MGArakawa Art

I am a freelance digital artist living in Japan. I look forward to sharing my journey in art from ideas and concepts, to sketches and studies. My goal is to bring the dreams and imaginations of others to life, one illustration at a time. My loves outside art include my husband, my dog, and gun scythes.

[mgarakawa]

The hardest thing about these composition and color studies is keeping it small and not adding too much details...  But it is allowing me to learn so much from the paintings, and it is become easier with each attempt.  I am not sure of the name of this painting

New Albert Bierstadt study in the works.  This is actually a piece I couldn't find the name to.  A much simpler looking piece than the previous ones I worked on.

I can't believe I have seven more paintings after this one that are Bierstadt XD  Like I said once before, I am just going through the list.  It is in alphabetical order and each artist has varying number of pieces (some only have one, others are like Bierstadt and have numerous).

As you can see--I am learning to limit my palettes.  Really, the original is primarily blues greens and yellows.   Very analogous.  There are splashes of red as an accent color which really give interest to the piece.  Van Dyke brown is the go-to for darkening and shadows and white is used to desaturate the colors and give depth and distance.

Instead of matching the colors for this one, I grabbed the colors I thought were the base and then mixed as I went.  And it worked!  It will be interesting to see how this goes during the full master study.

The composition is getting a little redundant with Bierstadt.  Not that I mind--i love his style and work.  But they all follow this central spiral flow with some kind of barrier on the edges leading in.  All pieces have a central anchor that allows a leap into the photo, and everything leans and "points" to the central light and highlight--usually a mountain, but also sometimes just the light itself.  Values are always darkest at the forefront, mid in the mid-ground and light in the back.  Yes, this is a typical formula and we are all taught this--but his application of it becomes predictable after a few composition studies.

I think I may actually call Bierstadt a wrap after this study.  He has taught me wonders in how to use desaturation and neutral grays to really bring a piece alive.  I had never understood how to get colors to work together--how to balance them, but after studying him, everything is so clear and pieces that use this or that technique that I have learned I immediately zone in on.  I "see" it and that is just the most important thing.  I am so excited to see what else I can learn from others.

[mgarakawa]

As I get more serious about my studies, I find that I need more visual tools to aid me in my learning.  To that end, I asked my husband to help me make these two tools (in help I mean that I just gave him the idea and he did all the work).

The first one I found the design on the youtube channel drawpaintmix.  It is a paint checker to compare your color to the object you are painting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JY-AZ48wMQ

Everyone has this--or should.  It is a great tool to help train the eye.  I haven't seen much trouble with lighting impact, even if I use it on the screen for something I can not print.  We spent  $0 dollars to make this as we had everything at hand--including a piece of wood that just so happened to be the right size.  The window to look through is just cut out from cardboard. :)

But the one on the right is something I have yet to see, and that is a shame.  I call it a color-wheel spinner.  Or random generator.  I want to practice with different color schemes and train my eye to find what color schemes are used by those better than me, and I thought it would be really cool to make a little spinner with detachable spinner thingies for the different schemes.  Again, I just gave my husband the idea and showed him the scheme shapes and he went to work.  He is GREAT at DIY on so many levels.  While I haven't used it to paint yet, I have used it to start practicing seeing schemes--and it works super well!  This was super easy to make, too.

I printed out a color wheel that I liked.  There are tons of them, so take your pick.  Hubby taped it to the cardboard piece we had lying around (glue would just make it wavy and weird).  Then hubby careful measured out and cut out the shapes so that they would hit the correct points.  That was probably the hardest part, really.  He had to do the Split Complimentary a couple of times to get it to line up right.  After that, we "drilled" a hole in the center of each (well some were almost center because of the shape--direct center would have thrown it off).  I can't explain the tool that my husband used.  I guess it is literally a hand drill.  The tip is pointed and you rotate it in your hands like you are trying to make fire.  It cut through the poster board well without bending or denting the paper.  I asked hubby to mark the center of the spinner so that I could line it up easily.  He then cut a toothpick in half and voila!  Instant spinner.

I am using these tools constantly to help me see color more easily--whether in digital form or in life.  After I finish my traditional room study, I plan to do a watercolor test using this cool little toy :)

Really, you can make these tools any way that you want.  For the color checker, I have seen people just use cardboard cut-outs, or clips or whatever.  As for the spinner---well, play with it!  Maybe you can find a better way to make it :)

[mgarakawa]

Learning to See: End of the first Step

At the beginning of February, I started a journey of a thousand steps.  I threw myself into unknown territory and somehow managed to come out the other side wiser and stronger.  While I have always known that improvement and growth comes with pains and struggles, I did not expect to feel so satisfied and fulfilled.

