ART THEORIES! (For Patrons Only!) (Patreon)

Writing unedited and rough! 

Would you advise artists to switch mediums on occasion?

It can only help. One can make discoveries with different mediums and then incorporate them into his preferred medium. Before acrylic, I started with watercolor gouache, then magic markers, only one oil paintings then discovered my delight using acrylic paints. I can’t report a pattern on my switching. I was simply wandering, confronting my dissatisfactions, and shifting to another medium. I discovered my choices through manuals and chose what was inviting and that got me the effects I wanted to get, as well as, frankly, just being comfortable with them.

Do you advise using photo reference?

Yes. I had to work hard at learning to design props. My early tendency was to draw props as they appeared in old animation. Old cartoon props necessitated simplifications; a steam roller will be a common box with a rooftop, a steam whistle and treads. Even a tuba is a streamlined series of shapes to represent the essence of tuba. The object moves and is not the center of attention; it can pass. Still drawings are different. I prefer to spin from the accuracies as I see them. My work is not made up of preconceived notions; it is mine. A Marvel editor advised me, if you’re going to draw two cars, buy two Hot Wheels for reference. Today research is unbelievably easy. Just do a Google image search on whatever the challenge is.

The same goes for the human figure. Even when doing cartooning, I find that studying poses helps me to ensure that I am aware of all the opportunities the pose or activity offers. New perspectives, new curvatures, new weights. It makes drawing exciting to do and exciting to look at.

When a painting isn’t going well, do you continue to plug at it or discard it and start again?

I can tell when a painting’s a loser. At that point it’s better for me to put it away or abandon it entirely. But I often don’t follow my own dictum. So often, getting frustrated, I fix and fix again, losing the drawing under levels of paint. Then at the climax of hours, even days of frustration, I relent and in frustration I admit it’s a lost cause. No good. Occasionally I can make “something out of something”, but I can’t depend on that. I am working out admitting my own dissatisfaction, and owning up when a canvas can’t be saved. (It is my tendency to worry over waste of canvas and paint.) What works best for myself is pull teeth by surrendering it and turning it to the wall or putting it in storage and forgetting it. After time passes, I look again and say “Hey!! THAT’S what’s not working!!” Other times, I have to admit to myself I’m giving birth to a turd. If I can, scrape away, cover the canvas with White or black gesso and start again. That’s one reason I love acrylic paint so much.

Some painters hit a dry spot and repeat themselves instead of improving. What’s your advice?

I’m going through that now. If I am doing work on assignment or a show, I can forge ahead and not give mind to anything like that. When there’s a goal to meet, I don’t have blocks. When I am painting or drawing ‘in between’ times, ‘just for myself’, that’s when I bog down. I lose excitement for what I’m doing. In the best of times, I can’t wait to get the ideas down; I look forward to getting back to work! The bad times are of vague desperation. I realize that what I do isn’t working, wondering what I can do about it. If I don’t ‘feel it’, I don’t ‘feel it’, that’s all. That’s when I knock off and get into another discipline. Writing (as I am now) or doing ink drawings of Midnite again. Sooner than later the ‘magic’ returns, usually because of a new outside challenge. There’s no question that having assignments brings out the best in me.

Should a painter keep everything he does or just the most important?

Many of my originals I know aren’t my best. I feel distanced from them. Unless I figure it’s a true credit to me, I can throw them away. It is, in fact, necessary because I’ve done a moving van full of work. Keeping the stuff I’m frustrated with doesn’t work. But I have found work I dropped in the dumpster at thrift stores and even being sold at auction. Isn’t that funny? I put the stuff for sale online myself and nobody gives a tinker’s damn.

How should an artist select a teacher?

See their work and choose the ones you admire and wish you could accomplish yourself, but can’t.

Is it best to start on big sizes or small?

I’d say about 8x11” will do at the start. As you gain confidence and feeling at home with the tools, you can go up or down depending on what you feel and what puts over your chosen message.

How do you evaluate a painting while you’re working on it? Do you have methods that help you see it from a fresh viewpoint?

