You can view the video on Youtube here and you can read more on my other blog here.
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Monday, October 2, 2017
New plein air landscape video
I've uploaded a new plein air video showing the production of this landscape painting.
You can view the video on Youtube here and you can read more on my other blog here.
You can view the video on Youtube here and you can read more on my other blog here.
Monday, August 14, 2017
How to make artists' drawing charcoal
I was bored one wet, cold, miserable winter's day, do I decided to have a go at making my own drawing charcoal.
We are lucky enough to have a wide range of trees on our property, including a variety of fruit trees, so I was spoilt for choice of what wood to use.
Willow is often recommended as suitable for making drawing charcoal, but we don't have any willow.
Grape vine is a popular choice and I have also heard of apple being used successfully. We have both of those available.
I snipped a couple bits of semi-hard wood from an apple tree and grape vine then prepared it for roasting into charcoal.
I videoed the whole process, so you can follow along on Youtube.
For those who like a bit of science, I included a brief, simple, infographic explanation of pyrolysis; the process that sees wood turn into charcoal instead of ash.
I did a quick test with the charcoal and thought it performed pretty well, although some bits were a little scratchy. I hope to do a few more experiments using different woods and longer roasting times and see if I can get better results.
We are lucky enough to have a wide range of trees on our property, including a variety of fruit trees, so I was spoilt for choice of what wood to use.
Willow is often recommended as suitable for making drawing charcoal, but we don't have any willow.
Grape vine is a popular choice and I have also heard of apple being used successfully. We have both of those available.
I snipped a couple bits of semi-hard wood from an apple tree and grape vine then prepared it for roasting into charcoal.
I videoed the whole process, so you can follow along on Youtube.
For those who like a bit of science, I included a brief, simple, infographic explanation of pyrolysis; the process that sees wood turn into charcoal instead of ash.
I did a quick test with the charcoal and thought it performed pretty well, although some bits were a little scratchy. I hope to do a few more experiments using different woods and longer roasting times and see if I can get better results.
Friday, July 28, 2017
How to make wet panel carrier widgets
When I travelled to the John Wilson workshop in Katoomba last February, I had to devise a plan for bringing wet paintings home in my luggage.
I made two wet-panel-carrier boxes from plywood, using balsa wood for the divider strips, but I also needed something for paintings that were too small for the boxes.
After fluffing around with various ideas using timber strips and elastic bands – ideas that failed, I might add – I came up with the idea of making small corner spacers that could be held on with clips.
These would work for paintings in a variety of sizes as long as I had a pair of same-size boards to clip together.
I videoed the making of them and have finally edited the footage and uploaded it to Youtube.
While the process looks a little cumbersome in the video, that's largely because I was trying to orient everything for the camera as I worked on just one widget (and also because some of the balsa proved very difficult to cut, even with a sharp knife!)
In reality, it took less than a couple of hours to make 32 of these little spacer widgets – enough to carry 16 small wet paintings. It took me far longer to make the two box carriers.
I would only use these on small paintings, up to around 10"x12".
I haven't tried yet, but it might be worthwhile to make some straight widgets to clip to the centre point of each edge, and this might make them more practical for slightly larger paintings when combined with the corner widgets.
I made two wet-panel-carrier boxes from plywood, using balsa wood for the divider strips, but I also needed something for paintings that were too small for the boxes.
After fluffing around with various ideas using timber strips and elastic bands – ideas that failed, I might add – I came up with the idea of making small corner spacers that could be held on with clips.
These would work for paintings in a variety of sizes as long as I had a pair of same-size boards to clip together.
I videoed the making of them and have finally edited the footage and uploaded it to Youtube.
While the process looks a little cumbersome in the video, that's largely because I was trying to orient everything for the camera as I worked on just one widget (and also because some of the balsa proved very difficult to cut, even with a sharp knife!)
In reality, it took less than a couple of hours to make 32 of these little spacer widgets – enough to carry 16 small wet paintings. It took me far longer to make the two box carriers.
I would only use these on small paintings, up to around 10"x12".
I haven't tried yet, but it might be worthwhile to make some straight widgets to clip to the centre point of each edge, and this might make them more practical for slightly larger paintings when combined with the corner widgets.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Bluff Knoll Blizzard
Recently I've been learning a little about how to predict snow falls, especially in southern WA.