And I only just started ^_^

My biggest struggle was knowing what to do and laying out a road map to the goal.  My goal was to understand color and how it works together in its various forms, the role of value and how it can impact the composition and color of a piece--and technique, something I had not expected to pop up.  It took a lot of thinking, a lot of notes, a lot of just staring at a beautiful painting and trying to focus my mind on the roadmap before me.  There were tons of symbols and arrows to point the way, but I had not yet learned to see them.  I think I have improved greatly in that department, and it has completely changed how I approach drawings and paintings now.  I think I will need a notebook dedicated to artistic thinking during a project...but writing on the actual rough-draft is very easy to do and allows me to associate more quickly with my scrawling letters.

This experimentation in color and master work has released a constraint on me--fear of experimentation.  I am more willing to look at my reference piece and go away from it to create my own atmosphere and work.  If my goal is perspective, then the color can be whatever I want.  If the goal is color then I need to pick good pieces with great contrast and value.  And all of this comes together in the ideas I have in my head.  When you look at these three photos, you can really see the difference.  The first was me trying to be as faithful as possible to the original.  The second is me using the image as a base for color scheme, and then going my own route.  Not sure how the third will turn out, but it didn’t take me nearly as long to get the lines as I was able to pinpoint the deviations from the original perspective and adjust as necessary.  Also---dang, boxes help! XD XD

Albert Bierstadt really broke the dam.  I can't believe the things I held myself back on--and why.  I am excited to start the next study, but I want to do a perspective piece first.  I like rotating between these as it allows me to apply skill sets in different formats.

My current movement through perspective has also released some chains.  I move faster through the image, make notes and apply what I think.  Since I am working digitally, I can make adjustments easily.  The next step is to take the challenge to paper and see how I do.  After that, I get to come up with my own room in one-point perspective.

I am...really excited about this.  I have always shied away from rooms and landscapes because they were so overwhelming in detail and "math."  So many straight lines and very exact circles.  Now I can take what Albert Bierstadt gave me and really go with it.

One thing I want to look into is creating value in small spaces like rooms.  Most of the photo references I use are washed-out show-roomy-y pieces designed to showcase the layout more than anything.  Values are often low, light is over-used, and it seems boring (see first image).  The second image I did I wanted a cozy, warm look and I think I attained that.  Now I am working on another one and I want the focus to be the window, but no colors seem super great.  The image is distracting me, so I am thinking of getting the last bases down and then removing the image to create my own.

For me, after drawing out the room, coloring is the big reward.  I LOVE coloring, more-so now than before.  I am hoping to get my hours in for perspective, but doing the master studies along side it allows me to focus on other elements and still apply what I learned in perspective in a practical sense.  I haven't decided yet where I will go with the next master study, though...

In any case, refining these fundamentals was a great idea.  I am actually getting pumped about the next steps :D

[mgarakawa]

Some parts of the body are harder to draw than others.  Hands and feet are at the top of the list, along with eyes and noses.  Everyone has their own issues (some people hate drawing arms or whatnot) but these are the ones I tend to struggle with.

It took me some time, but I managed to narrow down a form and structure for creating realistic and comfortable noses.  This is actually not anything new--I found the line and circles form, and the Shape (what is that, a trapezoid?  Some weird square thingy) one, and I have seen it used together.  The latter is the one that works best for me.  Once I figured out the pieces, figuring out shading, nostrils, placement and movement became a snap.

I hope these studies and notes are helpful to others who might be struggling with the dreaded nose ^_^

[mgarakawa]

Learning to See: How to Unwind

During the course of this master study, I learned many things.  As each element became clear to me, I had many chances to apply it as I setup the canvas to retry again.  I had to take breaks, to go back some steps, to practice more of certain basics--but it was worth it.

I consider this my completed master study of "California Spring" after Albert Bierstadt.  From values and composition, to color and light, I followed his journey in creating this landscape.  Here are some of the things I learned.

I think the most important thing I learned was to unwind.  No, not relax (sorry ^_^;) but to literally unwind and unravel the illustration or image and find the inner workings.  Every trouble I had with this master study stemmed from not being able to unwind.  Not being able to think it through and follow the map that was before me.  But it was not a waste--this study taught me to do exactly that.

A lot of tutorials nad teachers talk about the fundamentals: composition, anatomy, light and form, color, values, and perspective (among others--they vary by artist).  But no one really talks about unwinding the piece and following its journey.  Doing a master study allows you to do this more easily because the image is complete--but doing it before you even start your own illustration will be a practice in patient.  So, how to unwind the illustration?

