Just starting a new practice panel

[TrikerJim]

I have just started. I need to put in the eyes, nose and lips before going further. Thanks to kippaxblue for the inspiration.

[wolfwarrior25]

looks good so far. my portraits look bad. i like how the fingers look.keep us updated.

[shane]

nice so far man, you new guys doin all these portraits are scarin me dude! to me there the hardest thing to do:yes:

[grizzly]

lookin good so far man....just be sure to build the white very slowly once you get goin in the face....take your time and build it up slow


keep up the good work and keep the pics comin

[TrikerJim]

Okay, I quit for the night. I have a few boo boos to fix. I got carried away on the white with the lips and will have to try to fix them. (Runaway airbrush from hell.) lol! Have to work more on the nose and the eyes.

[Rod]

Wow... Talk about jumping forward in leaps and bounds - your work is moving at an exponential rate. And I too admire that you are challenging yourself with portraits.

If you don't mind me offering a little advice... It looks like you have a death grip on the airbrush and king kong probably couldn't pry it from your hands. I don't know if you have access to Mike's video's (or have watched the webcam) but seeing his smooth flow is a thing of beauty. It's really easy to get detail orientated and clench up in front of your panel... But, again, watching Mike achieve incredible details in smooth, gradual, flowing strokes is inspirational to say the least. Just a thought...

One last thing. Of all the people who've somewhat recently jumped into this arena - you are standing out as one of the few who really seem to be enjoying themselves. That's a biggie - and it shows...

Take care,

Rod

[kippaxblue]

Looking good triker thanks for sharing again, I have just foung the pic of bogey and cagney that I am starting on next, I'll soon have a full set from my favorite film era lol. keep up the great work you sure are progressing a lot faster than I am

[TrikerJim]

Wow... Talk about jumping forward in leaps and bounds - your work is moving at an exponential rate. And I too admire that you are challenging yourself with portraits.

If you don't mind me offering a little advice... It looks like you have a death grip on the airbrush and king kong probably couldn't pry it from your hands. I don't know if you have access to Mike's video's (or have watched the webcam) but seeing his smooth flow is a thing of beauty. It's really easy to get detail orientated and clench up in front of your panel... But, again, watching Mike achieve incredible details in smooth, gradual, flowing strokes is inspirational to say the least. Just a thought...

One last thing. Of all the people who've somewhat recently jumped into this arena - you are standing out as one of the few who really seem to be enjoying themselves. That's a biggie - and it shows...

Take care,

Rod

Thanks, Rod. Yep, I'm struggling with the smoothness. I'm hoping in time I'll get there. I appreciate the suggestion. I'll check out some of his videos. I think you are right on about my clenching on the fine details. It comes from my lack of confidence in my skills. Skills? What skills? I'm just a begginer. :D

[Annie]

Jim! :clap:
That's looking really good. Nice white work.
Portraits are so not easy but you are rocking them. And like Rod said, it looks like you are having fun and not stressing. Thats awesome! Remember to work in layers, adding white gradually and step back to look at whats happening. It helps to turn around for a few seconds from your work. But it looks like thats what you are doing!

Keep at it like that. Your skills are improving very fast.
Annie :)

[DiegoND]

I want you skills. for a beginner you are doing great work.

[TrikerJim]

I got out this morning, and fired up the wood stove in the shop, and finished this one, except for clearing it. I worked on the eyes, nose and lips. This is about the best I can do for now. The last thing I decided to do was to make the light background into an oval. If you look close in the top right corner of the oval, the runaway airbrush from hell struck. I pressed down on the trigger, and started to pull back, and wam, it struck! Oh well! Damn demonic thing. LOL!

[TrikerJim]

Okay, last pic, I promise. I touched up the area where my airbrush operator went crazy, and signed it.

[shane]

turned out pretty darn good there Jim, every one you do will get better and better, this one is light years ahead of the last one, at this rate you'll be sellin these things at the museum soon. :batman:

[TrikerJim]

Thanks Shane. I don't think I'll be selling them for a while. lol I'm clearing this one. It will be fun to see it in another year or so. Everyone seems to think portraits are hard. For me they are easy. I just paint what I see. The guys that do the fantastic skulls, demons, dragons and such blow me away. They have to paint what's in their mind. Some of them have some warped minds. LMAO!

[rex]

reminds me of early marlena detrie(spelling wrong, i know)
rods comment on the "death grip " on the brush,,,ive noticed when trying to get detail work ive gotten cramped up hand and finger, how do you unlearn that rod?

[TrikerJim]

I think my problem is, since I'm just starting, I never learned the basic strokes. I found a post by Annie showing how to practice them. Once I am comfortable doing them. I think my work will be much better. Thanks to Rod for motivating me to look.

http://www.learnairbrush.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=1041

[Annie]

reminds me of early marlena detrie(spelling wrong, i know)
rods comment on the "death grip " on the brush,,,ive noticed when trying to get detail work ive gotten cramped up hand and finger, how do you unlearn that rod?

Dobie, you are probably pushing the trigger with the tip of your finger. You wanna try to push it with the under side of the knuckle... where your finger bends (if that makes any sence.... lol )

It will put a lot less stress on your hand and wrist. It's not easy to hold it like that. I got used to do it the wrong way and even if I hold it right, after a few minutes, it doesn't take long for me to go back to my bad habits.

Annie :)

[rex]

thanks annie, i`ll try using that method, yep your exactly right about using the finger tip, i act ually get an indent in my finger tip by the time im done, ha ha