Snow is almost unheard of in this state but at 1095m above sea level, Bluff Knoll does enjoy a some light falls a few times a year.
I had been watching the weather charts all week and it was looking good for today and tomorrow. When I checked today's forecast this morning, it had possible snow drifts predicted for the Stirling Range this afternoon and evening.
My wife and I headed out to Bluff Knoll around 3pm. The sun was shining, the wind was light and there were clouds drifting across the top of Bluff Knoll. There was a definite chill in the air, but it was beautiful and serene.
I set my DSLR camera up on a tripod right next to my car so I could sit in relative warmth. I attached a timer cable and when I was done taking a few test shots, I looked up and there no more sunlight anywhere.
I set the timer to take one picture every five seconds and left it to shoot until the memory card was full.
Janet had "gone for a walk" and sent me a text message warning of some approaching dark clouds. The storm was soon with me and it hit with a vengeance. I was busy trying to tie the tripod down so it wouldn't blow over, as sleet whipped past me, piling up on the back window of the car, and soaking through my jacket and jeans.
Janet was "somewhere" on the walk trail, sheltering beside trees and basically getting soaked. She had a great time watching flurries of snow.
While I could only describe the weather I witnessed in the car park as "sleet" rather than "snow", there were people on top of the mountain and they most definitely enjoyed the real thing, even if it did arrive horizontally and and great speed. We met the brave souls before we packed up and they showed us photos of the snow on the ground. There was enough to make some snow balls.
The worst of the blizzard lasted around 15 minutes and quickly cleared. Soon after, the setting sun cast a warm glow over everything before ducking behind a cloud. Day soon turned to night, the camera's memory card was full and we packed up, dried ourselves off, chucked the heater on in the car and headed home.
Over 1 hour, 40 minutes the camera took just over 1500 photos. I used the images to create a one minute time-lapse video.
Snow is almost unheard of in this state but at 1095m above sea level, Bluff Knoll does enjoy a some light falls a few times a year.
I had been watching the weather charts all week and it was looking good for today and tomorrow. When I checked today's forecast this morning, it had possible snow drifts predicted for the Stirling Range this afternoon and evening.
My wife and I headed out to Bluff Knoll around 3pm. The sun was shining, the wind was light and there were clouds drifting across the top of Bluff Knoll. There was a definite chill in the air, but it was beautiful and serene.
I set my DSLR camera up on a tripod right next to my car so I could sit in relative warmth. I attached a timer cable and when I was done taking a few test shots, I looked up and there no more sunlight anywhere.
I set the timer to take one picture every five seconds and left it to shoot until the memory card was full.
Janet had "gone for a walk" and sent me a text message warning of some approaching dark clouds. The storm was soon with me and it hit with a vengeance. I was busy trying to tie the tripod down so it wouldn't blow over, as sleet whipped past me, piling up on the back window of the car, and soaking through my jacket and jeans.
Janet was "somewhere" on the walk trail, sheltering beside trees and basically getting soaked. She had a great time watching flurries of snow.
While I could only describe the weather I witnessed in the car park as "sleet" rather than "snow", there were people on top of the mountain and they most definitely enjoyed the real thing, even if it did arrive horizontally and and great speed. We met the brave souls before we packed up and they showed us photos of the snow on the ground. There was enough to make some snow balls.
The worst of the blizzard lasted around 15 minutes and quickly cleared. Soon after, the setting sun cast a warm glow over everything before ducking behind a cloud. Day soon turned to night, the camera's memory card was full and we packed up, dried ourselves off, chucked the heater on in the car and headed home.
Over 1 hour, 40 minutes the camera took just over 1500 photos. I used the images to create a one minute time-lapse video.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Bob Katter - Digital Caricature
Bob Katter
Original 1200x1400px
Digital Caricature
© Andy Dolphin
Original 1200x1400px
Digital Caricature
© Andy Dolphin
As Australia waits to find out the identity of it's next Prime Minister - the 15th in about six years, I think - one man stands out from the crowd.
Bob "Mad Hatter" Katter.
Famed for owning an Akubra for almost any occasion, Bob ventured out today and threw one of those many hats into the ring to help bring an end to the federal election count, some time before Christmas.