Well, first, I had to take a page from Volen CK.  These two videos really helped me the most (though his others are great as well)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBZVQbkjIV4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz3RxIzx_J8

The first step into unwinding the image is to stop--and think.  Lay out the plan.  When working with a master study, this means looking at the image and making notes, drawing your attention to key elements and flow.  Flip the image, turn it around, switch it in and out of gray-scale--just delve into the illustration itself and actually see it.

Next is to get familiar with the composition itself.  Actually painting it in gray-scale and seeing the composition and flow fo the piece (it is easier in gray-scale because colors are distracting).  

After that, you go in for the color studies--nothing series.  This lets you see how colors work.

I had already done this, but I was still getting stuck.  It is because the actual process is important, too.  When I realized I was still missing something, I took my break and did some other things to clear my mind.  The big thing that helped was--Bob Ross ^_^  When I did a painting along with him, there was a huge Ah-Ha moment.  I finally got it!  

The two elements I was missing were brush technique and layering.  Not in using layer after layer (I kept this on a single layer and used only one brush).  But actually layering the colors.  I realized that Bierstadt did a couple of things--one he either worked wet-on-wet and let the colors blend together, or two he worked with dirty brushes periodically.  This created the hodge-podge of color that made it impossible to mix directly like I was doing and get a similar effect.  The other technique was the texture, which was actually more simple than I expected (thanks again, Bob) and that was just to dab rather than swish.  It made a huge difference in the outcome.

But most important--the biggest thing was the layering.  I had been starting in the wrong places, which really destroyed the image.  I started with clouds because they took up so much space and felt like they should be first.  What a fool I was!  I needed to start with the LIGHT first, and blend the colors into it.  The light was the base of the entire painting, it was the foundation and was covered and enhanced by everything around it.

As I started layering properly, I found I needed less colors and could grab and pull from what I had already used.  Go figure ^_^;

Making notes, studying the image and the artist, trying other techniques--they are all so essential to unwinding the illustration and bringing it to life.  Different effects and mood require different techniques, but I am sure some will overlap a lot.

I did not push this image as far as I could have.  I decided that I needed to stop because I got what I wanted--and more.  The purpose was not to make a perfect copy of the original, but to learn.  And learn, I did.  Maybe some day, I will attempt to do a faithful and complete copy of an artist I admire to really press my skills, but I think this is a good start for now.  The future is wide, and I plan to explore it in full.

(you can see the original here)

[mgarakawa]

10,000 hours to mastery.  Heard this for years.  When I first heard it, I knew exactly what that meant.  The practice wasn't just random drudgery.  It needed focus, and it needed goals, among other things.  If you don't dedicate the time, you won't hit mastery.  That is simple.

Today, I decided to look into it again just out of curiosity.  Now so many people are claiming this is "wrong" and you can do it "quickly."  Then they talk about dedicated practice. ::insert eye roll here::  I like to read comments because I always find people who give more detail.  Several comments pointed out that the author who identified this “rule” emphasized the need for dedicated, deliberate practice.

Here is the thing.  Most people can not seriously dedicate their time to something, not even a hobby they enjoy.  They do it when they want, occasionally, on weekends, and they don't do it deliberately.  They do it to wind down, to relax, to enjoy--not to improve.  People who really want to get good, they put in the time.  MORE Than 10,000 hours, and they are deliberate and dedicated.

I think the rule of thumb (technically not actually a rule) is accurate.  I drew a LOT but never with deliberate practice, nor true dedication.  I just drew.  I never really got far until I actually started practicing PROPERLY.  I can't always get the time in during the day due to work, but I usually make up for the the next day or on weekends.  If you go into my history, you can see the differences.  You can tell exactly when I started to practice seriously and the benefits show.  In five years, I went from meh to pretty damn good.  I don't think I have even hit 10,000 hours yet,  though I probably came close for anatomy study (my main focus at the time).

When you have a complex profession like art and music, you can't just see the whole thing as one entity.  The 10,000 hours would have to apply to each department of art: anatomy, perspective, color theory--you know, the fundamentals.  The subjects themselves are broad, and you can get away with only focusing on one or two, but that will hold you back as an artist.

In order to practice RIGHT, you need to first decide WHAT you are going to practice, then how you are going to do it.  After that, you need to find a way to quantify it.  This is tricky to do with art--you need feedback and a good support network.  Those are..not easy to find.  You need to take it one step at a time, and you need to have moments where you want to bang your head against the wall.  There are no quick fixes.  You can watch all the tutorials and "secrets" you want, but they will mean nothing if you don't understand the underlying nature of what you are doing.  Breaking rules means knowing rules.

