Annihilation Eyes

Beautiful day out. The kind of weather that helps you forget all the problems you have. Well, at least that's what I'm thinking for the time being. Anyways, recently my friend Micaela and I were discussing our favourite art mediums we use. Here's my thoughts on the different traditional mediums I've used.

I typically use pencil/graphite the most because it's the most comfortable for the subject or object I'm drawing. I tend to do mostly portraits, tattoos, some nature work in pencil.

Water colour used to be my number one enemy going through HS and college. It's real tough, with having to let go of some some of the control when painting. But luckily the last few things I've done, I've had great success including that tree picture I posted a while back and the Hawaii one I did. So it's a medium I've enjoyed exploring over the years.

Oil painting surprisingly, I really enjoy doing. It's a pain in the ass for a lot of people, including myself, but I LOVE the finished product in the end. I've got a few good pieces, but I know I can do something epic. I've got a sad unfinished piece sitting in my studio/2nd bedroom. Every time I look at it, I think "ahh some day I'll complete you". I first worked on it last winter in the wee hours of the night/morning. Just layers and layers and I hope to work on it again.

Charcoal I've used a handful of times. Like water colour, you have to sorta let go of some control, or at least try. You have to let the charcoal dance across the page in smooth strokes and hope to execute the vision. I've got two portraits I did of Remi hanging in my living room. One I really like, the other one 'eh'. The 2nd one I did with some graphite for a little detail. I really like charcoal and hope to do some more work with it in the future.

Pen/ink/marker I could probably play with more. During my 28 days of Art series, I did a portrait of Van Gogh in some markers and ink that turned out pretty rad. It's sorta tough, because unlike pencil, you're laying down permanent strokes on the page, so you have to make it count. Unless you're doing something less detailed and more abstract. I enjoy it, and probably should do more of it.

Colour pencil like graphite, I do sorta more often then the other ones. Jill REALLY likes my attention to detail and colours when I work with colour pencil. I treat colour pencil like I'm painting. I use lots of layering techniques to get sort of a brush stroke feel.

Acrylic I've used quite a bit, but I'm not the biggest fan of. At least at the moment. I think the paint dries to fast for my liking. I like going back and working and mixing in some of the colours and it just doesn't work for me half the time. I'll get better at it more and more I hope.