If I feel a work is going well, I feel an innate satisfaction. I know it’s working and telling the story I want to tell. I ask myself very deeply, is it working? Does it have the depth or shallowness I want? Is this the best handling of paint to communicate it? Is it something I’d care to look at? I squint, I hold up thumbs to cover parts of it (that’s not just a cartoon pretense). If I can say “yes”, it’s good, it’s working, continue and finish, job done.

How do you know when to stop painting? Do you sometimes go too far and wish you hadn’t?

Yes. I find the best policy is to paint too little, stop and say “Does that do it?” When it does, I may tidy up here and there, or often, if the line does communicate, let it stand. Better than creating another problem to fix.

Do you ever make radical changes like painting over dissatisfactions?

Yes. As I said, acrylic paint is made for such a thing. If I see a part of a body or a color and say “this doesn’t work” but I still have hope, I slap on the gesso, visualize and do that section again. Often if a painting is passable and I get a better idea, I’ll cover and redo it. But I have to know when it threatens to turn into a snarl. Corrections won’t save a painting that’s no good.

When you start a painting, how detailed is your linework, and what do you do it with?

I don’t find penciling on canvas easy. I use a soft pencil or charcoal and put in the most detail possible without it becoming a jumble. I must plan it and make sure the positioning is just right. Sometimes this takes making the drawing on paper and position it on the canvas and then transferring it. It’s a heartbreak to be unhappy with the composition, trying to fix it in the painting stage and realizing it just isn’t working.

When you’ve created your outline drawing, do you cover the canvas with washes of color? What kind of brushes do you use at this stage?

I should note that I work from dark to light; heavy, murky tones giving way to lighter ones. I may cover the canvas with a dark tone and then draw upon it. In a case like that I may use a bright colored pencil or even chalk to do the drawing. The general backup tone I apply with large brushes, sometimes even a house painting brush. Accents over accents, the brushes usually get smaller with each layer, smallest if appropriate.

Do you make compositional drawings or paintings?

Generally, I spin a painting from a thumbnail sketch; very simple, to place the composition and components. I start painting with the color scheme either notated on the sketch, other times it’s just in my head. I don’t do paint sketches.

Do you do value sketches first? Do you make preliminary drawings?

I generally do as little drawing as I need before attacking the canvas. I confess, I’m anxious to start.

What subjects excite you and why?

Women most of all. The expressions, the body positions, the sensuality. This is where I can employ the paint with the most gusto, applying it using thick and thin, dark and lights to communicate the subject. They aren’t necessarily cheesecake. Often it’s just a head. I like deep focuses, receding into the distance. I completed one with an Old West saloon girl singing. She stood at eye level, with the bar and bottles murky and fading in a low perspective. Views like this are inspired by the oddball perspectives in Japanese prints. I want to incorporate more background details to establish the location and its atmosphere. A land you can get lost in.

Do you use the wet-in-wet technique? The drybrush technique?

When I use wet-on-wet I generally end up with a shapeless image. I’m pretty hopeless with it. I like the crisp textures of applying a lighter layer after the last one has dried. To top it off, I may drag rough brushes or painting knives over the appropriate passages.

Do you use special techniques? Scraping, or other less conventional techniques?

I’m a firm believer in effects. Scraping, impasto, stippling with a toothbrush, dripping, pressing sponges filled with paint. I love using the paint. That’s what it’s for, however precisely or wildly it’s applied.

Do you ever mix medias?

On the eyes of my last completed work, I applied pastels over the paints for a deeper, translucent tone. Aside from occasional tempera (just because it might be nearest to my desk), it’s strictly acrylic paint.

Do you use additives to alter the behavior of the paint?

It’s in tubes or bottles from the manufacturers of the colors. I apply retarder, sand textures, modeling paint and thickener.

How do you speed or retard the drying process?

I use drying retarder to slow the drying. I don’t try to speed it. Acrylic is a quick drying medium.

What kind of frames do you like for your pictures?

Either pure black or old second hand thrift store paintings of thick brown or gold or an odd color, but mid-century and chunky.