I have outlined my focuses for the year, mainly on perspective and color (composition snuck in there and I still need to fine-tune some anatomy portions).  I already have thought about the hows and wherefores.  Master Studies and photo/life studies will be a big part of my practices as I work--switching between digital and traditional just to spice it up.  While I have found one or two places that might help in giving feedback, I have already prepared myself to don the hat of objectiveness as necessary (and my hubby is a great back-up)

It took me around 20 years to figure this all out XD  If you want to improve and become one of the best, you have to put your 10,000 hours in for each part of Art.

Now, some people try to revive the "talent" fairy, saying that the hours don't matter as much because genetics and DNA and natural talent account for a LOT.  That is soooo insulting!  Every artist I know has put in so much time to get as good as they are.

Talent gets you started.  That's it.  You have a leg up in some areas, but only for a brief window of time.  If you don't utilize it, you lose it and become like everyone else as time progresses.  Talent counts for squat in the long run--and even in the beginning.  Those people who have "talent" and are great are there because they put in their 10,000 hours or more.  Every genius out there--from Albert Einstein to Beethoven to whomever, put in the hours.  They ate, drank, and slept the subject and THAT is why they became the masters they were.  And are, since we look to them even in this day and age.

No matter what your desire is--if you want to get good at it, if you want to master it--you need to practice.  I tell my students this all the time, and I can tell which ones don’t practice very easily.  You need it for anything: deliberate, determined practice.  You can't just wing it.  You won't get very far.  And don't worry about who picks up things and at what rate--that is the only difference between humans is the speed at which they attain things.  Even if they are super fast at this or that, there will be areas that they are struggling in.  That is human nature.  No one, and I mean NO ONE is perfect.  If they were...they wouldn't have much going for them in life ^_^

So start planning your hours.  Decide what you need to learn, why, how, and get to work.  Guaranteed you will grow in ways that will astonish you.

Another tip--learn about how the brain learns.  That will help you formulate the best ways to practice ^_^  You know, the whole Growth Mindset thing and plasticity, etc ;)  I will say that long, unbroken studies are bad--you won’t retain anything.  Take breaks, stretch, and do other things on the side to give your brain time to process what it is learning.

(*image at the top is mine, did it as a quick study one day)

[mgarakawa]

Learning to See: Breaks and Stepping Back

Sometimes, you need to take a moment to assess yourself.  Working on the Albert Bierstadt "California Spring" I realized that I had become overwhelmed by the project I had undertaken, and I was making mistakes and I didn't know what to do.

So I stepped back.  I grabbed a Bob Ross video from youtube and followed along with him, teaching myself the finer points of the Clip Studio program and color mixing.  I came to a couple of ah-ha moments during the hour long venture, too.

The first thing I realized was that I CAN do this.  I think this is an important factor.  I felt out of my league, working on something I had little practical experience in with a program that was nothing like the tools used on the painting.  Part of the job of an artist is to understand what their tools are capable of and to do those studies within that limitation.  I wouldn't be able to do exactly perfect in watercolor, either, and since paint recipes have changed over the years, that would have an impact, too.  So I had to let go of notions of perfection.

The second thing I noticed was that digital mixing was somewhat impractical.  This actually takes from the first point: color recipes and results are different.  I can find three different shades of Cobalt blue from three different brands, and they will also produce different results when mixing.  The problem with digital is the array of choices I have.  I can literally choose any color of blue I want.  This isn't to say digital mixing isn't impossible (as I HAVE successfully done this) but that it really grates against my perfectionist mind.  If I choose the wrong colors and don't get the match I want, I have to choose colors again and again until I get the match. And this isn't a temptation: it is mandatory for me.  I have a hard time of letting go of minuscule details like that.

I have to work within the limits of the tools, and I have to keep my personality in mind.  Since I know that I will stress myself out trying to get a perfect match because I know I have the tools to do so but just chose the wrong color palette...well I should just use the color picker and match colors that way.  I have Acrylic Gouache and Watercolor to do physical mixing, so I will be hitting color mixing and color theory on two different levels.  That is actually pretty cool.

The paints I have to practice with are cheap, Dollar store stuff.  For the price, their are pretty decent.  Since they are just for practice, I can replace them easily.  Actually, despite being only a dollar (well, technically \100 but that is about the same thing) they have fairly good quality.

Despite my desire to reduce waste and pollutants, I have such a soft spot in my heart for traditional mediums.  I do it more out of nostalgia than anything.  Despite my frustrations with digital mixing, the skills did transfer easily to mixing my traditional paints.  It was totally worth it and I plan to bounce back and forth between the two as I progress.  I think that learning both traditional and digital mediums is important for an artist--not only for the skills, but for the broader range of experiences you can get.

