All art copyright (c) Mike Kloepfer
"The level of achievement that we have at anything is a reflection of how well we were able to focus on it."
-Steve Vai

Sunday, June 29, 2014

A great weekend!

I spent Friday sketching, drawing and painting, mostly working on the Forest Guardians series, with a little tech illustration for a super-surprise to come down the road (ooo... it's top-secret!!!)
Saturday, I joined the DIS Plen Air Club at Red Rocks for a thoroughly enjoyable morning of plen air painting.
I wanted to see how the Pentel Aquah pens (I have two of them now!) would work with watercolor, in a Plen Air setting. So I took along my watercolor set, the brush pens, and some watercolor paper.
My view from where we were set up.
(Notice how much shade is on my easel.)
Since my time was limited, I decided to focus on the shadow shapes, values and edges. The areas in light were getting pretty blown out anyway, and I knew that handling the shadows well would allow the study to read correctly. 
It's funny how the light situation affects the color choices. In the shade, my colors did not appear nearly as blue as they are when viewed in sunlight, or even in regular indoor lighting. LOL
The setup worked well for Plen Air - I didn't need a jar of water or anything, all I needed was the watercolor set, the pens, and a paper towel to blot the excess pigment off the brush tips. The one drawback is that it takes a lot with the brush pens to cover a large flat area like the sky, and the result is not an even area of flat color (see photo.) In the future I may take a large flat watercolor brush for large areas of flat color.
The result - as seen in daylight.
The final study
Red Rocks (Venus of Willendorf)
Watercolor, 9x12"



Saturday evening was another fun night of drawing with Ben at *LoL* Caricature Co. We had some fun people, and did some crazy drawings.
Sunday was another fun day at16th Street and more drawing with *LoL*.
Monday, I think I might rest a bit.
Or perhaps I won't. Perhaps I'll paint a bit. ;)






Sunday, June 22, 2014

More Study Paintings06/22/14

06/22/14
After Gregory Manchess
Gouache on toned paper, 5 1/4 x 8 1/2"
60 min
.
After the Watts Atelier Friday Night Workshop, I took Jeff Watts' suggestion  and pulled out my toned paper sketchbook. Great for gouache studies.
This time, I chose a section from a painting by Greg Manchess, not only because it relates to the subjects I'm painting right now, but because I wanted to explore the shapes and edges he chose.

Monday, June 9, 2014

More new sketches!

New sketches for the series inspired by the Fantasy Photo Shoot in May.
I am LOVING the Hi-Tec-C/Aquash pen combination!!!
06/09/14
Portrait of Robin
Pilot Hi-Tec-C and
Pentel Aquash pens on
Strathmore Mixed  Media paper
3 1/2 x 5"

06/09/14
Portrait of an Elf
Pilot Hi-Tec-C and
Pentel Aquash pens on
Strathmore Mixed  Media paper
3 1/2 x 5"

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Fun with Tech Illustration

06/04/14
Tools of the trade
It's great to dig out all of my old
Technical Illustration tools and
use them again.

06/07/14
Working through the exercises
In Scott Robertson's book

06/07/14
Building forms - freehand!