While some in the mainstream media have entertained the idea that Bob could become something of a kingmaker in a hung parliament, I think that after today's chat with the press he's looking more like he wants to be King.
With that in mind, I had to try a caricature of a man who is already a life-size caricature of himself.
I recently polished the drawing surface of my Wacom Intuos Pro (because I found it to be unusable with the nib-eating sandpaper surface Wacom gave it) and it is now a beautiful thing to behold... so I used that to draw the caricature on a 27" iMac and captured the action with Quicktime while I was at it.
You can watch the time-lapse caricature drawing on my Youtube channel.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Overdue: iPad, Procreate painting
Wow, I can't believe I never posted this:
Painting of a ferret using Procreate on an iPad.
I uploaded it to Youtube in January.
My daughter is mad on ferrets so I took a few photos of them one afternoon. They are impossible to photograph, by the way. They never stop moving, and they move fast. Except for the smell, they are quite fascinating creatures.
The video shows a time lapse painting done from one of the blurry photos. It was done in Procreate on an iPad using a cheap pen stylus that I got for free from somewhere. It has a ballpoint pen on one end for writing and a big rubber tip in the removable cap, to use as a substitute for a finger on touch-sensitive devices like smartphones and tablets. It also includes a tiny LED torch in the other end.
The pen is not pressure sensitive but it is marginally better than painting with a finger.
Blogging is somewhat on the backburner as my art life has taken a bit of a left turn. I haven't picked up a paint brush for a very long time but have spent a lot of time restoring 400-day clocks. They are among the most frustrating of timepieces, and are widely despised by professional clock repairers, but my wife loves them and I seem to enjoy bringing them back to life. We now have almost 40 of them running and we really need a lot more.
If you have one of these clocks, also called dome clocks, torsion clocks or anniversary clocks, and if you don't want it any longer, then please drop me a line. Or if you know where there is one (in WA) that someone is throwing out or selling, then please let me know that too.
My digital art life has also taken a lot of my time. Late last year I delved into motion graphics and worked on a few TV and cinema commercials and this year I have been teaching animation at the local TAFE which has been a blast.
I have had an interest in animation since I was a kid and can remember animating plasticine and Lego in my teens, using a super-8 movie camera. A bit over ten years ago I discovered 3D animation and had some of my work published in guides for Blender, including writing two chapters for the official guide. I was also technical editor on another Blender guide book.
Here's an animation I made of a matchstick stand-up comedian, about eight years ago...
The opportunity to teach animation has been amazing.
Soooo, anyway, that's why I haven't been blogging or making plein air painting videos.
What I do hope to do, one day, is to take the iPad out into the field, and do some digital plein air sketches and paintings.
Painting of a ferret using Procreate on an iPad.
I uploaded it to Youtube in January.
My daughter is mad on ferrets so I took a few photos of them one afternoon. They are impossible to photograph, by the way. They never stop moving, and they move fast. Except for the smell, they are quite fascinating creatures.
The video shows a time lapse painting done from one of the blurry photos. It was done in Procreate on an iPad using a cheap pen stylus that I got for free from somewhere. It has a ballpoint pen on one end for writing and a big rubber tip in the removable cap, to use as a substitute for a finger on touch-sensitive devices like smartphones and tablets. It also includes a tiny LED torch in the other end.
The pen is not pressure sensitive but it is marginally better than painting with a finger.
Blogging is somewhat on the backburner as my art life has taken a bit of a left turn. I haven't picked up a paint brush for a very long time but have spent a lot of time restoring 400-day clocks. They are among the most frustrating of timepieces, and are widely despised by professional clock repairers, but my wife loves them and I seem to enjoy bringing them back to life. We now have almost 40 of them running and we really need a lot more.
If you have one of these clocks, also called dome clocks, torsion clocks or anniversary clocks, and if you don't want it any longer, then please drop me a line. Or if you know where there is one (in WA) that someone is throwing out or selling, then please let me know that too.
My digital art life has also taken a lot of my time. Late last year I delved into motion graphics and worked on a few TV and cinema commercials and this year I have been teaching animation at the local TAFE which has been a blast.