So these studies have really returned my courage.  I am going to get back to the Albert Bierstadt study.  I know that I technically don't have to do a 100% faithful study, but I think I will see how close I can get.  If I take it in steps, I can get value, composition (both check-marked :) ) color, and digital technique all in one go. :)

(as a side note, the paints I used on the life studies are dead acrylic gouache.  Some of the binding was lost, I have no way of making super dark colors, so I was FORCED to accept what I could get :)

[mgarakawa]

Putting It All Together:  First Attempts

The bottom image is the original painting, California Springs, by Albert Bierstadt.

I had felt pretty comfortable with my color choices and the picture its self, so I decided to dive in and see what I could accomplish.  Even in these first stages, I could see the mistakes I was making.  Basically: master studies are hard.

While I went in with an understanding of the composition and color choices, I didn't go in with a clear enough plan.  How far should I go?  Should I try to get all the details?  Should I try to mimic the brush strokes or just keep it simple?

I also noticed that my colors are off.  I couldn't find much on Bierstadt's methods as of yet, but I am started to suspect that he mixed paints on the palette as he worked and did lots of layering.  Which actually makes the color picker almost completely useless because there is such a variety of colors in just one small swatch of the painting.  It made me see why a lot of chose the methods they do.  The artist you do a study on has a big influence on how you can approach things.

It also became apparent that my ability to control saturation was minimal.  That de-saturation of the colors was a huge element of creating depth and grandeur in his paintings.  His level of detail comes primarily from the size of his canvas--but I realized that working at that size, even digitally, is just not feasible right now.  My computer doesn't have that kind of power.  So I will have to reduce the size of the master study and decide if I want a faithful reproduction or not.  I am planning to start again soon,  but first take a small break and work on coloring a perspective drawing I did not long ago for a study.  Back and forth ^_^

There is not much out there that gives details about how to go about a master study.  Those videos I linked at the beginning of this series are the only solid ones I have found so far.  I understand that a lot of it is figuring it out for yourself, though.  It is a great mental exercise and really the best way to get better.  And that is I want to do.

I will have to do another series on perspective and talk a bit about the color wheel and such, too.  So much learning and it is just all bursting in my head.  Writing it out and sharing it helps me process it better and consider my next steps.  I hope my journey helps you as much as me.

[mgarakawa]

Still working with “California Springs” by Albert Bierstadt.  My first part of the color study was actually extremely boring to many--mixing colors.  Sure, I could have just color picked, or just tried to find the right color on the color picker window.  But I am trying to learn something here :)

I did go further than necessary. I mixed all the main elements of Bierstadt's painting, California Spring.  This was unnecessary, and people always say it is unnecessary.  Here is why:

As you can see, there are a lot of repeat colors used in the mix:  Cobalt Blue, Van Dyke Brown, Lead Antimonate Yellow Dark, Viridian, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Red Med, a little Vermillion here and there, Mars Black and some Ivory black, Lead white---and for vibrancy in the light, pure white from the color picker.  I could probably actually cut these colors in half, but I don't yet have the skill yet to know what I can mix where.  I basically used Viridian, Burnt Sienna and Van Dyke brown because I noticed that they seemed to be the base of the color I was trying to reach.  Viridian also served as a nice medium when I needed a touch of yellow and/or blue.

A lot of people say that you can mix black, and I think that this is true, too.  I have done it before--but since it is not a pure black, it can't really serve the purpose of a pre-made black: tinting and value adjustment.  At least, with the palette I used for this practice, it couldn't.  But I think that was the huge, valuable thing I learned from mixing all these unnecessary colors.  Black and White are merely value and tint adjusters.  I need a more or less saturated color, I use White.  I need a darker tone, I add a little black.  It was just so eye-opening to see this played out by my own hands.

Another thing I learned was that the temp of the color really does play an impact on the tone you get.  This is why I ended up using two reds.  One had a stronger lean towards "red" while the other was much closer to yellow.  Also, one was way more vibrant than the other.  I found that if I used the dull one, it would dull the color when I needed more intensity.  When I used the more vibrant one, it maintained the vibrancy somewhat.

Mixing colors is literally math with pigments.  Adding, subtracting, dividing...but it has a bit of a dance to it, too.  Too much and you over-shoot your goals.  To little and you barely move the dial.  I don't think I would have noticed this without the color picker, though.

As a student of color, the most important lesson to learn is to accept "close enough".  Palette choices and resources are going to determine how close you get to the end product, and if you don't know the exact paints and colors the artist used, you aren't going to get an exact match.  This doesn't mean you can't get a ton out of it--at this point, you will have to make artist choices.  This is why Value is so important.  If you maintain a good value balance, and don't choose colors outside of the palette mix, you will still get a good effect.

