Thanks for the responses guys and gal. The more i think about it im thinking my original plan may not work, so im leaning towards the just slightly bluer idea... or maybe just slightly less blue. Not sure which yet, i may have to experiment a bit to see which comes closer to what im thinking.
The input is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 
What about actually forming some clouds with the grandfathers face in them (maybe what ya meant?), it sounds harder than what it is but its reasonably easy as its all soft tones and fluffiness, I've done similar before by putting an indian in some clouds and it came out alright (Pic below..(Dn't judge me harshly though that was done very early in my career LOL, PS its hard to make out the indian in the pic but look top right), then paint the pelican as the main feature..GL m8, sounds like a fun project to do with a lot of meaning..

I achieved this by doing a very light B&W portrait first then softened it with clouds that helped fit and define the shapes, then re-established some of the portrait a little darker but it was done from a fair distance......
 

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Although his face in the clouds isnt where i wanted to go with this, i dig yours alot. Definitely a faint image since i cant make it out... lol. But i am trying to find it on my phone, might be to small of a pic to see it. Thanks for the suggestion though Rebel, something like this i may use later on down the road. Very much appreciated!
 
I think this is a lovely idea, not having the knowledge like rebel, monk and squish I would say go with them, but the way I would approach this (not having done it before), would be to paint my sky base colour light blue
then I would paint my portrait in white over the top, then with a very slightly darker trans blue I would put I the darke r blue areas of sky then my white clouds over top, then maybe a heavily reduced trans light blue over it all to bring it together...then I would look at it and say...thats shocking, screw it up and put it in the bin and wish I had gone along with rebels advice.
 
fez got close to how I would approach this. This is very similar to painting a monotone portrait on a blue vehicle. Think of the sky as the existing color on the car so lay it down first. For the portrait I would use a single transparent blue (very close to the sky color). By using a single transparent color lightly, you can keep the portrait very subtle and keep the existing sky color for the highlights. Just my two cents...

Glad to see you're thinking about tackling this despite the intimidation factor. I like the idea and I think you will learn a lot while completeing it!
 
this is the thing isn't it, so many different ways of taking something that isn't just straight forward, you really do just have to find what works for you I suppose
 
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I stole ignis' idea and played with the images a little in photoshop (I hope you don't mind) to give you a little better reference to work from. I only spent a few minutes on this, so it's a little harsh, but I hope it helps...
 
Keep in mind as an object get further back in the distance, it becomes lighter, not darker, it becomes less saturated in color and looks fuzzier, softer and not as focused. So after you paint the sky, paint the portrait using a very reduced, transparent white. Use a light touch so you don't cover all the sky color with solid white. Keep it soft and avoid hard edges, then tint the white blue, but make sure you don't let it get as dark as the sky color.
 
Wow i didnt expect someone to actually play with the pics! I dont mind at all. Thats almost exactly what im looking to try wicked! Thank you all for the replies and i really appreciate it!
Fez... thats probably exactly whatll happen, hahaha but im gonna try these suggestions out to see which one will come the closest to what im thinking. I like the lighter idea though JT. Im thinking that may be a bit more subtle.
Thank you too Ignis for playing with it.. im thinking more subtle though.
 
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Ok im going to start on the bird in the morning. My plan is to white out where its going to be then go at it like a portrait (layering and stuff) but with it being color im not sure how this is going to work. Im also not sure about how to do the feathers. I guess my question is, how do i approach this and do i have the right plan so far? Any input would be greatly appreciated!
This is where im at now.
ocean1.jpg
And this is the bird so ya dont have to flip back :)
pelican2.jpg
 
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Sounds like a good plan. A very easy and quick way to simulate feathers on a bird is to spray through a fan brush. Push the brush firmly down on the canvas so the bristles are spead out and spray color in between. Hope that makes sense... If not, I'll snap a few pics when I get home...
 
I understand Wicked. I seen Ed Hubbs do this on YT. I just wasnt sure if it would work on something like this since its pretty good sized. But you do have me thinking... since there are so.many different sized feathers on this do you think that cotton balls wadded to different sizes and shapes would work? Im thinking about them just so i dont have a super hard edge and hopefully itll still be a bit fuzzy. Sigh... thisll be the 3rd or 4th time ive tried this damn bird. If it doesnt turn out this time... well then ill just have to put it off for another 6 months and try it again then. Lol. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
I don't know that cotton balls would give the effect you're wanting. Might be something to try on a test panel first. For a simple approach you can try making a stencil from the reference itself. If you can print (or trace) some copies the same size as the one you're painting, cut out a different layer on each one and spray a soft fade below (hold the stencil slightly off the canvas to keep from getting a hard edge). Layered this should simulate feathers relatively quickly. You can always come back and add subtle detail to them afterward...
 
Another righteous idea Wicked, and this is probably the way ill go. I have the full size ref already so ill see how it goes tomarrow. Thanks for the input man! Tis appreciated :)
 
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