What art medium do you like to use?

[dividedbyblue]

Three weeks for Dreamwidth: What art medium do you like to use?

I work with fineliners, traditional pen and ink, acrylic paint, digital line art and coloring, and more recently, charcoal and pencils. As far as my favorite medium is concerned, I think it has always been fineliners/pen and ink or the digital equivalent. Though in traditional art, I nowadays mostly use fineliners in favor of pen and ink, the kind of drawing I make is more or less the same style as I’ve been making for years: line art - raw black and white or digitally colored. I love its classicness and timelessness. It’s very common in sketching and old book illustrations, and still alive in genres like old-school fantasy art.

Painting with acrylics is something I have been doing regularly for a few years now, and while still exploring the medium, I am looking forward to experimenting with oil paint. I’ve purchased paints and materials for that, and I’m curious to get to know the medium.

Comments

[sisterdivinium]

We have similar tastes in art materials! There was a time when I was obsessed with trying to make digital art but that faded away and I discovered that I'm much happier when I work 100% on paper. Fineliners are also my go-to, although I've recently quite liked using more pen and ink even if I never get to make it look like those amazing artworks you'll find in older comics (like, idk, Frank Frazetta or Barry Windsor Smith). It's either that or just leaving everything on graphite, lol. Paint is a very recent endeavour and I have no idea of what I'm doing with it so good luck in experimenting with oils! :)

[dividedbyblue]

I also had a period, now quite some time ago (in my youth), in which I tried to make a lot of digital art (digital paintings). I eventually stopped with it. I think back then, the art programs were not quite so versatile as they are now. It took a lot of skill to make a digital painting that, well, looked good and not ‘obviously photoshop’. I think more is possible now, more art styles that can be quite beautiful, and even simulate natural media.

Regarding traditional art (my pen drawings), I think I made the error of only working in lousy sketchbooks for too long. I have some pretty good line art drawings there, but since they’re stuck in those lousy books, I can’t really do much with them. I decided to draw again on loose (quality) paper this year, so if I make something good, I can use it for things like a small exhibition with friends. I’ve been talking with some artist friends about that, and they want to plan a small exhibition with our work like that in the future.

Frank Frazetta is truly a master! I’m also a fan of Larry Elmore’s art, his paintings, and his pen and pencil drawings.

Paint is a very recent endeavour and I have no idea of what I'm doing with it so good luck in experimenting with oils! :)

Thank you ^^ I also wish you good luck experimenting with paint! Beginnings can be very fun and full of possibilities!

[sisterdivinium]

I was like you, then, because digital painting caught my eye many years ago and I really wanted to learn it. I recall ogling some artists’ work on DeviantArt way bach when and thinking to myself “but how do they do that on a computer and how do *I* reproduce that too??” but eventually it faded away. I suppose you’ve brought up a good point, which is how skilful one must be in order to emulate traditional media on digital supports and how much harder that used to be compared to the tools one has at one’s disposal today. In a way, the fact that it can be easier to do that digitally makes the idea of doing it traditionally more enticing — that is where the challenge lies now!

Oh, now that is just delightful! Setting up an exhibition with artist friends sounds like the loveliest thing so I hope it all goes well whenever you all go through with it <3

As an RPG enthusiast whose preferred D&D flavour is of the older variety, I, too, quite like Larry Elmore’s work! That cover of his with the warrior going up against the red dragon for the Basic book is a classic. I’m less keen on the (in)famous “adventurers looking at the dragon they killed” piece in one of my AD&D 2nd edition books but we can’t deny how intricate it is and how it draws the eye in, all things considered :)

[dividedbyblue]

I was the same, but instead of ogling artists' work on DevianArt, I was ogling artists' work on Elfwood :) I agree that it has become easier nowadays to replicate traditional art. I still have more affinity for creating traditional art (except for the coloring of ink drawings), so for the time being, I will continue to create that :)

[sisterdivinium]

"more affinity for creating traditional art ... so for the time being, I will continue to create that"

You and me both! Yay for traditional art :)

[dividedbyblue]