I have had an interest in animation since I was a kid and can remember animating plasticine and Lego in my teens, using a super-8 movie camera. A bit over ten years ago I discovered 3D animation and had some of my work published in guides for Blender, including writing two chapters for the official guide. I was also technical editor on another Blender guide book.
Here's an animation I made of a matchstick stand-up comedian, about eight years ago...
The opportunity to teach animation has been amazing.
Soooo, anyway, that's why I haven't been blogging or making plein air painting videos.
What I do hope to do, one day, is to take the iPad out into the field, and do some digital plein air sketches and paintings.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
iPad finger-paintings
I received an iPad from the family for Christmas and just had to have a go at finger painting.
I downloaded an app called Procreate as I had seen this before in the (in)famous, viral, Morgan Freeman finger-painting video, then messed around to see what I could do with it.
At less than $10 Australian, it's an astonishingly capable program that would give Photoshop a run for its (considerable and never-ending) money if it was ever available on the desktop.
I've uploaded a video of my first fumblings in Procreate. Don't judge the program by my efforts, though.
I downloaded an app called Procreate as I had seen this before in the (in)famous, viral, Morgan Freeman finger-painting video, then messed around to see what I could do with it.
At less than $10 Australian, it's an astonishingly capable program that would give Photoshop a run for its (considerable and never-ending) money if it was ever available on the desktop.
I've uploaded a video of my first fumblings in Procreate. Don't judge the program by my efforts, though.
Friday, November 6, 2015
New video graphics tutorial - Lens Flare
My other blog is currently undergoing redevelopment so I'll post this here for now.
I downloaded Motion 5 a few months ago and one of the first projects I used it for required lens flare effects. Motion 5 only ships with a very simple, two-dimensional flare generator, so I had to find ways to make the desired effect myself.
I muddled through, learning Motion 5 as I went, and ended up with something half-decent, but it was an impractical way to achieve it so I set about finding a better way.
I banged my head against it for a couple of weeks and eventually, after several false but promising starts, I stumbled across Parameter Behaviours and unlocked the secret I'd been searching for.
I just uploaded a video tutorial explaining the building blocks of this method and hope it proves useful for others trying to solve the same problem.
Apple Motion 5 Lens Flare Effect Tutorial
I downloaded Motion 5 a few months ago and one of the first projects I used it for required lens flare effects. Motion 5 only ships with a very simple, two-dimensional flare generator, so I had to find ways to make the desired effect myself.
I muddled through, learning Motion 5 as I went, and ended up with something half-decent, but it was an impractical way to achieve it so I set about finding a better way.
I banged my head against it for a couple of weeks and eventually, after several false but promising starts, I stumbled across Parameter Behaviours and unlocked the secret I'd been searching for.
I just uploaded a video tutorial explaining the building blocks of this method and hope it proves useful for others trying to solve the same problem.
Apple Motion 5 Lens Flare Effect Tutorial
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Announcing my new blog
Floral fireworks
12.5cm x 22.5cm oil on ply panel.
© Andy Dolphin
12.5cm x 22.5cm oil on ply panel.
© Andy Dolphin
I've had a bit of a break from painting but things have been happening - a lot of it has more to do with antique clocks than painting, but things have been happening.
One big change is that my blog now has a new home on my new website, made by my son Michael Dolphin.
If you have this site bookmarked or memorised, you'll need to change your links, or rewire your neurons, and make note of the new address at andydolphin.com.au/blog/
To launch the new site, I have uploaded a new three-part video to Youtube documenting the painting of a small floral still life in oil.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Chinese vase still life - new video
Miniature Chinese vase
21x25cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin
I uploaded a new video last night giving a glimpse of the process I followed when painting my Miniature Chinese Vase still life.
As always, it's best if you go to Youtube to see the video in higher resolution.
Let me know what you think. If I get enough feedback, I'll look at uploading videos more often, so if you like it, share it widely via your favourite social media.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Lowlands Splash - digital painting video
A while ago I promised to upload a digital painting tutorial and today it's finally done.
I recorded this over a month ago but it's taken me a while to do the voice over and editing. Anyway, here it is.
This painting is based on a section taken from a plein air seascape oil painting I did at the start of the year.
NOTE: As I always say, you can watch it here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size (480p).