After getting the colors mixed, It took me a while to notice the primary split going on.  Greenish-browns and purples, yellowish-oranges and blues.  I had to compare it to the colorwheel to be sure because my brain broke it down to primary palettes of blue-red-yellow...which is not inaccurate, actually.  Reds are a huge dominating theme, specifically in the brownish hues utilized in the vegetation.  I am willing to bet that if I found these colors on the color wheel they would be almost completely opposite.  It brings the whole piece together as it is found in almost all the color mixing.

About half-way through the trees, I noticed that I could grab already-mixed colors and just adjust them.  You can see a couple of places where I took full advantage of this,  but I dropped the practice as I wanted to learn a bit more about the actual mixing process.  

There really aren't any greens here, at least nothing pure.  Despite the vibrancy that appears in the painting, this is just clever use of value and saturation to make other colors appear more green than they really are.  This was utterly surprising to me.

Another thing that jumped out at me was that I could not mix the base color of one thing to form the shade or darker regions.  If they were fairly de-saturated I could get away with it, probably.

Mixing colors alone is its own headache and skill.  I am really glad to be on this journey.  Next up is me actually putting the colors to work in a quick thumbnail study, then doing a full study of the painting.

[mgarakawa]

On the right is the painting “California Springs” by Albert Bierstadt--this has been my focus for a few weeks now.  With the gray scale finder,  I was better able to map out the general value scheme.  Still too easy to get caught up on details.

What I noticed in his composition was a circular theme emanating from the light source behind the left-hand cloud.  He uses dark values to create a border at the foreground, encasing the central point (the tree on the hill near the centerish) in the lightest lights and the darkest darks.

It is interesting that the background landscape and the foreground landscape that the trees rest upon are the same value.  He uses de-saturated tones and soft colors to create the feel of atmosphere and distance.  The trees closest to us lack the same detail and highlights as the central trees, and all trees have a forward bend towards the central light.  With the right-hand trees lost in shadow and in such a darker tone, they help encase the central theme of the willow-like tree and direct the viewer's eye towards it.

Even more interesting is how all elements lead us towards the middle tree.  Even though the forward white cow seems to be grazing off to the left, the highlights accentuate landmarks that point us towards the middle tree.  The cows make a kind of path towards the tree, like stepping stones.  Our eye immediately bounces from the front white cow, to the one closest to the tree.  The other cows are in such a dark value and tone that they are lost in the border and merely add to the weight of the path towards the tree.  Even the clouds, with their mountains and pillars, lead you to the tree.  The clouds behind effectively frame the tree, making the highlights on the leaves brighter and acting as a de-saturated backdrop to the tree.  Light moves towards the tree, too.  Even the large cloud on the left seems to be pointing specifically to this tree.

The partner tree near this central tree is a lighter value and tone, completing and complimenting the frame around this central piece.  

The eye can travel freely, but the dark borders prevent it from wandering off the page.  It is interesting how the value plays such a powerful fence on a subject.  Using de-saturation and saturation to solve the same-value issue is genius.  I never would have known how powerful the spectrum could be.  Being able to apply this knowledge will take time, to be sure, but it is totally worth it.

[mgarakawa]

Learning to See: Composition Studies and a New Beginning

There is so much I want to share and present.  It is hard to focus down on writing, though, since I am getting so amped-up to improve my skill.

My eye-opening experience with Growth Mindset catapulted me into the realm of re-learning--and sometimes new learning!  

(http://mgarakawa.tumblr.com/post/180906537794/this-topic-was-born-from-over-a-month-of-being)

During my early years, composition and color studies had been touched on briefly.  In all truth, there wasn't much out there to help me figure out a path to learning and understanding it.  Sure, people said to paint from the masters...but what did that even mean?  No one really went into depth in explaining it.  Until I found one particular Youtuber, and this video especially:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69xdz-GEGLs

Never have I found someone who went into so much detail about what, exactly, a master study was and how to do it.  I watched many of his other videos and I recommend you do, too.  It is very helpful!

That sent me off.  I began looking for videos on color mixing and other studies and found two more useful resources.

Another on master studies--specifically composition, color, and a full:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQfF-P70V2Q

And this one for mixing paint, which helped me finally understand how the color wheel works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNB3XY67Q-I

All of these videos sent me into a new journey for my art.  It is kind of learning basics in a way, but more like applying the basics I learned.  I can read a million things on color theory and how to make a  good composition, but applying it is another animal all together.  Now for the thing like color-mixing, you might be wondering what relevance that has to someone who works digitally.  Well...everything.  Even in painting digitally, you are essentially using subtractive color to make illustrations--even though you are seeing it on an additive medium.  If you take swatches of color and start blending and mixing them, you will get the same results as in the paint mixing video.

