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]

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.