It's a pretty simple sketch and is unlikely to win any digital painting awards anytime soon - but it only took around 45 minutes to throw together one evening. Another hour or so of tightening up and adjustment could turn it into something special.
Thanks must go to Chris Wahl who has made a heap of Photoshop Brushes available for download from his Art Brushes blog.
Lowlands Splash.
Digital painting.
© Andy Dolphin
Digital painting.
© Andy Dolphin
I recorded this over a month ago but it's taken me a while to do the voice over and editing. Anyway, here it is.
This painting is based on a section taken from a plein air seascape oil painting I did at the start of the year.
NOTE: As I always say, you can watch it here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size (480p).
It's a pretty simple sketch and is unlikely to win any digital painting awards anytime soon - but it only took around 45 minutes to throw together one evening. Another hour or so of tightening up and adjustment could turn it into something special.
Thanks must go to Chris Wahl who has made a heap of Photoshop Brushes available for download from his Art Brushes blog.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Stirling Afternoon - plein air video
My latest plein air landscape sketch video has just been uploaded.
This painting features a view across farmland to the Stirling Range, home to Bluff Knoll – the the highest peak in southern Western Australia.
It was a very cloudy day but the sun did break through occasionally and light up the view. Days like this can be challenging if the sun spends too much time behind clouds but it peeped out often enough on this occasion to keep me almost sane.
I actually began this painting on a board I'd previously used for a plein air painting that ultimately failed. I had only laid in the foundational wash of that painting when the sun disappeared behind heavy cloud and all semblance of light and shadow vanished with little hope of returning that day. I scraped the paint off the board and wiped it back with a paper towel. This left me with a board already stained with a warm, transparent earthy tone.
NOTE: You can watch the video here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size (click the little "cog" symbol and choose 480p if your internet connection can cope).
Thanks again to Kevin MacLeod, who offers hundreds of royalty-free music tracks on his Incompotech website.
Uploading this video generated an interesting copyright dilemma. If that sort of stuff fascinates you, you can read about it here.
You can see my first painting video, Barrow Road, on Youtube too.
Or my second video Winter Light - plein air painting.
This painting features a view across farmland to the Stirling Range, home to Bluff Knoll – the the highest peak in southern Western Australia.
(Stirling afternoon. Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin)
It was a very cloudy day but the sun did break through occasionally and light up the view. Days like this can be challenging if the sun spends too much time behind clouds but it peeped out often enough on this occasion to keep me almost sane.
I actually began this painting on a board I'd previously used for a plein air painting that ultimately failed. I had only laid in the foundational wash of that painting when the sun disappeared behind heavy cloud and all semblance of light and shadow vanished with little hope of returning that day. I scraped the paint off the board and wiped it back with a paper towel. This left me with a board already stained with a warm, transparent earthy tone.
NOTE: You can watch the video here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size (click the little "cog" symbol and choose 480p if your internet connection can cope).
Thanks again to Kevin MacLeod, who offers hundreds of royalty-free music tracks on his Incompotech website.
Uploading this video generated an interesting copyright dilemma. If that sort of stuff fascinates you, you can read about it here.
You can see my first painting video, Barrow Road, on Youtube too.
Or my second video Winter Light - plein air painting.
New plein air painting video!
When a new video is uploaded, it is scanned and compared to thousands of audio files in Youtube's database, to see if any of the audio in the video file matches any of the audio in the database. If the Youtube "robot" thinks it found a match, it flags the video with a copyright infringement and offers various ways to proceed.
So, if you video your dog catching a ball but have the Top 100 radio station playing in the background, your video will probably get flagged for a breach of copyright. In the majority of cases this probably works as intended and prevents people potentially benefitting from someone else's uncompensated efforts. You're not allowed to upload Top 100 music, even if it was accidental.
However, it appears the automated system has at least one significant flaw - classical music.
Once a piece of music has come out of copyright and become public domain, anyone is free to make their own recording of it. But each of those recordings has its own copyright. So it is possible to have several copyright claims apparently on the same piece of music. But the claim is only on the new recording, it cannot apply to the music itself. And therein lies the problem. If you and I and ten other people all sit at our pianos and record a version of a piece by Mozart, the chances are we would have twelve recordings that sound very much the same (except I can't play piano but bear with me here). We would each then have copyright on our own recording, but there's a good chance, it seems (based on forum discussions), Youtube's robot wouldn't know the difference.