Yay indeed! I actually just yesterday started my first small oil painting in painting class. I tried unsuccessfully to paint with oils in my youth (I tried on my own, I didn’t have anyone to go to for questions, and YouTube didn’t exist yet), but now I’m giving it another shot. The teacher helped me, and it was fun! It’s a small portrait, nothing special, but it was fun and relaxing :)

[sisterdivinium]

Ohhh, I’m so happy for you that you’ve started working with the oils already *and* that it’s going well!! A good first step is always a good sign and having a teacher to lean on as we explore new terrain is always best <3

[dividedbyblue]

Thank you <3 Yes indeed, a good teacher is very valuable. The teacher of the painting class I am taking is very open in giving his course. He provides a task we can do, but we can also work on something of our own, and he will guide us with that project. He had been saying that I should try and give oil painting a go for a while now, he was happy that in this week’s lesson I had oil paint with me :)

[dividedbyblue]

I’m less keen on the (in)famous “adventurers looking at the dragon they killed” piece in one of my AD&D 2nd edition books

He’s a fantastic artist. I think, though, that in his poses, he sometimes is a bit ‘stiff’, and maybe that makes some of his paintings look a bit worse? I own the board game ‘Defenders of the Realm’, which uses a lot of his art on the board and cards, and I can’t help but feel pulled into his fantasy world every time I play the game.

[sisterdivinium]

Ah, I think we all have our weaknesses but his work is great regardless! It’s more the subject matter of that particular piece that irks me a little (that poor dragon!), haha. He did a lot of older D&D illustrations and I’m not the only one who almost automatically gets a feel for what a gaming session should be just by looking at any one of the paintings that served as a cover for those products — at least for that version of the game anyway :)

[dividedbyblue]

His works are indeed amazing. Not long ago, I got myself an art book of his. It’s one of the best purchases I've made in a while. So many beautiful stuff in there.

I didn’t play D&D, so I have no memories tied to that, but I can imagine that his art style becomes associated with it and immediately gets you in the mood for the game. I always wish that artists like him had something like an online course in which they show their techniques while working on a painting. It would be so cool to see such a thing.

[sisterdivinium]

I envy you for that art book, haha, it can be a real pain in the neck to get any around here (although of course I do have a good deal of them, just mostly classic stuff – the great masters, you know the drill. They’re always a bit easier to get than modern artists).

It took me a good many years to finally get a game going, haha, but the first time I ever rolled some dice was in an AD&D 2nd ed game, hence my very particular nostalgia for the system and the fact that I went and bought the core books for myself maaaany years after that. Many old school gaming enthusiasts will mention Elmore as a big visual reference, though, so there is an association. With how evocative his fantasy art can be, it’s no surprise :)

There was something you linked to elsewhere that caught my eye, too. I believe it was by the Hildebrandts and I do wish there were some step by step breakdown of how they did that because the light in that piece is phenomenal. It was Éowyn fighting a Nazgûl, I think? Amazing stuff, the way it pops out, the contrast… Ah! I wish we could see how they did it indeed.

[dividedbyblue]

Yes, it’s not always easy to find art books by modern artists, sadly. And they’re also quickly sold out. I was recently looking for Jesper Ejsing's book, but it is also sold out. I got the Larry Elmore book on Kickstarter.

It was Éowyn fighting a Nazgûl, I think

Yes, I linked that painting to someone who commented she liked Eowyn. It’s a fantastic painting, you’re right that the light in that piece is wonderfully done. The Hildebrandt brothers were true masters. Another painting of theirs that I think has interesting lighting is “The Gift of Galadriel” (https://www.reddit.com/r/TolkienArt/comments/ioz8u4/the_gift_of_galadriel_by_greg_and_tim_hildebrandt/). In the picture in the link, the colors are a bit too yellow and bright; the original work is softer on the eye. But I always loved how the sun fell on Galadriel's white dress, and that light reflected on the kneeling Aragorn.

[sisterdivinium]

Oh, that's a delightful piece as well! Even without whatever little tweaks went into the image when it was posted you can get a sense of the light, how it falls on the fabric of her dress that's at once simple but full of detail... Wonderful.