The Process Of Paint

In my time studying the various, notable artists; I looked across the work they produced and the methods they had applied to their paintings. I am asked in this blog post to create 2 Timelapse/animated GIF files (with another for good measure), to show how I attempted to replicate and understand my previous understanding, as well as new techniques I may have picked up when looking into the artists in question.

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Artist Replicated:
Ambrose McEvoy

My attempt at McEvoy's style was to try and capture the same tone and general lighting and shading style that he provided with watercolour, which proved to be a challenge. I decided to use mostly cold colours as it helped to block out a silhouette I could easily follow; with some red to help contrast against the more definitive silhouette.

McEvoy often uses very harsh brush strokes and fills in the blank water with very saturated colour, the way he applies his brush strokes is with a lot of pressure seemingly, as the canvas/paper leaves little white spots behind when the colour is implemented. For me, doing this was my preferred method, so I found it to be a relatively simplistic process. 

Artist Replicated:
J. C. Leyendecker

For the task of mimicking Leyendecker's work, I had consulted oil paint and tried to apply very similar techniques in smoother, less harsher brush strokes to the lighter areas such as my shirt. Leyendecker also made great use of cross hatching and smudgier colour blocks for texture; to the point where you could see the work he provided to map out the drawing beneath the paint.

I attempted a much more dynamic pose as well, as a lot of Leyendecker's work included very stylistic poses and expression in body language. I think I may not have copied the exact pose verbatim, but I think I learned a lot about the oil paint's effect on canvas, and how much more preferable it might be to an artist such as leyendecker, over the likes of watercolour or maybe even acrylic.

Artist Replicated:
Alan Lee


I found this one to be the most difficult, as watercolour and fine detail is a skill I find really hard to master; but it was no excuse not to attempt it. Lee's worth is ethereal and otherworldly, as his work is largely inspired by the fantasy genre, and he himself is best known for the illustrations he provided for the sensational 'Lord Of The Rings' books by J R R Tolkien

Lee's technique in brush strokes are very fine with a lighter tone in showing a lot of white space to it's fullest effect. I found myself having to backtrack and colour correct with white paint just to emulate areas I may have gone too far in making darker and saturated. The process started off with a basic blue block of colour, but slowly began to use more of that lighter tone as I applied more water to the paint over time.