So imagine what happens when major recording artists do their own cover versions of the classics and lodge them in the Youtube database – and then someone else releases their own version of the same classics royalty free, for anyone to use... Do you see the problem?
Well, to cut a long story a bit less long, my new video got flagged.
Before I go any further, let me assure you that I did not breach any copyright. Every music track in my video was sourced from Kevin MacLeod's Incompetech website. Mr MacLeod releases his music under a Creative Commons licence which allows royalty-free usage as long as he is properly credited.
But the Youtube robot thinks my track is from somewhere else. Perhaps it sounds like someone else's music but unless Incompetech have got it wrong, it isn't someone else's music.
I used "Midsummer Sky" from Kevin MacLeod while Youtube believes I have used "Encontré la Leche" by someone else. Maybe they sound the same but I did not use "Encontré la Leche" in my video.
The Youtube robot offered me the option of accepting the infringement is genuine, which will result in ads being placed on my video and the alleged content author being compensated for something they did not* produce. Or I could file a dispute.
I have filed a dispute, which is something of a pain because the process requires selecting from a short list of reasons for disputing the copyright claim. None of those reasons seems, at first glance, to be appropriate in a case like this because there's a presumption in the options provided that the robot isn't mistaken. Each option also comes with a warning that this is essentially a legal claim and in some cases legal counsel is recommended before lodging the dispute.
After contacting Incompetech, I put my anxiety to one side (and be assured this has caused significant anxiety) and chose to dispute the claim on the basis that I have written permission/license to use the material. Later in the dispute process came the option to offer a short written reason for the dispute and this is where I have identified the actual source of the material in question with a link to the licence.
I have taken this decision for several reasons, not least of which is that I feel I am absolutely in the right. I initially conceded the claim, because of all the dire warnings about what could happen if a dispute is over-ruled (hence the anxiety), but I do not feel it is right for a third party to receive compensation (through ad links) for a product they did not produce, especially when the actual producer has made it freely available. Indeed, I feel this result would be absolutely contrary to the intent of the system - to prevent people incorrectly benefitting from someone else's efforts.
So I reverted the acknowledgement and lodged the dispute instead.
I have no idea how long it will take for this to be resolved. My reading suggests it could be weeks. In the meantime I have marked the video "private" so it cannot be viewed. UPDATE: I've unlocked it. See blog here.
I hope to make it public as soon as possible, hopefully intact and without ads.
I'll take this opportunity to again thank Kevin MacLeod for the incredible resource he's provided.
UPDATE:
It seems that, despite his altruism in providing these music files royalty free, Kevin MacLeod spends quite a bit of his time having to deal with incorrect copyright claims being made against his work by other parties.
Read more about the wrong third-party content copyright claims and copyfraud.
*I accept at face value Incompetech's claim to own the rights to the music they offer royalty free. I've seen nothing to imply any impropriety on their part so I feel assured that the music I've used is not owned by any other party.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Still doing stuff...
I have a few more videos in progress and will post them as I get them edited.
The editing, including cutting, splicing, voice over and music selection takes far, far, far longer than it takes to do the paintings. But I'm getting there.
For now, here's a couple of teaser images.
The first video will be this plein air oil landscape sketch I painted last weekend.
I will follow that up with a digital seascape I whipped together a few nights ago, following a request from my (second-)newest sister-in-law. This painting is based on a small section from a plein air seascape oil painting I did at the start of the year. It's nothing too amazing but gives some insight as to how I approach my digital doodles.
The first video shouldn't be too far away so keep an eye out for an update.
I filmed another plein air painting session today at a terrific new spot just five minutes from home and where I hope to find quite a few more painting opportunities. I still have to check the footage, because lots of things can go wrong when you do your own video whilst painting - like standing directly in front of the camera so all it sees is the back of your head, forgetting to press "start", kicking the tripod without realising and filming a fence post, glaring reflections, poor focus and much more, not to mention technology itself inventing new and interesting ways to bring a great plan unstuck.
I think it will be okay but that update will be a while away. Keep checking back here or on my Youtube Channel.
