When ideas come together
It's been full steam ahead on the brush this past week with more updates to the Troggoth King and his latest tutorial on painting the face. And to give you a little update, I've added more features to his face that are now past the tutorial. Just on the head alone, I've given his lower lip a more defining warm purple, added saturation to both his ears and nose, and added more yellow saturation to his eyes with deeper purple eyelids surrounding to add to the contrast. Black Forest Green has been glazed into the lower jaw to give more colour and atmosphere to the shadows. And finally, the horns have been given the blue OSL being cast from the Alter on his back. All to push this painting forward and with the generous help from the feedback I received and key ideas shared among my crew. I've also gone ahead and glaze-tinted more Dark Forest Green into the shadows throughout the troll's body and even gone over the highlights that are around knee level and below. This is to prepare him to harmonize with the swampy base I'll be making him stand in which will unite the piece with a lot more green. Picture dark waters, moss, roots, and tall grass he will be standing in.
Now you may be wondering how this was all added, and why wasn't this in the video tutorial? Well, the first thing is that in the upcoming final tutorial on the Troggoth, I will be covering that in more detail with some clips as with my final analysis and conclusions. Secondly, through the process of painting, I always leave room for critique, and changes. All in the service of making the painting better. Sure there are some projects you just want to spend X amount of time on and that's ok. But if you want to get better, you need to push and challenge yourself. And a part of that is putting your works under the naked spotlight, detaching your ego and just listening to the response that your painting is saying. To create a better piece as the outcome, that's it.
I emphasize the feedback because it honestly helps a ton. Sure, there are times when I'm painting and enjoying putting a piece together in the quiet of my studio with no outside interaction, critique, or other ideas, and that is fine. I find those kinds of sessions very peaceful, and I think many painters also enjoy that kind of working atmosphere. But there are times when we can use the extra eyes, new ideas, and challenges to test our work. Opening new dialogue and taking consideration of these ideas in the work. Even the most amazing winning pieces from Golden Daemon aren't strangers to feedback through the creation process. I can speak from first-hand experience; my painting crew which I'm blessed to have met and be a part of, were all very open with the process of their pieces. From Alex's initial conversion/sculpting of the Vampire which would soon be flipped into his reflection. To Ralph and the sculpting process of the Bretonnian Knight. They all had their entires out for us to review, critique, and test ideas out so that only the best work comes out at the end. Even though art has always been surrounded by some romantic ideas we are born with this talent, and these works of art just come out of nowhere lol. They come from practice, love, dedication, and the exchange of ideas to produce something wonderful.
So with those words I'll leave you with some more reference WiP shots of the Troggoth King, and encourage you all; both my Patreon x Pro Palette Members on Discord to continue to seek feedback and share ideas. Have a great rest of the week and Happy Painting :D