In truth, traditional medium is probably the BEST way to learn about all these fundamentals, merely because it takes way the temptation to cheat.  You can gray-scale images to get the right values and color pick from any image or source--no thinking required.  But these specific techniques don't help you to SEE.  And seeing is the most important element of art.

After all this new-found knowledge, I gathered a bunch of master artists I like.  I put them in alphabetical order and grabbed the first picture at the top of the list.  And man...was it hard!  Working digitally is more stressful on the eyes, and I could not just could NOT see the value.  I was only on composition studies.  I had gained some confidence mixing colors around, but man, this just put me back a peg.

After doing research, I figured out how to take the traditional tools and apply them digitally.  Of course, using a gray-scale and value finder against a screen is NOT a good idea.  This is because of how screens tend to adjust to ambient light.  Not only that, but I don't have a professional artist screen (according to my husband) so the values will be completely off.  But i found a really simple work around.  Just create a PNG file with holes i the swatches, then lay it over the image on another layer.  Boom!  Done!  After that, finding the values become so much simpler and allowed me to think about what I was seeing.  The other thing that helped me is my poor vision ^_^  I have astigmatism in both eyes and can't see clearly at distances.  Taking off my glasses and squinting slightly (as opposed to just squinting as most sites suggested) really helped out, too.  So what I would do is first set the illustration really far back and squint at it to get the form of the values.  That helps in seeing the theme shape.  For example, Albert Bierstadt does a lot of circular value themes.  Anyway, once that is established, when I overlay the gray-scale finder, I again remove my glasses and squint to see which value matches up to the place I am working on.  It literally took out all my frustration and stress by just removing my glasses haha

For color studies, there are actually a lot of resources for digital artists, but I am still leaning towards the traditional feel.  I have several "palette" colors based on painting palettes that I plan to use and mix around, testing on the image (on another layer) before I paint.  This will take...well, ages, really.  But I will get what I want--to understand value and color and be able to apply it to any medium.  That right there is key.  If you spend all your time color picking for colors, you will never be able to really mix colors on your own.  Most pros out there have already done the traditional learning, which is why they are so good at picking colors.  Unfortunately, this just doesn't work in reverse.  Part of this is the tool--paints come in different recipes, so the pigments will react differently to other pigments AND other brands.  So just because you have Colbalt Blue doesn't mean it will do the same thing or interact the same way as another brand or medium.  Learning the process of cool/warm, how compliments interact, and how to see which way a color is leaning can really help you in mixing the colors you want. The only way to know how it will react, though, is to actually mix it.

The problem with the color picker is that it takes all that thinking and guess work out.  You move a dot around on a spectrum from bright to dark and black to white until you find the color you like or just color pick and match--that doesn't work well because you don't need to really consider what you are doing.  Autopilot is easy.  I am not saying the tool is bad--just that it is bad for learning, which is what I want to do.

So the images you see here are the original by Albert Bierstadt, my composition study, my color study, and the final full study of this one image.  I will create posts for each process to share what I have learned, as this is already a really long post.

As you can see, I have a ways to go.  Not just in getting skilled, but getting efficient.  I plan to do traditional studies, too, once my  loving and supportive husband finishes the color checker he is making for me.  We just need a couple of supplies that we are waiting for.  I love my husband so much--he endures my long-winded, excited rants about art studies so well ^_^ <3

[mgarakawa]

Artwork Story: Before you is the Queen.  Her name is Jael, and she has lived a long, broken life before coming to this point.  She is an original character of mine for a novel series I have had hunkering down in my brain for over four years now, and she is by far, my favorite character.

This particular portrait of her is around the fourth book of the series.  Jael has spent most of her life mentally broken and on the brink of completely losing herself to the memory of others.  She had only recently pulled herself out of the abyss and firmly established the foundation of her identity.  She was elected as queen merely for symbolic purposes, and had been treated pretty much like a living doll by her advisors and the people.  But on this day, it ended.  She would not allow a person she once trusted and believed in to waste the lives of her people on a meaningless war.  He was set on destroying the kingdoms and taking rule for himself, but their people were small in number and had little in the way of resources to take on such a war--outside of their gifts.  Most of her people just wanted a home again, a place to live in safety and peace.  That is what she wants to give.  Her she is, rising from her seat, to deliver her wraith to her betrayer.

The things I love about this piece include the lighting around the face and the dress.  They were the most difficult, but the most rewarding.