The editing, including cutting, splicing, voice over and music selection takes far, far, far longer than it takes to do the paintings. But I'm getting there.
For now, here's a couple of teaser images.
The first video will be this plein air oil landscape sketch I painted last weekend.
Stirling afternoon.
Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin)
Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin)
I will follow that up with a digital seascape I whipped together a few nights ago, following a request from my (second-)newest sister-in-law. This painting is based on a small section from a plein air seascape oil painting I did at the start of the year. It's nothing too amazing but gives some insight as to how I approach my digital doodles.
Lowlands.
Digital painting.
© Andy Dolphin
Digital painting.
© Andy Dolphin
The first video shouldn't be too far away so keep an eye out for an update.
I filmed another plein air painting session today at a terrific new spot just five minutes from home and where I hope to find quite a few more painting opportunities. I still have to check the footage, because lots of things can go wrong when you do your own video whilst painting - like standing directly in front of the camera so all it sees is the back of your head, forgetting to press "start", kicking the tripod without realising and filming a fence post, glaring reflections, poor focus and much more, not to mention technology itself inventing new and interesting ways to bring a great plan unstuck.
I think it will be okay but that update will be a while away. Keep checking back here or on my Youtube Channel.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Winter Light - plein air video
It's winter down here in the southern hemisphere so it's been a bit cold and damp lately. However, a few days ago we had scattered showers combined with moments of bright sunlight and this made for interesting painting conditions.
I found a spot beside the highway with a view across farmland to the Porongurup Range. There were clouds draped over the peaks of the range and a strip of sunlight lit up a distant paddock. It was a scene ready for painting and it looked like an interesting subject for my second plein air painting video.
Luckily, the rain held off long enough for me to get the sketch done.
NOTE: You can watch the video here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size (click the little "cog" symbol and choose 480p if your internet connection can cope).
Thanks again to Kevin MacLeod, who offers hundreds of royalty-free music tracks on his Incompotech website.
You can see my first painting video, Barrow Road, on Youtube too.
Winter Light.
Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin
Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin
I found a spot beside the highway with a view across farmland to the Porongurup Range. There were clouds draped over the peaks of the range and a strip of sunlight lit up a distant paddock. It was a scene ready for painting and it looked like an interesting subject for my second plein air painting video.
Luckily, the rain held off long enough for me to get the sketch done.
NOTE: You can watch the video here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size (click the little "cog" symbol and choose 480p if your internet connection can cope).
Thanks again to Kevin MacLeod, who offers hundreds of royalty-free music tracks on his Incompotech website.
You can see my first painting video, Barrow Road, on Youtube too.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
VIDEO - plein air landscape in oils
With scattered cloud hanging around on Friday, I headed back out to Barrow Road, where I completed a grey-day plein air landscape last week. I was planning to paint the view from the opposite side of the road and hoped for some sunlight and shadows this time. I got both.
Here's this week's painting.
I decided to try something different this time, and set up a camera on a tripod to capture video of my progress.
As a result, I've spent the weekend getting a crash course in Adobe Premiere Pro from my son. I think I've spent around 20 times longer editing the video as I spent doing the painting. But I'm super-pleased with the result.
So here you go. It's nine minutes long so make sure you've got a cup of tea handy. Sit back and relax.
NOTE: You can watch it here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size.
I didn't take a final location photo of the painting, but I think the video gives a reasonable idea that it probably was painted on site :)
I have to give thanks to Kevin MacLeod, who offers hundreds of royalty-free music tracks on his Incompotech website.
Let me know what you think.
Here's this week's painting.
(Barrow Road. Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin)
I decided to try something different this time, and set up a camera on a tripod to capture video of my progress.
As a result, I've spent the weekend getting a crash course in Adobe Premiere Pro from my son. I think I've spent around 20 times longer editing the video as I spent doing the painting. But I'm super-pleased with the result.
So here you go. It's nine minutes long so make sure you've got a cup of tea handy. Sit back and relax.
NOTE: You can watch it here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size.
I didn't take a final location photo of the painting, but I think the video gives a reasonable idea that it probably was painted on site :)
I have to give thanks to Kevin MacLeod, who offers hundreds of royalty-free music tracks on his Incompotech website.
Let me know what you think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)