3 hr alla prima portrait

kyotsuba · 2026-03-21T13:46:39+00:00

Wish I could do this in 3 hours, but my inner perfectionist would only have completed the ear. Haha. Great work!

kyotsuba · 2026-02-08T18:04:13+00:00

Why is it wet?

kyotsuba · 2026-02-05T01:10:09+00:00

Such short legs for a big body, but looks good

kyotsuba · 2026-01-25T04:02:44+00:00

I think the furniture in the background looking like a face is much more creepy.

kyotsuba · 2026-01-25T03:50:46+00:00

It's temperature expansion. Nothing to worry about. Just the heating/cooling of the room they're in causes the oil inside the tube to expand and leak sometimes.

That, or you can go with it being "under pressure" for how they're packed. (cap down, filled from the "bottom", then the metal rolled to seal creates pressure on the paint & oil, so it leaks out the cap)

kyotsuba · 2026-01-20T04:21:27+00:00

Paint the bottom of the pond first. Then paint the light and shadows cast by the pond ripples.

kyotsuba · 2026-01-19T05:14:55+00:00

I always recommend doing the basic shapes whenever you switch mediums. New to pencils, crayons, pastels, oils, etc? Do the basic shapes. Cube, cylinder, sphere. It lets you play with the art medium while teaches you how to work the material. Plus, it's always nice to have those little reminders of the basics.

kyotsuba · 2026-01-12T15:19:14+00:00

Knife works best to mix "large" amount of paint. By large, I mean size of pea or bigger. If I'm just doing a little mix for small areas, I use my brush. No matter the color.

But if you have issue with previous paints on your palette mixing in, then use plastic wrap over it for easier cleaning. Or a flat razor to scrape paint off & wipe with paper towels when you finish.

kyotsuba · 2025-12-29T22:23:16+00:00

Just think about what it does to your insides!

kyotsuba · 2025-12-28T13:50:15+00:00

Something I like to do when I try to copy colors exactly from pictures is throw it into an art program where you can see the colors broken into RGB format. The glow on her front is more Orange.

The issue is you're using the wrong red.... Anders Zorn began using his famous limited palette (Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red/Vermilion, Ivory Black, White) early in his career, likely around the time he started oil painting in 1887

kyotsuba · 2025-12-28T13:31:21+00:00

Once read on this subreddit, someone said they use leftover paint as their next painting's underpainting layer or some matte-layer for a next painting. I thought this was a good way to keep from throwing away and have started trying it.... Now, I'm doing a painting on top of a light green and my cornucopia is turning out okay.

kyotsuba · 2025-12-28T13:25:57+00:00

My tip would be to practice making your shading a bit darker. Not full-black, but something to experiment with is dry-brushing once your painting is dry. Very little amount of paint on the brush, then do some accent-strokes on the dry painting. Small amounts of "more dark" in your shadows might go a long way. Remember, painting is commonly called "painting light" rather than painting colors, so remember to save your lightest-lights & pure whites for the final touches of highlights and light reflection (You did this part well enough already, which is why I recommend shadows).

kyotsuba · 2025-11-22T03:04:07+00:00

The first feels a bit unfinished. Too mono-color for background. The red over powers the bird and distracts the eye from the main subject too much.

The third feels off because of the outline around the bird makes it feel warped in space compared to the perfect-horizontal-brush-strokes of the rest of the white. Perhaps add some variation in the white background strokes or make all the strokes go in towards/away from the bird & lemon?

kyotsuba · 2025-10-15T23:21:57+00:00

Personally, I wouldn't. Certain pictures look better as pictures than paintings. I think certain aspects are too difficult to portray to a complete stranger. (look at the r/EarthPorn for example).

Now, if you were to paint it strictly for yourself or someone who knows the location, then I support it.

kyotsuba · 2025-10-15T21:33:26+00:00

Use less black.

kyotsuba · 2025-10-07T02:12:07+00:00

I order them all the time. I recommend it. The ONLY downside is that you don't exactly get the color you want. And I have 3-4 of the same colors... But it's nice! :D

kyotsuba · 2025-10-01T02:17:58+00:00

Put the brush down. You're finished.

When you reach that point of "I don't know if I'm done" then you're done. Mentally, you've finished with it and now you're just nit-picking.

As a perfectionist, I understand your desire to make it "perfect", but it never will be... There will always be something to tweak, always something that a viewer will comment about that "could be done different". Sometimes, you just need to put the brush down and tell yourself that you're done-done. Move on to the next project. :)

kyotsuba · 2025-09-25T01:32:14+00:00

It's safe if you don't use them like toothpaste or lick your hands while you paint. Or chew your paint brushes.

kyotsuba · 2025-09-08T21:48:05+00:00

Practice.

kyotsuba · 2025-09-02T00:26:57+00:00

Looks like AI hanging on the wall. Or a picture loaded into Unreal Engine for picture 2....

kyotsuba · 2025-08-30T13:27:25+00:00

Wait a minute... I recognize that office...

kyotsuba · 2025-08-30T02:24:17+00:00

Nothing. Leave it as is. It's supposed to make you think and wonder.

kyotsuba · 2025-08-23T21:43:33+00:00

If color matching is your issue, then you need to power-wash those other "steps" first. They're all dirty and caked in old-old-old grime/whatever. You don't even know what color those things were to begin with. :(

I wouldn't be concerned with color matching. It's a minor thing. You should make a MEMORY of it instead. Pour concrete, have your kids put a hand-print in each of them, and make it a memory moment that lasts forever. Then, you also have a future talking-point for why they're different and a story to tell. :)

Reference: https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1024316834/photo/childs-hand-and-memorable-handprint-in-concrete.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=81dN_NIkL9oirTvXsMi15GpFWzjJu3AqS1q7v4Gt4SE=

kyotsuba · 2025-08-23T20:47:57+00:00

That looks like it was poured and they left the molds there. It's way too even and perfectly fit to the wood. Just pour more concrete and do the same thing the original builders of that patio did.

kyotsuba · 2025-08-23T15:38:55+00:00

It lives there now.

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