You can see the whole image here: https://www.deviantart.com/mgarakawa/art/The-Queen-Awakens-532103679

[mgarakawa]

Finding inspiration and motivation in this day and age an seem like a piece of cake.  With the internet at our fingertips, we can just pop in a couple of key words and have a whole list of images, names, books, and anything else you can think of.

But something we tend to forget is that the key component to motivation and inspiration is internal, not external.  Occasionally we need that little push forward, but it is mostly in us to decide what we are going to do with our lives and how to do it.  Looking inside is just as important as looking out.

So what do you do on those days when it seems like all motivation and inspiration has left you?  You shouldn't try and hammer it into your skull, that is for sure.  Sometimes your brain needs a break--so take that break, and do not feel ashamed of it, no matter how long it is.  It's so easy to feel like we have to create and make things ALL the time, but reality is the complete opposite.  To make our best illustrations and works, we need to have that down time.  It allows us to process our experiences into the images, music, or stories that we have been searching for.

It's great to look around for inspiration and motivation, to embrace it, and to use it to further fan the flames in your own heart.  But be sure to listen to yourself and recognize when you need that motivation or inspiration, and when you need a break.

If you are looking for more sources to get you pumped up, then check out my little collage of inspiration and motivation.  These are the things that get me going and spark my imagination.

Some of these are symbolic (kid on a suitcase) and others are pretty straightforward, if you know them.  The blurred out face is actually my husband. ^_^  He doesn’t like his face on the internet for some reason, but he is a HUGE influence on me.  A great supporter, too.  Oh, and the dog is my dog, Coal :D

I actually have so many more...but that is about all that would fit XD

[mgarakawa]

Welcome to the New Year.  In the year 2019, the Pig reigns supreme on the Chinese Zodiac.  The Pig has many positive traits: they are hard workers, loyal, affluent, have strong determination, and travel.  However, the pig also suffers from its stereotypes of laziness, clumsiness short-temper.

In this year, colors of yellow, gray, brown and gold are lucky for the Pig.  Its flowers include the Hydrangea and Marguerite.

This illustration was inspired by these descriptions of the Pig for the Zodiac.  I decided to focus on the affluence, loyalty, and travel.  As many can see, this year's illustration breaks away from years of tradition.  I have always featured a woman in my New Year Cards as a way of incorporating myself into the image.  This year, however, belongs to my husband--who was born in the year of the pig.

Fun fact: Japan calls this Inoshishi (亥) which actually means "Wild Boar".  They use boars in their images for this New Year, not the cute pink pigs we are used to on the other side of the pond :)

[mgarakawa]

It is the end of the year.  The door is closing on the old and opening on the new, allowing us to enter into a world of new experiences, new memories, and new hope.

2018 was a time of great growth and accomplishment.  I can't even number the things I have improved upon, the goals I have attained, and the experiences that I have had that allowed me this growth.  I looked forward to 2019, expecting more growth and improvement.

Picture taken in Kamikochi, Japan, a few months ago on a trip with my husband.  It was not the greatest of weather, but it allowed me to get this awesome shot.  I hope that this will end up in an illustration some day :)

[mgarakawa]

Merry Christmas to all!  I spent my free time working on a portrait of Saint Nicholas of Myra in honor of the holiday, and of the roots of our beloved Santa Claus.  

Really, looking into it, Santa Claus is a combination of many traditions slowly merging over time.  The history is fascinating!  So I mixed in some Father of Christmas (the Holly Crown) as well.  I did some research into Saint Nicholas and found out that he was born around the 4th Century in the Ottoman Empire (current day Turkey) and they actually had forensic update their rendition of him from the skull they were able to collect data from a few years ago.  So I used that as my basis of the portrait.

No matter where we are in the world, we all come together to share in a month of goodwill, kindness, and generosity.  Next year, I hope to do more illustrations like this in honor of the various holidays that are celebrated in December.  But for now, it seemed best to kick things off with a childhood favorite.

I didn't keep tabs, but I would estimate this actually took me maybe 3-5 hours, tops.

[mgarakawa]

Finished!  Here is a cute little Chibi Kunoichi.  I dreamt of her last week (as I mentioned on her WIP) and just HAD to draw her!  While she may not look exactly like how she did in the dream, she still looks great :)

Sorry, I am just excited.  I normally don’t do Chibi style.  I think I have officially drawn 2 chibi characters in my life.  One was a study.  The other was my own character I put up on line.  So I am just super proud of this piece.

Honestly, this is one of those really good examples of Growth vs Fixed Mindset (remember that post I made not long ago).  I was intimidated by Chibi because of their abstract form and extremely exaggerated features.  I avoided them for years!  But really, all I needed was more illustration experience under my belt!  It is victories like this that encourage me to step out of my comfort zone more and more!